Baked Potato and substitute toppings

    So my husband comes home with a big bottle of white wine. I had no idea what to have for dinner. I cleaned all day, took my dog on an hour long walk, worked out on the ball and lifted a few weights.. etc.  I try to lose weight all the time.. I am just really bad at it.  I am doing great and then my husband or his dad wants fast food or.. my favorite, Chinese, or my other favorite Mexican!  Food is just too good. So, yet again, I am trying to lose weight. I am not too bad.. but I am not happy with how I look. I am going to NY in a month and I figured that is a good starting goal.. it's only 1 month I mean come on! lol.
    All that to say that we ended up eating potatoes and veggies. I had some frozen cauliflower, broccoli, and green beans in the freezer, so I threw it into a pot and cooked them up.  I love baked potatoes!
     Maybe everyone already knows about this, but I just figured it out and I am super excited...
    So normal toppings... cheese, salt and pepper, tony's seasoning, chives and sour cream....
    That isn't very healthy... sooooo
    In place of sour cream I used Greek yogurt!  It was absolutely amazing!
    In place of cheese I used nutritional yeast... also amazing.  I have been reading so much about it lately, I just had to try it. Now, I put it on everything lol  It really does taste like cheese too!
     I still put tony's seasoning on.. it's a keeper what can I say!
     Yay for new things! :)

Marinara Sauce

   It is going to be a long day and night.  My husband is working an event tonight.  It is lunch time now and I am really craving some of my homemade marinara sauce instead of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that we packed for lunch.
   I had never made my own sauce before.  My whole family makes it and my dad just recently started making his.. which is soooo amazing.  My husband and I decided it was our turn to carry on the tradition.  I started with a basic recipe and added spices to taste. Once we grow our tomatoes I am going to try and use those in the sauce.

Ingredients:

2-4 tablespoons olive oil (for sauteing onions and garlic)
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 small onion, chopped (I love onions)
1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes (I like a smooth sauce, not chunky tomatoes)
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
2 cups water
1 can black olives, chopped
1 can green olives, chopped
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat in a big pot (about 10 minutes)
2. Add the cans of sauce
3. Add the water
4. Add all the seasonings
5. Stir and bring to a boil
6. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer
7. Stir occasionally

We usually let ours sit all day.. 5-6 hours.  Taste it every half hour or so because you will need to add more seasonings....probably a lot more... lol.  We use so much italian seasoning it isnt funny!  I love this recipe... you really can't go wrong.

We usually make lasagna with the leftovers...
Now I really don't want PB and J!
Hmmm......

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Kinda Funny

    I thought I would tell you something that makes me laugh.  I work part time at our church in the kitchen.  They all know I am a vegetarian.  It seems that each week I get assigned to a new project where I get to play with meat!  I don't cook with it at home; my husband always cooks what he wants.  It is really quite devastating. lol
    Let's see... I have cut up ham, pulled chicken of the bone, and thawed meat etc...  Thawing meat is probably the worst thing ever.. I really do not do well with blood!  Ahh!  I remember unboxing 10 lb hamburger meat packages and putting it into the fridge.  I noticed soon after that I had blood on my shirt.  That was awful!! I had to grab a different shirt.  Needless to say, I put the meat in the fridge with my arms out and not putting it close to my chest...
    So, I just want to say thank you to the kitchen staff for all the experience you have given me :)

Quinoa Chili

 Good morning all!
 It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day in the middle of February.  I'll take it.  We went exploring yesterday since it was so nice out.  We probably walked 2-3 miles.  Why can't I seem to get the motivation to do that everyday.    

 So anyway, I have just recently started to eat quinoa.  Here is a little information on it:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa

It is easy to cook and delicious!  Here is a recipe I have found and tried.  I obviously took out the beef for me.  My husband eats meat so we had to divide the recipe and put beef in his.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water
• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
•  1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the ground beef. Cook and stir until the beef is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease; set beef aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with chili powder and cumin; cook 1 minute more to release the flavor of the spices. Stir in the tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, zucchini, oregano, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer until the bell peppers are tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Once the red and green peppers are tender, stir in the quinoa, beef, and corn kernels. Return to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes to reheat. Stir in the cilantro to serve.

I think I might need to eat this tonight.
Here is the recipe if you need to change serving sizes and view nutrition facts.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quinoa-chili/detail.aspx

Our Garden

    I love my garden.  We have had some pretty awesome fruits and vegetables come from it so far. When we first got to our house about 2 years ago, we started up our garden.  We made raised beds 8 inches deep.  Our backyard is pretty much hardpan clay, so raised beds seemed to be our only option.  We started with green beans, sweet potatoes, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, a few herbs, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes... and a few other things.
    The green beans grew. We got about 5 handfuls throughout the summer.  Lettuce supplied us with about 3 heads.  We got a couple handfuls of strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries... although the birds got to a few of them before we did.  We are most proud of our sweet potatoes.  There must have been at least 15 pounds!  They grew under our weed block! We dug for what seemed like hours trying to pry them all out of the dirt! They cooked beautifully too.  I have never seen such an orange color from a sweet potato!
   We also planted 2 apple trees.  Nothing there yet.. maybe this year we will get a few.
   Our tomatoes looked pretty sad throughout the spring and summer and didn't start taking off until late October.  Unfortunately, the freeze got to them.
   We are excited for what this year will bring.  It is such a rewarding feeling to grow and care for fruits and veggies and I encourage others to try.  Start off simple.  When we lived in our apartments we had a few things in pots.
    Oh, I do want to tell you about our maple tree. We were at my parents house and a seed from their maple fell into one of our pots.  When we brought our pot home, we noticed something growing and decided to let it go so we could see what it would turn into.  We took pictures as it grew and now it is about 6 feet tall!!


    Here our a few websites to get you started on your garden:

 http://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/planning-your-first-vegetable-garden/

http://www.weekendgardener.net/vegetable-gardening-tips/starting-garden-050705.htm

http://www.almanac.com/content/vegetable-garden-planning-beginners


A few pictures of our garden:

Sweet Potatoes

Raspberries

Lettuce

Green Beans growing

The beginning stage of our beds

Milk

    I am so excited.  We have snow!  Not much, but enough to make me smile. We just went to the grocery store and it made me think of a new idea to write about.
     I am not vegan, but I do not like milk.  I haven't had milk since I was probably 10.  It tastes dry to me... doesn't make sense.  I have had to figure out a different way to have my cereal in the morning.
    I have tried many different kinds.. soy, rice, almond, coconut...  I like all of them. I have been drinking the almond milk more lately.  Vanilla is my favorite flavor.  They also have chocolate flavor if you are craving that like me.  It is good to drink these if you are lactose intolerant too. I found a good dairy free milk alternatives website.

 http://www.godairyfree.org/Food-to-Eat/Shopping-List/Milk-Alternatives.html

   Hope this helps.

Meatloaf

     My husband and his dad made a meatloaf the other day and I felt a little left out. I wanted to enjoy a good meatloaf... without the meat! So I went searching.  I have found a pretty good recipe. It is delicious and nutritious  It has a good texture; it actually looked a little like the real thing.  Give it a try and don't be afraid to adjust as needed.  I am putting the recipe on this page and including the site I found it. It says it serves 4-6, but I made little loaves and made it last 8!  It took a lot less time to cook because it was not one big loaf. Oh, and I had to add ketchup to the top in the last few minutes that it was cooking.  I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lentils
1 small onion , diced
1 cup quick-cooking oat
¾ cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)
1 egg , beaten
4 ½ ounces spaghetti sauce (or 4.5 ounces tomato sauce)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon seasoning salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Directions:

1. Add salt to water and boil in a saucepan.
2. Add lentils and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of the water is evaporated.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Drain and partially mash lentils.
5. Scrape into mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly.
6. Stir in onion, oats and cheese until mixed.
7. Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt and pepper.
8. Mix well.
9. Spoon into loaf pan that has been generously sprayed with Pam (non-stick cooking spray) or well-greased.
10. Smooth top with back of spoon.
11. Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown.
12. Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes.
13. Run a sharp knife around edges of pan then turn out loaf onto serving platter.

http://www.food.com/recipe/really-good-vegetarian-meatloaf-really-33921

How It All Began...

      I don't remember the exact age I became a vegetarian, but I know I was very young.  I used to love meat. I feel like I remember the way bacon and meatloaf tastes, although my husband doesn't think so.  One day my dad was cooking chicken at my grandparents house, when I walked in and looked at what he was doing. I asked, "Daddy, what is chicken made out of?"  Of course, not thinking it would have any repercussions, he told me "a chicken."  From that day forward I became a non meat-eating girl.  
      The excitement didn't end there.  Fast forward a few years.  My little sister, age 5, and I were sitting at our table with McDonald's.  She had her cheeseburger and I had a bun with ketchup and melted cheese on it. I don't know what came over me, but I said "So, do you know what hamburger is made out of?" "What?" said my sister.  I replied, "a cow!" That was it, my sister has not had one bite of meat since.   My parents had such a hard time cooking meals for us.  ( Oops! Sorry mom and dad )
      I am starting this blog for all the struggling mothers and fathers of picky vegetarians.