Our last day!

Friday was our last official day without meat. For dinner we had Potato Pancakes from...you guessed it...the More With Less Cookbook. Here is the recipe:

Combine in a bowl:
2 1/2 c. grated raw potato (about 3 medium)
1 t. salt
dash pepper
2 eggs
2 T. flour
1 T. finely chopped onion
Drop by spoonfuls into a lightly oiled hot skillet. Fry until brown on one side, then turn and brown on other side. Good served with syrup, ketchup, or cheese sauce.

These past 10 days have actually been really great. It has made us realize that though we enjoy meat, we could seriously cut back and not feel like we are missing anything. I think we are going to try eating meat-free meals at least 3 times a week. Since Friday I have had a little bit of ground beef in a lasagna on Saturday night and some chicken last night. We do have to do better about cutting back dairy. This is really hard for us. We love cheese! We'll have to keep working on it.

Coconut Rice

On Thursday night our main dish was Coconut Rice from the More with Less Cookbook. As you can probably tell, it has become my favorite cookbook.

Coconut Rice:
Heat in heavy saucepan:
2 T. oil or margarine
Add:
1/2 c. chopped onion
2-3 whole cloves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
2-3 bay leaves
Fry until onions are lightly browned.
Add:
1/4 t. ground saffron or tumeric
1/4 t. salt
Fry a few seconds.
Add:
1 c. rice
2 c. coconut milk
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook 30 minutes. If desired, whole spices may be removed before serving and a few raisins, cashews or walnuts added.

This was yummy! It didn't have quite as much flavor as I would have thought with all the spices, but it was really good. I think I would add the raisins and cashews if I would make it again.

Lemony Spinach-Rice Soup

Sorry that we got way behind on our blogging. I have a few days to catch up on. We are finished with our vegetarian diet but I want to post some of the recipes we used so I will post a few blogs tonight. On Tuesday night I made Lemony Spinach-Rice Soup from this cookbook called "Creative Everyday Cooking". The soup is based on Greek avgolemono - egg and lemon soup. Here is the recipe:

6 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
2/3 c. raw rice
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 lb. fresh spinach or
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen
chopped spinach, thawed
2 eggs
6 T. lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and some pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, stem the spinach and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. If using thawed frozen spinach, drain well and squeeze out any excess moisture. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs. After the rice has cooked for 15 minutes, remove about 1/4 c. of the hot broth and whisk it into the beaten egg. Beat the warmed egg mixture into the hot soup. Add the spinach and lemon juice and cook the soup over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes; do not allow the soup to simmer or the egg will curdle. Serve the soup hot. (Serves 6)

This soup was okay. I'm not sure I would make it again, but it was a good way to use up the spinach we had that was about to go bad. We had the leftovers on Wednesday night.