Menu
Monday: Heart Shaped Pizza
Tuesday: Tofu and Veggie Stir fry over Noodles
Wednesday: Cilantro Omelet with Indian Potato Salad and Raw Veggies
Thursday: Bare Naked Fish, Mango Salsa, Spinach Pancakes with Salad
Friday: French Onion Soup with Chopped SaladSaturday: Risotto with Red Beans
Sunday: Lentil Loaf
Weekly Pantry Itemsflour, yeast, olive oil, sesame oil, white wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, peanut butter, sesame seed butter, maple syrup, soy sauce, ground cumin, ground coriander, pepper, tarragon, cumin seeds, curry powder, cayenne or hot sauce, bay leaf, Montreal Steak Spice, raisins or craisins, slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, fresh garlic
Grocery List
Eggs
Milk
Provolone cheese (for pizza)
Parmesan cheese
Gruyere cheese (4 oz)
Kalamata olives (1cup)
White fish (enough for all)
2 Red Peppers
Green Pepper
Broccoli
Romaine lettuce
Small head radicchio
Cucumber
Cilantro
Fresh mint
Fresh thyme
2 bunches of spinach (at least 11 oz)
Avocado
2 limes
Mango (1 or 2)
Pear
Carrots, small bag
Onions (5 lb bag)
Red onion
Potatoes (4 cups)
Mushrooms (1/4 pound + for pizza)
Noodles (chow mien, soba, rice – whatever you choice for Stir Fry)
3 carton so f veggie stock
15oz can lentils
15 oz can of red beans
pizza sauce
baguette
Heart Shaped Pizza
I realize that my week behind thing messes up the holidays. I should have foreseen this and had heart shaped pizza last week for show. Alas, I am not that forward a thinker and, let’s be honest, heart shaped pizza is not all that original. None the less, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with Dave working a little late and mini heart shaped pizzas.
There was big news though, a wedding! How fitting to hear about a wedding on Valentine’s Day – I know. I was in the kitchen when I heard the news; Hannah and Harper were going to get married. Hannah told Harper, who was a reluctant participant (maybe she doesn’t believe in it? commitment issues?), “We need to stand together and hug, that’s how we’ll be married.” This is the first wedding Hannah has had. I hope everyone had a chance to feel loved today.
Recipe
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| I love the meatiness of wild mushrooms. |
Tofu and Veggie Stir Fry over Noodles
The weather is beautiful again today. I love looking out and seeing the, drip, drip, drip of melting snow off the roof. The driveway is not only clear in some spots but also dry. These spring teases make it hard to go back to the cold, but also help to keep me sane as we still have another month or two of winter weather to go.
Hannah bounded out the door to play in the snow this afternoon while Harper had a nap. Watching her through the back window brought me back to when I was little. I can remember getting lost in the world I had built out of snow and ice. I watched Hannah get lost in her own world this afternoon as she talked and sang to herself, purposefully darting back and forth from different snow piles in the yard, pausing at each one to complete some imaginary task. This is why I continued to watch her long after Harper had woken up and it was time to go to the store. It is for this reason, that I was left running around trying to get dinner ready at when we returned home. Chaos followed, and while I was getting it all on the table I had to scoop Harper off the counter not once but four times! Recipe
This recipe was altered from one that I found at Kath Eats Real Food.
1 package firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 red bell pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 celery, thin chop
2 carrots, peeled into ribbons
1 head of broccoli
Chow mien noodles, cooked
Heat sesame oil in a pan, add garlic and sauté 30 seconds, crumble in tofu and hoisin sauce and mix together until warm.
Sauté the veggies in a little olive oil until they are tender but still crisp.
Sauce
2 Tbsp sunflower seed butter
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp water
Whisk all ingredients together. Add sauce and tofu to stir fry and dish up over noodles.
Cilantro Omelet with Indian Potato Salad and Sliced Cucumbers
I love Wednesdays. I love them because they are ours to do with what we please; there’s no pre-school or swimming lesson to rush out to in the morning, the groceries have been bought and the laundry has been washed. The morning is so much more relaxed, the girls played together all morning and then we sauntered out to the bakery.
The weather was beautiful again and we danced and sang to Jackie Greene all the way to Stella’s Bakery. We picked out some delicious loaves of bread from the shelves and baskets behind the counter and then Hannah picked a lovely little…actually huge, chocolate macaroon square for us to share. The square was placed in a cute little recyclable box and Hannah bounced it all around as we visited with my cousin, who works there, and she gave us a tour of the bakery. It was a very cool treat and when I asked Hannah what she liked best about the trip she said, “Seeing Auntie Coco and Uncle G, the chocolate square and (with a very mischievous smile on her face) seeing the great big machines (the huge mixers).”
When we got home we shared the chocolate macaroon square (yum!) as well as a tomato and avocado sandwich on some lovely fresh whole wheat rye bread and a thick slice of fresh raisin bread (incidentally I also skipped going to the gym). Luckily we had a lighter dinner planned, although I can’t stop eating this potato salad.
Recipe
This is another recipe from Moosewood Restaurant: Simple Suppers.
Indian Potato Salad
4 cups cubed potatoes (1-inch cubes)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 ½ tsp curry powder
1 ½ tsp salt (I usually only add 1)
pinch of cayenne or a splash of Tabasco
2 or 3 scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
To cook the potatoes, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and lower in potatoes. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes after the water returns to a boil. While the potatoes cook heat oil in a sauce pan and add the cumin seeds, let sizzle for a couple of seconds and then stir in the salt, curry powder and cayenne. Remove from heat. Drain potatoes and place them in a bowl. Pour the hot seasoned oil over the potatoes and add the scallions, red pepper and cilantro. Stir and set aside.
Cilantro Omelet
4 eggs
oil or non stick spray
¼ cup chopped cilantro
I’ve altered this slightly; mainly because I’ve just learnt how to make omelets and can only do one egg ones properly. They do four eggs at a time and split it, I do individual ones. Heat the oil, or spray the pan, beat the egg until frothy and pour into pan. Once the bottom is set sprinkle with cilantro and a little salt and fold the omelet in half, cook covered until eggs are set. Top with a little plain yogurt if you like.
Bare Naked Fish with Mango Salsa, Spinach Pancakes and Salad
Harper and I have developed a Thursday morning routine together after dropping Hannah off at school. We come home and I nurse Harper on the couch where she promptly falls asleep on me, leaving me stranded unable to get anything done. When this first began to occur I found it very frustrating to be pinned to one spot, but I quickly adjusted to this rest time. Really, how much longer will I be able to have this babe asleep on my lap? She’s growing so fast! I started to relish this time of alternating between reading and watching my sweet, little baby sleep. I fear this time has come to an end. The past two Thursdays she has not fallen asleep. Its bitter sweet I suppose; although she has not slept it has given me some one on one time with her that we never really get together. Today we read stories and walked around the house putting our dolls to sleep. I then watched her dance in the kitchen, twirling around with her doll as I cleaned up the breakfast dishes.
She’s at that stage where she’s learning so much we can no longer keep track of all the words she knows or concepts she’s grasping. Part of me is so excited for the brilliant little girl she is becoming, the other part is holding back tears and screaming inside, “Slow down, slow down – it’s going too fast!” ahhh, but such is life I guess.
Recipe
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| Sampling yogurt sauce! |
I lied a little bit; the fish is not totally naked. The recipe for the spinach pancakes is slightly altered from Five and Spice: fitting real food into real life, they were very tasty!
Pancake
Mint – lime yogurt sauce
½ cup plain yogurt (thick)
1 Tbsp lime juice
½ teaspoon lime zest
½ cup chopped mint leaves
Mix all ingredients together and put in fridge so the flavours can meld.
olive oil
¾ cup finely chopped onion
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| Mixing up the pancakes. |
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 medium, free range eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
non stick spray or olive oil
Wash spinach leaves and then put in a pan with a sprinkle of water and cook on medium low heat until wilted. Remove from pan and set in a strainer to cool and drain. Once it is cool enough to handle squeeze out all excess water and chop.
Put a glug of olive oil in the pan and sauté the onions until caramelized. While the onions are cooking whisk together flour, eggs, milk, olive oil, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Mix the onions and spinach into the batter until combined.
Heat pan over medium heat with a tsp of olive oil, or a really good spray of non-stick spray, add blobs of batter (about 2 Tbsp/blob), flatten out a little with spoon and cook until the bottom is golden, flip and do the same to the other side. Continue until all batter is cooked (about 12 pancakes), you can keep them warm in a 200F oven if you need while you finish cooking them all. Serve with the sauce for dipping.
Mango Salsa
1-2 mangoes chopped (I use 2, but the girls probably eat one of them while I’m chopping)
1 avocado, chopped
3 Tbsp red onion, chopped (more if you like)
Mix all together and set aside.
Fish
firm white fish (enough for all) I used cod
olive oil
fresh lime juice
Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay fish fillets on parchment and drizzle with olive oil, lime juice and sprinkle with Montreal Steak Spice, bake in the oven for about 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish)
Salad
greens
toasted almonds and sunflower seeds (about ¼ cup)
1 pear cut up
dried cranberries or raisins (3 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
Mix together maple syrup, vinegar, olive oil and pour over all other ingredients and toss.
French Onion Soup with Chopped Salad
Do you ever feel like you are drowning in clutter? We moved into a house this fall that is two times the size of our old house, and I literally mean double the square footage. Yet, the basement is still partially full of boxes and I feel like we’re living in way more clutter than we ever have. How does that happen? Why do we accumulate so much stuff? I could understand if we were people who bought lots and lots of stuff, but besides groceries we don’t really buy a lot of things on a regular basis. I suppose it could be that we’re disorganized from the inside out, meaning our cupboards, closets and drawers are disorganized so we can’t possibly be organized throughout the visible part of the house. We’ve been talking about home renovations a lot lately (the house is in need of updating in every room) and I think that the idea of tearing this place apart is what’s giving me the clutter, disorganized anxiety. It is for this reason that, even though I hurt my foot on a toy three times this morning and the laundry has mounted up again, I felt that the priority should be to reorganize the laundry room shelves, which lead to the back closet, front closet and junk drawers. The rest of the house is a disaster zone but, I’m happy by the new organized portion and can comfort myself with this fabulous soup for the rest.
Recipe
The recipe for this soup is slightly altered from Jaime Oliver: Jaime’s Dinners. Although it is a little bit of a pain to cut the onions, it’s really worth it!
2 ½ lb onion, peeled and sliced
a handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 bay leaf
olive oil
a good knob of butter (I just used olive oil)
6 ¼ cups of stock (beef, chicken or vegetable)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 baguette or ciabatta
4 oz Gruyere, or other melting cheese, grated
Heat a good drizzle of olive oil (and the knob of butter, if using) in the bottom of a soup pot and slowly fry, over low heat, the onions, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Place the lid on the pan and cook slowly, about 15 minutes, until onions are soft but not coloured – stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and turn the heat up to color the onions a light golden colour. Add the stock to the pot and turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour into your oven proof serving bowls and place these on a baking sheet. Break off or slice hunks of baguette and place in each bowl topping with cheese. Place the baking sheet in a preheated over, either 350F or under the broiler (be careful not to crack your bowls or burn the bread) until the cheese is melted and the toast is lightly toasted.
Take care not to burn yourself on the hot bowls when they come out. When I make this I usually do the kids first, take them out and transfer them to another bowl so that their bowls aren’t hot and their soup has a chance to cool down while ours cooks.
Chopped Salad
I took the salad dressing recipe out of Jamie Oliver’s same cookbook; you could add pretty much anything you like to the salad.
3 romaine lettuce leaves
½ head of radicchio
½ cup edamame beans
1 tomato, seeds removed and chopped
½ cucumber, chopped
½ green pepper, chopped
½ carrot, peeled and chopped
Dressing
2 tsp English mustard
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
8 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
Whisk together in a bowl or shake together in a jar and pour over salad and toss.
Risotto with Red Beans
There’s nothing quite like the return of a child late at night from an event. Dave and Hannah got home from the hockey game around . Hannah came in all sleepy and content with her little bottle of orange juice and temporary tattoo. She had that sly little smile on her face, like she had been part of a big secret event, as she crawled under the blankets to cuddle with me on the couch and tell me all about it. I love the going to bed protests, between yawns, because she just can’t ever admit she’s tired – but yet falls asleep in seconds.
I often forget about risotto. I’m not sure why; I always have it in the cupboard, it is always gobbled up by the whole family, it is relatively easy to make and it seems to work well planned out or to use up leftovers.
Recipe
2 cups or arbio rice
5 cups of vegetable stock
15 oz tin of whole tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
15 oz red beans, drained and rinsed
½ 14 oz tin of artichoke hearts, chopped
¼ cup of kalamata olives, chopped
¼ head of radicchio, chopped
greens (whatever’s left from the bunches of spinach from the spinach pancakes, don’t worry if you have none left, it’ll still be good without them)
Heat stock in a saucepan and keep on simmer while you sauté onion in olive oil until soft and set aside. In a large pan heat another good glug of olive oil over medium heat and sauté garlic and arbio rice, until rice is coated and opaque. Add the tomatoes to the rice and stir, breaking up the tomatoes, until the liquid is absorbed. Add the stock to the risotto a cup at a time stirring often, waiting until all the liquid is absorbed before adding next cup. Once the last cup is almost absorbed and the risotto is creamy add the cheese, onions, beans, artichokes, olives, radicchio and greens and cook for a couple more minutes until heated through and the greens and radicchio are wilted.
Well, it’s Sunday again and my parents are still away. My sister lives in
Recipe
This recipe is from Post Punk Kitchen. I did find it a little dry and would either lessen the bread crumbs by half or use fresh bread crumbs to make it a little less dry, I should add that Dave did not care for this recipe, the two other vegheads agreed with me, but they could have just been polite, and finally my children loved it.
olive oil (from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, your choice)
1 small yellow onion, diced medium
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives (really, use any pitted olive you like)
1 15 oz can cooked lentils, rinsed and drained (1 1/4 cups)
1 cup breadcrumbs, divided
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onions for 3 minutes then add the mushrooms, garlic, tarragon and thyme until mushrooms are cooked, about 7 – 10 minutes.
While mushrooms are cooking; blend olives in a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped, remove from food processor and set aside.
Once mushrooms have cooked add the mixture to the food processor with all other ingredients, reserving ½ cup of breadcrumbs for later (or half that amount if you like). Pulse all ingredients until almost smooth, leave a little texture, and then mix in the breadcrumbs and olives.
Divide mixture into 6 equal parts and form into burgers. Place burgers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and non stick cooking spray. Spray the tops of the burgers and bake for 15 minutes, flip and bake the other side for 15 minutes.
I served these as little lentil loaves, but you could pop them in a bun and top them with fixings.
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