Menu for December 15, 2013 through December 21, 2013

This week brought the first real snow of the season.  We got a couple of inches which was perfect because it was still easy to drive and get around, but it made everything so pretty! Given that we are moving so soon, I took some time to enjoy our current yard and views of the snow.  Of course I didn't think to take a picture, but oh well!  I did take a picture from my window at work the day it was snowing.  In the background you can see the river.  Great view!

This past week I was really needing a dessert (even more so than usual I suppose) and I had some caramel that I wanted to use.  I made these (not healthy) chocolate caramel oat bars and they were amazing!! Mark loves oatmeal cookies and he thought these were better than oatmeal cookies.  I made 2/3 of the recipe in an 8x8 pan and used less chocolate than was called for.  Instead of the caramels/heavy cream I just used the caramel I had in a jar (probably about 1/2 cup but I did not measure).  If you make these, you should really wait until they are completely cool to eat them.  That way they are actually possible to cut and you are able to taste all the flavors a lot better.  Most chocolate-y desserts I think are best warm and gooey, but not these!  And in case you are curious, they are also good straight out of the freezer. :)

Dinner!  How about some recipes that you haven't tried in awhile?  I'm planning on Thai black pepper and garlic tofu, spaghetti squash with meatballs, chile sweet potato hash with avocado and eggs, and curried vegetable and chickpea stew.  Whatever you have, hope it's delicious!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew with bread on the side if desired.

• Make the half the recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  OR, make the full recipe and freeze half for later or eat for lunches.

Monday: Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu with rice if desired

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs (Serve outside of the shell if desired- I've done that recently and it's great that way too and makes leftovers easier!  Also, you can get away with one extra large spaghetti squash to serve 4 if you serve outside of the shell.)

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday.  

Wednesday:  Leftover Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

Thursday:  Leftover Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

Friday:  Leftover Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs

Saturday: Chile Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs and Avocado

• Make the full recipe.  Have any leftovers on Sunday.  

Menu for December 8, 2013 through December 14, 2013

Well, I feel like we are solidly into December at this point.  I read a blog post yesterday that said "In case you are not quite done with your Christmas shopping yet...." and I thought WHAT?? Haven't even started... But that's okay.  There is still plenty of time!  Don't worry. :)

The past couple of years I have made homemade treats for some of my gifts.  Given how much I love making new things, I have a lot of fun doing it.  The picture above is from last year.  This year I don't know if I will be able to do as much because we are in the process of moving (which makes everything more difficult!).  But I would like to make some marshmallows again!

Don't these peppermint crunch marshmallows look fun?  The post that goes along with them is also pretty funny.  Marshmallows are actually not too difficult once you get the hang of it and they taste amazing!  Seriously, WAY better than a marshmallow out of a bag from the store. Plus I like how you can customize them however you like.  For example you could also make gingerbread spiced marshmallows! Another great thing about making marshmallows is that one batch makes a ton, so with just one batch you can make up a lot of little gifts.  While marshmallows aren't exactly health food, my philosophy is that if you've made it yourself and you know the ingredients that went into it, it's probably better than a store bought version with lots of preservatives.  And if you just have them occasionally, it's fine.

Okay, time for dinner.  Are you done with (or sick of?) Thanksgiving leftovers yet?  This week we have some comforting polenta with roasted vegetables, breaded tempeh, sweet potato peanut bisque, and pizza on the menu! Enjoy :)

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Sweet Potato Peanut Bisque with salad and/or bread on the side if desired.

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Tuesday.

Monday: Creamy Polenta with Kale, Mushrooms and Tomatoes

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  

Tuesday:  Leftover Sweet Potato Peanut Bisque

Wednesday:  Leftover Creamy Polenta with Kale, Mushrooms and Tomatoes

Thursday: Breaded Tempeh with roasted vegetables on the side.

• Make the full recipe (serves 2).  Have any leftovers on Saturday.  

Friday:  Spicy Kale, Mushroom, and Pepperoni Pizza (or other pizza of choice).

• Make the full recipe and eat any leftovers on Saturday.  

Saturday:  Leftover Breaded Tempeh and/or Pizza.  Or, if no leftovers, make this Lemon Garlic Salmon.

Menu for December 1, 2013 through December 7, 2013

Did you have a great Thanksgiving?  Enjoying your leftovers?  I brought a crusty apple pie to share with my family.  All the food was amazing!  After a very rainy day on Wednesday, we had a beautiful sunny day for Thanksgiving.  It was a great day.  I have so much to be thankful for!

And TODAY is an exciting day too.  It's the day I allow myself to start listening to Christmas music!  Does anyone else have personal rules about waiting until Thanksgiving is over to start Christmas?

As usual, time is flying.  2013 will be over in just a few weeks!  For the first week in December I have a variety of healthy meals on the menu.  I'm writing a menu assuming you don't have Thanksgiving leftovers, but if you do you are so lucky!  These Thanksgiving Leftover Nachos look like a great idea.  On the menu I've got Santa Fe Chowder, Tofu Pad Thai, Quinoa Burgers over salad, and Shakshuka (one of Mark's favorite meals ever!).  Have a great beginning of December!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Santa Fe Chowder with bread on the side if desired.

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.

Monday: Tofu Pad Thai with salad or roasted vegetables on the side.

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday: Quinoa Burgers served over salad with an egg on top if desired.

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday.  

Wednesday:  Leftover Santa Fe Chowder

Thursday:  Leftover Tofu Pad Thai

Friday:  Leftover Quinoa Burgers

Saturday:  Shakshuka (use less eggs than in the recipe as desired)

• Make the full recipe and eat any leftovers for lunch on Sunday.  

Menu for November 24, 2013 through November 30, 2013

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!  I recently took this picture of Mark in our side yard.  It makes me smile!  Are you excited about the big day?  I'm looking forward to it all!  For some reason Thanksgiving makes Mark think of brussel sprouts, so last weekend I roasted some up with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.  We devoured over a pound of brussel sprouts between the two of us.  Funny?  Perhaps.  But also YUM!

I also tried a new "pie" recipe when I was craving something sweet on Monday night this past week.  I tried this naked apple pie by King Arthur Flour.  While different from traditional pie, it was really good!  The best way to describe it I think is it tastes sort of like apple pie bread pudding.  There is no crust which is why it is called a naked apple pie.  Then the apples and nuts are mixed with sugars, cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves, eggs, and flour.  The eggs and flour hold the filling together so it's different from an apple crisp.  Definitely a new experience, but very quick to make and delicious.  If you give it a try, you could probably reduce the sugar a bit and it would still be plenty sweet enough!  I also think it would be good with raisins added in.  One thing to note about this recipe is that there is no butter in it.  Still not exactly healthy though.... :)

For dinners this week there's of course THANKSGIVING on Thursday!  I'm not providing a meal for that day since I figure you've got that one covered.  And leading up to Thanksgiving I've got some light meals so that you can feel okay indulging on turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pie on Thursday.  Have a great week and a delicious Thanksgiving!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Quick Mixed Bean Chili with cornbread and salad on the side if desired.

• Make the full recipe and eat two servings tonight, have leftovers on Tuesday.  Have any additional leftovers for lunch on Wednesday or freeze for later.
• Do you like cornbread dressing?  Make a double batch of cornbread and use half for some Thanksgiving dressing!

Monday: Vegetable Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  

Tuesday: Leftover Quick Mixed Bean Chili

Wednesday:  Leftover Vegetable Spring Rolls

Thursday:  Happy Thanksgiving!!  Hope you get to enjoy some of your favorite foods.

Friday:  Thanksgiving leftovers (you could use up turkey in this Chopped Thai Chicken Salad or make Turkey and Dumplings). Or... Red Curry Lentils

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Saturday.  

Saturday: More Thanksgiving leftovers.  Or leftover Red Curry Lentils.

Menu for November 17, 2013 through November 23, 2013

This past week was exciting because we saw the first snow of the season!  It wasn't much and I didn't even think to take a picture, but it was still fun. There have been some very cold days this week, but I've strangely been enjoying it.  We'll see how long that lasts... :)

Last weekend I tried this sweet potato pie with a maple quinoa crust.  I was intrigued because it looked like a pretty healthy dessert.  This was my first time having sweet potato pie (as opposed to pumpkin), and the pie part turned out great.  I had a lot more filling than would fit in a standard pie dish (I think the volume of the recipe is off).  So I baked up the extra filling in some ramekins for mini crustless sweet potato pies.  Mark and I devoured those!  The crust was okay, but didn't end up cooked enough for my liking.  Mark would have just preferred no crust at all.  I will try the recipe again and see if I can improve the crust, but I wanted to share the recipe link now in case you wanted to try it for Thanksgiving (which is quickly approaching!).

For dinners this week you've got to try the newest veggie burgers on the blog- Thai sweet potato veggie burgers.  Don't skip the peanut sauce!  Also on the menu is maple walnut chicken, tortellini soup, and tempeh tacos.  Enjoy!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Thai Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Peanut Sauce and salad on the side

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  

Monday: Maple Walnut Chicken served over cooked bulgar/rice if desired with roasted vegetables on the side

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday: Tortellini Soup with bread and/or salad on the side.

• Note: I made this recipe with a 28 ounce can of tomatoes, 12 ounces of frozen tortellini, and kale instead of spinach.  If you make it like I did, you might have to add up to a couple of cups of water so that there is enough broth for all of the tortellini.
• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday

Wednesday:  Leftover Thai Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Peanut Sauce

Thursday:  Leftover Maple Walnut Chicken

Friday:  Leftover Tortellini Soup

Saturday:  Tempeh Tacos

• Make half the recipe and have any leftovers for lunch.

Have a great week!

Menu for November 10, 2013 through November 16, 2013

Last weekend our neighbors  got to take a much deserved weekend away from their farm (hi O+C!!) and Mark helped them out by taking care of their animals.  I went over with him one of the times so I could see what he was up to.  He was definitely having a blast and the animals sure loved him- especially when he was giving them food! ;)  Here Mark is going in to give the sheep some fresh water water while they were feasting on their dinner.

Speaking of dinner... I hope you will get a chance to try the curried vegetable and chickpea stew I posted about this week.  I really liked it all four times I had it in the past week!  I've also got lemon garlic salmon, vegetarian fajita bowls, and Thai chicken pizza on the menu.  For dessert, I'm looking forward to these "natural" chocolate dipped buckeyes.  I haven't gotten a chance to try them yet, but I will soon for sure (if you try them, let me know what you think!).

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

• Make half the recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  (Or, make the full recipe and have other leftovers for lunches or freeze!)

Monday: Vegetarian Fajita Bowls 

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday:  Lemon Garlic Salmon with salad/vegetables on the side

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday.

Wednesday:  Leftover Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

Thursday:  Leftover Vegetarian Fajita Bowls

Friday:  Leftover Lemon Garlic Salmon

Saturday:  Thai Chicken Pizza

• Make the full recipe and have any leftovers for lunch.

Hope you have a good week!