When Chip is out of town, I find myself eating a lot of crap, whether that's frozen garlic bread or microwave dinners. I seem to have kicked the Cheet-os habit somehow, so there's that. Anyway, one of my favorites is Amy's Veggie Loaf. It's a nice whole meal, with protein, carbs, and veggies. I decided last night that I would try to make my own vegan loaf.
I found this recipe; it got so many great reviews that I figured, why not try it? It made a big mess, with all the chopping, mixing, food processing, sauteeing, and mashing. It turned out just OK. Chip really liked it, which is great, because, well, he eats a lot. It was a little bit sweet for me; it was missing a bit of something savory, I think. Overall though, it was pretty successful. Lots of veggies and protein in it, and it can be eaten alone or on a sandwich.
Homemade lentil loaf, organic peas and organic corn, pecans, dried cranberries, banana, and homemade organic mashed potatoes with vegan gravy.
I spent some time gardening this weekend. We've got a watermelon growing, along with zucchini, green beans, a red pepper, and tons of Roma tomatoes. I bought some grape tomatoes at the farmers' market this weekend, and now we're swimming in tomatoes. I tried to think of a good dish that includes tomatoes, and I came up with bruschetta. Chip insisted on buying this whole wheat bread, and while it's delicious, it's worthless for sandwiches. I was glad to be able to use some of the bread and many of the tomatoes.
I just made up the topping myself. I used about 15 grape tomatoes, diced, and threw in about a teaspoon of very finely chopped onion. In a separate bowl, I whisked together about 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, plus a tiny clove of crushed garlic, some sea salt, and black pepper. I added the tomatoes and onion to the liquid, and then mixed in some fresh chopped basil from our garden. It looks and smells amazing. The photo doesn't do the beautiful tomatoes justice.
Organic local (ingredients and production) whole wheat bread from the farmers' market, bruschetta topping (organic grape tomatoes, CSA onion, organic garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil from our garden), organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, homemade lentil soup, and an organic Braeburn apple.
Seeing this photo kind of makes me want to go steal Chip's lunch out of the refrigerator right now. Mostly for the pita. We had black bean burgers for dinner tonight with the other half of this avocado and oh man. This avocado is perfect. We've had a bunch of terrible ones lately and this one was delightful. The buttery texture and nutty taste of avocado, plus the sweet tang of grape tomatoes...irresistible to me!
Whole wheat pita with avocado, organic greenleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic grape tomatoes, and CSA onion, homemade lentil soup, Kashi granola bar, banana, and an organic Fuji apple.
So we got a new fridge today. It's pretty much the most exciting (house-related) thing that's happened to us this year. Our house is 102 years old, so we've done a lot of preventative maintenance, as well as repairs. None of this has been particularly fun. And while we'd prefer to continue using our 20-some-year-old refrigerator, it is time to part ways with it. The repairman says it's on its last legs, and our home warranty helped us buy a new one. And it is beautiful. Everything in our kitchen is fairly old (though functional), and it's really exciting to have something so new and pretty. We've really agonized over our kitchen, and we never hesitate to make fun of the people on HGTV who are all, "oh, this kitchen is a gut job," just because there's no stainless steel or granite. Do laminate counter tops not hold your stuff as well as granite does? Does a stainless steel fridge make your food taste better? (In all fairness, though, we did go with stainless steel. Not our first choice, but since we're not staying in this house for more than five years or so, we figured we should go with what others prefer.)
Anyway...in taking items out of Old Fridge, I attempted to use up whatever I could so it wouldn't take up space in New Fridge. Hence the soup, applesauce, and guac. I realized once lunch was done that it's vegan, which is a nice bonus.
Goodbye, Old Fridge. You had a nice, multi-decade run. We will not miss you. We also will not miss covering the floor around you with rags to soak up all the water you leaked.
Hello, New Fridge. You are beautiful and new, and we love you already.
Whole wheat rollups with guacamole, organic greenleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic grape tomatoes, and Newman's Own salsa, organic applesauce, raw almonds, organic dark chocolate, homemade lentil soup, and watermelon.
I know that July in Ohio is not really the ideal time for hot, hearty soup, but I was really in the mood for this stuff yesterday. It's so easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I just went for it. When Chip arrived home, he took off his motorcycle helmet in the (detached) garage and could already smell the soup. He walked in the back door (into the kitchen) and said, "I was hoping I was smelling our house! Yum!" We both enjoyed the soup but agreed that perhaps we should save the rest for some cooler weather. So in the freezer the leftovers went.
Homemade lentil soup (with organic lentils, CSA onions, and organic carrots), organic local whole wheat bread from the farmers' market, organic dark chocolate, raw almonds, banana, and an organic Braeburn apple.
Gosh, I'm just stuck in a creativity rut lately. The lentil and rice bit of this lunch was pretty inventive, but the rest just feels blah. I spent far too long agonizing over this lunch and trying to decide the perfect thing to fill each container. Rice was first, then apple, then banana. Chip requested pretzels, and then I debated what to put in the last container for probably 20 minutes. What is with me?
So despite how much thought I put into this, I think it's a bit protein-heavy. Lentils, brown rice, peanut butter, and nuts. Nuts are great for you, and have good fat and protein, but I think they were unnecessary. Oh well. Chip will love it.
Brown rice with lentils, organic peas, carrots, and spices, banana with natural peanut butter, pretzels, organic roasted and salted sunflower seeds, organic raw almonds, organic macadamias, and a whole Gala apple.
Things are busy in our house these days! Our latest foster came home on Saturday evening. Due to a mixup, we actually got Where's Raw Hide, whom we are calling Heidi. I'll save the spiel on greyhound racing, but I will say that she came from the track filthy, covered in ticks (we found 5 and counting), 16 pounds underweight, with tufts of hair falling out, and with a UTI. After a bath, a trip to the vet, and plenty of rest and love, she is doing wonderfully. She's a wiggly little thing, and very sweet. Her little tail has a white tip and it goes a mile a minute.
So because I've got my hands full with all these animals (at the moment, we've got 3 cats and 3 dogs), I was a little short on time to throw this together. So it was a very quick lunch, but it's got plenty of fruits and vegetables, is clean, and is vegan. Yay!
Oh, and we decided to try natural peanut butter. I won't say what we've been eating, but this new stuff is SO much better! On a whim, I bought Peanut Butter & Co's Smooth Operator. It is so much better than we expected it to be! It is sweetened (though with evaporated cane juice instead of sugar), but not too much. I think we might be converts.
Salad with redleaf lettuce, organic spinach, white mushroom, organic carrot, and Campari tomato, homemade vegan lentil soup, organic flame raisins, organic roasted and salted sunflower seeds, organic dark chocolate (Green & Black's), and a natural peanut butter and banana sandwich on local organic whole wheat bread.
Although it seems like winter may finally be on its way out, we've been enjoying some hot wintry soups for the past two weeks. Last night I made lentil soup (same recipe as always), and added a cup of chopped organic carrot and about a half cup of chopped celery. I like to load this soup up with veggies, because they add nutrients that we can hardly even taste.
The creator of the recipe for this soup notes that it is really inexpensive per serving. I estimate that even with all organic ingredients (including the spices!), this costs about $.50 per serving (assuming 8 servings). We buy things like lentils and spices in bulk from the local co-op, so we don't end up paying for things like packaging and marketing.
Whole Navel orange, organic banana, pretzel snaps, organic flame raisins, organic sprouted almonds, organic roasted and salted sunflower seeds, organic dark chocolate, and homemade organic lentil soup.
When I saw this recipe on the Clean Eating Mama's blog, I got really hungry. I knew I had most of the ingredients on hand already, and that the temperature would be dropping over the next few days. There's nothing like a hearty soup to warm you up (but not fill you up too much). We both enjoyed it this evening, and we're both looking forward to having more for lunch tomorrow.
I used spinach instead of kale (I just don't like kale...I've tried really hard), and I did a cup of lentils and a cup of brown rice instead of two cups of brown rice. I also played around with the spices, and really liked the crushed red pepper that we threw in. My soup turned into more of a stew than Tasha's did, but it was delicious nonetheless. We ate it with toasted Ezekiel bread dipped in...yum!
Homemade spinach soup, Ezekiel bread and local Colby cheese, organic flame raisins, organic dark chocolate squares, and a whole Gala apple.
The lentil soup is back! This time I added three chopped carrots to the recipe. Chip refuses to eat carrots that aren't disguised, so I figured this was a good way to get him his beta carotene. The soup turned out well again...it's just so easy!
I also sneaked some pesto and some carrot into the wrap; he noticed and liked the pesto, and had no idea about the carrot.
Farmers' market winesap apple, whole wheat rollups with local mild cheddar, organic spinach, pesto, shaved carrot (shhh! he didn't notice!), and locally made organic hummus, whole grain Goldfish, and homemade vegan lentil soup.
