End of Cilantro

Second day of the kids' school--thought I'd put some fresh cilantro on the fajitas, and discovered that the cilantro is over--all dried out, down to seed pods.

Last of August, going into school start

Sunday: Burritoes with choice of filling: seasoned turkey hamburger, plain refried pintos, or seasoned scarlet runner beans.  Watermelon side.
Monday: Sausage patty burgers on pretzel roll (vegetarian sausage patties where applicable).  French fries.  leftover Watermelon side.
Tuesday: can't remember.
Wednesday: can't remember.
Thursday: Mac and Cheese using whole wheat penne, topped with tomato from garden. french fries again.
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Sandwich ideas from Real Simple.
1. Goat cheese with ratatouille.
2, Pan Bagnat:  oil and vinegar dressing with anchovy, tomato,  red onion, artichoke hearts, cured olive, celery leaves (!) and sliced hardboiled egg.
3. Bacon, arugula, and tomato JAM.
4. Ploughman: sliced apple and cheddar with onion jam and spicy mustard
5. Curried chickpea with apple
6. Antipasti (not vegetarian)
7. Mozzarella, BEET and basil
8. Hummus, Feta, and Cucumber (with mint)

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Quick lunch soup.
(this was delicious.  Why don't I do this more often??!!)
olive oil
one summer squash from garden
two 14-oz cans diced tomatoes
three vidalia onions
bunch kale
1/2 TB Herbs de Provence
Salt
1/2 TB Better than Bouillon Vegetable base

Warm oil in pot.
Cut squash into 8 lengths, cut out seeds, slice in food processor.  Add to pot.
Remove skins from onion and any brown/green parts, slice in foodprocessor.   Add to pot.
Add Herbs de Provence.
Cook on medium until onion is translucent.
Add two cans diced tomato.
remove stems from kale, slice in food processor, add to pot.
Add bouillon paste, salt to taste.  continue until Kale is cooked.
remove from heat.
With an immersion blender, puree about half what's in the pot.

Serve with prepared pesto, grated parmesan cheese, warmed beans, and sandwich fixings.

A week without kids, and a week with:

Summer camps, trips to visit relatives...there a week here and there in the summer where the younger kids are gone.

With fewer people in the house, we serve more adult food and less of it, eating more leftovers.

Vegetarian Lasagna (kale and garden summer squash)
Scarlet Runner beans, as burritos, and as yummy bean soup.
brittany crepes, all buckwheat, with swiss cheese, garden tomato, mushroom and spinach for brunch.

For the kids' return I'm planning:

bean and ground meat burritos
grilled cheese with tomato soup
salad nicoise
currywurst
burgers, choice of beef or veggie.

Learning to Grill

Fourth of July: Grilled Food picnic!
We had the most delicious beer-and-cheese brats from the Healthy Living butcher.  Holiday foods runs out at grocery stores on the 4th, so we were lucky to get the last four they had left.
I grilled veggie burgers for those who did not want brats.
We grilled corn and veggie kebabs of mushroom, bell pepper, onion, and summer squash.
Some of the kids turned their brats into Currywurst.
And there was watermelon.

I had the ingredients for strawberry/blueberry shortcakes, and the cake part bought at the store ready to go.  But we were all so full from our evening meal we passed on them.

Costco run to restock the house after our trip, and Costco had salmon that wasn't farmed.  Sliced the fish into manageable serving-sized pieced.  Grilled it by cooking on high heat skin side UP for at least five minutes, then flipping it skin side down, lower heat, until done.  Goes without saying: clean the grill first.  And, it didn't stick and fall apart!  Well, the skin stuck a little removing it from the grill at the end, but the fish stayed together, so that was a win to repeat.  Grilled summer squash and bell pepper quartered, no kebab.

Grilled again later that week.  Brats from Costco.  Also delicious as leftovers.  Served them with bbq-seasoned yam fries, and the pescatarian had leftover salmon

Thursday the 9th: made veggie chili and took it to party potluck, and found out it's not just my family that likes that chili.  I threw in the leftover summer squash, bell pepper, and bbq yam fries, chopped up.  Our hosts grilled italian sweet sausage patties and we ate them like hamburgers: how fantastic is that?  Very.  Will copy.  Also: balsamic vinegar over watermelon, purple and orange potato salad I wish I'd gotten the recipe for, and the most creamy vegetarian lasagna ever.

Friday the 10th: Our friends came to town!  I grilled brats again (delicious but not as fancy ones from Costco) and chicken, corn, veggie kebabs, and veggie burger.  Had pretzel rolls for the grilled food, that was a hit too.  Then on to the Ben and Jerry's Factory tour.  Ordered pizza for dinner.

Saturday the 11th:  for lunch it was sandwiches, leftovers, and the girls made pasta topped with pesto.  We ate out for dinner: Vermont Tap.  Made beans in the afternoon in anticipation of making more chili.

Sunday morning: divided the muffin batter and made half blueberry muffins, and the other half apple-cheese muffins.   Still feel like the food is running low and I'm not keeping up with the cooking since we got back from vacation over a week ago.

Last of school

June 1: feeling worn out after skype to lawyer meeting for parents.  Grabbed children one by one and fed them tuna melts.  fed husband tuna melt.  I ate thai noodles with leftover peanut sauce, and too much of it.

June 2: Lasagna, leftover green salad.  For young musician I made a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.

May

I took a couple finals on the last days of April, and then for a week and a half I was really did only the minimum around the house, feeling quite like I needed some time to recover.   Let's see what I can remember of what we had for dinner, during a month where I almost seemed to be avoiding cooking.

I made lots of chili.  It was on hand for lunches, and we had it for dinner once or twice each week.

I made lentil sloppy joes and hamburger sloppy joes for one meal with spaghetti squash as a side.  Everyone else had theirs on a bun, I had lentil sloppy on my squash and it was perfect.

I made hot and sour soup for the first time at the end of May.

I ate a lot of grapefruit.

I made teriyaki salmon for a special dinner.

We had deli chicken.  I made chicken spread sandwiches for a dinner with the leftovers.

We had a picnicky dinner of quorn chicken nuggets, french fries, and homemade pickles.

bahn mi

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/bahn-mi-salad-with-pickled-vegetables-and-vietnamese-croutons/

http://ethnicvegan.com/2010/12/30/thai-cucumber-salad/