Ethnic Diversity

This week we ended up cooking a variety of ethnic foods - Asian, Italian, Southwestern, and Middle Eastern.

Our "Asian" meal was somewhat modernized - we used leftovers from the Spring Rolls with Peanut sauce dinner, and made Tofu Peanut sauce sandwiches. We cooked slices of tofu on the skillet until golden and wedged that between two pieces of bread with the extra spicy peanut sauce we had made. We also added shredded carrots on top. Overall a great tasty and easy meal that we will definitely make again! Love anything with carrots and peanut butter.

The "Italian" meal was homemade pizza with onion, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, veggie soy cheese, and tomato sauce with italian seasonings added. We bought spelt pizza crusts at our local health food store which made it easy. Great with pineapple and tomatoes! We had leftovers the next day without cheese, and we prefer without.

Being Texans, we usually incorporate a "Southwestern"/Tex-Mex meal into the week; this week it was Pinto Bean Brown Rice Bowl. We first cooked short grain brown rice and added chili pepper. We sauted green squash, jalapeno, green bell pepper, and onion and then added 1 1/2 cans of pinto beans. We added more chili pepper and some oregano too. Next time we might add cauliflower, cumin, or other spices.

For our "Middle Eastern" dinner we made Falafel - well, falafel patties in a sandwich. We used Fantastic foods Falafel mix, and it was quite tasty. This was our first time making Falafel, and it was pretty easy. We just put it on med-high to high heat on the skillet without oil and it cooked just fine. Alot healthier that way. Tasty with cucumbers! Next time we might add a honey mustard dressing to it.

Another "Middle Eastern"-type food that we love to have weekly is hummus! Love hummus with cucumbers, carrots, and crackers.

For breakfast today we made Whole Wheat Crescent Rolls. They are more time-consuming than we thought, and didn't rise as much as we would like. Next time we'll stick to the recipe and roll them out thinner. Anyhow, it was tasty and filling.

Other miscellaneous foods that we enjoyed this week include:

- Pumpernickle bread! - good plain, toasted, or with cheese

- Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup - good alternative to the real thing

- Barbara's Bakery Whole Wheat Fig Bars - great everyday snack

- Odwalla Banana Nut Bar - tastes homemade with lot's of walnuts!

- Naked Juice, Mango - love Naked Juices, especially Mango and Strawberry Banana!

- Nutritional Yeast - we add it to everything!

- Peanut butter and crackers, using Maranatha No Stir Creamy Peanut Butter and Barbara's Bakery Wheatines - so good!

Anyways, for the thought of the week:

Respect others and their opinions. Open up to different cultures and beliefs. Appreciate diversity and all individuals. Form your own values and beliefs by learning more about others and their beliefs. View life optimistically. Peace with you all!

- LK