Tag: Meatless Dinners

Daily Thoughts · Vegetables

VEGGIE NIGHT AT OUR HOUSE

Chocolate Castles7 Comments

We have been having quite a few veggie nights for dinner. It is weird. For some reason, maybe its the heat maybe I am getting lazy (but think I will just think it is the heat instead, sounds much better), but we have been enjoying vegetables much more than before.
On Sunday night we had family over for dinner. Because my sister-in-law doesn’t eat meat except for salmon or pork roast, it is fun to try to come up with new options for when they come over to eat with us. Sunday night we ended up having fried green tomatoes (yes, I know, we just had them last week, but they were so good and I still had 2 left, I wanted to make them again)cornbread that I added diced green chiles, a small can of creamed corn and because there was not milk to be found in our house, I diluted whipping cream to use in the cornbread. After all, is there anything whipping cream would not taste good in? I put on a pot of pinto beans, had fried potatoes with onions and boiled cabbage. The cabbage was so good that I am posting what I did. You probably have a million recipes on fried potatoes and onions and pinto beans, so will skip that part. But the cabbage was really good. We ended our veggie dinner with a wonderful key lime pie with whipped cream on top. It was a really great meal! We didn’t miss having meat at all. Well, actually because we didn’t have meat, around 9:30 p.m. we started to get a little hungry, so we just had a second piece of key lime pie. Took the hunger pains away instantly! Worked like a charm.

I cut up a head of cabbage and added it to a deep heavy saucepan. Filled the pot with enough water that it covered the cabbage about halfway up the pan. I use the seasoning package of frozen onion, bell pepper and celery that you can get at almost any grocery store for about $1. I added added about 1/2 cup of this to the pot. Sprinkled 2 teas chicken bouillon over the top, 1 teas garlic powder, salt and pepper and 1 rounded teaspoon of Herb de Provence. Cooked it over medium heat for about an hour. About halfway through I threw in about 2 tables of unsalted butter because, well, because if Paula Deen ever saw this post, I would want her to be proud of me for adding butter and because we had not had our full days quota of butter yet. That’s it. It was a great dish that went over so well and my sister-in-law loved it also. If you need a good recipe for fried green tomatoes, just comment. I used one I got off the internet and they were delicious. I will be most happy to share it. Last night, we had the rest of the beans, cabbage, shredded brussels sprouts, and homemade Spanish rice, which even if I say so myself, was really very good. Will post that recipe tomorrow.

Remember what your mom always told you…eat your veggies and have a butterful evening!

Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized

Fettuccine Alfredo With Asparagus

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This has been such a great week. Not only did I find a great new series on Netflix called The Paradise about a turn of the century shopping store, we have had so much rain. Rain always makes me want to live in the kitchen because of the coolness in the air and the black clouds which (apparently I must be half witch because I love dark clouds and rain) always brings out my baking mood. Because we are going to the evening church service instead of our normal “get up and git to church” routine, we were able to make taquitos for breakfast and homemade cinnamon rolls, which just came out of the oven. We have a friend going with us to church and back here for dinner tonight, so of course, there is now a pork roast in the crockpot.

Sundays are the perfect day for baking, before or after going to worship. When I saw this recipe in an old Southern Living magazine, I realized that the only thing that needed to be purchased before making it was the asparagus. So this will be our new recipe for this week. I’m trying to decide if I will post the recipe for the cinnamon rolls and the pork roast. If I can stay out of the kitchen long enough to blog, I will post pictures of the rolls and the roast and will probably post the recipes. In the meantime, as you begin to think and plan this weeks menu, put this recipe on your list. You will be glad you did.

8 oz uncooked fettuccine
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces
3/4 teas kosher salt, divided
1/2 teas ground black pepper, divided
1 teas lemon zest
2 teas fresh lemon juice
1 tables butter
1 tables vodka or water
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup milk (I use half & half)
6 tables grated Parmesan cheese
1 tables chopped fresh chives

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander over a large bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, swirl to coat. Add asparagus,1/4 teas salt and 1/4 teas of the pepper. Sauce until tender crips, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add lemon zest and juice; toss. Keep warm.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Add vodka (or water) and garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add team cheese, stirring until smooth. Stir in milk, Parmesan cheese and remaining 1/2 teas salt and 1/4 teas pepper. Stir in reserved cooking water pasta and asparagus. Toss. Sprinkle with chives

Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Starches

Rice & Lentil Casserole

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After scraping the pan this afternoon of the caramel banana pudding that I made for dessert tonight, I thought the least I could do would be to post something healthy to make myself feel like I have not completely gone to the dark side of life…..an all sugar diet.  This is one of the recipes that I told you about that I found while waiting in the Dr’s office in California. When you read the ingredients….well, even just the title, you can tell that it would come from a Dr’s office magazine and not a Southern Living Magazine, I think Lentil and Southern comfort food might even be an oxymoron. Anyway…for all you folks out there that  are on restricted  diets of no meat, no gluten or diary, this one is for you. But please at least end your meal with a cookie or Red Delicious apple, you can only go so long without sugar. At least that is what I tell myself around 4 every afternoon.

1 cup uncooked basmati rice

1 cup dried split green lentils

1 (10 oz) package chopped spinach (thawed and squeeze as much moisture as possible out of spinach)

1 teas salt

1/2 teas pepper

1 teas turmeric

1 teas ground cumin

1 Tables grated fresh ginger

Be sure to rinse lemtils before cooking.  In a large saucepan, add rice, lentils, salt & pepper, turmeric, cumin and ginger.

Bring mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, covered, cooking for 45 min, stirring occasionally. Cover the saucepan, continue cooking over low heat until all liquid is absorbed. Add more water if needed to be sure rice and lentils are completely done.

Makes 6 servings

Casseroles · Starches · Vegetables

Butternut Squash & Spinach Lasagna

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While on the road the past 3 weeks going between California and Arizona, we discovered quite a few mom & pop joints (and yes they were joints, as they are the type of places that you would probably drive right past, but being married to Mr. Adventure, we usually don’t just drive by, we stop and eat), we had a ball talking with people that we would not come across in our normal daily routine. It was exciting to hear people’s stories and to learn different recipes that we had not yet tasted. Since we were in our adventure mode, I even thumbed through magazines at the doctor’s office while in California.  One of the recipes that I found was this lasagna. Since we are trying to be good and not eat as much meat, this one caught my eye.

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 1/2 cups whole milk, divided

2 tables butter

2 tables flour

4 oz Fontina cheese, shredded

1 (15 oz) container whole milk ricotta

1 large egg white

2 teas fresh sage, minced

1/2 teas black pepper

2 cups shredded fresh spinach

1/2 cup scallions, minced

9 lasagna noodles

2 oz mozzarella cheese

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add squash and cook until tender, about 12-15 min. Drain and puree in a food processor.

Preheat oven to 375. In a pot, heat butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook one min more. Whisk in 1 cup milk,  stirring constantly to avoid lumping and starts to thicken.

Add the butternut squash puree and continue to cook until mixture has thickened and then stir in Fontina cheese, to complete the béchamel sauce. Whip together ricotta, egg white, sage and black pepper in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix spinach and scallions. Cook noodles according to directions on box or use no-boil noodles.

To assemble lasagna layers, pour 1/4 of the béchamel sauce into bottom of a 9×9 baking dish, which has been lightly greased. Layer 3 noodles in the bottom and top with spinach mixture, then another 1/4 sauce. Repeat once more and finish with the 3 remaining noodles and pour remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top and bake until the cheese is completely melted and lightly golden. About 30-35 min.k