what's for dinner?

Our daughter's boyfriend is coming for dinner.  Flying in to town and we have never met him.  He lives in Colorado where she goes to college and is stopping in for a two day visit.  What's on the menu?   Lamb, lava burgers and my secret recipe veggie orzo.   I marinated the lamb this morning in yogurt, olive oil, fresh mint, garlic, shallots, salt and lemon juice.  For those who don't like lamb - and the vegan says - who doesn't like lamb?! (Him perhaps?) I have lava burgers - our specialty - and no those aren't for the vegan either!  Lava burgers are hamburgers stuffed with Boursin cheese.  A favorite of kids all around the neighborhood.   I've been making a great orzo pasta, saute tons of any type of veggies - tonight will be onion, zucchini, red pepper and broccoli in olive oil and mix into cooked orzo. I separate the vegan's portion first (and vegan's need big portions!)  For the non-vegans I add a few tablespoons of Boursin cheese.    The kids will eat almost any vegetable prepared in this fashion.    I haven't made it yet, so I don't have a photo, but here is last week's lava burger meal extravaganza for the college girls first night home.

Mashed Potatoes - 3 ways

 On Sunday I made 3 versions of mashed potatoes.  First, the vegan version - potatoes, vegetable stock, oyster mushrooms and kale.  They turned out well - the vegetable stock I think is a better option than soy milk because it doesn't impart much flavor to the potatoes.  Yukon gold potatoes are creamy enough on their own.  

Next is the kids version - Broccoli Cheddar Mashed Potatoes.

These potatoes had butter and milk, broccoli and cheddar cheese.  They were requested by the picky 6 year old neighbor who loves them.  I haven't had any complaints.

Last the Colcannon Potatoes.  These are the inspiration for the whole mashed potato event.  These have butter, milk and sauteed kale.  They were my least favorite as the flavor was sharp.  True Colcannon potatoes are served with a tablespoon of butter on top.  More butter would have helped a lot but I couldn't quite bring my self to use enough.  My favorite were the broccoli cheddar, they will be on the menu again, as will the vegan version.

Veggie Version

The veggie version of Shepard's Pie that I made for book club was a hit.  I used eggplant and oyster mushrooms in place of the lamb.  I also put a layer of kale under the mashed potatoes.  Everyone love it.  For the vegan version we used soy milk and vegan butter substitute.  Reviews were good but I would have preferred vegetable stock to the soy milk to bring out the potato flavor.   

We awoke on Saturday to a total collapse of the sink.  No cooking here for a while!

Shepard's Pie!   After spending last week trying again to perfect Thai food, with moderate success.  This week I spotted a pound of frozen ground lamb and whipped up a Shepard's Pie.  It's so much nicer to work with flavors I'm comfortable with and to not need a cook book.  Of course none of the kids liked it, not even the adventurous pre-teen.  I sauteed onions, carrots, celery, zucchini and oyster mushrooms and the lamb.  I used red wine, tomato sauce and some Penzey's Krakow nights seasoning, which was a gift from a neighbor.  It is a nice blend of salt, pepper, mustard and other things that worked well.  I used some flour to thicken it and topped it with mashed potatoes.   Helen & I loved it - I think it will make the menu for book club on Friday with a veggie version.  I may even make a little vegan one with rice milk or something in the potatoes, if I'm feeling nice.

Collecting a group of recipes which can be made in versions for humans and vegans is both easy and challenging for me.  This one is pretty simple, just don't add the lamb to part of it.  However, then the mashed potatoes get in the way.  I hate soy, so probably will add vegetable broth & rice milk.  I hope it turns out ok.  Other good human/vegan menus are chicken & eggplant Parmesan, paella and veggie pasta with chicken or shrimp.  Also tacos of course!

He's A Vegan!

It's my first post with the new name.  In February, my husband decided to be a vegan.  In April, I went on a college visit with our oldest and my 10 year old said, "Mom, you can't leave us with him - we're humans and he's a vegan!  The challenges of having a vegan in the house have been huge.  Emotionally, logistically and financially, we have struggled with the transition of one of us from human to vegan.  We are starting to get over the hump, and I hope to share some tips on feeding both humans and vegans at the same table.

I know there are many blogs devoted to how vegans are treated badly by friends and family, how no one understands their motivation and respects their decision to avoid animal products.  I don't intend to be a vegan basher.  I respect the decision and understand his motivation.  Diagnosed in mid-life with a pulmonary condition which leads to chronic pneumonia, my husband is trying to take control of his health.  He's a researcher who has done sufficient reading to believe that this is the right course for him.  However, that doesn't make it easy for any of us.   

Wheat Berries?

 

There were Wheat Berries in the bag this week.  Wheat Berries are the whole grain of the wheat.  Kay has ground them into flour in the past, but has had requests for wheat berries recently (not from me!) so she included them in the bag.  Rather than let them sit around, I searched for a recipe and found one on Food Network from Ina Garten.  Ina always has delicious, simple recipes, so I gave it a go.  I put 1 cup of wheat berries in 3 cups of boiling salted water and then let it simmer for 45 minutes. There was a lot of discussion in the reviews if this was enough time. The wheat berries were chewy, but my vegetarian friend said the consistency was right.  If you were substituting wheat berries for meat in your meal, you would probably want it to be chewy, but you could cook them longer if you like a mushier consistency. 

After cooking the wheat berries and setting them aside in a large bowl.  I sauteed a chopped red onion, half a zucchini, a clove of garlic and a chopped carrot in 2 tbsp of olive oil.  I sauteed the onion for about 5 minutes, like Ina suggested, and added the other veggies for the last 3 minutes.  After I turned off the heat I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  I combined the sauteed veggies, the warm wheatberries and a chopped scallion and 1/4 of a chopped cucumber plus salt and pepper.  It's important to let the salad sit for 30 minutes to allow the dressing to be absorbed by the wheatberries.  Ina's recipe included red pepper and did not include cucumber, but that is what I had and it turned out well.   It turned out well,  my husband and my vegetarian friend both loved it.

Publish Post

WEEK 1

In the individual bag this week is lettuce, radishes, onions and garlic scape.  We actually traded popcorn for lettuce, as we have tons of popcorn.  At the market I also bought zucchini, summer squash, fresh spring onions and snap peas.  I've been making a salad to take to work every day for a while now so this weeks bag will fill the bill.  I bought a chicken from Tea Hills Farm and some pork chops from New Creation farm.  I'm planning to marinate and grill the pork chops tomorrow night and serve them with potato-zucchini pancakes.   

I made the potato-zucchini pancakes last week for the first time.  I grated yukon gold potatoes, zucchini, some onion and garlic.  Then added salt, pepper and an egg.  I squeezed out most of the liquid and fried them in olive oil.  They turned out well enough, that I'm looking forward to making them again this week.