Recipes from a pocketbook-conscious vegetarian on the road to a healthier body.
By: Christina
I couldn’t think of anything more perfect for those upcoming Halloween parties- and all you need are pumpkin, pumpkin spice, cool whip, cinnamon and vanilla pudding.. SO EASY! On a slightly unrelated note: I have been looking at food articles for the last hour. By page five my mouth was so full of saliva you’d think I was a dog.
Hm..
Enjoy the recipe everyone!
This was the happiest accident that ever occurred in my kitchen. The recipe called for sunflower oil, and I read sesame oil… and the result was magical. I made this on Friday night with tofu, green pepper, eggplant, zucchini, shallots, and new potatoes. My boyfriend asked me to make it AGAIN on Saturday, so that’s how I know it’s good. On Saturday, I used it as a marinade for grilled chicken and made more kebabs with green pepper, shallots, and potatoes. Still good.
Grilled Tofu Kebabs
4 servingsmarinade-
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon yellow mustardfor the skewering-
1 zucchini, cubed
1 Japanese eggplant, cut into 1/2” coins
8 shallots (or button onions)
1 small green pepper, cut into 1” chunks
8 new potatoes
1 block tofu, excess water squeezed out, cubedSoak your skewers in water for at least twenty minutes. This will keep them from scorching when you grill them.
Meanwhile, mix up your marinade in a container large enough to hold your tofu. Coat the tofu in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, preferably a couple hours.
Put the potatoes and shallots in a pot of boiling water. Take the shallots out after five minutes. Let the potatoes cook an additional two minutes, then remove those too. Slice the potatoes and shallots in half.
Heat up a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Thread the vegetables and tofu onto the skewers, then grill for ten minutes, turning every two and a half minutes to cook each side evenly. Brush with any remaining marinade while cooking.
nutrition:
333 calories | 29g carbs | 16g fat | 25g protein | 5g fiber[source]
A friend of mine makes these minus the lollipop sticks and they’re delicious - SO DELICIOUS - and way too easy…
Preheat oven to 350.
Beat eggs and sugar until creamy. Add peanut butter, applesauce, honey and vanilla and mix until combined.
Combine together in a separate bowl all dry ingredients then gradually mix into wet ingredients.
Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.
I just made this for the first time this weekend and while I love the flavor of these cookies, the texture is like a muffin, so instead of cookies I’ve been calling them muffin tops. Next time I will be making them in muffin tins. Trav thinks they’ll be great with some apple chunks as an alternative and I agree. I will report back when this happens with the baking time for muffins…
So I’ve decided to reboot this blog… Instead of focusing solely on the low priced meals, I wanted to include all the recipes I tackle and love and want to pass on to you.
They’ll still be pocketbook-conscious (we didn’t win the lottery here…) and vegetarian. They’ll oftentimes be vegan, but not always. And they’ll be low-fat (sometimes fat-free) and DELICIOUS. Seriously, on the rare occasion I make something that isn’t yummy, I will do my best to forget about it and either improve the recipe until it’s good or just nix it.
And here is where I explain that I have made a commitment to being healthier and this past month has been a wonderful example that I can do it and make it tasty enough that my partner enjoys it all, too! It can be done. Anyone can do it.
Also, I’ll be accepting submissions, too! So if you have a great recipe to contribute, send it along!
So I began this adventure trying to make hummus. It’s been a while since I’ve made it from scratch (heck, it’s been a while since I’ve had my food processor out and usable) so I ended up quick-soaking the garbanzo beans but forgetting to actually cook them. (insert realization about 25 seconds after I began the food processor…
So I turned my Disaster Hummus into tasty Surprise Falafel for dinner! It’s by no means a traditional falafel recipe (nor was it really a traditional hummus recipe to begin with), but it sure was tasty!
Falafel
(1) 1 lb. bag of dried, uncooked garbanzo beans, soaked = $1.25
(1) lemon @ $0.79/lb (which wasn’t a heavy lemon but I can’t find the receipt so we’ll just say it cost me a quarter)
(2 tblsp) tahini, the most expensive ingredient at $6.99/can, but what I used was probably only about $0.25 or so worth
a few generous tablespoons of olive oil… we’ll call it $0.50 overall used
(2) cloves of garlic = $0.05ishy
(1) jalepeno = $0.12ishy
a tablespoon or so of tumeric and about the same paprika (cumin would be good too, next time…) and with spices I can’t imagine I use more than $0.05 worth total
dashes of salt and pepper to taste
zap that in the processor (adding about 1/4c. water or so to make it smoothish) and transfer to mixing bowl where you need to hand mix in the breadcrumbs (1/2 c. which is around $0.25ish) and I actually hand mixed in the spices too… If you can squish a handful into a ball and it holds, then you’re good to go. if not, add more olive oil. Form into smallish, flattened patties - six is enough for me for dinner (two pitas worth) so your batch should yield around 36 falafel, which is six meals (or even more side dishes! or a huge plate of party snacks!).
Heat a pan with some olive oil in it til it’s quite hot.
Pop some pita bread in the oven (2 pita for one serving or 1 pocket pita cut in half, probably runs me about $1) at 300ish degrees for the remainder of this part so they’re nice and toasty.
Pop some of those bad boys in the pan, listen to that delicious sizzle and let them brown on each side a couple minutes. The outside will get crispy and hard while the inside is warm and soft. They don’t need to get too dark… just enough to allow your spatula to tap them and not break them. I like to place mine immediately on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil before plating them.
Grab those pita out of the oven (with an oven mitt or tongs or something, silly!) and pop your falafel inside. Garnish with onions and tomatoes (about $0.10 worth each) and some homemade tzatziki (recipe below, too!) and enjoy for about $1.10 per serving of 6 falafel on two pita. Not bad ‘tall. Plus now we have so many falafel leftover! Hurrah!
Tzatziki Sauce
1 (large) container plain yogurt (I know Greek Yogurt would be best, but I used lowfat plain yogurt that was cheaper, so la la la) for $2.25
1 medium cucumber $0.75
1/4 onion $0.20
2 cloves of garlic $0.05
Throw it all in the food processor and it’s that easy. I usually them pour what I can back into the yogurt container and eat what won’t fit immediately. Great with pita, veggies, chips, gyros, falafel, whatever! And for the entire dish made for about $3, I’d say that’s pretty awesome.
Makes 1 gallon
Boil 1/2 gallon of water (I fill my teapot up almost all the way)
Pour hot water over 7 Green Tea bags and 2 Peppermint Tea bags
Let steep 5 minutes
Stir in 1 cup sugar and 2 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite local honey
Fill pitcher with cold water and place in fridge to cool for a while
We can never wait until it’s totally cooled and have to pour it over ice cubes to drink immediately!
No, I’ve just been lazy. But yesterday I made the most amazing meal at about $5/plate…
First I made some pasta salad (which came to about $0.51 per portion… recipe below, sooooo many portions….) and then took two quarters of a loaf of french bread ($0.25 per), added butter ($0.33) and garlic ($0.15) and popped that in the oven during the last five minutes of my delicious salmon filets baking in the oven ($3.50 each during a great sale at the Kroger) which were basking in the oven-glow under delicate slices of lemon ($0.10 per filet).
The boyfriend and I consumed a healthy, delicious summertime meal for about $4.84 per plate! And we’ll be repeating this again on Friday (which I’ll actually photograph for you….)
Pasta Salad
(1) 17 oz. package of penne for $1.15 (cook according to directions on box)
(1/8) of a green pepper, diced for about $0.15
(1/2) of a cucumber, diced for about $0.15
(1/2) package grape tomatoes for about $1.25
(1/2) bottle kalmata olives for about $1.50
(1/3) bottle fat free Italian Dressing for about $0.75
(2) green onions for about $0.15
mix together with hands (or two spoons if you’re sharing any…) - makes about ten servings for $5.10
