Adventures of a Maude in Training

It has been super-hectic around here between how busy I've been with my preschool board position, the preschool fundraiser, and a couple of bouts of illness. The menus reflect that, but it still has been good eating around here.

10/03/10: Pasta with tomato-mushroom sauce, green beans Caesar (from my new "Church Suppers" cookbook I scored at the friends of the library sale), and kale chips
10/02/10: Out to eat after school rummage sale
10/01/10: At preschool working late...leftovers/frozen stuff
09/30/10: At school working late...cannot remember...I know I cooked but I just cannot remember what
09/29/10: Bow tie pasta with fresh tomato-garlic-basil sauce, kale chips, and Brussels sprouts sauteed with garlic, red chili flakes, and Parmesan cheese
09/28/10: Bean burgers with cheese and onions on wheat buns, corn on the cob, and green salad
09/27/10: Greek lentil soup, roasted Brussels sprouts, green salad, and garlic bread
09/26/10: Burritos (onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms with black beans, cheese and rice).
09/25/10: Ordered Chinese food (everyone sick)
09/24/10: Ordered pizza (everyone sick)
09/23/10: Pasta e fagioli, green salad, and garlic toast
09/22/10: School board meeting
09/21/10: Potato and garlic soup and green salad (probably something else too but I cannot remember)
09/20/10: Vegan gumbo (complete with homemade vegan andouille sausage) served over white rice and corn on the cob
09/19/10: Diner out
09/18/10: Leftovers
09/17/10: Macaroni and cheese casserole and roasted cauliflower with lemon pepper
09/16/10: School meeting
09/15/10: Whole wheat spirals with cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, roasted summer squash, and green salad.
09/14/10: Homemade bean burgers on wheat buns with cooked onions and cheese, kale chips, corn on the cob
09/13/10: Red bean and rice soup, roasted cauliflower with lemon pepper, green salad, and garlic-Parmesan bread
09/12/10: Out--leftovers

4/25/10: Dinner out
4/24/10: late lunch/early dinner out after rehearsal
04/23/10: Snobby Joe's (lentil-based Sloppy Joe's), baked potato wedges, green salad. The Snobby Joe's were made from a recipe in Veganomicon and were awesome. Really good--it's a keeper
04/22/10: dinner out after shopping trip
04/21/10: skillet mole pie and corn on the cob. The mole pie was kind of an epic fail. We just really didn't like it. It was from a recipe in Veganomicon.
04/20/10: Couscous-lentil soup, roasted Brussels sprouts with lemon pepper, savory scallion biscuits.
04/19/10: Linguine with carrots, leeks, and mushrooms and green salad

Our meals last week
04/11/10: Black Bean and Vegetable Soup from Veganomicon and baked potato wedges. I left out the peppers and celery in the soup (we were out) and omitted the cumin because I wanted a non-cumin black bean soup. It turned out beautifully and I finally have a black bean soup recipe I really like. Yay!
04/10/10: Leftovers
04/09/10: Lentil Minestrone from Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone", roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, and garlic bread. This is one of my all-time favorite lentil soups. So good. S. approved as well.
04/08/10: Spicy baked macaroni and green salad
04/07/10: Red potato-leek-veggie bacon-cheese casserole and roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower and green salad
04/06/10: Minestrone soup and roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with lemon pepper and bread
04/05/10: Minestrone soup and bread

I have been on a cauliflower and Brussels sprouts kick which is why you see them here so often. Soon it will be green bean season and summer squash season so they will appear more often as a vegetable side dish. Our main dishes typically contain a fair number of vegetables so our vegetable sides are kind of icing on the cake, so to speak. S. is on cucumber and carrot kick so he eats a lot of those raw. It's the current fad.

Catching up...

02/14/10: Ordered pizza
02/13/10: Cheese ravioli and green salad
02/12/10: Split Pea Soup
02/11/10: school meeting--leftovers
02/10/10: Pasta e Fagilio (new to me recipe from Vegetarian Epicure 2--I added chard) garlic-Parm bread
02/09/10: Yellow Split Pea Soup with Spiced Yogurt (from Annie Somerville's Fields of Greens , roasted Brussels sprouts with lemon pepper, and garlic-Parm bread
02/08/10: Noodles and Beef Seitan (I added bean sprouts to the recipe) and Sichuan Green Beans (from Tassajara Dinner and Desserts)
02/07/10:Navy Bean and Celery Root Soup and roasted Brussels sprouts with lemon pepper
02/06/10: Navy Bean and Celery Root Soup with multigrain muffins (from "Moosewood Cooks at Home" and green salad
02/05/10: Red potato-leek-veggie bacon and cheese casserole

Playing catch-up here, working backwards...

03/21/10: Penne with mushrooms, leeks, and carrots in a champagne sauce (based off recipe in Fields of Greens, roasted cauliflower with lemon pepper, and green salad with radicchio and walnuts.
03/20/10: Potato-chard-cheese enchiladas, refried beans, and tomato rice. Did the beans from scratch and they turned out better then I've done before. Rice was so-so...not seasoned well enough.
03/19/10: Dinner out
03/18/10: Chickpeas in vegetable sauce and couscous, roasted cauliflower with lemon pepper, and multigrain bread.
03/17/10: Navy bean and celery root soup, multigrain muffins, and green salad
03/16/10: Skillet potatoes, bell peppers, and onions, topped with cheddar cheese and scallions
03/15/10: Radiatore (or "rib cage noodles" as S. calls them) with mushroom-tomato sauce, roasted Brussels sprouts, garlic Parmesan bread, and green salad
03/14/10: Macaroni and cheese casserole, roasted Brussels spouts and cauliflower with lemon pepper, green salad

This week as a bit heavy on the pasta, but it was just that kind of week. Really grooving on the roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, so we are having that a lot. We've been getting some radicchio di castelfranco each week and it has been wonderful in our salads. I made two pans of enchiladas this time out, so we have plenty in the freezer. Yay!

I got super behind. We've been busy so I haven't been cooking quite as much, plus I have hid the end of pregnancy wall of doom.

Anyhow...

11/16/09: Chunky chickpea soup and roasted potatoes and onions with garlic.

11/17/09: Minestrone soup with garlic bread. Green salad

11/18/09: Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce, garlic bread, green salad.

11/20/09: Leftover macaroni and cheese casserole from school potluck and/or leftover soup.

11/21/09: Out late at shows--leftovers at home later

11/22/09: Leftovers (I think)

11/23/09: Chickpeas with couscous and vegetable sauce and roasted potatoes and onions with garlic and thyme.

11/24/09: Bean, cheese, and rice burritos with corn. Used my homemade pickled jalapenos on the adult dishes. Yum!

11/25/09: Pasta with marinara sauce with tofurky sausage and green salad.

11/26/09: Thanksgiving: Cranberry bean soup, fuyu persimmons with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts, green salad (my mom brought it), green beans satsivi (cold green beans with a walnut-cilantro sauce), macaroni and cheese casserole, mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash with garlic and parsley, swiss chard strude, stuffing/Dressing sans bird (mom brought), cranberry sauce (the real deal, not the stuff from a can), pumpkin pie (mom brought), cranberry-apple-persimmon crisp

11/27/09: Thanksgiving leftovers.

11/28/09: More leftovers

11/29/09: Leftovers.

11/30/09: Homemade Italian-style seitan sausages, green beans with garlic and rice wine vinegar, roasted potatoes and onions with garlic and thyme, persimmons with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.

11/31/09: Penne with mushrooms, leeks, and carrots, green sala, and persimmons with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.

12/01/09: Potato-leek soup (thawed from freezer stash), veggie buffalo wings, green salad, and persimmons with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts. (S. doesn't care for the soup and the wings are too spicy for him so he had leftover pasta, steamed broccoli, and kiwi fruit).

12/02/09: Spicy baked rigatoni (pasta with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese), green salad, and satsuma mandarins.

Phew!

Been a busy couple of weeks and S. has been sick all week and I am sick now so meals have been a bit spottier than usual. Anyhow, here's what we've been eating:

11/02/09: Chickpea-Vegetable Soup, green salad with pears and walnuts, garlic bread. Soup was my own creation and was even better the next day. It had chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic.

11/03/09: Leftovers.

11/04/09: ptor's birthday so we went out for Chinese food. S. and I made Peter a chocolate cake. Good stuff.

11/05/9: Potato, cheese, and veggie bacon casserole and green salad.

11/06/09: Red bean and rice soup from The Savory Way. One of our favorites. Served with green salads with pears and walnuts, pomegranate, and bread.

11/07/09: Leftovers.

11/08/09: Leftovers.

11/09/09: Quinoa Vegetable Soup from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure and skillet cornbread. I had never made that soup before and we were quite happy with it. I used yellow split peas and red lentils in it, along with mushrooms, carrots, celery, and onions. Good stuff. The cornbread was made using the farm's fresh corn flour we got at the harvest festival so it has a lovely blue/red color.

11/10/09: Spicy Baked Macaroni. Another favorite of ours. I used fresh baby spinach instead of the frozen called for in the recipe.

11/11/09: School meeting night. S. and ptor had leftovers and some frozen quiche and I had some potatoes, onions, cheese, and fake bacon much later that evening.

11/12/09: Wine Glazed Vegetables with Lentils from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I tried the variation that calls for putting the lentils and vegetables in a casserole dish, topping with puff pastry, and baking, only I had no puff pastry so I made a pot pie crust from Veganomicon and it worked OK but I can see where a lighter crust would have been better. It also required too long to bake so the lentils lost more of their liquid than I would have like. Still very good though. Served with fuyu persimmons topped with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts and pomegranate.

11/13/09: Ordered pizza. Everyone's sick.

11/14/09: Mac and cheese casserole and random leftovers. Everyone's still sick.

This week I also made a double batch of black bean burgers from Veganomicon and now have fourteen burgers in the freezer. Next up is a double batch of seitan sausage and some soups to freeze. Oh, and I need to make more bread and vegetable broth.

Just catching up...I also will post the recipes that have been requested later tonight or tomorrow.

Dinners last week and this week:

10/15/09: Two bean chili, skillet corn bread, and green salads with pears and walnuts.

10/18/09: Herbed Rice Pilaf with Lemon (from Moosewood Cooks at Home), roasted butternut squash, and green beans with garlic and rice wine vinegar.

10/19/09: Potato-Leek Soup (from The New Vegetarian Epicure), Parmesan-garlic toasts made with multi-grain bread, and green salads with pears and walnuts.

10/20/09: Spicy Baked Rigatoni and Cheese adapted from this recipe. I had no mushrooms and used a large bag of baby spinach rather than frozen spinach. I also used rigatoni instead of macaroni.

10/21/09 or 10/22/09 (one of these nights was leftovers and I cannot remember which one): Cheese ravioli with tomato-mushroom sauce, green salad, and garlic bread.

10/23/09: Stir fry with rice noodles and white rice. Veggies in stir fry were: bok choy, bean sprouts, baby corn, onions, scallions, napa cabbage, green beans, and red bell pepper.

S. and I made honey-wheat-oat-flax bread last week and this week we made peanut butter cookies. I also made vegetable stock because I was out.

Just catching up...

Dinners late last week and early this week:

10/01/09: Cheese ravioli with homemade mushroom tomato sauce (with our garden tomatoes). Garlic bread and green salad.

10/02/09: Yellow potato, onion, veggie bacon, and cheese casserole served with green salad.

10/04/09: Blueberry pancakes. It was just that kind of night.

10/05/09: Chunky chickpea soup served with multigrain bread (homemade) and green salad. Soup recipe from Essential Vegetarian Cookbook.

10/06/09: Fresh tomato and basil soup (made with garden tomatoes and garden basil) with garlic Parmesan toast (made with the aforementioned multigrain bread), roasted butternut squash (OMG so good), and green salad. Soup recipe from 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes.

10/07/09: Black-eyed pea gumbo served over steamed brown rice with a side of green beans cooked in garlic and rice wine vinegar. Gumbo recipe from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. This gumbo is a family favorite.

S. and I made multigrain bread last week and blueberry corn muffins this week.

The fresh tomato soup was outstanding. Quite happy with it. It's a keeper.

Just catching up:

09/22/09: It was very hot but I still decided to celebrate fall equinox with an autumn dinner. We had potato-leek soup and apple-potato-sage seitan sausage. The soup is made from a recipe in The New Vegetarian Epicure and is an old standby of mine. Always good. I made the sausages using this recipe. It was new to me and worked pretty well. Like the blog writer I did not have marmite on hand so I did use some extra liquid smoke and some tamari. I think next time I will reduce the liquid smoke as it was a tad too much. I was almost out of dried apples so I grated a couple of apples and cooked them in the toaster oven until they were dried out and it worked fine. I forgot the garlic which I will not do in the future/ Overall we liked it, but I might play with the flavoring some more. The texture was just right.

I think Wednesday and Thursday were leftover nights.

09/25/09: Pasta shells baked with fresh baby spinach, tomatoes, and a bit of Parmesan. I based my casserole loosely on this recipe which I like but didn't have all the ingredients for. I used our garden tomatoes and cooked them down in a skillet with some onions, granulated garlic (horror of horrors, I was out of fresh garlic), oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. I then cooked the spinach in a skillet with a bit of olive oil and mixed it into the tomatoes. I combined all that in a dish with cooked shells and a bit of Parmesan cheese. I topped it with seasoned bread crumbs and some Parmesan. Good stuff. We also had some garlic bread and S. enjoyed a fair bit of fresh baby spinach with balsamic vinegar.

Saturday was also leftover night.

Sunday was a whatever/leftover night because we had large late lunches at a birthday party.

In other culinary adventures, S. and I made blueberry corn muffins and buttermilk biscuits late in the week/over the weekend. They were both good. I used this recipe for the biscuits and was quite pleased with it. I used vegan shortening and regular milk treated with cider vinegar and it worked fine. It was one of the better biscuit recipes I've tried.