A Week of Easy, Vegetarian Meals

I want to offer you a week of easy, vegetarian meals.

I often am asked by meat eaters what are my favorite dishes and what I commonly eat. I usually just say pasta because that's the first thing that comes to my mind, but I've been thinking about it for a few days and wanted to document some of my favorite meals. These are meals I can make on a weeknight because I usually keep these ingredients on hand and they are relatively quick to make.

You will see spinach salad on here with almost every meal because I actually do eat that all the time. I love it, it's good for me and it's easy.

For dressing, I like to make homemade peppercorn ranch dressing or balsamic vinegar. I'll share my peppercorn ranch recipe tomorrow.

1) Tri-color rotini pasta with green beans, bread and spinach salad.

I love this recipe. I have it memorized by now because I make it alllll the time. I always have the ingredients on hand for this one so it's a go-to dish.

I found the recipe many years ago on Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade website, but I can't find it now. Here it is from my recipe book:

Ingredients:

1 (1 pound) package of tricolor rotini (I like the hidden veggie kind)

1 package frozen broccoli stir-fry mix (Birds Eye brand)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons black pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Add the stir-fry mix to pasta water during the last 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well.

In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, pepper, red pepper and salt. I like to add basil too. Add the pasta mix and cheese, tossing to coat. Serve.

Here's the recipe for the Focaccia.

2) Baked Potatoes, parmesan green beans and spinach salad.

This one is easy peasy.  There's only like 5 minutes of actual cooking time for you! You just have to plan ahead to get the potatoes in the oven. I first pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. I wash/scrub the potatoes, cut up aluminum foil for each potato, rub the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle sea salt on and then wrap them in their little aluminum foil blankets and toss them in the oven. After an hour they are steamy and ready for eating.

When the potatoes are almost ready I start the green beans and prepare my salad.

I've shared the green bean recipe before, you can find it here. They are soooo easy! It takes about 5 minutes to make them.

3) Lemon pasta, spinach salad, edamame

The pasta is Pioneer Woman's Baked Lemon Pasta. 

In the picture those are Parmesan green beans, but I like to switch it up sometimes and have edamame. It's yummy and easy (I just heat up one of those 'steam in the bag' packages in the microwave) and they have protein.

4) Pita pizzas, fresh fruit, spinach salad

This one is just fun. I like this for guests because they can put whatever they want on it. I buy the pitas when they are BOGO at Publix. :) On mine, I like pesto sauce, a little sea salt, spinach, cut up tomatoes, olives, mushrooms (if I have them), mozzarella cheese.

This is the brand of pitas that I buy, but I prefer the wheat kind.

I put them in the oven for about ten to fifteen minutes and they're good to go.

I always keep fresh fruit around the house. I like to wash and cut it up when I get home from the store so it's ready to go, so whatever I have on hand I serve.

5) Stuffed peppers, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Yes, I like cheese. I will admit this one takes me a little more time because I have to prepare the items for the "stuffing" of the bell peppers, but it's still easy.

I found the recipe I use on the blog Mom Machine. I love these peppers! I add cayenne pepper to mine cause I like the rice to be a little spicy to contrast with the sweetness of the bell peppers.

And there you have it,

Man, I could have listed even more. I didn't even get to the soups yet. Yum, soup.

Now, please don't let me mislead you into thinking that I cook every night. I don't. On days that I have improv rehearsal (yes, I really do improv) or church I usually head straight there after work and eat leftovers when I get home. These are just ideas for meals that I make pretty regularly. :) I also have the habit of when I cook, making a lot extra of stuff so I usually can eat on it for a few days and take leftovers to work so that cuts down on how often I cook too.

And sometimes I just eat this for dinner. :)

Thanksgiving

So I realize it's pretty late to be posting about Thanksgiving, but I'm going to anyway because 2013 was the first year that I hosted Thanksgiving at my place and I was pretty excited about it. My family usually plans these kinds of things at the last minute so I wasn't stepping on anybody's toes by offering to host this year. Also, my family is pretty small (at least those of us who get together for Thanksgiving) so it wasn't a huge ordeal.

It was pretty fun getting together a menu and planning everything! So first of all, the decorations.

Ever since my BFF's wedding shower, I always have some sort of bunting hanging in my dining room. I think it's just cause I having some extra color in there since the only other ways I do that are with the art and various table runners. I created this one with some extra papers I had.

I went shopping with my mom and we found this fabric that features all the traditional Thanksgiving colors (well, to us anyway) and so I got some to create 2 runners out of. I made one for the food table and one for the dining table. I don't have a sewing machine so I just used hem tape and it held up really well.

When I was picking up some of the food at Publix (my favorite grocery store....) I spotted these red-orange flowers and picked some up to arrange on the table. I'm definitely no florist, but I thought they were a nice touch.

For place settings, I just put out my everyday plates and silverware. I don't have china or another set of dishes, so this is it. :)

I made my grandmother's red velvet cake like I enjoy doing for most holidays. There was an incident though where before the meal was served, my diabetic grandfather cut into it and ate a piece. That was an interesting moment. :) Don't worry, he was fine.

Here I am with the finished food table! I was really pleased with how everything turned out. My mom and sisters arrived early and helped me with the cooking so it wasn't too overwhelming. They also brought the meat so my vegetarian self wouldn't have to make it.

We had mashed potatoes, spinach salad, squash/zucchini casserole, roasted broccoli, veggie casserole, my grandma's biscuits, ham and green bean casserole. My mom also brought a cheesecake for us.

I planned my menu out a few weeks early so that gave me time to get stuff on sale for the meal. I am a coupon-er still and so if I can save money on something I was going to get anyway, that just makes my day. I'm really glad I did it that way or I would have spent a lot of money on food at the last minute.

The other thing is, a lot of this was foods that I tend to have on hand anyway so that helped too.

We had a really great time eating, playing board games and just hanging out together. I love my family. :)

The main thing I learned from this experience was timing. I have a hard time with big meals like these getting everything finished at around the same time. Do any of you have tips for that?

Tomato Basil Soup

As promised on Monday, here is the recipe I use for Tomato Basil Soup! (From Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes, diced
4 cups tomato juice
14 leaves fresh basil
1 cup heavy whipping cream (I use whatever I have on hand, half and half or cream)
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper

In a large stock pot, heat the tomatoes and tomato juice on medium heat. Let simmer for 30 minutes.

At this point I use my immersion blender to blend the tomato mixture with the basil leaves while it's still on the stove (LOVE my immersion blender!).

Then stir in the cream and butter. Season the soup with salt and pepper and heat until butter is melted.

When I make this soup I usually make a double batch and I'll eat it throughout the week (I love carrying soup to work for lunch).

Yum!

Favorite Things About Fall - Soup!

When the weather gets cold one of the first things that happens to me is that I want to eat soup. I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but for me it's just one of those things about Fall. This past weekend I made some soup and now I'll have leftovers to get me through this week. :)

Here are some of my favorite soups that I've shared:

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Cheddared Farmhouse Chowder

Loaded Potato Soup

Tomato Basil Soup

Which I'll be sharing my recipe for later this week!

I love a lot of soups, but these are my go-to soups. It's easier for me to just make my own soups since most places don't have a lot vegetarian options since most are made with chicken or beef broth.

What do you love about fall?

Broccoli Cheese Soup

The other day I got a hankering for broccoli cheese soup and what did I do? I made some. I thought I would share the recipe I used with you. It originally used chicken broth, but you all know I made it vegetarian. =)

Broccoli Cheese Soup (altered from this recipe from My Blessed Life):

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. all purpose flour
4 c. milk
4 c. veggie broth
1 lb. fresh broccoli (I actually used frozen *gasp!* - the scandal!)
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 t. nutmeg
16 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Whisk butter and flour in a stock pot over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and slowly add in the milk (heat it up a little first). Then add in the veggie broth while still whisking. Let this simmer for 20 minutes.

During this time, prepare the onion by sauteing it in 1 tablespoon of butter.

 

You can also take this time to grate the cheese.

Since I used frozen broccoli, I microwaved it for about 4-5 minutes and then set it aside.

After the mixture has simmered for 20 minutes, add in the broccoli and onion.  Cook the soup over low heat for about 20-25 minutes then add salt and pepper to taste.

At this point, you can puree your soup in a blender. I recently bought a Kitchenaid immersion blender from Target for $50 so I just used that and it worked really well. If you use a blender, return the soup to your pot after and set the stove to  low heat. Add in your cheese and stir until well blended.  Then add the nutmeg.

I served the soup with some tasty bread.

The finished product:

I loved this soup! It was everything I dreamed it would be.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving! I'm still eating leftovers over here.

Me and my mom have cooked Thanksgiving dinner each year since my grandmother passed away. I love the time I get to spend in the kitchen with my mom cooking. We pick dishes we're going to make and form a menu from that.

My mom always handles the meat. =) Thanks Mom!

This year our menu was:

Rolls
Turkey
Ham
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Carrots
Green Bean Casserole
Turnip Greens
Chicken Casserole
Vegetable Casserole
Corn
Red Velvet Cake

We pretty much make the same things every year (tradition!) and we have our system down pretty well now of what time we cook which things. We ended up finishing 1 minute before our scheduled time to eat.

It was so fun seeing everybody and hanging out while enjoying some tasty food (if I do say so myself). I also got to dance the night away with my baby cousin in Just Dance 3. I'm so thankful for my family and friends.

How was your Thanksgiving? =)

Pan-Fried Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, baked potatoes.... Pretty much any kind of potato, haha. But the other day I wanted to try something new - pan-fried potatoes. I had a bag of cute, little gold potatoes and cut them in half to pan-fry.

I heated up 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then tossed in the potatoes, letting them brown without stirring for about 10 minutes.

Then I just used tongs to flip them over and let them brown up some more.

After they were cooked through I added basil and a little salt and pepper.

I had these with carrots and green bean casserole (how Thanksgiving-y, right?)

I thoroughly enjoyed these potatoes (just like any other potato dish, but still). This weekend I'm heading off to a youth retreat so I'll get to spend some more time with my awesome sister McKenna, woo-hoo!

What are you up to this weekend?

Fake Grilled Cheese

Growing up my sister and I spent a ton of time at our grandparent's house and my grandma would cook and bake for us all the time. I took it for granted as a kid, but once I got into college I really appreciated it. The university I went to required those of us who lived on campus to buy a meal plan that was pretty expensive and to use up all the money I had to eat in the cafeteria almost every day. After eating in there for about 2 weeks I was cafeteria'd-out.

Every weekend that I got a chance I would drive the hour away to my grandparent's house and spend the weekend with them. Of course during these weekends my grandma would cook for me and sometimes for a snack she would make me her "grilled cheese" sandwiches that we always had growing up.

As an ode to my nanny (what we all called her), I made fake grilled cheese this weekend. I call it fake grilled cheese because it's baked instead of grilled in a pan on the stove. They are so easy to make and cook pretty quickly.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and spread a little butter on one side of each piece of bread. Put your cheese on one piece of bread and then put another piece on top.

Bake for about 3 minutes and then flip. Cook for 2-3 minutes more and then you're done!

Both sides should be golden brown and you have a crispy, non-greasy "grilled" cheese sandwich.

One of my to-dos this weekend was to make soup. I made a double batch of the same tomato-basil soup we served at our Halloween party so that we'd have extra for throughout the week and we had some yesterday with our "grilled" cheese sandwiches.

Thanks grandma for another go-to recipe!

Another exciting thing that happened this weekend was that McKenna's soccer team placed first in their division today! I know in sports it's not all about winning, but that is quite an accomplishment and her team played really well and had great sportsmanship. =) I'm a proud sister.

Tofu!

As a vegetarian, I search for protein in forms other than meat (obviously). I love tofu and don't eat it too often, but when I do it's a treat for me. I don't have a lot of recipes for preparing tofu, but here is a new one I recently discovered here. I altered the recipe a bit (surprise, surprise, haha).

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch thick slices; then cut again into 1/2-inch wide sticks. Put the tofu in a bowl and pour the broth over the top. Let soak for about 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt, pepper, basil, parsley and cayenne.
Heat a griddle (or pan) and spray with preferred cooking spray.
Remove tofu sticks from broth, and squeeze most (but not all) of the liquid from them. Roll the sticks in breading (I rolled the tofu in the breading twice to get it fully coated). Place the tofu in the griddle or pan and cook until crisp and browned on all sides.

I served the tofu with roasted carrots and pasta. This is my favorite tofu recipe that I have made so far as the tofu pieces were so crispy and the texture was really nice.

Mozzarella Sticks

I love quick snacks and I had been browsing Pinterest for some new ideas and I saw a picture of homemade mozzarella sticks. I was intrigued. This creative person used eggroll wrappers to cover the mozzarella and then fried them, but I wanted to bake them instead.

I headed to the store and got some mozzarella and some wonton wrappers instead of eggroll wrappers as I wanted them to be mini-sized. I began by cutting the mozzarella sticks into 3 pieces each. I laid out a wrapper and then placed a piece of mozzarella in it and just rolled it up.

When I got to the middle I would tuck the edges in and keep rolling -- kinda like a burrito.

Rolling them up was actually pretty fun!

If you're wondering about all the receipts on the fridge, they're my trophies from my couponing adventures. Haha. Looking at them makes me happy.

Once I finished rolling, I would brush a little water on the edge to seal the wrapper.

Then I lined them up on a baking sheet. They were so cute and little!

I baked them at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes. I flipped them halfway through to prevent sticking.

The sticks turned out golden-brown and with the addition of some warmed up marinara sauce, they were quite tasty!

I always love adding recipes like this to my collection - quick, easy and tasty. =)

Easy Breakfast Ideas

The blog world is full of talented people with brilliant ideas, like you! So I want your ideas. More specifically, I want your breakfast ideas.

On a typical morning, I will eat a waffle or a bagel on the way to work. During the weekend it's usually cereal or one of the following:

Pancakes and eggs. I have a most wonderful recipe for pancakes and it's quick and easy too. I'll have to share it some time.

Egg and cheese on whole wheat bagels.

Omelettes. Standard.

And a southern classic, biscuits and cocoa. If you're not from the South then you probably wouldn't understand. I grew up on my grandma's biscuits and for breakfasts on the weekend our grandparents would make us biscuits and cocoa. I got the recipes from her and now from time to time I make this.

I would like to branch out from these staples though and try some new breakfast ideas, so lay them on me! What are your favorite breakfast ideas?