pizzas on bought bread

lavash pizzas

vegetable soup pistou

Roast Vegetables Enchiladas

Jack cheese, tofu, flour tortillas, canned green enchilada sauce.
Roasted zucchini,  red bell pepper, frozen corn kernels, mushrooms, red onion.

Nicole wherever you are, these are the granddaughters of the chicken enchiladas you taught me to make in 1995.

Watermelon
Spinach-craisen-almond salad. [edited to add 10/2014: 1. I make the enchilada sauce these days. 2. I've dropped the tofu and use whatever vegetables are on hand, and that usually includes my favorite kale. Yum Kale with Enchilada Sauce. 3. If I roll the enchiladas, everyone's happy. If I layer a enchilada casserole, which is easier and faster, I get complaints from children that they're facing a mexican lasagna. I make vegetable/pasta lasagna 3 or 4 times a month, so more lasagna is excessive--so they tell me.]

Pantry Pasta

Pasta Tubes
Jar marinara sauce
jar roasted bell pepper
jar artichokes
smashed garlic croutons
mozzarella cheese

in bowls at table to add:
diced ham
anchovies
kalamata olives
canned olives

Yam Fries and Bean Burgers

Yam Fries (commercial, Alexis)
Black-Bean Chipotle Burgers (commercial, Morning Star) on bread slices cut into circles

fixins:
cheddar cheese
lettuce
kim-chee
ketchup, mustard, mayo

Naan Pizza

I had bought Naan at Costco to have with the Palak Paneer, but forgot to serve it.  So tonight I made pizzas on it.

We had in the house, besides the basic tomato sauce and mozzerella
salami
anchovies
kalamata olives
artichoke hearts
sun dried tomatoes
spinach

When kids asked what was for dinner, they kept hearing "Non-Pizza."

Halloween Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer
Pulao Rice
Purchased Chickpea Curry

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Salmon with terikaki marinade
Quinoa
Green salad with Ginger-Sesame Dressing

Stuffed Potatoes with Kale Salad

Twice-baked potato (with sour cream, butter, salt, pepper)
optional ham garnish
optional cheese garnish
Kale Salad


Not sure I would make this again--I did it because I bought a bag of organic yellow potatoes thinking it was a bag of yellow organic onions.

Breton (Buckwheat) Crepes

Crepes with fillings served taco-bar style:

• sauteed mushrooms
• sauteed spinach
• sliced tomato
• carmelized onion
• gruyere cheese
• quinoa
• diced sauteed ham

Dinner after the museum

After our visit of the season to Shelburne Museum, a few days before it closed for the winter.

Improved vegetable soup
pomegranate
Family Tuna Melt

The Family Tuna Melt
Split an unsliced loaf of bread lengthwise.  Scoop out and set aside some bread to make a bowl that will hold more.  Butter the bread surface, sprinkle some cayenne on it.
Mix three cans of tuna with mayo.
Spread tuna on bread
top with cheese
broil 2 minutes.
If the bread is still cold, lower rack and bake at 300 until warm.


Improved Vegetable Soup
Basic soup was broth-carrots-celery
Added: diced tomato and spinach.
Major Improvement.
Garnish with pesto

Italian choices dinner

antipasta: (cured olives; sopressata)
Artichoke Ravioli (purchased) with purchased marinara
Ricotta-stuffed baby bell peppers
green salad
grapes
bread and garlic-pepper dipping olive oil


Ricotta-stuffed baby bell peppers
    (a variation of ricotta stuffed baby bells at Birthday Dinner
saute spinach, remove from pan into bowl
mix in ricotta, salt, and chopped walnuts
stuff baby bells.
Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes

Grilled Chicken with Cauliflower Soup

Teriyaki Chicken on Grill
Cauliflower Soup with Harissa.
Spinach Salad
Mushroom Couscous.

I don't think they went together as a menu, but everyone was happy.
The Teriyaki was marinated by the grocery store butcher

Cod with Potatoes and Saffron

Baked Cod and Potatoes with Spanish Seasoning
Cucumber Salad

Cod was a good deal at Hannahford's, so I bought 1.5 pounds.  I looked at my iPhone while she wrapped it, and found this recipe:
     Baked Cod and Chorizo
"Perfect," I thought, "I bought that amazing Spanish Chorizo weeks ago, and we need to eat it before it goes bad.  And I have a couple potatoes that need to be cooked soon."  I bought some saffron to fill it out.

The seafood lady gave me some salmon as well, to encourage me to come back and buy it another day.

When I got home: problems.

• The chorizo was growing mold.  It had been waiting months, not weeks.
• I couldn't fit all the fish in the iron skillet.

My husband came to the rescue, pulled out his big iron griddle, and basically took over the seasoning and cooking.  I felt bad about this because unlike me, he'd already worked a long day, and dinner was now late for everybody.  Seasoning was the basic garlic-cumin-salt-paprika-cayenne, with some saffron threads.

I had been nervous about the potatoes really cooking in the skillet, so I had baked them an hour before.  I sliced the two baked potatoes onto the griddle with the fish so they would be seasoned too.

For a side dish, I sliced cucumber and celery in the food processor, added some grape tomatoes and sliced green onions, and dressed it with salt and little olive oil.  I was going for something halfway between Israeli Salad and Spanish salad.

The potatoes were a hit.
The fish was mostly a hit.  The saffron didn't show up though; maybe it was lost when we switched pans.
The salad was small, and entirely eaten.

Acorn Squash with Quinoa Stuffing

Acorn Squash with Quinoa Stuffing
Green Salad
Multigrain Rolls

Cut the acorn squash in half and bake in oven at 350.
Make quinoa in rice cooker.  Be sure and rinse it much first.

mix into quinoa:
Kale
tiny cubes of tofu
minced celery (food processor)
minced mushroom (food processor)
chopped walnuts. (food processor)
chopped apple (food processor)

Tasty, children were only mildly appreciative but I don't care.  We ate 75%.
The rolls were not vegan, actually.

Sunday Tortellini

Mushroom Tortellini (Rana)
Red Sauce (Bove)
Herb Salad (hannaford brand)
Caeser Dressing (Marzetti Simply Dressed)

The mushroom tortellini helped with the homesick.  The kids and I used to get the Safeway grocery store's brand frozen mushroom ravioli regularly.  Until tonight, I hadn't found mushroom ravioli in Vermont.