Yummy Things at My house

Oh the bounty of veggies that are in my valley at this time of year!  It’s great!  We eat like royalty… vegetarian royal family.  Teehee.

Today I am not going to give a play by play of what I ate.  Breakfast was usually a fruit and greens smoothie or sauted veggies of some sort.  I got a new pan that I love so far, and I can saute veggies without oil and it cleans up super easily after.  It will eventually be on Satisfaction Saturday for sure!  For lunch I would eat a bowl of Cabbage Soup and/or a salad from the veggies in my garden… like this one:

I had a ton of over ripe bananas and I didn’t want them to go to waste.  I decided to create a sugar free, oil free, whole wheat banana bread.

Here is what we did:

6-8 over-ripe bananas, peeled and sliced in thick slices

1/2 c home-made sugar-free applesauce

2 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla

2 c whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp pink salt

Preheat the oven to 400. Roast the bananas for 15-20 minutes until they start to caramelize.  Let them cool completely and then mash them.. Reduce the heat in the oven to 325. Grease 2 loaf pans.  In a bowl whisk together applesauce, bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Pour the batter into the bread pans.  Bake for 1 hour at 325, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool before slicing.

We are getting a ton of zucchini and yellow summer squash form the garden.  For this dinner I sauted a whole sliced onion, 1 medium sized zucchini, 1 medium sized yellow summer squash and 3 chopped tomatoes.  I also made quinoa to go with it.  Delish!

I’ve been craving soups.  So I made this Japanese inspired Ramen soup. Here is what I did:

3 carrot, juliene sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tsp ginger, minced

4 c vegetable broth

3 c water

3 packages of Ramen

3 c chopped Chinese cabbage

2 Tbs Sriracha sauce

2 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs miso paste

1/2 small bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 8 oz. pkg sliced mushrooms

1 bunch of green onions, sliced

1 pkg firm tofu, cubed

In a pot, cook chopped carrots and ginger over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, continually stirring.  Add garlic; cook for 1 minute.  Add broth, water and the packets of seasoning from the Ramen packages; bring top a boil.  Add Ramen. When noodles are nearly done, add the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool a bit and serve.  My husband, who spent time in Japan, said it was pretty good.

I also made this Lentil and Veggies in Peanut Sauce.  Here is, roughly, what I did:

Sauce

5 Tbs peanut butter

3 tsp minced ginger

3 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs lime juice

1/2 c chopped cilantro

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tsp Sriracha sauce

1 can of coconut milk

Lentils

1 1/2 c lentils

14 1/2 c water

Veggies

1 onion, diced

2 bell peppers, cut in bite-sized strips

3 carrots, julienne sliced

1 medium zucchini, sliced

1/4 fresh basil

Blend the ingredients for the peanut sauce and set aside

Cook the lentils in water with a dash of pink salt for 10-15 minutes.  Drain and set aside. Saute onion in a skillet about 3-4 minutes.  Add bell peppers and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and basil (spinach might be good too and I will try that next time I make this dish). Add peanuts sauce and mix well.  Add lentils and mix in. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve on rice.

Now the family still wants some meat in their meals so I made a Thai Basil Chicken to go with the Lentils.  Here is what I did for that:

I diced 4 chicken breast and cooked them on a medium heat.  I added 5 tsp of minced garlic and 4 chilies from my garden.  I added 3 tsp of oyster sauce, about 1 Tsp of soy sauce, and 2 Tbs of honey.  When the chicken looked done I threw in 1/2 of chopped fresh basil.  Serve with rice.  The family seemed to like it.

Now we are off to a new week.  The garden continues to produce abundantly.  This week I need to start planning for how to do meals with a crazy busy schedule.  We will need to do extra prep work for sure.