viva vegan! + papas rellenas

I mixed my days up a bit so yesterday's lunch happened today.

This is another recipe from Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero (Again, the link is through Vegan.com). It is mini potatoes stuffed with mushrooms and olives. Again there is a sweetness added, from raisins. I'm sensing an ethnic trend.

Since these mini potatoes were hollowed out, and I hate wasting food, I mashed the insides of the potatoes with paprika, almond milk and olive oil, and seasoned it well. This echoed the ingredients in the filling. While the potatoes have a great flavor, the filling was a little dry so the mashed potatoes topped onto the filling after the papas were baked was a welcome addition. And no waste.

Very good flavors over all and a great idea. 

Cost Breakdown:

potatoes: $4

nuts, raisins, olives: $2

mushrooms: $4

onion, garlic, spices: $1

Total to make 15 potatoes:

$11.00

italian-style seitan with linguine

 Italian Night!

When I told my kids we were having Italian-Style Seitan with Linguine, they questioned why the recipe was from 'American Vegan Kitchen.' Kids are way too pragmatic! 

This was a delicious, easy and quick meal to make - thanks, Tami! I love her recipes because they are super simple to make and delicious to eat.

This dish has kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, seitan, greens, mushrooms and red pepper. It was a family hit!

Cost Breakdown:
pasta: $2
red pepper: $2
olives, sun-tomatoes: $3
greens: $3
mushrooms: $2
seitan: $2
Total to feed a family of 6:
$14.00

stacked mediterranean sandwich

Picnic

It is Friday and during the summer the kids and I are hitting the trails.

This has to be one of the most perfect picnic foods to take with you because the sandwich gets better while sitting, not soggier. Kate was responsible for today's lunch, so what went into it were all her preferred flavors. We made the spread using cannellini beans, roasted pepper, olive oil and almonds. That is right - almonds. Oh, it it something you have to try! They added a wonderful flavor and a needed texture to the spread since cannellinis are very smooth when processed. Leave the almonds big enough to bite into, so put them (1/4 c) in the food processor first and pulse a few times, then add the roasted pepper, a can of beans, a little olive oil, a garlic minced and pulse until you get a nice consistency. Do not over process. Taste for salt and pepper.

Now, a pressed sandwich has to have some good vinaigrette. This is paramount. I made a Mustard-lemon dressing. Mixing 2 T lemon juice, 2 t Dijon mustard, 2 T olive oil, 1 clove garlic, 1 t agave (or sugar), gives you a slightly sweet, yet tangy dressing that complements the vegetables. Taste for salt and pepper.

Load your spread into a hollowed out round bread, top with sliced olives, tomatoes, peppers, basil leaves, red onions and some greens - I used broccoli slaw we had left over. Pour enough dressing to coat nicely. Add a little more spread, top with the bread top, wrap in plastic wrap (I wrapped it in a parchment paper first - you know, plastic and all that.) and pack it in your backpack. Cut at the site to avoid the dressing from dripping out.

Woo-hoo! The kids loved it! Cat even had two slices and we shared with a friend who seemed quite surprised that even though 'we are missing out on so much good food (read: animal products)' this was, hmm,  pretty good.

I love to share our bounty with others :)

Cost Breakdown:

bread: $3

beans: $2

almonds: $.75

vegetables and basil: $2

olives and tomato: $2

dressing: $.75

Total to feed 5 people:

$10.50

raw alfredo primavera

Raw Night

To the delight of my children, I made another raw meal. For us, Mondays are the ideal day to make raw because that is when I go to Whole Foods and the vegetables are extra fresh - very important when they are naked, so to speak. It is especially important that summer squash be fresh because the older they get the more bitter they become. Not a good thing.

I lost a part to my spiral slicer, so I just used my knife to cut the squash into thin, long strips. I tossed the slices in a little olive oil and dehydrated them for about an hour. Sort of the extent of my cooking tonight. I also tossed some spinach with diced red onion and dehydrated that, too.

The olive 'bread' I tossed in the dehydrator the night before; it didn't need to be crispy because I wasn't shooting for a cracker.

The Alfredo sauce was really excellent. I wouldn't say it is 'Alfredo' sauce, but calling it Macadamia Pasta Sauce fits better for how it tasted. The sauce had a little garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and coconut vinegar. Mixed with the squash strips, tomatoes, olives and the spinach, it tasted very flavorful and quite good. Another raw surprise for David. It was harder to sell to the kids, though, who passionately dislike squash of any season. This meal was inpired by recipes in the cookbook Eating Raw by Mark Reinfeld.

Cost Breakdown:

nuts: $4

vegetables: $6

olives, oil, lemon: $1

flax seeds, sunflower seeds, olives: $3

Total to annoy 3 kids and feed 2 adults:

$14.00

Macadamia Pasta Sauce Recipe

greek wrap with kalamata and feta

Picnic

We went to the beach today and brought this tasty, easy and quick to make wrap. It has broccoli slaw in it because I was trying to find a way to get Cat to eat broccoli - this worked! In fact, she didn't know it was broccoli until after I told her. She blamed her ignorance on hunger. It also contains a spread of homemade feta - which I made a few weeks ago, it needs some time to brine - and kalamata olives. A few slices of tomatoes and strips of roasted peppers rounded out this wrap. Very Greek. 

Cost Breakdown:

tortillas: $3

olives: $2

feta: $1

tomatoes and peppers: $2

broccoli slaw: $3

Total to make 7 wraps:

$11.00