ECOSiZE Me

Meatless Monday: Potato Pancakes

The effort to eat meatfree on Mondays is still proving to be a bit challenging. Pleasing the palates of 3 children and 2 adults with the same dish isn't always easy (or exciting).

Today we tried potato pancakes, just for kicks.

Not surprisingly, our 7 year old had nothing to do with them. But that's how he rolls...introducing new foods to him is similar to a game of chess...it requires lots of time, patience and strategy. Our nearly 11 year old wasn't interested either, although he has eaten potato latkes at school during their classroom's winter celebration.

My husband ate one...mostly to humor me. Although he claims it was very tasty with pepper and ranch. My daughter also ate one topped with applesauce, probably mostly out of fear. Personally, I consumed 4 with applesauce and a smidge of cinnamon and thought they were yummy and comforting.

Potato pancakes were a traditional lenten meal in my house while I was growing up and they bring back lots of good memories.

Here is the recipe I used, give or take some quantities to your liking.

1 small onion, 5 red potatoes (rinsed, skins on and cut), 1 egg, 4-5 tablespoons of bisquick, salt, pepper, 1-2 ounces of cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup milk, garlic powder.

 

I pureed the onion and potatoes in the food processor first and then added the egg, bisquick, salt, pepper, cheese, milk and garlic powder. Pulse a few more times until well blended. (You may prefer to grate your potatoes instead).

 

Heat a skillet with olive oil and spoon the mixture into the hot pan. Cook about 4 minutes on each side, or until desired crispiness and texture. This recipe made about 12 nice size pancakes.

 

Serve warm. Top with your choice of sour cream, ranch dressing or applesauce (with or without a sprinkle of cinnamon).

 

 

Meatless Monday: Veggie Cobbler

Today's dinner idea showed up in my e-mailbox over the weekend. Family Fun's veggie cobble recipe is tasty and fairly quick to prepare. It's also easy to manipulate with necessary substitutions and is made with ingredients that I mostly have on hand at any given time. Fingers crossed that it will pleasantly please the palettes of my 10, 9 and 7 year olds.

Pictures and family reviews to come.

Meat-free: Veggie Spaghetti

This is a twist on an old family favorite. My mom regularly made, what later became known as, "Polish" spaghetti. It's basically a stove-top version of mostacchioli, but with spaghetti noodles. On occassion, I replace the ground beef with veggie protein crumbles for a meatless meal option.

You will need:

One package of vegetarian protein crumbles; one 32 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (or your own homemade sauce); one jar of stewed tomatoes; one carrot and one zucchini pureed in food processor. You will also need one 16 oz. package of uncooked spaghetti noodles and one package of dry spaghetti (italian) seasoning (or your own blend of oregano, basil, etc.).

Optional: for extra veggie and flavor,you can add fresh garlic and pureed red pepper.

To prepare:

In a large stock pot, break apart and heat the protein crumbles in olive oil thoroughly. Add sauce and 3/4 of jar of water. Add stewed tomatoes, dry seasoning, pureed carrots and zucchini. You can add the optional garlic and pureed red pepper at this time. Stir and cook over low heat until mixture comes to a low boil. Add (uncooked) spaghetti noodles, broken in half or thirds. I usually add about 3/4 pound of noodles. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until noodles are cooked to your liking. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. As spaghetti cools and thickens, you may find that you need to add additional sauce.

Top with fresh grated parmasan cheese. Serve with homemade bread and salad. This veggie "Polish" spaghettis is a quick, delicious and healthy meal option, loaded with veggies and good enough to fool any meat-eater (should that be your goal).

 

 

How Do You Like Your Chowder? Broccoli Cheese Please

One meatless dinner a week? Easy cheesy. Except, our family is seemingly more meat depedent than I thought. So early on in the game, I am finding it challenging to put together a meatfree meal that all 5 of us will enjoy. Something other than pasta, pizza and mac and cheese and something not requiring black beans.

Eatingwell.com, "where good taste meets good health", was the source for today's recipe for broccoli cheese chowder. Broccoli is a staple vegetable in our house and my children recently discovered that it is even better with cheese on top. So broccoli cheese chowder seemed like a perfect meal.

My expectations peaked when my 7-year old saw the chopped broccoli on the counter and stated that he "hopes there will be cheese with that". My response of "broccoli cheese soup has both broccoli and cheese" caused a quick look of concern to fall upon his little face. "Soup?", he said with a snarl. I knew right then that the best this meal could achieve was 4 out of 5 pleased palettes.

The side of artisan sour dough bread, toasted and lightly buttered, paired deliciously well with this soup. Score four for broccoli cheese chowder. This will definitely find it's way into the meatless meal rotation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy.

 

 

 

 

Some (Sweet) Crepe

Our latest meal was equally an effort to eat less meat as well as an attempt to curb my craving for something sweet. I have friends that make crepes on a regular basis but they were not something I had ever attempted myself. My sweet tooth got the better of me and some quick AOL-searching lead me to these two recipes:

caramelized apple crepes from Martha Stewart and strawberry and cheese crepes from food.com.

I used the crepe batter from the Martha Stewart recipe but was enticed by the strawberry and cream cheese crepe filling. I wouldn't have bothered with the caramelized apple but knowing my kids, they wouldn't want anything to do with the cheese filling, even though they love cream cheese.

Surprisingly, the crepes were super easy to make and pretty darn tasty. So it wasn't the healthiest meal to make, but my resolve is that it was made from scratch...no preservatives, no processed ingredients.

And the reviews: My husband and I really enjoyed them, although he thought it was weird eating something so sweet for dinner. Our 10-year old enjoyed the apple crepes. Our 9-year old wasn't feeling the love and the 7-year old was down-for-the-count with an illness.

Later that evening, I posted a comment on facebook indicating that I was becoming a little discouraged so early on in our meatless Monday efforts and a friend replied with a link to this website. Maybe simplier is the way to go. We are going to scale back our efforts and expectations for the next meatless meal. Here's hoping we'll all be pleasantly surprised and well fed.

Meatless Enchiladas

A new twist on an old favorite...here's what you'll need: red and green pepper, onion, garlic, veggie protein crumbles or sausage style; 16 oz. sour cream, 1 can creamed soup, 2 cans green chili enchilada sauce, 1 can black beans, 1 can or 1/2 package of whole kernal corn. Salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

 

 

Chop, then sautee onion, garlic, red and green pepper in olive oil. Add veggie protein, corn and drained black beans to sauteed vegetables and continue to cook until heated through. (I forgot to show olive oil, garlic, cheese and tortillas in the pic...but included a bottle of wine just for fun.)

 

Prepare the enchilada sauce: in a separate bowl, mix together two cans of green enchilada sauce, 16 ounces of sour cream and one can of cream of chicken (or other creamed soup). Mix with a spoon or whisk until thoroughly blended.

Warm tortillas in microwave until warm and pliable. Place a generous portion of veggie mix in the middle of the tortilla and top with your choice of cheese. I used low-fat colby-jack slices because that's what I had on hand. Roll, enchilada style. Place stuffed, rolled enchiladas in a glass backing dish that has been sprayed with PAM.

Once all tortillas are stuffed, top with enchilada sauce mix. Bake at 350 degrees until the sauce and cheese bubble, about 30 minutes. Serve with your choice of side dishes.

 

How did it rate? Me: I love almost anything made with this enchilada sauce mix. Next time I would use the protein crumbles instead of the protein sausage. My hubby thought it was good but would like a little more spice next time. Two of my three children ate it but it wasn't their favorite, although they will eat other enchiladas that I make. My littlest one wasn't impressed but then again he has a texture issue with lots of foods and doesn't care for black beans.

 

 

Vegetarian Chili

Both my husband and I were raised in carnivorous households and we still inlcude a variety of meats in our diet. Our decision to incorporate meatless Mondays into our week is ironically less about eating healthier and more about reducing our carbon footprint.

Meat production requires a staggering amount of natural resources: water, energy and land. Did you know that a YEAR's worth of showers requires just about the same amount of water as it does to produce just ONE POUND of beef?

So just how much water does it take...more than 5,000 gallons of water are needed to produce ONE POUND of BEEF.

That's the real reason for meatless Monday. So, please enjoy this first recipe in our new category.

Easy, Delicious Vegetarian Chili

Olive Oil, I medium chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 and 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, 2 stalks chopped celery, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 1 chopped green bell pepper, 3 cloves chopped garlic, 14 ounces Gimme Lean ground sausage style veggie protein, 2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes, 1 (15 oz) can drained kidney beans, 2 (15 oz) cans drained black beans, 1 can whole kernal corn.

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat. Stir and cook onion until tender. Add bay leaves, cumin, and oregano. Add celery, bell peppers and garlic. When vegetables are heated, add veggie protein. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add in tomatoes, chili powder and pepper (to taste). Stir in kidney beans and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in corn and cook 5 more minutes.

Note: I used the food processor to chop onions, bell peppers and celery. This disguises the veggies so my kids are pleasantly unaware of what makes their dinner so delicious. And yes, all 3 of my children (ages 10, 9 and 7) ate this for dinner.

Optional: garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheese. Serve with a side of corn bread.

 

 

 

Meatless Mondays: New to Ecosize Me

2011...a new year, new resolutions, new ways of treading lighter on planet Earth. We start with our new category, Meatless Mondays. No doubt you have seen such a feature on other blogs as well. We are not vegetarian and we have no plans of becoming such in the near future. However, as we increase our knowledge of food production, incorporating meatless Mondays into our weekly menu is one small step we are willing to take on the journey to becoming better stewards of our environment.

Drop us a line if you have a meatless Monday recipe that you'd like to share. And, stay tuned for some of our favorite recipes...