Mediterranean veggie burgers

In my quest to get myself moving more, we met our friend Ally at the park for a one mile plus walk. Since the walk occurred at one of our favorite local parks, child and I stopped at Wawa and bought apples with peanut butter and cut watermelon for a picnic breakfast.

Lunch today is Morningstar Mediterranean style veggie burger with lots of lettuce, salsa and Goddess dressing in a wrap. I also put srirancha sauce on mine. Washed down with home brewed unsweetened sun tea.

The Ultimate After Work Sandwich

I got home from work at 10 pm today and I didn't think I was hungry (having not eaten dinner) but at 10:30 it became clear that I was.

One thing led to another and before you know it I had made this truly, truly beautiful sandwich.

INGREDIENTS (per sandwich):

- one Morningstar chickpea pattie

- chopped raw kale (a double to triple layer) 

- a hot dog bun

- a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan

- a couple heaping tablespoons Archer Farms fire roasted habanero salsa

I toasted the hot dog bun under a high broiler, added the cheese to both sides and returned it to the oven.

Then I heated the chick pea pattie in the microwave.

I took the hot dog bun out of the oven. Cutting the chick pea pattie into strips, I arranged them on one side of the bun and the kale layered on the other. On top of the kale I plopped the salsa and then I plopped the two halves together.

This will be repeated for dinner for the family sometime soon.

Heaven.

Cheesy flatbreads

We have a lack of bread products: no snack crackers, no bread, no buns, no biscuits, or no tortilla shells.

What we have are Wasa crackerbreads.

So I used those to make a hot flatbread. 

I used six total crackerbreads so each person had two like in the photo. I spread cream cheese on each one and sprinkled the cream cheese with garlic powder, fresh ground four color pepper, and Italian herb seasoning.

I prepared two Morningstar burgers. One spicy black bean and one Mediterranean chick pea. I crumbled them and spread them evenly among the crackers. 

Then I heated them about 5 minutes at 350. I switched the heat to broil when I got them out. I topped each one with half a slice of American cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Return to the oven until melty.

Hot breakfast

We took some coconut flour corn muffins from earlier this week out of the freezer. We served them with homemade apple butter, vegetarian sausage and sweet potatoes.

A lot of color to start today!

Squash and couscous

Today was a use-up-leftovers and play with the children kind of day.

So I heated up some Archer Farm Steam-in-bag sweet potatoes in maple-butter sauce that I got on clearance for $1.38 (before my discount). In the skillet, I mixed this, cubes of butternut squash and shredded vegetarian sausage (Morningstar breakfast patties-- 2 for the three of us).

Put everything over couscous and serve.

Zippy Egg Wrap

In a tortilla shell:
- one egg fried in coconut oil
- half a spicy black bean burger from Morningstar
- home canned salsa

Everyday nonsense

So... I have discovered one large tea bag (the family size) and one Tazo chai tea bag makes the perfect iced tea/chai in a one gallon pickle jar.

My cucumber plants have turned yellow and died for the most part so I harvested the last few cucumbers on the vine. not sure if we'll make pickles or relish but... I have seven of them.

Dinner tonight is iced chai tea, sweet potato puffs, Green Giant green beans almandine and crescent rolls stuffed with vegetarian hot dogs, Morningstar vegetarian bacon strips and velveeta.

Processed. All of it.

But hey-- my husband just finished a 12-day work stretch and we all survived a crazy work/school week. I worked, went to class, did a freelance project AND did a project for my internship.

Which brings me to my next topic. NPR ran a commentary on whether or not vegans and vegetarians feel superior to meat eaters.

Go google the article if you want to read it, but it got me thinking.

I am far from perfect. I wish I could visit more local farms for more produce. I wish I could give up more animal products. I wish I had the money to be choosier about which company's products I consume. I wish I never used processed foods.

I was a vegetarian for about eight years and I experimented with veganism for a few months.

I had gestational diabetes. This gives me an increased risk of type II diabetes.

I was severely anemic for two years.

My daughter retains fluid in her ears, which gets worse when she has dairy.

As a result of all of this, I think a lot about my food. I think about protein, carbohydrates, iron and vitamins. I think about how pure the food is that I feed my daughter. I read labels and avoid ingredients I can't pronounce.

My daughter doesn't eat orange cheese. She doesn't know how to open American cheese in the individual wrapper. She doesn't realize that fast food kids meals come with toys.

I try to balance our exposure to wheat, sugars, salt and soy. I try to mix colors in every meal.

We drink sun brewed iced tea, 100% juice diluted with bubbles from our SodaStream, and water. We switch between almond milk and soy milk.

I do this on a strict budget.

My daughter and I garden. We bake. We preserve our food via canning.

Because of all this, I think I am superior in the kitchen to the American with the standard American diet. I work hard at it.

Vegetarian sausage topping

To accompany the cornbread I made today, makes three servings:
- 2 Morningstar breakfast patties broken into bits
- one small green pepper (my first from the garden), diced very small
- one apple, sliced very thin
- butter, if desired
- local honey, if desired

Using butter, no stick spray, oil or your favorite vegan spread, sauté peppers and apples until soft. Add vegetarian sausage. Stir fry until hot. Drizzle with honey. Serve over cornbread.

Post vacation cop out

My neighbor came to Philadelphia to retrieve my daughter and I to the train station. He wouldn't accept toll, gas or parking money so I took his son to Friendly's for dinner.

Today I used my husband's leftover bologna to make sandwiches with spring mix, extra sharp cheddar and new pickles on hot dog buns.

Dinner was processed stuff. Morningstar spicy black bean burgers, uncle ben's broccoli cheddar rice with extra broccoli and Mott's unsweetened healthy harvest blueberry applesauce.

Soon I must start cooking again. Vacation must end sometime.

The final meal

Looks delicious!

It was! The vegetables, which had no butter, cooking in their own juices... We had them in the coals for 90 minutes. They were succulent.

The ras el hanout made the spiced pack very tangy and too hot for the child.

The Morningstar hot dogs were edible but far from amazing. Vegetarian hot dogs are a tricky busy.

Pizza-ish Pipettes

I had to use up a bag of salad, so I started this meal with the following:
- side salad of iceberg lettuce, carrots, red cabbage and cucumbers with raspberry cherry vinaigrette dressing
- last of the pickled, mustard seed vegetables canned last summer

Drink: juice with bubbles

And the pasta:
INGREDIENTS
- one box pipettes, cooked
- Morningstar vegetarian meatballs
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- one small can Hunts no salt added tomato sauce
- one can pizza sauce
- hearty handfuls of real parmesan cheese

1. Fry the meatballs in the skillet until thawed and slightly warm
2. Add sauces and cook on low until bubbly
3. Add pasta, stir well
4. Top with cheese and serve

Post Holiday Salad

I've been craving salads. I think it's carb overload from Thanksgiving. I don't crave salads often once the weather gets cold so I'm running with it.

I did something similar to this at work the other night:
• Fresh Express Veggie Lover's salad
• Marie's Ranch Dressing
• firecracker carrots from my canning with Gayle this summer
• Morningstar vegetarian buffalo wings

Today's lunch had a side of diluted Ocean Spray Cran-pomegranate juice, white earl gray tea for my husband and Tazo rest tea for me.

And I have to keep working on Nana's homemade cranberry sauce.

Grilled cheese with apples

Simple but hearty and flavorful. That was tonight's dinner.

Ingredients:
- butter
- wheat bread (two slices per person)
- one large apple, sliced
- two slices Morningstar breakfast strips (vegetarian bacon)
- extra sharp cheddar
- mozzarella
- Market pantry sweet potato fries

Put the fries in the oven.

Heat the Le Creuset skillet with a generous tablespoon of butter. Add the apples and cook until soft. Move to plate.

Heat vegetarian bacon.

Butter one side of bread, place in pan, layer with cheddar, then apples, then bacon, then mozzarella. Top with another slice of bread and make however you normally like your grilled cheese.

I burned mine, but they were so good my seven-year-old didn't care.

Oddball Brunch

- leftover steak fries, reheated in the oven
- sweet potato fries with a side of real maple syrup
- Pacific foods, home style tomato soup
- morningstar breakfast patties
- grape juice with bubbles

Mix Up Fritters

I thought for dinner tonight I'd make a hashbrown scramble and Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patties. But then I thought maybe potato pancakes. With applesauce. So, I called up this old entry:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/apple-potato-pancakes.html?m=1

I mixed up the following in my big Pyrex missing cup:
- almost 3 cups frozen grated potatoes, "hashbrowns," thawed in microwave
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup corn flake crumbs
- 1 cup? 1 1/2 cups? frozen corn

Fry patties in cast iron skillet in canola oil, on medium about three minutes on each side. Then bake at 475 until crispy.

These were my BEST potato pancakes ever! They were crispy and flavorful. With a touch of real maple syrup to lubricate them, they were heavenly!

Zucchini/squash boats

I hope this works. It always makes me nervous when I'm this avant garde.

We had a fridge full of yellow squash and zucchini given to us via the garden of a friend of a friend.

So we decided to stuff them and make 'boats.'

NOTE: do not try this unless you've read this whole entry and I say it comes out decent. Because I'm totally making this up, with no guidance.

INGREDIENTS:
- one yellow squash
- one zucchini
- extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed
- salt
- garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- two Morningstar breakfast patties
- 5.2 ounces Boursin shallot & chive Gourney cheese
- one egg
- about 1 cup corn flake crumbs (or bread crumbs)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Slice squash and zucchini in half long-ways and gut out the seeds with a spoon. (feed to tortoise if you have one, they love squash guts.)

Child can then use pastry brush to coat each half with olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and garlic to each and a hearty sprinkle of Italian seasoning.

In a bowl, mix cheese, breadcrumbs and egg. Stir into a filling. Mix in broken bits of vegetarian sausage patty.

Fill boats (the squash and zucchini) with filling. Assemble the halves back to whole vegetables. Wrap in aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes.

Spinach and corn muffins

I got the inspiration for corn muffins last night so today I dusted off Eileen Breslin's vegan recipe which I had previously posted here:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/cornbread-and.html?m=1

I added about 1 cup frozen corn and two cups shredded fresh spinach to the dry ingredients. And I reduced the sugar.

I reduced the dry ingredients by about 1/8 of a cup or less. I used 3/4 cup organic whole milk (so this variation is not vegan), and more than 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, then I added about two tablespoons black strap molasses.

I poured into cupcake tins and once cooked served as a sandwich with a Morningstar breakfast pattie.

Broccoli spinach rice casserole

I made a quick casserole last night that my husband said was hearty.

Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup brown rice (measured before steaming)
- 1 bag green giant steam in bag broccoli with premium cheese sauce
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 3 Morningstar breakfast patties, torn into chunks
- market pantry six-blend Italian cheese

I started with 1 1/4 cup brown rice in the steamer. Prepare broccoli as instructed on bag. Pour broccoli and sauce into rice, add spinach and "sausage." Stir well. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Insta-lunch

I had no plan for lunch, so I whipped this up:

- 3 wegmans Belgian waffles that my father-in-law brought
- organic maple syrup
- Morningstar breakfast patties
- raspberries
- strawberries

A favorite Mommy breakfast

This has become one of my favorite instant breakfasts: one morningstar breakfast patty on a slice of Archer Farm Apple Fritter bread with a BIG mug of Tazo herbal tea. My favorite tea is Tazo Rest, but I think it's been discontinued. On this particular day, I replaced it with Tazo Passion. Very fruity.