soba noodles + tamago

Dinner tonight was delicious. Absolutely delicious. The downside was that I decided to be nice to my neighbors and share. I could have totally gluttoned out on this but I was limited to only one large helping.

The parents and their Daniel Fast are gone so I could cook whatever. (That sounded harsh, but I just meant it as informative. I'm really sad they had to leave so soon.) They left some corn on the cob that needed to get eaten and I have a ton of cabbage (it's been super cheap) in the fridge. I pulled out the always successful The Vegetarian Family Cookbook and found Asian Noodles with Stir-Fried Corn and Cabbage. Let me tell you. It was a delight. A simple meal of corn, cabbage and soba noodles seasoned with just soy sauce, sesame oil and oyster sauce (my addition).

The side dish was the ever-popular-in-our-house Tamago omelet. (recipe here) It's a slightly-sweet Japanese omelet that most Americans see on a mound of rice and a belt of nori with their sushi plate. We just had the tamago on the side.

This meal was so tasty I could have doubled it and the whole thing would have been devoured. Our stomachs would have been distended and painful for a few hours, but I would have made that trade. Since that was not the case, I decided to make a dessert to top us off.

The middle daughter checked out Brownies and Blondies from the library and comparing recipes with my pantry I found that I could make Spicy Oatmeal-Coconut Blondies. They could be described as extra-special oatmeal-raisin bar cookies. And you could describe me as quite content.

off the hook

The title of this post is doing double-duty. First off, we were invited to friends' for dinner and so I was "off the hook" as far as my responsibilities for dinner were concerned. Secondly, this said friend made a quite delicious cauliflower and beef stir-fry and served it over rice. It was "off the hook" in the taste department. A simple dish to be sure, but for whatever reason it hit the spot. I won't lie to you. I had thirds. And to help with my gluttoned digestion I topped it off with a dried, salted prune. (I think that's what they are anyway. Some tasty, Chinese, dried-up digestive thing.) And that, as they say, is that.

black bean soup + roasted vegetables + marinated rice

Day three of the Daniel Fast-friendly dinners. We made the TGIFriday's Black Bean Soup from Recipezaar, minus the chicken stock (I used the bean cooking water) and the liquid smoke. Tasty. I bought a used copy of Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites today and so we tried the Roasted Vegetables recipe, Italian-style. We roasted potatoes, carrots, asparagus, green beans and onions. DELICIOUS! I loved it. Lastly, we made the Marinated Rice (brown rice with green onions, tomato, vinegar and olive oil) from Sunset's Vegetarian Cooking. (Ugly, old book but lovely recipes.) Not only was it a feast for the Daniel Fast, it would be good enough for any day. When the dishes were done, we were happily satiated.

tacos

Mom and dad are still here with their funky Daniel fast. To help them out we had tacos from the leftover beans and rice. They can also eat tofu so I browned a little up with some seasonings and we made some whole wheat tortillas for them from Laurel's Kitchen. (Actually, they made them. Why did I say we did?) On their tacos they could only have beans, rice, tofu, tomatoes, and olives, but we added sour cream, cheese and taco sauce to ours. I wasn't in the mood for pictures so here's a shot of the tortillas.

beans + rice

My parents are visiting. They are doing a Daniel fast with their church and so we had to come up with a dinner involving only fruit, veggies, beans, 100% whole grains and with no sugar, meat, dairy, etc. Oh yeah, and did I mention that it was 630pm? We got a pot of brown rice cooking and gussied up two really large cans of pinto beans. (red pepper, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and a wee dash of Frankie's.) Either we rocked those beans or we were just really, really hungry because it was darn tasty.

*hand model - my mom. Unfortunately, God, in his infinite wisdom, gave me the hands of my dad. Don't worry, I'm okay. I've dealt with it.

pot roast

We had a pot o'roast for dinner. It was mighty tasty. The salad didn't quite make it. It was a thought, a plan really, that didn't come to fruition. But to be honest, it wasn't missed. How can it be with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion cooking in the juices of the big hunk of beef? Normally I can go the vegetarian route pretty easy, but everyone now and then I needs me a cut of beef. And this baby hit the spot. Snagged the recipe from my completely-falling-apart-entirely-in-pieces Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. (And that folks, is the definition of a misnomer.)

freebirds or hotdogs?

The kids were invited to a roller skating party. We had breakfast at 11am and then didn't eat again until 4:30pm when it was over. (The adults didn't eat, anyway.) Around five we stopped at Freebirds World Burrito (yummy, so yummy). Technically, that could be called dinner, according to time, right? I had a veggie Hybird. Even now I'm sighing with enjoyment reliving the pleasure that was mine...

BUT! We also had a bonfire at our friends' house and at 8pm-ish we had hot dogs and s'mores. That could also technically be called dinner, according to meal order of the day. So you can pick. Either I had Freebirds for dinner and hot dogs for a late snack, or Freebirds was the snack and hot dogs were dinner. Whichever you choose, I feel nutritionally and flavor-ly short-changed by the hot dogs.

gyoza dumplings + salad + rice

I just read this book Japanese Women Don't Get Old Or Fat. It was an entertaining read and totally got me in the mood for Japanese food. I tried out two of the recipes. First we had the author's gyoza dumplings which basically consist of ground beef and a ton of garlic chives and scallions. I used bison (first time I've tried it, pretty tasty) and some weird, not garlic, chives I found at the Asian market.

The salad was also from the book. It was very Japanese, which you can tell by the name: Tokyo Salad. It consisted of baby mixed greens, celery, red pepper and asparagus with a sesame/soy sauce/rice vinegar dressing. And of course one must include rice with a Japanese meal. We sprinkled some furikake on ours and there you go! Three course meal! It was danged tasty, too.

One last thought: apparently there is a Japanese philosophy called Hara Hachi Bunme meaning "Eat until you are only 80% full." I tried that tonight. I stopped eating when I thought I had hit that point. Then I noticed that there were three leftover gyoza. Hara Hacha Bunme didn't have a chance.

tamales + tortilla chips

Out of a very random ingredient list, and with the help of a friend, I managed to come up with a cohesive-themed dinner tonight. Not high on the veggie scale, but at least we ate, right?

We have a friend in San Antonio who works for a tamale factory and hooks us up with free tamales. (Thanks Luisito!) They are made for a bunch of stores in Texas (and probably elsewhere, I'm not sure) so technically it is processed food. But since we know the guy and he helps make them, I don't feel quite so bad.

So tonight was Beef, Bean, Serrano and Ancho tamales with homemade tortilla chips and guacamole. The tamales were tasty and super simple since I only had to heat them up, but the tortilla chips were fantastic! I cut a bunch of flour tortillas into wedges and baked them in a 350 oven for 10 minutes. That's it! So simple and the kiddos loved them. Well, actually everyone loved them and since they were thicker than normal chips, they were way filling, too!

Guac was the hubby's simple recipe of avocados, lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. That's it. And of course everything is measured "to taste." I really hate that in recipes but I can't fight it in this one, it really does depend on the avocados.

I'm really hoping to go shopping before dinner tomorrow. We shall see.

sandwiches + coleslaw

Today I planned ahead. Not enough to go to the store when I was out at our homeschool Play On Wednesdays, but enough that when we got home I got a batch of my pizza dough going. I made a double batch and after the first rise, split it into 12 pieces that I flattened into vaguely-recognizable bun shapes. I made some cabbage, celery, and raisin coleslaw from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook, during the second rise (really just those veggies, some mayo, lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar), and got the sandwich fixins out while they baked. (Turkey, ham, cheddar, provolone, pepper jack, pickles, tomatoes but sadly no lettuce or sprouts.) Simple, yet good. If the sands were made on store bought bread it would have been just fine, but on fresh-from-the-oven sandwich buns....kickin' yumyum!

chang's gourmet

Tonight was one of those nights where I could have probably finagled some sort of meal up, but wussied out. I could have made tacos but no lettuce or beans/meat. I could have made sandwiches but no bread. I could have made veggie chowder but no milk, cow or otherwise. I'm sure there was something that wasn't missing a key ingredient but I didn't have the energy or gumption to find it. My answer: Chinese take-out by Chang's Gourmet. A bit of a misnomer since it is a lil' hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop sort of place, but I'll let it pass since their food is decent. One order each of orange chicken, sesame beef, buddha's delight and shrimp lo mein. Now I'm battling falling into a food coma...I'm. not. strong. enough...zzzzzzzzz.

pizza

Tonight was pizza. We had friends over (12 mouths altogether) so I made enough dough for seven pies: 2 cheese; 1 pepperoni; 1 pineapple and olive; 1 broccoli, red pepper, and caramelized onion; 1 gluten-free/dairy-free pineapple pepperoni; 1 cinnamon-sugar foccaccia (for dessert). It was yummy. There were four pieces leftover. I'm tired.

leftovers

'nuff said.

beef stew + rolls

One of my favorite comfort foods is beef stew and since the weather has cooled down...dinner came from the crockpot tonight, Cozy Cottage Beef Stew. Tweaks: I omit one can of chicken broth (otherwise my crockpot will overflow) and when it's done cooking I add one cup of frozen corn. This cools it down a touch for my kidlings. I love this recipe because it uses fresh veggies. Yum, yum, yum.

And if you have stew, you've got to have something to sop up the juices. Used my pizza dough to make rosettes. I did 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white and doubled the recipe which made 32! We ate A LOT for dinner. Later we had friends come over to watch a few tv episodes and when all was said and done...no more rolls. Now we've got leftover stew and leftover squash soup for dinner tomorrow. Yay!

Dessert was a caramel and a couple squares from a birthday-gift Symphony bar with almonds and toffee. Happy tummies prevail!

squash soup + salad

Hubberoni's favorite soup is Wolfgang Puck's Savory Squash Soup. The recipe he found for me had a red pepper coulis garnish. But the link above that I just found for you has cardamom cream, cranberry relish and carmelized pecan garnishes. Wish I would have found that earlier. Next time I'm adding those. This soup is really very good, but with those garnishes...mmmmmmm, sublime, I'm sure.

I didn't get the creme fraiche so I just subbed in sour cream and it was still a delightful deliciousness. I added a green leaf salad with some chopped leftover veggies from the other night. The picture really doesn't do the soup justice. (I finished after the sun went down and had to take it inside with my flash, sorry.) It was a goldenrod/yellow color and just rich and beautiful. Oh well.

We also finished off the last of the truffles tonight. (one each for the adults) So, so good. And had a couple pieces of caramel, too. All in all, a very pleasant meal.

bww's redux

Youngest boy's birthday was today. What did he want for dinner? Buffalo Wild Wings...again. Come on son, let's show some originality. We don't have to pick everything our older brother chooses. Oh well. For variety, tonight I had the Asian Zing sauce, my favorite. Although I do wish it had a bit more zing. Everything else was ditto of two week's ago except when we got home. Homemade caramels was the requested dessert. (from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook) Hot diggity dog! My favorite! Thank you, little man. You are forgiven for your previous sins.

stuffed breadsticks + veggies and ranch

One of the family's favorite meals is stuffed breadsticks. I take my no-fail pizza dough, let it rise once, cut it into 16 or so pieces, shape each piece into a rectangle, lay a line of pepperoni and mozzarella, then seal it into a breadstick shape and bake. Tonight I chopped carrots, celery, red pepper and broccoli to go with it. For dipping, add some ranch for the veggies and some pizza sauce for the breadsticks and you are good to go. A double dough recipe is just enough for us right now. Who knows how many I'll have to make in a couple years...

meatloaf + mashed potatoes + corn + pumpkin truffles

Today was my birthday. I opted to make dinner instead of going out. And what was my dining desire? Meatloaf. Can you believe it? If you know me, this is not a normal request. Pad thai, sure or maybe Aloo Gobi with naan, but meatloaf? Not usually. It sounded so good, though. When we have meatloaf (which is quite seldom) it has to be one recipe: Brown Sugar Meatloaf. This stuff is heaven for the tongue and hell for the arteries. Brown sugar and ketchup are put in the bottom of the pan and as the meatloaf bakes it releases its juices, causing a heart-attack inducing ambrosia to form. And this stuff spooned on mashed potatoes is beyond words. I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it. And as everyone knows, corn is the perfect accompaniment to mashed potatoes and meatloaf. Mmmmmm...I was so full my tummy actually hurt.

In fact, I was so full it took me until about 1130pm before I had enough room to try one of my pumpkin truffles, which were the equivalent of a gingersnap-crusted pumpkin pie bite covered in white chocolate. Oh dear, too good.

pork chops + polenta + southern fried cabbage

Well, this was really a haphazardly tossed together meal. I had five pork chops for six people and an entire head of cabbage. Oldest daughter suggested adding polenta. My response? Why not. I chopped the chops in half (so as to have the least amount of waste if not eaten by the kidlings), dipped in egg and then seasoned flour and panfried. The cabbage was prepared using this recipe, which happened to be quite tasty. Polenta is always made according the the Creamy Polenta recipe in ATK's Family Cookbook. It was a rather filling meal, but in the end we all wanted just one more chunk of chop...

pita + hummus et al

Tonight we had one of my favorite dinners: homemade pita and hummus with olives, feta, pepperoni, lettuce and tomatoes. It's a Mediterranean mix of sorts. Olives, pita and tomatoes are quite widespread along that coast. The feta is from Greece, and the pepperoni, Italy. I don't know. It's just a bunch of ingredients that we've tried at one time or another and we liked them. This is also another "everyone loves this" meal. I think its such a big hit because everyone can create their own plate of goodies. Which proves that kids can like something that isn't specifically catered to them as a "kid-friendly dish." So lets see...for this meal I tried this pita recipe and the hummus is this old favorite of ours that I've blogged before. Mmmmmm...contentment.

sloppy joes + crudites

(I had to use the word crudites. I'm sure that if you have crudites then you must have some worthy entree like filet mignon or poached salmon with lemon sauce. Accompanying a dish like sloppy joes they can only be called celery and carrot sticks, but I want to use the word crudite, gosh darn it! So deal with it!)

The joint birthday party was today. It went well. As is usually the case, we ate breakfast, had the party with its accompanying cake, ice cream and candy, skipping lunch and were alternating between bouts of exhaustion and jittery sugar hyperactivity come dinner time. I haven't gone grocery shopping yet so I went to my pantry and stared. "Come on, food. Tell me what I can make tonight. What can I make?" My eyes fell on the tub of TVP and I could have swore that it lit up a bit and glowed. Sloppy joes! Well, sort of. I use the recipe from my trusty ATK Family cookbook and sub in the TVP. It's decent. Sure, ground beef sloppy joes are better, but when you don't got no ground beef...it'll do.

I didn't have any buns either so with my pizza dough recipe I made some. (I was a good girl and used 1/2 whole wheat flour.) The daughter made some ranch (awesome recipe here, we skip the dill in it, hubby no-likey the dill) and I chopped red pepper, carrots and celery. Everyone ate it and hopefully it will make up for the junk we ate last night. Hopefully.

sonic

I don't even want to admit dinner tonight, but with this blog's title it'd be horribly immoral of me not to. My two sons are having their joint birthday party tomorrow. We spent all day cooking, cleaning and decorating. We came down from scouring their rooms to a clock with a big hand on the six and a little hand on its way to seven. Needing to go to the grocery store, I had no quick fix to fall back on. So, the hubby suggested Sonic and I agreed: sonic burger (no onion, no cheese), order of tots and a sprite. It was good in a cheap-fast-food way, but it comes with a big helping of damning-my-family-to-early-deaths guilt. That's not so tasty. Oh well.

chuckwagon beans + rice

We ate my last prepared-for dinner last night. Tonight became "What can we make from the pantry?" night. Our friends spent the entire day in medical consultations while I watched their kids, so I knew dinner had to be substantial enough to feed twelve. Pinto beans called to me. Simple pinto beans with some molasses, a few spices and onion. It was missing something, though and I added some Frank's Red Hot, but that didn't do it. I couldn't quite place it until much too late: bacon. I bought an "ends and pieces" box of bacon for random flavoring and I forgot to use it tonight. Tonight was not high on the dinner excitement scale.

pizza

My husband would be happy if we had pizza every night. The closest I can come to his nirvana is once a week. It's quite a process but I really enjoy it. (details here) I make three pizzas. This week they were: pepperoni and olive, 1/2 cheese 1/2 pineapple, and bbq chicken. Pizza night is a favorite for two reasons: everyone gets happy-tummy full and there is no complaining. Can't go wrong with that.

biscuits and gravy + collard greens

We've recently moved to the south. And while my love for biscuits and gravy dates back to childhood, I am a complete stranger to collards.

They were on sale. They have been for a couple weeks. I think they're in season. So I bought some. They rotted in my fridge. Not deterred, I bought some more and tonight they were dinner. I found this recipe and I'm glad to say that they were a tasty treat. Cheap, too.

The biscuits and gravy were awesome, of course, as white flour and fat usually make things. I could have a bowl of sausage gravy for dinner and I'd be happy as a lark. Not as skinny as one, though...

chicken salad sandwiches + split pea soup + chocolate-less macadamia blondies

The concept is FOUR meals from two chickens. But to be honest, we didn't love the sweet and sour chicken so I made a double batch of the tetrazzini. (see last night's post) This means that tonight was the last of the chicken. I whipped up a batch of chicken salad in the food processor and ended up with more of a pate but it was still tasty. The classic, simple split pea soup recipe came from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook I got in Costco a couple years back. Easy peas-y meal. (ha ha!) Oh yeah, I also had a hankerin' for some blondies, but had no chocolate chips. I sprinkled macadamia nuts on the top and said, "What the heck!" Sure, chocolate would have perfected them, but they were yummy nonetheless.

chicken tetrazzini + green salad

This was meal two from Four Meals from Two Chickens. It should make two 9x13 pans, but I only have one so I made the entire batch in an 11x13 pan. It fit perfectly and our family ate about 2/3 of it so in the end it was for the best. Happily, this recipe doesn't use a carton of sour cream or a can of cream of blank soup. You make a white sauce with butter and flour and add it to the noodles and chicken along with some cheddar cheese. I'm happier with that. This was tasty, but with a stick of butter and four cups of cheddar we're not surprised. Comfort food with a dash of guilt. I can deal with that.

duggy's belgian waffles

Every Saturday we have Daddy's Belgian Waffles. They are taste-a-licious. Today we got up a little late. Breakfast waffles turned into Lunch waffles, but Duggy had to do some super necessary work on our septic system and so Lunch waffles were Dinner waffles. Waffles with strawberry sauce, whipped cream and dusted with cocoa powder. Mmmmmm. I love Saturdays.

tacos + north douglas chocolate cake

Taco night. We always, thanks to Taco Bell's inspiration, have double deckers. It just makes so much sense. The crunchy shell held together by a tortilla glued on with refried beans. Not much to explain: ground turkey, guac, rice, lettuce, olives, sour cream, cheddar cheese and taco sauce. (Always Pace Red Taco Sauce. Mild for the hubby.) Everyone loves tacos, even the kidlings. (dessert: North Douglas Chocolate Cake from my friend's recipe.)

chicken and noodles + salad

Four meals from two chickens. I found this idea on The Family Homestead. With two chickens you get a couple gallons of chicken broth and enough chicken to make four meals: chicken and noodles, chicken tetrazzini, chicken salad sandwiches, and sweet and sour chicken. Tonight we had the chicken and noodles and a green salad (green leaf with grated carrot and red pepper). You have to plan ahead to have the chickens cooked, but once they are it is a really simple meal, warm and comforting. Including the salad, it was thirty minutes from start to finish. Who says you can't have fast, good-for-you, from-scratch meals?