Cupcakes : not pretty, but Yummy!

Pony and I figured we would attempt vegan cupcakes today.  I used Earth Balance, and wish I would have used applesauce.  As you can see from the photo, they are not exactly beautiful.  I am also going to get new baking powder.  Hopefully I will be able to get them to rise and be fluffy.  I will say this, "They taste incredible!"  I also did use 1/4 cup of a gluten free flour, so I may adjust to all wheat pastry flour.  I will post the recipe as soon as I get it right.  In the mean time, looks like we will be eating our cupcakes with a fork :)

No guilt fries and ketchup

These were SO GOOD, and NO GUILT!!  I added garlic/pepper seasoning.  Recipes on the following link :)

http://www.forksoverknives.com/baked-french-fries-ketchup/

Homemade Ketchup, NO SUGAR!

Ketchup
1 6-ounce can no-salt-added tomato paste
1 half of an apple diced (with or without skin)
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Place ingredients in a Vitamix or blender until smooth and ENJOY :)

Afredo Sauce without cheese? Will anyone actually eat it?

My son LOVES alfredo sauce.  I was never a fan.  We have choosen to try a new recipe every Saturday for dinner.  Tonight I was on a quest to make a vegan alfredo without that stinky fake cheese.  The recipe of choice follows.  It got a resounding 4 thumbs up.  It was so good!  The sauce was light, and did not overtake the pasta and spinach.  There was NO full icky feeling after eating a large bowl either.  I highly suggested you try this recipe.  My husband told me to put it on the " Having Company Approved List."

Penne with Spinach Bechamel

Serves 4 (We got about 6 servings)

1 large head of cauliflower
unsweetened plain almond milk, as needed
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (can omit, but I used it)
1/4 nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced thyme (I used fresh)
1/4 cup finely chopped basil (I only had dried, used 2 T)
4 cups chopped spinach (I used about 6 cups)

Add the cauliflower to a large pot and boil for about 10 minutes, until super tender, drain
I put the cauliflower in my Vitamix, but I am sure a regular or immersion blender would be fine.  I added about 1/4 c almond milk, nutmeg, yeast, salt and pepper, and let it rip.  I pureed until a smooth, creamy consistency.

Saute onion in a large pot for 10 minutes, add a little water to keep it from sticking.  Add garlic, thyme, and basil and cook for another minute.  Add spinach and pasta and cook for about 5 minutes, until spinach is wilted.

Serve and Enjoy!! YUMMY!!!

Over all we have been doing really well with our new lifestyle.  My daughter, Pony,  was being watched by a friend for a few hours yesterday.  I explained to Pony, in front of my friend, what the food rules were per mom.  This gave my friend an easy out if Pony asked for something.  I packed a lunchbox full of approved food.  Pony finished her lunch.  She did ask for potato chips, but was not given any.  I was informed she snagged a little mayo for her cracker.  I would completely consider this outing a success.  Pony knew the rules, and for 4, did a great job obeying.  No reason to sweat the mayo!  I know that I am doing the best I can feeding her healthy food the 99% of the time she is with me.  She knew the mayo was not the right choice without me having to explain.  I just let it go.  I do not want to dwell on the minor indiscretion, when there are SO MANY things going right.  This is also how I plan to approach those birthdays at school.  If there is one I do not know about, and my kids choose to eat a cupcake it is OK.  The world has not ended.  Again, I am responsible for their daily food intake. Almost ALL of their meals are prepared by me.  I am responsible for their health.   They are kids and will not always make the right choice.  My job is to educate, but I refuse to bring anger into this equation.  I want them to make more right choices than bad as they get older.  I do not want this to be a war.  I am doing this out of love, so love has to be in every part of this endeavor.

Wild Rice Stuffed Cabbage

My husband and Fred gave these 2 thumbs up, Pony gave it a 1 thumb down while shoveling the cabbage rolls in her mouth as fast as she could with the other than.  She cleaned her plate, so I am not sure you can really count the 1 thumb down :)  I loved them!  You will have to leave yourself about an hour prep time.  This is not a quick throw together meal.  I made the rice the evening before.

Serves 6

1 large head savory cabbage, seperated into individual leaves
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced small
2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
2 celery stalks, diced small
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon minced sage
3 cups cooked wild rice
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 vegetable stock
2 cups tomato sauce

Bring pot of salted water to a boil.  Blanch the cabbage leaves in the water for 5-6 minutes.  Remove, rinse, cool and set aside.

Place onion, carrots, and celery in a large saucepan and saute over medium heat for 7-8 minutes.  Add water as needed to keep veggies from sticking to the pan.  Add the garlic and sage and cook for 3 minutes.  Remove pan from heat, add the wild rice, and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Lay cabbage leaves side by side with a slight overlap.  Place about 1/2 cup of rice filling in the center and roll the cabbage into a cylinder.  Place the rolls seam side down into a 9" x 13" baking dish.  Add the 1/2 vegetable stock to the baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 10 minutes.  Uncover the dish, pour tomato sauce over cabbage rolls, and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Sweet potato oatmeal

This was a huge hit in our house. The first day we had it, I served it on fancy plates and used apples to make a bunny face. It received a huge 4 thumbs up, Pony even put her big toes up!! And really... What are you saving those plates for???
( the pictures are from leftover day, those are NOT my fancy plate;)

"Forks Over Knives Cookbook" by Del Sroufe

This is the doubled version of the recipe. It made about 6 good sized servings.

2 large sweet potatoes
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups soy or almond milk (I used vanilla soy)
1 cup molasses (I ONLY USED 1/2 CUP)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 allspice
Pinch salt
Steam or boil sweet potato until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mash it and add it to a small saucepan with oats, milk, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, orange zest, allspice, and salt. Cook the mixture over medium heat until the oats are tender, 10-12 minutes.

This re heats very well.

My son has a swim meet today.  If you have never been to a swim meet, imagine sitting for 5-6 hours to watch your child swim for about 2 minutes....  Anyway, I feel like I am packing the all the food we have!  My kids have been really hungry since eating so much healthier.  They are constantly eating.  I am not complaining, they are eating carrots, apples, celery, etc...  It is just a huge amount of food.  Here's hoping I pack enough.  I doubt the concession stand is going to have many options for our family.  Also, we have really been enjoying Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat bread.  Sandwiches are packed and ready to SIT! At least I can meal plan the rest of the week.

I decided to take my kids to the big cheesy mouse...  We have never gone there without ordering pizza and soda.  I prepared my children by letting them know we would not be eating on our trip.  We had a gift card to use or I would have not even ventured into the rodent's territory.  My kids did great!  Pony asked for something for eat right when she was getting her coat on to leave.  It was the only time food was mentioned the whole we were there.  I would call it a success.  Tonight for dinner I made Stuffed Cabbage with a very yummy wild rice filling.  I try to always have cooked rice on hand.  A little prep work goes a long way after a tiring day.  I like a variety of rice, so I buy a huge bag of brown rice a few bags of the speciality rice.  I then just mix them all together in a plastic container.  I like the variety.  Here are some pictures.  It was really good and received all thumbs up!  Even Pony cleaned her plate.  

Here is a link to the documentary "Forks Over Knives."  It is great information, possibly life changing!
http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=aamgwrj4bvz7qzpj166y9a

We started off with breakfast.  My kids love pancakes.  We, meaning my husband, used this Vegan Pumpkin Pancake recipe with the following adaptations:

http://www.preventionrd.com/2012/10/whole-wheat-vegan-pumpkin-pie-pancakes/

Whole Wheat Vegan Pumpkin Pie Pancakes adapted from Food.com

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp olive oil

Adaptations:

We used all wheat pastry flour.  Whole wheat flour has more gluten and will make our food dense.  Whenever possible, spring for the whole wheat pastry flour.

We omitted the sugar and added 1 tbsp pure maple syrup

We used vanilla soy milk.

We omitted the oil and added an extra 1 tbsp of puree in addition to the 1/3 cup.

Side note… do not try this alone unless you have too.  My husband is the best pancake and waffle maker.  I tell him that all the time.  Since I first proclaimed him the best, I have not had to flip or stack since.  Find something he does you can call great, and let him have at it.  It will help you and your marriage.

The pancakes received a full 4 thumbs up!  We applied maple syrup from Geauga County and so yummy! Perfection!  They were so good, I kindly asked my husband to make more for the freezer. I mean let’s face it, I am not a pancake maker J  He obliged and I have a week’s worth of breakfast for next week when the kids head back to school.  I encourage you to freeze in kid size portions.  It makes life easier.  If anything is going to diminish your desire to feed your kids food that will not harm them, it will be the lack of convenience.  Do everything you can to make things easier.

I am a mom of two, an eight year old boy and a four year old girl.  For privacy purposes I will call the boy, “Fred,” because I use that as a nickname for really no apparent reason.  The girl I will, Pony,” simply because she really wants to change her name to Pony.  My husband’s name is John, and we are closing reaching forty (I am a little closer which I get reminded of often). I work part time during the school year and have summers off.   About nine years ago we made a decision to raise our son vegetarian.  Once he started to eat solid food, his diet pretty much consisted of soy nuggets and fries.  I tried some complicated recipes and always went back to the easy convenience foods.  My husband and I even toyed with vegan.  I am proud to say we lasted a full two, yes TWO weeks.  Convenience always reigned supreme.  I knew it was not the best, but it worked.

Over the last years we have consumed mostly a vegetarian diet.  There has been some chicken and an occasional burger thrown in here and there for good measure.  I was not trying to necessarily eat healthy, just feed my family.  Every once in awhile I would get this great idea to only eat healthy food.  Each and every time it would end pretty quickly with me always feeling like a failure.  One thing that has come out of my multiple attempts to eat only plant based, healthy food is the “tweaking.”  Each time I tried to go cold tofurkey; I kept up one of the habits.  For the last nine years I have added to my ability to eat healthy.  January 1, 2013 we are a vegan family as far as food consumption goes.  I am not eating animals, but not exactly ready to send my leather boots to the local charity.  It may come, but I am focused on the food end right now.  Let me list a few things we will not be eating that are still considered vegan:  Margarine, shortening or any types of hydrogenated oils, oils, sugars.  We of course will not be consuming any animal based products.  If it had or came from something that had eyes, we will not eat it.

My goal is to spend a few minutes each night to let you how my journey is going.  What concoctions received a “thumbs up” and what will never be served again?    Basically I want you to understand that any change I the right direction is good change.  In my experience trying to do it all at once will cause failure.  Focus on your successes and set reasonable goals.  Maybe cut out pop or the afterschool sugary snack.  Start small and you will gain ground.  Remember, here a tweak, there a tweak, everywhere a tweak tweak and you will find success.  One thing I really thing you should do is watch Forks Over Knives.  It will rock your world.  We watched in online, and then purchased a DVD to share with our parents.  Oh yes, we actually were able to get the parents that thought we were neglecting our kids by not giving them chicken nuggets are now on board!