Just Another Meatless Monday #1

Hi and welcome to "Just Another Meatless Monday"! If you are part of the sweeping wave of humans trying to go meatless on Monday, or anything other day of the week, this is the place to be. Personally I love the idea of eating less meat. Why? Because it's cheaper, healthier and for the most part I'd rather grow, harvest and eat organic vegetables than meat. I do both.
Chances are most of us grew up eating meat for at least one meal every day, which makes it harder to think of a meal as complete without meat. This is the place to inspire others and glean inspiration if you need it.
Now if you were raised vegetarian don't go away yet, we NEED you and your vast knowledge of meat free eating. What makes a meal complete? What's your go to quick dinner fix? How do you pack lunch without meat? Are beans the only thing out there? And there are so many more questions out there I'm sure!

Here's my recipe to share:

Crock Pot Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

1 18 ounce can of red enchilada sauce
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup bulgur wheat- dried par boiled cracked wheat
1 15 ounce can black beans-pinto or kidney are good too
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon cumin-optional

1 9 ounce box Barilla No Cook Flat Lasagna Noodles
2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese-more if you like it cheesy
16 ounce container low fat cottage cheese




over medium high heat bring the enchilada sauce, tomatoes, bulgur, beans, water and spices
simmer for 10 minutes or so

layer in the crock pot 1/4 of the sauce, 1/5 of the cheese, 1/4 of the noodles-break in half to fit and 1/4 of the cottage cheese
repeat
repeat
repeat
end with a cheese layer

Now you may only get 3 layers in your crock pot in that case just make your layers thicker
as long as the layers are pretty evenly distributed all will be good
cook on high 3 hours and then switch to low for 4 hours
or cook on low 10-12 hours
Crock pot size is important this was developed in a 6 quart oval crock pot if you have a smaller one cut the recipe in half or if you have a tall round crock pot you may need to make more layers. Some new crock pots cook at lower temperature because the manufacturers have lowered the overall temperatures to accommodate customer complaints. Watch your crock pot and adjust accordingly.

When I take requests for dinner my kids always ask for that lasagne thing in the crock pot and I know exactly what recipe they mean too. I often make this with meat too but find it's just as good with out it.

So what do you have to share today? You can link up ANY vegetarian meal, dish or snack post from your blog. Remember breakfast, lunch, diner and snacks count! Please leave a comment after you link up. Once you link in a recipe you can't link that same recipe for a month, but after a month you can feel free to link it in again. Who knows you might just inspire someone with it!

One lucky linker is going to win a hand needle felted pin. Made by me even! I have been enjoying learning how to needle felt and wet felt. I designed two pins, Peace and Love or World Peace, winners choice! And I will so have a picture up soon but a while back someone who shall remain nameless JACK crushed my card reader and never replaced it, guess when it decided to break for good? A yup tonight. Soon I promise. And In other random thoughts, why don't MACS come with built in card readers?

So what are you waiting for? Link up, grab my button, get inspired and who knows you might just win an original Queen of All pin!







Peace and Love,

Tomorrow is the vegetarian meal link up

Tomorrow is the first day of my vegetarian meal link up. You can link up ANY vegetarian meal, dish or snack post from your blog. Remember breakfast, lunch, diner and snacks count! Please leave a comment after you link up. Once you link in a recipe you can't link that same recipe for a month, but after a month you can feel free to link it in again. Who knows you might just inspire someone with it!

As promised here is the button you can add to your post if you would like.




Just copy and paste the code to your blog in the edit html area of the new post tab.

If you need a button for your blog let me know I figured out how to make them!

Hope to see a few good recipes tomorrow, I need help going meatless now that we are trying to do it 2-4 days a week. The link up will begin tonight as soon as I get my kids to bed and my post up! If you left a post in my comments section no worries! I 'll pop it in the MckLinky tonight. CHEERS!

Peace and Love,

You can help me win!

 Wow! There is a party going on over at Mara's blog, Whats for Dinner. It's her cute food anniversary or cutiversary as she likes to call it you should definitely head on over and look at the absolute amazing things people make with food. I sent her a picture of my Castles in the Sky cake that I made for Union's birthday last fall. I could win an adorable apron IF I get enough votes-hint hint, so go check it out and if you like mine best please by all means vote for me. The voting is taking place in the sidebar and mine is the last entry. But seriously vote on which one you like best even if it's not mine.

Peace and Love,







 

Friday Firsts: Homemade Butter

I had some cream leftover from a cake I frosted a while back, I really needed to use it up. I didn't know what to do with it though, I don't make too much with cream in it. There was a time when I was all about using real cream in my coffee but now it tastes greasy to me.

I finally decided we should make butter with it. I washed out a jar, pulled out the cream and noticed it was outdated by two weeks. I smelled it and it smelled fine, so I went with it. The cream wasn't lumpy or moldy and it tasted fine, yes I stuck my finger in it. Most butters used to be made with slightly sour milk for maximum flavor. This wasn't sour by any means.

So we poured it in to the clean canning jar and got to work  shaking. I bet you could do it in food processor, easily. We I shook the cream for about 15-20 minutes checking every 5 minutes or so.

At first it looked looked like whipped cream, then it was lumpy and grainy. Eventually it was a mega lump of butter and some sweet butter milk. I put it in a bowl and pressed out any milk. We served our new butter with hot baked potatoes! If you plan to keep it for a while make sure you press out as much of the milk as possible.

You can use any amount of cream you happen to have on hand and you'll get about half as much butter as cream you start with. The butter milk is sweet and good to drink, too.

Peace and Love,

A mid winter walk

 We headed out last weekend for a stroll through our property. I figured we would take the long route through the stand of spruce trees. My boys decided heading straight for their wigwam was the best course of action, hard to argue with pride of creation really so it was off to the wigwam.

 

It had drifted nicely around the yard and through the trees so for the most part we were 2 feet off the ground which gives short people a new perspective.

 

Short dogs too. 

We broke through the crust occasionally, me more than other short and light people. It was a warm beautiful day as much like spring as anywhere else I expect, of course this isn't spring just a warm spell to make skating ponds in the fields.

We tried to follow our path but veered off pretty consistently. I found myself looking down on a spruce I am usually eye to eye with.

A buried treasure was found in the snow. The boys used their found walking sticks as tools to dig it out.

Know what it is yet?

Our path fairy! She marks the trail where our paths diverge or meet whichever way you happen to be walking.

A wonderful walk in the woods.

Today it acted a bit more like the real Alaska and snowed again, thankfully too! It was getting pretty dirty and dusty out there. I guess that's what you get when your valley was built by 2 glaciers and is flanked by their respective rivers and riverbeds. Silt, everywhere, which is ok because even IF you dust it still looks dusty so if you DON'T happen to dust well no one will ever know.

Don't forget to check my previous post to see my new awards and who I passed them on too.

Peace and Love,

I'm Award Winning, That's Why

 Time to clear the shelves of some awards I've received lately, you know I'm all about clearing things up and getting rid of guilt! Things I need to take care of but don't do it right away make me massively guilty, so this is making me feel immensely better.

Thanks for coming by day after day, I'd write this either way but it is pretty cool to have actual humans read my writing. I've always wanted to write, always have written but never had the guts to do it AND let people read it. I guess the anonymity of the internet helps calm the nerves. Plus I just love to write.

Oh before the awards get handed out I want to ask/beg/plead/demand that everyone come by on Monday and link up a new or old post for my new Monday link up "Just Another Meatless Monday" I am going meatless maybe 2-4 times a week as way to eat healthier, curb my dependency on factory meat and save a bit of money on more expensive honest meats. I love it but feel I may be getting in a rut, then I thought maybe other people were feeling this way too. Maybe we can all inspire each other with some new ideas, yes? The post can be a new or old one, as long as you wrote it. Once you have linked it up you can't link that particular recipe up again for a month but after a month it's fair game because who knows who you might inspire by reposting it. I am working on a button to make linking easy, bear with me I am tech challenged. I hope you'll join me!


From Spices Bites I received the Beautiful Blogger Award!

She must have seen that charming picture of me munching down on DimSum in Chinatown, heehee.

To pass on the Beautiful Blogger Award I have to list 7 interesting facts about me, oh I have to limit myself to 7? I'm so interesting and beautiful ok I'll stick with 7...

#1 I just discovered a charming but alarming gray streak in my hair, it's over my right eye and would show if I ever parted my hair there-this makes my head look HUGE on one side thanks to insane hair, so the chances of a me with a cool mod gray streak looking savvy at the coffee shop are slim to none, Bride of Frankenstein though? I can do that!

#2 I have a wild dream to grow all of our own food, I'd better do it quick before the other 2 boys become teenagers though

#3 my blog is going through a metamorphosis, I am still loving writing about feeding my family real food, raising vegetable eaters, and organic gardening, I have been adding a bit more of our creative side and my upcycling/thrifting side-two major components in my life- I would love to hear any feedback you may have on those posts-even a yay or nay is cool

#4 I love to watch the sunrise and sunset

#5 I have atrocious hand writing, I often write and leave big spaces bet  w een le  tter s that aren't meant to be there-once I wrote a quick note to myself to clean the Stanky BR(clean the the stinky bathroom) my ex loser husband asked me "who is this Stan Kybar anyway??!" HA!

#6 I love old things rusty crusty dusty stuff

#7 I always wanted to be cute and little, um no I'm an Amazon-some day I'll accept that

Now I have to pass it on to 7  bloggers
#1 Amy at Keeping up with the Schultz Family-Alyce's mommy! and a loyal reader
#2 Christina at Dinner at Christina's-make sure you stop by on Friday for her First Fridays link up!
#3 Sweet&Savory-fantastic new blog
#4 Angel in the Kitchen-I am making carmelitas I SWEAR!!!
#5 Michelle at Honest and Truly-Michelle reads the fine print and then tells you what it says in PLAIN ENGLISH
#6 Susan at Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy-everything this woman makes is dreamy, plus? we are hitting Chinatown for DimSum again this year during BlogHer Food'10!!
#7 Amanda of Two Boos Who Eat- I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband during the foodbuzz festival briefly-lovely couple

 Christina of Dinner at Christina's gave me the Sunshine Award, isn't it pretty? I should really pass it on but I have to give it back to Christina first. When I fist 'met' Christina I felt like we hit it off right away. She is so sweet and real, I felt like I had known her forever. I can't wait to hang out with someday soon in real life.

Now I'm passing this to someone who completely inspires me! Her blog is new to me and may be new to many of you. It's Meg of Sew Liberated, she is a teacher, pattern designer, seamstress and mother to the cutest baby, Finn. While she doesn't know I exist she makes me feel like I can do anything!

 

I was tagged for a meme too Sweet & Savory a blogger out of Iowa (woot for the home state!!)who I really enjoy tagged me for 5 foodie fun facts-and while I do tend to rage against the foodie mentality I do enjoy spouting off
#1 When did you discover your love for cooking/baking? mmmmm I've always loved it as far back as I can remember, I cooked complete dinners for my family when I was an early teen, when I was younger I would make cakes in my easy bake and anytime I was alone in the kitchen I pretended to be on a cooking show
#2 Favorite food to make? gosh I'm stumped I love to make everything, usually from scratch-right now today I'd have to say appetizers, small, quick and fun

#3 Top eat of all time?my all time favorite meal is a green salad, grilled steak, steamed broccoli and fresh bread-dining out? I had a buffalo blue cheese salad that was to die for


#4 Most disliked food?  organ meats, blarf

#5 Food you still haven't tried to make but want to ohhh that's a tough one-I'd love to make my dear husband some Ethiopian food some day, I'll need to special order the spices I'm sure but it will be worth it 

If you like food and want to play along then I tag you, anyone and everyone gets to play along, I can't wait to see your answers, wonder how many of you dislike organ meats too?



Wow, what a long post. And it matches my week. My husband has a deadline coming up for a new program he is writing/developing?/whatever and he has been working at least 16 hour days since last week. He is only coming home for dinner or lunch, we hardly get to see him. Seriously I am not complaining, it's his job and we are blessed that he has one so close to home AND that I can stay home and warp teach our youngest boys. But then the brakes on my truck blew out on Monday and it's not going to be ready until FRIDAY. So I am for the most part not going anywhere which is cool because that's how I like it, mellow, hanging out with kids and just being in the moment. 

  
Peace and Love,

Pesto Pasta Salad

 Doing a big shopping trip every 2 weeks to "the Costco" left me with some questions, like can a family of 5 vegetable eaters eat an entire big can of green beans without crying? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is they can eat them enthusiastically if you pair the leftovers with penne pasta, pesto(from last summers mega basil crop) and a sprinkle of feta in a luncheon salad.  By enthusiastically I mean crying when I say we have to leave some for daddy to eat when he gets home and then haunting him while he's eating his lunch looking for leftovers and handouts. So yes we can eat a big ol' can a green beans but I also promised not to make them eat another big can of beans after the next trip, I'll have to find another big something to drag home, shouldn't be too hard to do.

Pesto Pasta Salad

12 ounces of penne pasta or whatever shape you have, I like whole wheat but happened to be out of it this week
3 cups cooked green beans, cooled, canned or frozen work fine
1/4 cup pesto, yours or store bought
1/2 cup feta
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

cook pasta according to package directions
meanwhile put green beans in a bowl big enough to hold all the cooked pasta
add pesto and stir evenly distribute
add feta and peppers, toss gently
when pasta is cooked, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process
drain well and add to the green beans in the bowl
stir together
taste and add salt and pepper as needed

refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving

Today was one of those days where it felt like my sock was continually sliding down in my shoe, or my jeans were too short, or one jean leg was whacked out. All day I felt just a little off, do you ever have those days? But other than that we had a great day. My kids are finally learning to play with each other. Usually one is trying to force the other to play or do something and the other is just not up for it. Today they managed to play for over an hour. The playing had a start time, a mid section and an obvious end(compared to someone shrieking and crying and stomping away). Me? I enjoyed it from afar and stayed out of the way. I love to play with my kids but I also want them to be able to play alone while I do what I have to do.

our large stack of slightly over due library books, whoops

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

 I'm burning out on my meatless Monday recipes. I need inspiration. Next week I'm going to be launching "Just Another Meatless Monday" with McLinky so we can all link and inspire each other. You can link any meatless meal post from your blog new or old. After you have linked up you'll need to leave a comment. Once a recipe has been submitted for "Just Another Meatless Monday" you can't re-submit it for a month, after a month it's fair game because we may have forgotten it or not been inspired by it before. I hope everyone is currently deciding which post to send in. Don't worry I'll remind you and I MIGHT just have a prize for one of you who links up! Oh and you can post more than one link per Monday, so if you have 2 favorites by all means post them both, I need help here! I'm attempting to build a button too, we'll see how that goes.

Anyhoodle back to Tortilla Soup, you know those recipes that aren't really recipes but you kind of throw things in a pot and it's oh so good? That's how this started and it's still kind of like that now. I add what I happen to have so each time it's a bit different but perfectly delicious. Today's soup was no different, in fact it was a million times thumbs up. So I'll be considering it a big WIN and a trifecta. The little boys ate so much there really wasn't any left for Hero, guess he should have come home for dinner and not expected there would be some left.

today's version of Tortilla Soup plus variations in red
put 6 cups of re-fried beans(can also use canned beans, cooked beans, leftover beans or a mix of any of those, just blend 4 cups of them with a hand blender) in a dutch oven over medium heat
add 2 cups vegetable broth (or water or chicken broth-makes it non-vegetarian)
slowly bring to a simmer
add 2 cups frozen corn(or other leftover veggies I prefer corn)
1/2 can of rotel (or your own canned tomatoes or fresh salsa)
simmer for 10 minutes
meanwhile toast 8 soft corn tortillas (flour are so good too, leftover corn chips work too)until they are crunchy
taste test soup and adjust seasonings or liquid as needed(I find I need to add a bit more liquid here)
crumble tortillas into the soup
top with grated cheese, sour cream, salsa or avocados-your choice!

That's the soup and it's variations. I never make it the same way twice but I do find myself putting it into heavy rotation so I have to watch it and table it for a while. It can easily be made with leftover meats for meat lovers and it's great that way too!

So far the leprechaun has evaded the traps that have been set. He has an uncanny way of kicking things around but not falling for the boy's traps. I think a year out from being enraged has given Union a little perspective on tricky elves and he seems to have a new found respect for little guys who supposedly make shoes for fairies and carry lots of gold. He is less mad and more enchanted, that has led to some pretty fun sewing sessions. It is a bit frustrating to sit between 2 little ones and have them both sewing and needing help at the same time but the times are good. The lessons, patience and the craft of sewing itself will keep all 3 of us bound together in profound ways. The days of childhood are short and blessed am I to be part of the holy moments my kids bring to my world. Find peace and revel in it.

Peace and Love,

Invasion!

 Last year. Oh last year we had a bit of trouble with a Leprechaun, look at this unhappy boy:

 

someone dyed turned our milk green, a carafe of water was green and they kicked green sprinkles all over the kitchen. 

Must have been the same leprechaun that used to hang around when Hero was little, he played the same tricks back then. Except back then no one burst in to tears when the milk was green. Kids are so different. This boy burst in to tears and became enraged.

And then determined to catch the leprechaun. A trap was built, baited and left. Our little friend simply kicked our bait around and left a chocolate coin in a gold wrapper. 

This year little boys are more determined than ever to catch the mini trouble maker. A trap was built over a month ago. Elaborate schemes have been planned. I told the story of The Elves and The Shoemaker to spark their imagination. That worked and we diligently spent hours making shoes for the elves just in case they need them.

And last night somehow this little guy showed up on our nature table:

here he is hanging from our candle dripping rack

and oh what a trouble maker he is! They set a trap to lure him to the basement. He ran away with the bait and was found hanging on the stick we put up to hang our candles on, with the bait lashed to his back.

Where will he be next? He may still be resting on the nature table or he may be out causing trouble, you never know. One thing I do know though, these boys have amazing imaginations and the leprechaun best watch out!

How about you? Any big plans to catch a leprechaun this year?  I'd love to see your traps.

Peace and Love,

 

.:Craft-licious Weekend:.

 A really great part of getting organized is feeling like I don't have "THINGS I NEED TO DO" looming over me all the time. That sliding pile of junk to be filed is gone, guilt inducing magazine boxes, eliminated and the absolute disgusting-ness of my under sink cabinet where my cleaning supplies live is no longer cause for red cheeks. I can relax after my boys are in bed and actually DO things I want to do. I have patched everyone's jeans, which has led to a patch-knees-as-soon-as-we-buy-them policy because then it's done when there is jean left to patch. I have actually knitted my own hat, which incidentally has a dropped stitch halfway down and now a big hole. I made my littlest boys wrist warmers that fit under their mittens and up their sleeves. I am designing a craft studio, where I can work peacefully although now the table works fine because my boys get all cranked up to 'play crafts' when I sew. I don't mind that!

Wrist warmers without mittens are perfect for break-up, with cold temps and sun you never really know what to wear. Besides sometimes you just need your fingers to play! Here they are in action:

 I actually dug out the mending basket, discovered that no one fit those clothes anymore, oops. Those became the rag rug I actually finished today. Which is a miracle in and of itself, I finished something. I love the finish and I never feel good about something until I'm done with it. Having all the"THINGS I NEED TO DO" looming over me, I seemed to start projects and never finish them due to the guilt (or another weird un-nameable feeling) of doing something fun while real work stacked up around me. Does that make sense? Crafting/creating is pleasurable therefore it must not be real work? I don't know. What I do know is that since getting a whole load of things actually done above and beyond the usual grind has led to recent creative outbursts. I am not complaining.

So today I finished the braided rag rug, I braided the 1-2 inch wide strips sitting right at my sewing machine so I could easily add a new strip as needed. Once I had a braid about a mile long, I got sick and had birthday/valentine/fundraiser weekend, so it had to wait until this week. I started coiling and lacing the rug and that took about 6 hours of work, done over 3 days. I had a good friend Jenn come over yesterday and while she knitted our boys played, all six of them. Yes people she has TWO sets of twins, 6 and 3, lovely little boys and my kids love them. I'm not sure how much actual work we got done but the pleasure of hanging out and creating was the real payoff. I finished about two hours ago with the lacing of the rug, which is basically going through each loop of each braid and lacing it to the one next to it. Fun work with a split on my thumb that I seemed to stab repeatedly with a dull needle, better than sharp I'm sure but it still was painful.

I took a huge step yesterday. HUGE. Despite never watching TV, besides the few netflix we get, we were still paying for basic service. Why? Because the thought to cancel never crossed my mind, because the thought of having NO reception was kind of terrifying, because it would seal our freakdom. For whatever reason I finally canceled it, the lady at the cable company seemed surprised and flustered when I canceled it, but it's off now and I feel great.

POSSIBLE TMI ALERT
Now I am designing a bag to hold the zither I found out thrifting and I am designing !!!close your ears any males!!! re-useable sanitary napkins. I see them on etsy and I know I can make them, I just need to do it. And before next week would be awesome!

TMI ALERT IS OVER

The crafty spate is continuing. I'm going to compile a book of studio ideas so I can have a place besides the table to make a mess. Where everything is and I know where it is because I put it there. Not that I can keep people out though because wherever I go they come too. Hmmm maybe we need to make the studio on our main floor with a work table for everyone. We'll start by moving the TV to the trash bin.

 Peace and Love,

Cabbage and Apple Stuffed Pork Chops

For my husbands birthday I really wanted to make him something he had never had before and it needed to be slightly special to make up for the fact that his present was a cement mixer that I didn't actually have yet. Tucked away in the freezer I had some lovely pork loin chops, cut thick, with a pocket for stuffing, perfect for those oops I forgot to BUY your present moments.
As the day waned and the chops thawed, my mind picked up on the fact that I had no stuffing materials, no bread crumbs, no cornbread, no croutons, nothing. Haha insert nervous laughter here. I completely freaked out remained calm and surveyed the contents of the fridge, freezer and pantry. It was going to have to be avant-garde stuffing. All I could come up with was cabbage and apples, damn if they didn't turn out tasty! Even my 2 little boys who try to be vegetarians LOVED them so I know they are a winner.

Cabbage and Apple Stuffed Pork Chops

7-8 thick cut loin pork chops with a pocket for stuffing
1/2 a tart apple, peel on chopped in bite size pieces
1/2 cup of sliced cabbage
3 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cracker crumbs or cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic granules
3 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons Italian spices

 pat the pork chops dry

mix the apple and cabbage together

stuff each pork chop with the cabbage and apples

divide it so the stuffing works out evenly

melt the butter

mix all the ingredients in red together in a pie pan

gently dip a pork chop in the melted butter on both sides, use your hand to spread it around

then dip into the crumbs then place on a baking sheet

repeat until all chops are done

bake in a 375˚ oven for 35-45 minutes until done

run it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes to brown the crust a bit

I served this with roasted cauliflower, fresh bread, green beans and brownies for the birthday boy.

I am linking this up with Dinner at Christina's for the start of her Friday Firsts. All you need to do is write about something you did this week for the first time! Did you use a rice steamer, try a new restaurant, buy new ingredients? Well Christina wants to know! So link up and check out what everybody else tried this week.