Go big or go home

I drove home to Charlotte last week - approximately a 6 1/2 hour drive. I don't typically drive, but if I'm going for longer than a weekend I like to have my car with me (not that my parents wouldn't let me borrow one of their 5 billion cars). I usually grab a book on tape or two to make the time pass quicker (it really does!).

Anyway, in the book I was listening to, one of the characters was a vegan. Now, I love me some steak, chicken, seafood & cheese (to name a few), but the girl made some really compelling arguments. I'm about 1000% sure that Brad will never accept that particular lifestyle, but I decided to attempt a vegetarian breakfast and lunch during the week to see how it goes. I say vegetarian, not vegan because I need all the calcium I can get.

My first attempt at a vegetarian breakfast (actually, I guess it turned out to be vegan, go me!) was a serious leap into the unknown. For the first time in my life...I ate tofu.

Seriously. And you know what? It wasn't bad at all. (Note - I was also expecting it to cost a LOT more than it did. I didn't get the most expensive brand, but it still was just $2 for a big chunk). I crumbled up a little of the tofu, tossed it in a pan with a little olive oil, threw in some broccoli sprouts (I've read they're better for you than broccoli and since I hate broccoli, I was THRILLED to hear this) and some fresh portabello mushrooms - sprinkled some Mediterranean seasoning and done. Scrambled tofu.

I had read that tofu tends to take the flavor of whatever you cook it with and I agree. The texture was not really any different than scrambled eggs. I didn't make much this morning but I think this could be a winner. Tomorrow I might try to change up the spices...or maybe add some more veggies in. But so far - I think tofu might be a winner.

Green Bean & Mushroom Medley

This wasn't a shocker that I liked this dish :) The big deal about this recipe, though, was the carrots that were mixed in. Sure, I love green beans and mushrooms - but I hate carrots! You'll notice that I left out the onions - here's the thing about onions. I've learned to enjoy red onions occasionally - there's a salad I make with chopped red onion and I like that...and I've grown to crave bbq chicken pizzas with red onions - as long as they're cut thin. Regular onions, though...not only can I not stand the taste, but they tend to bother my stomach. So that's one veggie you won't see much of, for the sake of my poor tummy.

And here we go:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 2 carrots, cut into thick strips
• 1/4 cup butter margarine
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper: I just used regular pepper - it was just fine!

Directions

1. Place green beans and carrots in 1 inch of boiling water. Cover, and cook until tender but still firm. Drain.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and mushrooms until almost tender. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in green beans, carrots, salt, seasoned salt, garlic salt, and white pepper. Cover, and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Granted, not the best picture ever - but I promise it was good. (And the pizza casserole was amazinggggg as usual!). I give it an A-!

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 103 | Total Fat: 7.9g | Cholesterol: 20mg

Looking Ahead...

Looking ahead to next week, I’m going to be back to my veggie attempts. This week was pretty much shot due to me being sick all Easter weekend, but I’ll be back with a vengeance the next two weeks.

It’s pretty much a given that I will always cook on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The following week, however, hubby will be out of town a few days so I’m planning on going all-out in veggie goodness. I might also add that as of May 7, I’m on break from grad school until June 1 so I’ll have more time to really plan some meals!

Tentative meal plan for the next few weeks:

Monday (May 2):

3 Cheese Chicken Penne (using whole grain wheat pasta and low fat skim milk cheese)

Glazed Dijon Carrots (yes, this was already on the menu for this past week but like I said, being sick interfered)

Rolls

Mixed salad

Tuesday (May 3):

Pizza Casserole (as healthy as it can possibly be: ground turkey, turkey pepperoni, low fat skim milk cheese, whole wheat pasta)

Green Bean & Mushroom Medley

Bread

Mixed salad

Wednesday (May 4):

Tuna & Pasta Cheddar Melt (a new recipe, haven’t tried it yet)

Carrot Souffle

Bread

Mixed Salad

Monday (May 9):

Grilled Salmon

Sugar Snap Peas

Bread

Mixed Salad

Tuesday (May 10):

Grilled Steak

Mashed Potatoes

Rolls

Wednesday (May 11):

Stuffed Peppers (this is a biggie – I hate peppers, but I found a recipe I felt like I could tentatively live with. It sounds like it’s basically pizza in a pepper!)

Thursday (May 12):

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar

Creamed Corn

Friday (May 13):

Spinach noodles – that’s right, I’m going to attempt to make my own noodles! We shall see how this turns out!

Homemade tomato sauce

Salad with homemade Garlic Croutons

Herbed Mushrooms with White Wine

Okay so maybe this one is cheating. I love mushrooms, so it's not that hard for me to find ways to fix them that I like. But the point is, I guess, that I haven't been eating my veggies like I should so I'm making more of an effort now.

Herbed Mushrooms with White Wine

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place mushrooms in the skillet, season with Italian seasoning, and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Mix the wine and garlic into the skillet, and continue cooking until most of the wine has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chives. Continue cooking 1 minute.

I pretty much followed this one as written, except I didn't add salt or pepper. I know that seems to be a trend with me - I rarely do add salt but I will add pepper quite a bit. None of these recipes so far really seemed to need pepper though. If I felt like there was something missing, it didn't seem to be pepper.

Last night was actually the second time I made this. The first time I used whole mushrooms - they were good, but they did take longer to cook and weren't quite as good as last night, when I used sliced mushrooms. The recipe doesn't specify but a dinner guest with the whole mushrooms suggested he thought they would be better sliced. I agreed and now that I've done it both ways, sliced is better.

I give it an A!

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 57 | Total Fat: 2.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg