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

 

It's cooling off around here

And that means more sewing!!
Summer has ended and fall is going strong.  We have visited a few farms, moved some of the native plants around in the garden, and my sewing has picked up.

Let's talk about sewing first.  I made some pretty cute Halloween decorations for this year.  I will be having the supper club over for dinner on Oct. 29 so I thought a little festive look was in order.
I started using these directions for making a bunting.  I am quite happy with how quickly this came together and it is quite cute.  I am certainly not good at decorating mantels but this will do for October. 

After making the bunting, I still had lots of fabric left over and thought why not make a table runner.  I googled easy Halloween table runner and found this super cute one.  I quickly got to work and it is so easy.  I can see making this again and again.  Here is a look at my version and a few close ups so you can see how cute these fabrics are. 

Last weekend we had fun a Feel Good Farm.  They hold a party every fall and it is such a fun time.  Great food, bluegrass music, hayrides and more.  It rained right as we arrived and we waited for the storm to pass.  It was muddy but the sun came out and fun was had by everyone.

Happy Quilting 

 Cathy

Unforgettable

Really in every way.   Who could it be.  My grandmother of course.  She recently passed away.  It was a complete surprise but she did have 84 great years.  She was quite but commanded authority.  She always thought it was funny that my dad and his brothers could get so worked up while watching TV, especially when watching sports.   She really was the backbone to the family.  She loved to host and play with her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  As a kid you knew ice cream was in the freezer, as luck would have it she worked with a dairy company.  Also Swedish fish on top of the freezer.  She would gives the parents a break by taking us to the park or out for a walk.  She loved to play cards and dominoes.  She was quite competitive.  My guess is if you could have played cards with her you would not have noticed this competitive side but I promise you there was this special sparkle in her eyes when you made the wrong move.  I'm truly thankful to have had so many great years with her.

This is the quilt I made for her.  It was the first quilt I finished and the second quilt I started.

Here she is with a few of her great grandchildren.  If you look closely you can see the quilt I made her, it is folded on the back of the couch.

Here is a more recent picture at a graduation party for one of her grandkids.

 A sad time for me but
Happy Quilting everyone
Cathy