Crazy Vegan Burgers

I started with a teaspoon canola oil, a teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of fresh dill and 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce. I'm frying some vegan boca burgers. We're not eating them with a bun and if I don't mind corrupting my vegan meal, I may add some smoked gouda.

But then, my daughter wanted cottage cheese and apple butter with hers. And a side of blueberries, so that's a lot of cheese.

My husband raved about these. He said they were so good he had to read the blog to find out what I did to them!

Baked Pears

So, it wasn't an exciting food day here in this house.

We all had yogurt for breakfast. My husband had leftover pasta primavera for lunch, I had peanut butter crackers and my daughter had a grilled cheese sandwich, pickles and grapes (with her grandfather.)

We had nachos with cheddar cheese, sour cream, mango salsa and refried beans for dinner.

And I'm baking a poir tarte tatin for my critique group which meets tonight, which I will serve with a nice French wine (Vouvray).

BUT one of our members can't have wheat, so I took some of the pears and placed them in a dish, sprinkled about one teaspoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg on them and baked them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I hope they're yummy.

Pasta Primavera with crôque monsieur sauce

We're taking the leftover cheese sauce from crôque monsieur last night and making a pasta primavera. Adding some california blend, peas, and extra cauliflower to the noodles and in terms of pasta I'm using about 8 ounces white wheels with about 6 ounces vegetable rotini.

I added parsley and extra grated swiss to the sauce.
But, while the noodles cooked I compared the labels. I thought I bought Giant wheat pasta, but it looks like I bought multigrain. Which means I have three types of noodles in my cupboard right now: 'regular' white, vegetable and multigrain.

The white pasta has a smaller serving size (1/2 cup versus 3/4 cup for the other 2) but it's the lowest in fat and the only one with no sodium or egg.
Per serving:
Carbs: white 14% RDA (42g), multigrain 13% (38g), vegetable 13% (40g)
Calories: white has 210, whereas the other 2 have 190
Protein: white 7g, multigrain 9, vegetable 7
Fiber: white 8% (2g), multigrain and vegetable 16% (4g)
while they all have the same enriched vitamins, the vegetable also has 25% vitamin A, 4% vitamin C and extra of the standard enriched vitamins. Does that make it worth the extra cost?

Tuna on Homemade Bread

We had boring tuna sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch, except my husband decided to jazz his up with black olives and cheddar cheese.

Four Cheese Vegetarian Crôque Monsieur

Ah... finally!

Adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris:
Angel's four cheese vegetarian crôque monsieur

• 12 slices homemade wheat bread (each about half the size of store-bought bread)
• six slices Morningstar vegetarian bacon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons unbleached white flour
• 2 cups hot heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground four color organic pepper
• pinch nutmeg
• 2 cups shredded swiss cheese (I got French Entremont)
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
• less than 1/4 parmesan (I ran out)
• 1 cup shredded smoked gouda

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat and add the flour all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for two minutes (is it supposed to end up as a lump? Because mine does.) Slowly stir in all the milk (oops I did mine fast) and whisk until sauce thickens (mine did fine, even if I neglected the subtle nature of the instructions).

Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, nutmeg, parmesan, 1/4 cup cheddar, and 1/4 cup swiss.
Stir until melted and set aside.

Toast the bread about five minutes on each side in the oven.

On the bottom halves of the sandwiches, pile 1 tablespoon sauce, about a tablespoon shredded cheese (at this point I mix all remaining the cheeses together), one slice vegetarian bacon (folded), one more tablespoon cheese sauce, then the lid, one more tablespoon sauce, then a little pile of cheese.

Return sandwiches to the oven until bubbly and browned.

Prepare some frozen peas and cauliflower and top with leftover cheese sauce. The remaining cheese sauce can be refrigerated and used for a killer alfredo sauce, or more sandwiches, or a really decadent fondue.

Scrambled eggs for lunch

Because we're having vegetarian crôque monsieur for dinner, I opted for scrambled eggs and peaches for lunch.

I made three eggs for my daughter and I, which I scrambled and fried in a hot skillet that I had melted about one tablespoon butter and mixed 1/2 teaspoon organic four-color pepper and 1 teaspoon parsley.

Mini shopping trip

Yesterday I ate junk all day. With my daughter. We had a road trip. Wawa egg sandwiches for breakfast, with apple slices, and Irish food for a late lunch-- Shepherd's pie with lamb, too! Stuffed so full we never ate dinner!

This morning I stopped at Giant, motivated by desire for crôque monsieur and some need of bathroom supplies. I spent $37.92 and hopefully got enough stuff to last at least a week, if not two.

We upgraded our Quicken yesterday, so I can tell you at a glance that I spent $266 on groceries last month, and $177 on dining out. I'm not happy with that dining out figure. Until I examine it closer and realize about $125 of it is connected to one of the non-profit boards I serve that owes me a reimbursement of $115. The treasury did not attend the last meeting so I didn't get my check... Upon even closer examination Quicken is giving me totally different numbers. I don't think I can trust any of them.

Ah, well... Back to my shopping trip this morning.

• Dove soap, 2 bars, $2.69 (the only soap my husband will use in the shower)
• Sushi Chef Japanese sesame oil, $3.69 for 5 oz. (all the bottles were the same size, of the three brands, Sushi Chef was the cheapest. The most expensive was $4.99. A little bit of sesame oil in the frying pan or in a mix with ginger, garlic, water and soy sauce makes a very authentic Asian flavor. Avoiding the need for Chinese take-out upon a craving.)
• Ronzoni vegetable rotini, 12 ounces, $1.45 (okay, almost twice the cost of plain 'white' noodles, but the Vitamin A content equals one serving of vegetables. Might be worth it for those hectic nights.)
• Giant pasta wheels, 16 ounces, $.89 (yes, it's 'white' pasta, it's the wagon wheel shape and my kid asked for it. I can mix it with healthier pasta)
• Giant wheat rotini, 14 ounces, 2 boxes at $1.34 (jury still out on whether wheat is worth the extra money)
• Giant mac and cheese spirals instant dinner, 2 boxes at 49 cents (as far away from my principles as you can get, but everyone deserves a guilty pleasure)
• Giant tomato sauce, no salt added, the tiny cans, 5 at 29 cents each
• Entremont swiss cheese, $4.75 for a chunk
  
• A pint of fresh blueberries, $2 (which my daughter is eating as I type)
• Light and Lively cottage cheese, 2 at 3.49 (the big container). I got two because my daughter eats it all on me...
  (we had cottage cheese and apple butter for breakfast today)
• half gallon of 2% milk, $1.71
• Kotex ultra thin maxi pads, $2.99
• 80 count multi-pack of Tampax, $5.49