Simple Tasty Foods

Been busy this week as usual, but enjoyed meals that were simple but delicious.

Sorry for a late post - we've been studying for an exam, and then we went home on Saturday and went to a surprise birthday party for our step-dad, who's turning the big 50 on Wednesday. He had a great time celebrating with family and friends.

(Our mom and step-dad)

Glad to be back cooking in the kitchen after this weekend though (the Mexican restaurant wasn't that vegetarian/vegan friendly).

Last Monday, we tried Polenta, and served it with a mushroom gravy and sautéed zucchini. We prepared the polenta via the microwave and baked for 6-7 minutes in a 375 degree F oven. The polenta was crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. The gravy made it more flavorful, and this meal reminded us of cornbread dressing but more crispy. Next time we may broil the polenta to make it more crispy and then try a tomato sauce. Overall, it's always great to try something new!

We LOVED the pizza that we made on Tuesday! It's been too long since we made homemade pizza and pizza crust. LOVED the soft wheat herb pizza crust that we made. We tried a recipe from King Arthur's Whole Grain Cookbook (we basically love all the recipes we've tried from that book!) and the crust came out the softest we've ever made. Usually it get crispy on the edges. Anyways, we made the pizza simple but loaded with flavor - sliced tomatoes and mushrooms, fresh basil, and diced bell peppers and onion (the bell pepper was fresh from our grandparents' garden). For the sauce we just added a can of tomato sauce, 2 cloves of garlic, and some black pepper.
Another fresh creation - Potato Salad. We followed this recipe from vegweb, using lots of celery, no pickles, and some tumeric and nutritional yeast. We used golden new potatoes and they were creamy, not too starchy. Had lots of leftovers, great for a quick lunch!


Two weeks ago we made spinach mushroom-tofu fillo pockets; with the leftover filling, we used over angel hair pasta - yummy but very filling.

Today we made another simple but quick meal - something that even students living in a dorm could do. We microwaved green beans with red bell pepper, heated up butter beans in the microwave, and then mixed the beans with the green beans and had a tasty Bean-and-Bean dinner. We sprinkled some garlic, sage, and oregano too.



Speaking of beans, last Saturday, we made Black Bean Burgers and Carrot Fries (that we've mentioned before) for our mom and step-dad. They came up last weekend for the Texas A&M and Kansas football game. Too bad the Aggies didn't win. Our omni step-dad loved the burgers and even complimented that these were way better than the Morningstar Black Bean Burgers that he likes.

For our weekly baked goods:

Banana Pancakes

Graham Scones with Pecans and Maple Frosting

(we made these for our Nutrition and Dietetic Association Bake Sale)

No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

(Cocoa and Raisin Spice)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- We just made these and are enjoying them hot out of the oven! MMMM!
- Used Sunspire Tropical Source Dairy-Free Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (really good!)


Anyways, this week we also tried Blue Diamond Almond Milk and we loved it with cereal, especially with Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls and Nature's Path Heritage Flakes. We also made a smoothie with almond milk, peach yogurt, frozen bananas, some flax meal, and almond butter. Yum!


When we visited home this weekend, we stopped by the new HEB market (similar to their Central Market). We LOVED all of the produce, especially all of the apples. This week we've gotten Jazz, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Fugi, Ambrosia, Sonya, Granny Smith, and Rome apples. We love our apples! We also tried an Asian Pear that was as big as a softball! For a week we were waiting for it to ripen, but it was still so firm; well, we found out that these pears don't soften, but rather are crispy and juicy, great on salads. We shared one huge pear and it was soo good! At HEB we also sampled their bread - here's a picture of one of us at the bakery area. This market was the busiest market we've every been too. It was a great grocery store, but too crowded to enjoy it to its finest.
So, we enjoyed baking and cooking this week and we are already planning for what to make for Thanksgiving. What are your favorite foods for the holidays?

"I think that one of the most effective ways to improve your life is simply to think in a more positive way."- Henrik Edberg, The Positivity Blog

(See here for a great post on becoming more positive!)

Kind regards,
LK