Fish N Nips.....

Plus a few other fun shapes. My kids and I made these great cheese crackers from here. I originally saw them on Erika's blog. Thanks for sharing the recipe. My daughter and I had a great time cutting out the shapes however I have to say that just making the squares was the easiest and quickest. I was hoping that between the sweet potato oat bars we made yesterday and these that they would have snacks all week! Ha.. they are almost gone.

In the spirit of clean eating, I have really been searching for snacks for the kids that they would enjoy and wouldn't be too hard to make. I would hope that I could make these each week at least in theory, and squares not fancy shapes. There is no sugar in this recipe and I altered the recipe and used whole wheat flour instead of white for more than half of the flour. I will try half whole wheat and half spelt flour next time and see how it turns out. I also used white cheddar instead of yellow to avoid the food dies. This means they don't look as pretty yellow as the photos on other other website. I will also try to alter them in other ways as well in the future. I will see how it goes!

All in all, it was a great success. Even my husband likes them, which means they wont last long!

Let me know if you try these. I don't think you will be disappointed at all!

What I have been eating lately... and what's on the menu

Here's my first pasta sauce that I have made from fresh tomatoes and my first canning project. Yummy.. it didn't last long.

This is acorn squash with Jenny's apple (link to her site) pie filling. I just put a scoop in each half and baked it that way... Yummm!!! Thanks Jenny!

This is great spaghetti squash recipe. Not the one the I posted yesterday, this is a mexicana one, the salsa on top is pineapple, tomato, and avocado. The squash has black beans, onions, and corn.

One my menu this week:

Sunday: Spaghetti Squash casserole

Monday: black bean burgers, potatoes, and salad

Tuesday: Homemade chili (sorry no recipe I just throw it all together)

Wednesday:Creamy Quinoa primavera

Thursday: Grain and Vegetable Casserole

Friday: Left overs or something else creative I come up with, maybe breakfast for dinner

Saturday: Dinner with friends, it will be a surprise!

Wednesday and Thursday dinners are from a new(to me) website called Eat Better America, I have not tried either one yet. So far so good for a few others I have tried from there. I love to find new recipes, however I am really not good at following them exactly, unless I am baking. I love to just start cooking and see what happens, recipes are a guideline for me and I love to add my own touch to it. If I like the recipe I will put it in my binder and take note of what I did, liked etc.

Let me know if you try any of them or what you are eating these days!!

Farmers Market Pie/Quiche

This pie was made out of my imagination since I had bought lots of veggies from the farmers market. First I sauteed zucchini (yellow and green), with onion, garlic, leek, red pepper fresh basil, and broccoli.

I made the crust from cooked brown rice, diced onion, egg and a bit of seasoning. I pressed it into the pie plates and bakes it for a bit. I put a bit of mustard over the rice crust and then added the veggies and eggs with a bit of sharp cheddar on top. Then just baked it until it was firm all the way through.

Yummy.. it tasted especially with how fresh the veggies were .... Sorry this is as close as I get to a recipe on this since I didn't really write anything down.

yummalicious!!!!!

Tonight's dinner was delicious!! I took my own version these Parmesan crisps. Instead of Goddess dressing I used Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard dressing mixed in the eggs. The kids loved it and there wasn't much left after dinner.

The main course is sliced tofu, browned in a skillet, layered on grilled eggplant slices ( I used the George Forman Grill) and a homemade sauce from fresh and sun dried tomatoes, crushed garlic and chopped fresh basil. It had such a good flavor layered on top of the eggplant and tofu. I got the original idea from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook it had eggplant with tomato slices, squash sliced(longways) with some sort of grilled chicken. Since I don't eat chicken I thought I would try tofu. Then I decided to make the crisps and so I didn't put the squash on it, and from there I just started making up the sauce. I figured that the kids would eat the eggplant and tofu better with a sauce instead of sliced tomatoes, thus a recipe is born. I have no idea what to call it nor do I know if I can reproduce it ever again.

It's Finally Here...

The recipe and review of the Black Bean Burger! I am thrilled to be able to kick one more processed food off my grocery list, with the successful making of this black bean burger recipe. I have been eating the Morning Star Farms ones, much less than I used to, but keeping them around for days when I need a quick meal. No more, I am planning on making a large batch of these to freeze for busy days. Really they were so easy to make and all the ingredients were things I keep in the house. I only had to make my bread crumbs....

This recipe is from Veganomicon Isa Chandra Moskowitz of The Post Punk Kitchen.
Are you ready??

Black Bean Burgers

2 Cups cooked Black beans or 15 oz can drained and rinsed
1/2 cup vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 plain whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tsp chile powder (or more if you like more spice, I will add more next time)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup water
1 T tomato paste (or ketchup)
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional, I did not use it)
2 cloves of garlic (or all the garlic you own)
1/2 small onion
@ 2 tablespoons olive oil plus olive oil spray (I did not use spray, I had no problems browning on both sides)
Whole Wheat Buns ( I made mine from Tam's Best Yet Whole Wheat Bread)

Mash the beans in a mixing bowl, don't puree them just mash till no whole beans were left. ( I still left a few and mashing will help the burgers stay together) Add Wheat Gluten, Bread Crumbs, chile Powder, cumin, water, and tomato paste (cilantro if using) don't mix yet... use a micro plane grater of garlic press and add garlic, do the same with onion, I actually just finely diced the onion. Mix together with a fork, then proceed to knead until the mixture is completely mixed and firm.

Preheat skillet with oil. Divide mixture into six balls and proceed to cook, a few at a time as you need to really flatten them out so they will cook all the way through. Press with a spatula while cooking, turn to brown both sides. The patties will be firm when finished.
Enjoy!

I suppose that you could really get creative with the seasoning, of these burgers and season any style you liked. They were simple to make and we just added some veggies and fruit and had a complete meal.

I would love to know what you all think.

Veganomicon is quickly become my favorite cookbook. I have only had it for a few weeks now. I had a 40% off coupon for borders and I am so glad that I brought it home. I have tried 3 or 4 recipes from it all a success so far, eaten by the whole family. Nothing is better than a meal that passes by all 5 of us!

* Just a hint I use when cooking, I will make notes in my cookbooks after making a recipe for the first time, what I would like to do to make the recipe better, tastier, mistakes I made etc. I really helps. Sometimes I will just write Dud.... if we didn't like it at all.

Those Skinny B!tches Did it Again!

Another fabulous recipe from the Skinny B!tch in the Kich cookbook! It's Pad Thai and it is delicious! The best part is that the sauce is not all fatty and full of peanut butter like I am used to making. We gobbled it up and came back for more. Guess what I am having for lunch tomorrow? Has anyone else used that cookbook and have any recipe recomendations?

The Real Reason Denise Came to NY!

This is really the reason my sister came to NY! She wanted my cooking... Well then She made a few requests. First she wanted lasagna, so I made it. She made me green smoothies, yummy.... She made Ariana fall in love with mango smoothies! Then she asked if I could make Tam's Bread bowls and her Lentil Soup. Another hit, it's pictured to the left. The funny part is when I went to print the recipes, we were away from the printer and it printed what appears to be the whole blog! Tam, I will be trying ALL your recipes soon! I just put them into my binder and off I will go. I have spent the better part of the last few days in the kitchen. I do really like to cook and it is great to have someone that really appreciates my cooking. (Thanks Denise) To my surprise her boys even liked all the food I have made. I certainly did not expect that. I have made pizza crust before, and bread in the bread machine; however, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the bread bowls came out. I made a first batch and they were a little flat (I covered them with a warm cloth like I do other breads when they are rising) , not that it mattered because the first batch didn't really last until dinner and I had to make another. It is definitely something I will add to my regular cooking. When the kids like it it's even better. I can see so many different soups and stews in these bowls. I look forward to trying out more things. Oh and she(and me too) has been enjoying my home grown cucumbers, you can see them in the background of the photo. They are pretty good. We are having a good time, I have more food to plan and I better get a good nights rest, this is a really hungry crowd we have here!

I have been a busy busy bee!!

Today was a great productive day. I didn't do what I 'thought' I would do, but I did get so much accomplished. I woke up early and started out on a run, about 3.5 miles, at my nice mostly slow pace, but the heart rate was up.

Brian had the kids out at the lake to go fishing, so I ran past the house and back down to the lake to see what they were doing. Our neighbor who works for the park, told us that the fishing is better on the other side of the lake, so we walked around the lake. Shortly after, I left to walk home with Zach and thus I got a nice walk on top of my run! yeah for me...

When I got home I started working on some menu planning. Made a really delicious loaf of bread, bannana oat nut... yummy...

After I hit the grocery store, I started another pot of Magic Mineral Broth, and now it's smelling SOOOOO good... then I started to make dinner.

I am sad to say that dinner took twice as long as I thought(it was a new recipe) you can get the recipe here. It was a moroccan shepards pie... I will post a photo and you will see why I DONT decorate cakes (Are you reading Tammy??) dont laugh too hard.....

It is topped with white and sweet potatoes. It was VERYgood. However, it took forever to make.... I could have just spooned the potatoes on instead. The recipe called for soy burgers crumbled, but I didn't use them I used a crumbled soy instead. Personally I would have preferred it with beans instead TVP would have worked too. It was very good and full of fresh vegetables... yummy... Here's a photo of it after we bit into it:

I have a small amount of reading to do for my class, about 4 pages, I will finish it up in the morning... It feels so good to accomplish so much. I was happy to get lots of things done around the house. Starts off the week really well.

YUM-O Juice!

Just had to share quickly, Mamamia left a comment on my post More Adventures in Juicing that her favorite juice was apples, carrots and ginger. So I took her lead, I didn't have ginger so I used a granny smith apple, a gala apple, few carrots and about 4 grapes(for a little extra sweetness) and boy is it good.... Thank you! I will get some fresh ginger next time I go to the store. I have lots of recipes that call for it. I am still thumbing through the book, The Juicing Bible by Pat Crocker. Seems like a great book. Two of my three kids like the carrot, apple juice and I am so glad. I will slowly add more veggies to the juice the more I make and they get used to the different texture and taste. I don't give so them much in the way of juice or other sugared drinks we just don't buy any of that.... so it seems like such a treat to them. My oldest wouldn't even try to juice.. it's orange! Have a great and healthy day!

Yummy!!!!!!

Tonight I made the most delicious Pasta, oh yummy~ It was from The Classic Zucchini Cookbook. Zucchini with Fettuccine, and it was good. First I quartered and diced 2 zucchini and then 2 summer squash. Sauteed them in butter and added garlic(and lots of it) then I added in 3 diced and seeded Roma tomatoes, parsley, and basil. Plus it called for stock so I got out my yummy Magic Mineral Broth, again! and added that in. Tossed it with some whole grain linguine(store didn't have whole grain fettuccine) and then sprinkled on fresh grated Parmesan. We ate it with a green salad and it sure was good! It was very fresh and light in comparison to some pastas sauces I have eaten.