Defeat

I hate it when a recipe fails. It irritates me to no end.
A whole bag of blueberries wasted. My cobbler tastes like the ocean. I looked at the recipe and said "Hmmm, two tsp of salt seems like a lot...but whatever". I should have used my better judgement.

It's like a piece of salt soaked cardboard on otherwise perfect berries.

Lets hope my spinach and cheese samosas are better.

Mac and fake cheese

My sister sent me a fat-free vegan food blog today. I was hooked, excellent blog, excellent recipes. I noticed a recipe for vegan mac and cheese. I had every ingredient, thanks to an earlier stop at the bulk barn. I decided to jump in and see what it was like. I love cheese..who doesnt...and thought if I could make a fake cheese dish that didn't make me want to barf I'd be that much closer to veganizing myself.

I was delighted at how good this was. The only down fall was the canker on my tounge that prevented me from eating it quicker.

The real test will be if hubby likes it. I won't tell him it's suppose to be "cheese" and just say it's a new sauce i tried.

Roast

When hubby is away I don't like making big meals, but I do like to eat well. Tonight I invented a roasted vegetable dish. Fingerling potatoes, zucchini, onion, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and some oil.

Mix them all together in a baking dish and cook for 30min.

Paired with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower made the perfect dinner for one.

Veggie Egg Rolls

Eggrolls are very easy to make. Even easier if you have a food processor. You can have as many or few ingredients as you like. Pre-made eggroll wrappers also help.

Veggie Egg Rolls

1 small cabbage grated
1 large carrot grated
1 onion grated
2tbsp sesame oil
2tbsp vegetable oil
soy sauce
Package of wrappers

extras- mushrooms, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, bok choy, ect ect.

Heat oil in large pan, add onions, then carrot and cabbage and everything else and cook until done. Scoop into wrappers and fold. Lightly spray and bake in the oven until crispy, turning once.

The light

I walk around the grocery store and think to myself. Why did I spend so many years buying this pre-packaged crap? I'll tell you why, it's because I worked 55hrs a week, I was always tired and wanted something quick for dinner, and something even quicker to throw in my lunch bag.

Now I walk through the grocery store and my cart has next to nothing pre-packaged. Fresh fruits, and vegetables. My collection of vinegars, oils, flours and dried beans grows every week. The last meat I bought was a box of frozen fish filets, and a bag of frozen shrimp. Food I can keep in the freezer for when hubby is home and needs animal to be satisfied.

I had chicken at a resturant yesterday, only because the alternatives were too enriched and fatty to be concidered "good vegetarian" food. I skipped the fries and had salad with my wrap. I felt good the rest of the day.

My grocery list becomes more refined. I am finding I need less food in my cart to feed me longer.

I will attempt to stop buying bread, in favor of making it myself. Then maybe pasta, but that seems like a lot of work when a very healthy alternitive is found dried in a box.

This summer I will can my own tomatoes and be able to cut out buying pasta sauce, and salsa. I will have a freezer full of veggies for the winter, so I won't have to go to mexico to have zuchnni in my stirfry.

I will make all my own baby food. I have always felt that the baby should eat what hubby and I are eating. It's healthier and just as easy to liquify left over dinner into baby food and freeze as it is to open a jar. Cheaper too.

I like being aware of what I eat. I am a stay at home mom to be. My job is to make healthy food for my husband and baby. I have never loved a job more than this one.

Yeast...take two

My first attempt at using yeast resulted in two loaves of "bread" suitable for building a retaining wall, or shotputting lessons. Hubby was excited that I made bread and ate it anyway. Reading the directions out of my vegetarian bible states that "Even a 10 year old can make bread better than store bought on the first try". Well, that made me feel even better.

However, I did not give up. Today I am attempting pizza. I did not use the cookbook, but found a different recipe (one that came with my food processor) and voila! A batch of pizza dough rising almost three times it's original size. It was sticky and airy and fabulous. I should have taken a picture.

My food processor made it possible, along with slicing all the veggies and grating the cheese in record time. I will let you know the verdict, and the recipe after I eat it.

Verdict...

I am amazing. The pizza was awesome, and I can't believe how easy it was.

I am sure I will tweek the recipe the more I make it.

Pizza Crust

2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp herbs
1 cup water
1 pack yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp parmesean cheese

mix the water, oil and yeast in a pan and heat until just starts to feel hot when you put your finger in it. Remove and set aside.

Place all dry ingredients in food processor, mix until blended.

When yeast is dissolved slowly pour into running processor. (Let spin for about a minute) A dough ball will form.

Put dough ball in oiled bowl and place in a sunny window for an hour.

Cut ball into two, shape pizza's on oiled/corn mealed pan. Top with your ingredients. Cook until done.

Enjoy!

Beauty

It might be irrational to be in love with a kitchen appliance. But I think I might be. Yesterday, after months of waiting I bought my food processor. A beautiful 12 cup, 750w, food making machine.

Never have I spent so much money on an appliance. It would never have come to be if I didn't have the $250 gift certificate courtesy of RBC reward points. A year of credit card spending was all I had to do.

It even came with a free $100 frying pan. So the money that I had to spend beyond $250 was basically given back with the free gift.

I have yet to try it out, but I know it will be awesome. Recipes I have been saving will be unleashed.

Veggie Meatballs

I think I have been meat "free" for about 1.5 months. I made it through Christmas, (eating lots of meat and dairy...only to avoid the disapproving looks and having to explain myself). Now that the holidays are over I am back at it.

The last animal products that are still hanging around are cheese, fish and eggs (which i use in baking). Lately the fish I have been cooking has left me feeling blah. So I found an equally satisfying recipe that I can throw in the oven along with hubbies fish.

I bought a package of soy meatballs a while back, hubby did not enjoy them. So they sat in the freezer. A couple days ago I experimented and made a tinfoil package of meatballs and honey garlic bbq sauce. Luck would have it, it was delicious. So much that I ate it last night again.

The secret is to use Canadian Club Honey Garlic bbq sauce, it tastes like meatball sauce and works well over rice.

Pad Thai

The easiest dish to make if you have pre-made pad thai sauce. I haven't attempted home made yet, but will let you know if I do. Usually this rice noodle dish has chicken and shrimp, but is easily made vegetarian with the addition of veggies and or tofu.

I like to make a big wok full when I cook. I have yet to master the "cooking for two" mentality. All you need is a bunch of veggies, some dried rice noodles and sauce.

My version goes something like this.

Vegetarian Pad Thai

1 onion chopped
1 head of broccoli chopped
1 or 2 carrots sliced
1 zucchini chopped
1 pepper chopped
bean sprouts

1/2 package rice noodles
pad thai sauce

Boil water for the noodles, Start with the onion in a heated wok with some oil. Cook until almost soft then add the carrots. I put a bit of water now to help steam and cook the carrots. When starting to turn bright orange I add the broccoli and zucchini. I cook covered for a minute, adding a bit more water. Then the pepper and bean sprouts.

Usually the bean sprouts are served raw, but i like them cooked better.

If everything works out your noodles will go in around the time that the broccoli does, that way they will be cooked at the same time. Add the noodles to the veggies and mix sauce in. To be fancy, serve with chopped peanuts, and lime wedges.


enjoy!