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.

International Yummies!

Today we had an Indian lunch and a Thai dinner. It was a yummy day!

Lunch ~ Indian Spiced Whole Wheat Couscous with Yogurt Chutney

Couscous (from recipezaar.com)
2 1/4 c. vegetable stock
1 tsp. olive oil
1-2 T. dried onions
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
3/4 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. garam masala or allspice
1/2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper
1 c. whole wheat couscous
1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Bring veg. stock, olive oil and spices to a boil. Add couscous & chickpeas; cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 7-8 minutes

Yogurt Chutney
Blend 2 c. chilled yogurt; 3/4 c. grated coconut; 1 T. sugar or sweetened condensed milk; a few raisins, cashews, or walnuts. Serve as a side dish or dessert with curry meal.

For lunch we were looking for a way to use a big thing of plain yogurt that was going out of date today. We found the yogurt chutney recipe in the More With Less cookbook and since it said it was good with a curry dish we pulled out one of our favorite recipes. We make the Indian Spiced Couscous all the time because it is quick, simple and really tasty.

For dinner we had pan fried tofu over rice with a spicy peanut sauce. We also make this Thai dish a lot, but we normally use chicken intead of tofu. I have to say that I didn't miss the chicken at all and neither did Brent. Maybe we could become vegetarians after all :) Vegan however is really tough. We were much stricter on our dairy intake the first few days, but it seems like it keeps sneaking its way in (though we did have yogurt for lunch it was only because it would have wasted otherwise). It is good though, we are definitely eating/drinking way less dairy than we normally do. It was a big part of our diet.

Asparagus Soup

Tonight's vegetarian recipe is for Asparagus Soup from the cookbook Simply in Season:

1 lb. asparagus
Cut off tip ends and blanch until tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain (saving the water for some of the broth) and set aside asparagus tips. Chop the spears, peeling the tough ends first if needed.

2 c. water or broth
1 med. potato (peeled and chopped)
1 sm. onion (chopped; optional)
1 stalk celery or celery leaves (chopped; optional)
Cook with chopped asparagus spears until soft, 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool slightly and puree until smooth. Return to heat.

2 c. broth
1 c. dry milk powder
2 T. flour
salt and pepper to taste
Blend separately. Add to soup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens slightly.

1/2 c. plain yogurt
Drain yogurt slightly through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Place a dab of yogurt in each bowl and pour hot soup over it. Garnish with the reserved asparagus tops.

We both agreed that this soup was delicious. Actually I should say the three of us...baby girl really loved it too!

Did you turn off your lights tonight?

Tonight at 8 p.m. Brent and I turned off all our lights, unplugged our appliances and lit candles throughout the house. I know what you're thinking...a bit of romance after the baby is down for the night...nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Well, not exactly...even though the glow of candlelight provided a nice ambiance. We participated in Earth Hour, where from 8-9 PM people were encouraged to turn off their lights as a statement that more needs to be done to cut down on our energy usage. Last year's Earth Hour, which happened only in Sydney, Australia, had the effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for an hour. Since this year's event was global, I'm sure it had a much larger impact. We had fun talking in the candlelight. It felt very peaceful. If you missed tonight's event you could always do your own Earth Hour any night.

I didn't post a recipe last night because I ate at my parents. They were having chicken and sausage, so I made myself a salad and had some mashed potatoes. Brent was out at Messiah for a Youth Pastor conference and took two students out for dinner (part of the job ;) and did very well getting a portabello something or another...but then he said had some chicken wings later that night. I told him he had to start the 10 days over. I think he thought I was joking.

Tonight for dinner we had grilled asparagus and red peppers and a baked potato. Not so much a recipe...just a little olive oil, salt and a grill. The grilled asparagus in particular was soooo yummy! I find that I am not missing meat that much. I find it much harder to limit my dairy. I miss cheese! I did have a dot of butter on my potato and boy did it taste good. It is nice to cut back on the things you overindulge on because it makes it so much better when you can have them.

Last Night's Meal

Sorry! I forgot to post our dinner recipe last night. Here it is from the More With Less Cookbook:

Honey Baked Lentils
Combine in a dutch oven or saucepan:
1 lb. (2 1/3 c.) lentils
1 sm. bay leaf
5 c. water
2 t. salt
Bring to a boil. Cover tightly and reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes. Do no drain. Discard bay leaf. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine separately and add to lentils:
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. powdered ginger
1 T. soy sauce
1/2 c. chopped onions
1 c. water
Cut in 1" pieces:
4 slices bacon
Stir most of the bacon into lentils and sprinkle remainder on top.
Pour over all:
1/3 c. honey
Cover tightly. Bake 1 hour. Uncover last 10 minutes to brown bacon.

We have had this dish once before and loved it so we thought we would try it again minus the bacon. I have to say that the bacon does add something to the dish, but it was still quite good without it. We had a salad with carrots, croutons and Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard Dressing. I did miss the cheese I normally cover my salad with but of course this was much healthier and the dressing was really flavorful. I probably should have made some rice to go on the side but I was lazy. Okay, now I'm off to find lentil-free recipe for dinner tonight. I need to branch out.