new blog

I need a change, still working on the details.  I want a blog with a positive outlook, that's why I thought of sewpositivelyme.blogspot.com
I will start fresh at that website soon.

Recipes for August 17

Wow this year is flying by.  I have a few finished quilts to show!!  The weather has been pretty cool for summer around here so the upstairs sewing room is not too hot.  I will show the two finished quilts very soon.
Here is the menu for this week.  I made a wonderful Short Rib Lasagna last night with some homemade focaccia.  The lasagna will be lunch for many of the days this week and the bread will be used quite often for the early part of the week.

Sunday Tomato Soup with Ham and Cheese panini

Monday Zucchini-Potato Soup with Bread (pg 125 Everyday Cooking with Dr Dean Orish)

Tuesday Corn Pancakes and Swiss Chard with Roasted Onions (pg 157 Everyday cooking with Dr Dean Orish)

Wednesday Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas

Thursday Baked Eggs on Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with toast and goat cheese

Friday Black Bean Burgers

Vacation and Weekly menu

Rumor is that some people are missing my weekly menus.  We went on vacation in March and then I stopped posting.  We had a wonderful trip and the weather was perfect.  We left here with winter coats and 4 hours later it was temps in the 80's.  The kids are doing great and growing so quickly.

 

I did get a few new cookbooks recently.  I have cooked from all of them and I'm quite happy with my choices.  I will write some reviews on those very soon.  This week I am back to a few of my favorite food blogs.   

Sunday April 6

Breakfast: Cherry Almond Scones

Dinner: Jason's Favorite

Monday April 7 Green Powerhouse Pesto Plate make taco fillings

Tuesday April 8 Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

Wednesday April 9 Greek Farro and Chickpea Salad

Thursday April 10 dinner with the quilting ladies

Friday April 11 Quesadillas with corn and avocado

Weekly Menu

It's that most wonderful time.  I have planned my weekly menu.  Last week included some wonderful meals at some restaurants.  Two of them left me so full.  This year meals have been very healthy and packed with veggies.  At most I think the calories are about 400 per meal, many are less than 400.  Monday night I bet I ate about 1500 for dinner.  That was quite a shock to my body.  Don't get me wrong it was a fabulous feast but not something I want to do again for a very long time.  
This week I have included a few more meat meals.  Still vegetarian for most days.  Eating plant based has been great.  Have a look over my meals and certainly see if any of them look like something you want to add to your menu.

Monday  Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Bowl, simple salad

Tuesday Big Comfy Sweet Potato, Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Wednesday Curried Cashew Burgers, Orange Infused Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers

Thursday Avocado White Bean Wrap, Chips and Fruit

Friday  Roasted Vegetable Pasta, Carrot Salad with Dill

Saturday Breakfast  Multigrain Waffles, Vanilla Cream and Blueberries

Lunch Leftovers
Dinner Italian Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni, Spicy Parmesan Green Beans and Kale

Sunday Breakfast Egg and Hash Brown Casserole

Lunch  Chickpea Stew, Fruit

Dinner Pot Roast with Risotto Cakes 

Weekly menu

I had another wonderful week of food.  Cooking at home is really one of my favorite things.  Doing that saves money, improves health and makes me happy.  What more could you want?  Well this week things are different.  I have dinner with coworkers and a couple of dinners with family this week.  We are going to a local brewery on Valentine's Day for a fun 6 course dinner.  Saturday we are having dinner at a friends house.  Compared to my normal week this is really a quite busy week. I have been sewing a lot quite recently and I do hope to get my camera back out and start showing off my work.

Last week favorites are the Veggie Lasagna and the Eggnog French Toast

Sunday

Lunch Leftovers

Dinner Pad Thai

Monday Dinner with Co-workers

Tuesday Winter Abundance Bowl

Wednesday Dinner Out

Thursday Vegetable Quesadilla  

Friday Date Night (make cheese ball)

Saturday

Breakfast Breakfast Taco

Lunch  Quinoa Cauliflower Bowl (make rice for lunch on Sunday)

Dinner Cheese Ball

Sunday

Breakfast Breakfast Sandwich

Lunch  Chicken Fried Rice

Dinner Beef and Broccoli with brown rice

Recipes for the week of Feb 3

It is suppose to be another cold, snowy week.  Weather reports on snow totals are all over the place, anywhere from 6 to 30 inches.  Let's mix things up this week.  Some day pretend it's warm and have tropical like meals, other days it's soup to keep us warm and one day I'll spice things up.

Last week I loved the meals.  January was very plant based.  I love that change in the way we eat.  Some days I do need to think about serving us more.  I think I should still keep the 3 serving per meal in mind.  It's easy to mix together veggies and grain and feel it is a complete meal.  Some days that works great, other day I am left feeling like something was missing.  We have saved money and while changes in health are hard to see I do feel great.

Monday  Teriyaki Chickpeas with steamed snow peas.

Tuesday Sweet Potato, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup.

Wednesday Honey Chipotle Chicken Bowl

Thursday Date Night

Friday Veggie Lasagna

Saturday

Breakfast Eggnog French Toast

Lunch Pearl Barley salad

Dinner  Lentil Lettuce Cups

Sunday

Breakfast  Overnight Oats

  

Last week of Jan 2014!

Eating less meat has been great.  I loved all of last week recipes.  My favorite was the Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans.  I don't know if we have been saving as much money as I thought we would.  Time will tell though.  One change I have thought about is cooking dried beans instead of using so many canned beans.  That will require a bit more planning though.  Maybe I'll try that a few weeks in February and see how it goes.  This week is another week of recipes available online.  Finding online recipes makes planning a menu and shopping list so quick and easy.    

Sunday

Breakfast Eggs and Bacon Breakfast Pizza

Lunch:  Cool Ranch Crock pot Chicken  (use leftovers for lunch during week)

Dinner:  Chickpea piccata, rice and broccoli

Monday  Spaghetti Squash Recipe with Spinach, Feta & Basil White Beans

Tuesday  Winter Lentil Soup

Wednesday  Brussels Sprouts Tacos with Caramelized Shallot Salsa

Thursday: Date night!

Friday  Barley and Lentil Salad with Goat Cheese

It's still cold outside

Polar air is coming back down this week.  We need some hearty meals to warm us up. All the recipes this week have links so you can easily take a look at what we are eating.  Last week the meals were great.  I can certainly see making all of the recipes again.

Recipes from online sources

Monday Jan 20  Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

Tuesday Jan 21 Warm Quinoa Salad

Wednesday Jan 22 Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans

Thursday Jan 23 Date Night

Friday Jan 24 Irish white bean and cabbage stew

Saturday Jan 25 Celery Root and Kale Soup

This week's menu

Last week the dinners were quite good.  The only complaint is with the meatloaf bites, way too much spice.  I had to eat a large bite of mashed potatoes with just a little bite of the "meatloaf".  I would make it again but reduce all spices by at least half.  This week we will eat a little more meat but still go heavy on the veggies.  I will be excited to report back again and let you know how the meals were.  Let's keep eating healthy in 2014!!

Cookbook for week (unless another link given)  Happy Herbivore Light and Lean

Sat (Jan 11)  Lunch  bbq salad (pg 133)

Dinner White Chicken Chili (SCR pg 132), cornbread

Sun (Jan 12) Breakfast waffles, bacon

Lunch bangkok curry (pg 163), brown rice

Dinner game day loaded potato (pg 196)

Monday (Jan 13) Dinner leftover chicken chili

Tuesday (Jan 14)  Lentil Joes (pg 59), roasted potatoes, salad

Wednesday (Jan 15)  Quinoa Curry Cakes (pg 68), hummus, salad with lemon dressing

Thursday (Jan 16) Date night!!

Friday (Jan 17) Bok Choy and Cauliflower Stir Fry  brown rice

Happy 2014!

I thought it would be fun to share what I cook.  Every week I plan out a menu.  For 2014 I am trying to eat plant based 5 days a week and 2 days a week eat some meat if I want to.  I think cutting back on meat eating will be great for many reasons.  I will eat more vegetables and beans, this is great for my health.  I will save money, meat prices have certainly been on the rise.  I will help the environment, I do lots of things around the house to reduce my carbon footprint and this is really one of the last things I need to do.

Cookbook for the week  Happy Herbivore Light and Lean

Saturday Jan 4  Loaded Mexican baked potato (pg 195)

Sunday Jan 5 breakfast pancakes with fruit,

Lunch Scott’s burrito (pg 101)

Dinner Italian bowl (pg 95)

Monday Jan 6

Lunch:Lentil Kale Potato soup

Dinner:Meatloaf bites (pg 79) mashed potatoes, veggies

Tuesday Jan 7 Thai tacos (pg 64)

Wednesday Jan 8 bbq salad (pg 133)

Thursday Jan 9 bangkok curry (pg 163), brown rice

Friday Jan 10 Steak, parmesan greens (pg 181), roasted potatoes