I did it! I think I have reached a balance.

I think my last post was Friday. We were doing really well on our "mostly vegan" diet. I still stray with a little cheese over my tacos. Then the weekend came. I was out grocery shopping and had the bright idea to invite my sister and her BF to dinner. I know her BF does not eat vegetables, so I decided to make a tri tip. He could have all he wanted, my husband could eat some, and best of all, it could be grilled outside. I have really gotten used to NOT having the odors and greasy residue that cooking and eating meat brings to the room.


At any rate, Phil grilled the tri tip, and I roasted cauliflower and sauteed Swiss chard from the garden. I chose not to make a starch. I am not sure why. I just don't think of it any more. About 50% of the time we have a starch as a filler. I usually think of it as a source of protein in the absence of beans or nuts, but since we had the roast, I asked Miles if he would like me to make some pasta with pesto. He said, no, the meat and bread would be enough. He said he would eat some of the 'lettuce' stuff (chard). I felt a little guilt, but not enough to make the pasta. Now, in retrospect, I could have made some rice or polenta or even the pasta. Oh well. Maybe next time. At any rate, we all seemed to eat enough. My sister brought the bread and pie. I must say I was not strong enough to steer clear of the bread she brought. I can safely say it has been years since I have had store-bought garlic bread. It was a treat! Then there was the pie. She also brought a peach pie. I was happy to say I was not impressed. It was too sweet. I wonder where the peaches came from? We were thankful for her additions to the meal, though. We ate it all.

Sunday we had leftovers. Breakfast is always the easiest when eating well. I think Sunday we had pancakes. Phil hates it when I do this, but I like to throw some frozen blueberries on them. They don't need butter and I can eat them a little maple syrup. That and a little fruit, I was good for the day. I think I had leftover vegetables and nuts for lunch.

Fast forward to this evening. I made a filling, salty, rich vegan dinner. Kung Pao Brussels sprouts, stir fried some red and green bell peppers, some tofu-sesame patties (recipe later), and white rice. The Kung Pao was fabulous. Really hit the spot. 

At the store Friday I bought:

• cashews
• cauliflower
• green onions
• jalapenos
• iceberg lettuce, which we love, so sue me! 
• sliced beef and fresh bologna (like that matters) for Phil's lunch
• Raisin bran
• spaghetti noodles
• Greek yogurt
• a variety of canned tomatoes and tomato paste

We have to remember to prep our summer garden and grow tomatoes. Last year I put up more than 40 pints of tomatoes and marinara sauce. Nothing like home grown tomatoes. It makes it hard to buy tomatoes at the store.

Went back to the store today:
Costco:

• bread
• cabbage salad mix
• onions
• Peta chips
• mayonnaise

Food 4 Less:

• pinto beans
• avocados
• apples
• bell peppers

Tossing out food.

I hate that! It is probably the main reason I have not gotten in the habit of filling my refrigerator with vegetables. I need to be in the mood to eat and cook certain things, and I had the tendency to leave foods too long in the crisper. They lose their color, vitamin activity, and frankly, once I have decided not to use a specific item, I just won't. Sad.

I just wanted to leave this update. In the past two weeks, the only food I have tossed out is an handful of green beans and a half a head of broccoli. That is great for me. I am writing mainly to remind myself to go through the crispers every other day. What I don't think will use immediately, I will clean, cut up, and toss in the freezer bag I have in the freezer filled with vegetable scraps for soup stock. :-)

Saturday and having company this evening.

Well, lets. see. I am quickly (after 50 years in the kitchen :-/ ) that the more varied ingredients I have at my disposal, the easier it is to scare up a nutritious, tasty meal. I know I have mentioned this once or twice already, but I really loved the pesto I bought at Lakewood Meat and Sausage.

We were able to eat the Cheesy Casserole twice and this morning I am going to freeze the rest. It just can't be finished today.

I made pasta with pesto again. Phil was happy. Me, too, for that matter. I paired it with oven-roasted cauliflower and Swiss chard. I opened a nice bottle of wine I had picked up at Murrieta's Well winery; a delicious red blend called The Spur.

Then I made the minestrone. I forgot to tell you about the minestrone. My friend Gary sent me a recipe the other morning. It sounded delicious and I happened to have all the ingredients, it looked to be a cold day, so I made it. It called for beef, which is traditional in minestrone. I have made it in the last without the beef and Parmesan cheese, but it was always missing something. I believe now the answer is SALT. Everything tastes better with salt.

But I digress. I made a huge pot with 1 pound of stew meat. In reality, that is not much meat for the number of servings it created. And Phil was so happy to have some meat. He had gone out with his mom the day before and stopped for a hamburger on his way home. I really don't want to see him sneaking out for meals, so we are starting to achieve a balance. Great!

Needless to say, with the casserole, pesto, and soup, we were set for food for three or four days. Last night, after our daily errands and cleaning the garage, I decided to toss a couple of potatoes in the oven. We had baked potatoes and salad for supper. Perfect. Oh yes, and finished that wine.

Cook it. Eat some. Freeze some.

Of course, I make the entire 16 ounce bag of beans and freeze some. Sometimes I don't know why. In my pressure cooker, it takes less than 30 minutes to make a pot of beans; less time than it takes to defrost them. I can even make a small pot. Anyway, I still do it.

• Pintos
• Pink beans
• Black beans

This week I froze:

• Some of the caramelized onions and spaghetti squash and it was a delicious lunch.
• Part of the spaghetti squash plain and will bring it out to eat with some of the pesto I brought home from the store yesterday. 
• The rest of the pesto I will freeze by the tablespoon full in an ice cube tray. I love to add it to spaghetti sauce. 

I want to try to freeze :

• burritos to take for lunch

That's all for now. I just wanted to remember that I really liked the frozen squash with onions. 

Making use of the food in the Fridge

I can't believe how few groceries I have had to buy at the grocery store this week. Since my last shopping trip, we had:

• Garlic and Rosemary steak, potato patties, sauteed bell peppers. I love the flavors. It is one of my favorite meals, even without the meat. I had a couple of slices of meat and saved out half of the marinade to see if the flavor was as good without the meat drippings. YUP! https://friggardenandgrocery.blogspot.com/2014/10/garlic-and-rosemary-steak-with-potato.html
• Bean burritos for dinner. Pintos from the freezer. Fresh made Mexican rice.  Salsa. OK, and cheese. A little can't hurt.
• Cheese and spinach ravioli with pesto sauce and steamed cauliflower. Geez it was good. Say Cheese! Yesterday I worked and stopped at a local meat market that carries pasture fed, natural, organic meats. I was thinking I might buy some eggs and maybe a couple of chicken pieces for Phil. I could barely walk in, the smell of meat was so strong. I did, though, and they had no eggs. It seems pasture raised chickens don't lay eggs in the winter. Who knew. At any rate, I saw some raviolis and pesto and brought it home. 
• Taco salad. It was fun utilizing ingredients I had finally had the foresight to buy last weekend at the grocery store: lettuce, carrots, jalapenos, and green onions. I made some fresh black beans (love my  pressure cooker), and cilantro from the garden. Basic dressing of olive oil and lime juice. I wish I had had an avocado. Anyway, it was delicious anyway. I had a little steak leftover from earlier in the week. I sliced and heated it for Phil. 
  

Superbowl Sunday

Today was a good day. Traditionally, Superbowl Sunday has been a day of snacking and booze. The longer I am eating whole foods, the better I feel and the less I want meat. I can say, at this point, I am not as concerned with eliminating the little butter I use on bread or to saute, as I am focused on finding tasty, easy to make, vegan meals.

I am learning that I can exchange vegetable broth for meat broths. I can substitute mushrooms for beef in spaghetti sauce and I have even substituted it in "Beef" Strogonoff. It is the texture more than the taste that drives me.

I am also learning to use more of my herbs and spices.

So...back to Superbowl Sunday.

• Breakfast was the usual. I am still eating Greek yogurt. Breakfast was fruit, yogurt. Phil had leftover pancakes. 
• Lunch for me was leftover (previously frozen) split pea soup and a couple of toasted baguette bread slices*. Phil had a roast beef sandwich. 
• Dinner: Around 2:00 I started prepping for the game. I chopped and sliced a bunch of different vegetables: carrots, green beans, red bell peppers, cucumber, and green onions. *The other day I had been at the grocery store and purchased a baguette of sour dough bread. I brought it home, sliced it into small rounds, brushed lightly with olive oil, and baked about 15 minutes. I also bought some Sabra hummus with olives. It is delicious. I made a dill dip and some cinnamon almonds. We started munching about 3:30 and that was the last thing we ate. We are still full. 
• https://thekitchengirl.com/how-to-make-crostini/

Where I need to work on removing dairy from my day.

• Look into vegan butter substitutes. I'm not sure if it is better than butter. How bad can a tablespoonful of butter a day be? Really?
• Cheese. I have already bought Nutritional Yeast. I have started buying cashews regularly. Maybe next month. 
• Dips: again, not sure how bad yogurt is. It is nice to be able to have something to dip veges into occasionally.

Spaghetti Squash and Caramelized Onions

WOW! I made spaghetti squash with caramelized onions and mushrooms for dinner and it was delicious.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/174303448062696341/
The caramelized onions of course are so sweet and flavorful. Then I added mushrooms, which added flavor and texture. Final addition in the recipe was kale. I didn't have kale, but went to the garden and picked some Swiss chard. Delicious!

What I am realizing is that herbs, onions, and mushrooms improve anything.

Grocery Shopping Basics

Last week I decided to shop and just load up with vegetables. I hate to waste them, so I was sure I would make good use of them. I think I am still in the habit of cooking larger meals that we can eat for a few days, so I did not use all of the veges, but am going to try to use up the more fragile ones tonight. I went to the store again today and loaded up again. Gads. I had better hurry.

Last Friday at the grocery store: I did not use all of any of these. I need to use the zucchini and mushrooms tonight

• zucchini
• mushrooms
• iceberg lettuce
• spaghetti squash
• sweet potatoes
• salsa (she says...blushing) 
• red potatoes

Costco

• almonds
• cashews*
• organic sugar
• coffee

Today (Friday) at the grocery story

• baguette sliced that I toasted for crostini
• hummus
• bananas
• bell peppers -3
• jalapenos - 2
• carrots
• cauliflower
• flour tortillas
• coconut flour*
• polenta
• nutritional yeast *

 * I am finding these ingredients in recipes as substitutes for wheat and cheese. I need to use them!

For dinner this weekend, I made a menu and put it on the fridge.

1. Burittos  - include sauteed zucchini and beans I just took out of the freezer, make Spanish rice, and add a little cheese if desired. I will try to use the nutritional yeast myself. I am sure Phil will opt for the cheddar.
2. Spaghetti squash - Caramelized onion spaghetti squash on Pinterest - Vegan. Use spaghetti squash, mushrooms, and Swiss chard in garden
3. Superbowl Sunday - Buffalo Cauliflower on Pinterest - Recipes and yummy foods, Garlic and Rosemary Steak https://friggardenandgrocery.blogspot.com/2014/10/garlic-and-rosemary-steak-with-potato.html. For snacks during the game, buffalo cauliflower and dipping sauce, veges and hummus, chips and salsa, nuts.
4. Monday: sweet potato recipe of some sort and salad.
5. Some sort of soup

Friday shopping trip

This was a loopy week. I was really trying to stay on a healthy path. The carrot stick, celery stick trick helped. I even made some really good sweet/savory roasted cashews that were a hit with Phil. I think it is important to eat nuts. The oil satiates. The crunching satisfies. And was a snacking hit!
The recipe came from What Can I Bring? by Elizabeth Heiskell. Page 81.

The weekend weather was foggy and cold. I had to make beef stew, that we ate for a few days. I think I can get closer and closer to making the stew with no meat. I had purchased 5 pounds of stew meat at Costco. I had frozen it in 1 pound packets 

I have to think back, but I made split peas soup one evening that we ate for a couple of days. I froze the rest and oddly brought it out a few days later, forgetting we had just eaten it. It was very good served with popovers one night and I think a salad the second.

Then...I finally caved to my cravings and made tostadas. I am having a love/hate relationship with Mexican food. Normally it includes cheese and meat; lots of meat. I need to try to rework recipes to be meat free and using minimal amounts of cheese. Tostadas seem to be one of these recipes. Such simple, delicious food. I had pinto beans frozen. I defrosted those and heated in a small frying pan. I used a potato masher to smash, slowly heating and reducing to remove some of the moisture. A little salt and pepper, they were smooth and tasty: no grease! Yes, we sprinkled a little cheese on top of the tostadas, but I don't think a little will hurt me. Besides, I still have cheese in the refrigerator and I hate to waste.

I bought Phil some sliced beef lunch meat. He was happy. I also bought some bagels at Costco and gave in to some cream cheese. I do admit fudging and having a half a bagel and cream cheese a couple of mornings. Also, I forgot to mention, I saw a recipe on Pinterest and also in What Can I Bring? that I decided to try. Overnight Oats. A hit with me! I particularly liked adding the chia seeds, shredded carrots, dried cranberries. It really helped make breakfast easy and nutritious.



 

Make in bulk and freeze

There are things that freeze well and things that do not.
Those that I will try to freeze for later quick dinners include:
Beans: pintos, black
Soup: Moroccan lentil, split pea, vegetable (just remember that potatoes don't freeze well)
Bread: foccacia

Canned tomato paste: the small can is 6 ounces, I think. I often only need a tablespoon or two in any given recipe. I have been doing this for a long time - adding a tablespoon of paste to a ice cube tray cup. Freeze it. Pop it out and move them to a jar. Keep frozen until you need a tablespoon or one cube.

Mushrooms: another think I love to do is buy lots of mushrooms when they are on sale. I chop fine and saute to dry them out. Once reduced, like the tomato paste, I drop a tablespoonful into the ice cube tray, freeze, and again, I have mushrooms ready for soups, spaghetti sauce, or whatever.

Wine: pour into ice cube tray. Freeze. Save for sauces.