Jul 22, 2010

california club

Usually, I insist that when the kids cook, they actually cook something.  Once every 10 weeks I ask each of them to come up with 10 meal ideas. That way they don't have to worry over it weekly. Once every 10 weeks or so I also allow to assemble a meal. Cat made this sandwich, one of her all time favorites, with tomato, Veganaise, Follow your Heart, Tofurkey, lettuce, and avocado. I add sprouts onto mine, as well. These little babies were hand raised by me. If you haven't grown sprouts, yet, you should.

Three easy steps:
In a wide mouth quart mason jar with a 'sprout lid'
1) Soak 2-4 T seeds for 8 hours in filtered water to cover.
2) Drain and flip upside down in the dish draining rack
3) In the morning and evening, rinse seeds with a little water.

Keep them upside down to drain always. They are ready when their tails are 1/4-1/2 inch, 3-5 days.When they are ready, put them in a big bowl of water. The seed shells will float to the top where you can skim them off. Drain very well and store them in the same jar they sprouted in.

Cost Breakdown:
sprouts: $.50
bread: $3
avocado and veganaise: $3
tomato, lettuce: $1.50
Tofurkey and Follow your Heart: $5
Total to make 5 sandwiches:
$13.00



Jul 21, 2010

american lasagna

It is Italian/Pasta Night


This is the best lasagna. Period. Well, maybe Bryanna's Italian Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce is a rival :)

This is not a vegetable lasagna, because my kids' first question after 'What is for dinner?' is "Is there anything weird in it?' Define 'weird' as 'vegetable.' Ahh. Gets old. I do not know how they overlook the fact that the ricotta-style filling has 8 cups of spinach, but I don't care! They love it and as long as there are no odd bits of zucchini or mushrooms to bite into, they are happy. If it was up to me, there would be pieces of zucchini and eggplant and pepper and mushrooms, but, alas, I leave this one alone. For now.

This lasagna is easy to make, and I hope that is not just because I've been making it for over seven years. It has 5 layers of: pasta, spinach-basil tofu filling, ground Boca, Daiya-Follow Your Heart cheeses, homemade pasta sauce. I use Whole Foods No Boil Lasagna noodles, but I've had success using regular lasagna noodles and not pre-cooking them. Just make sure to cover your pan very tightly with foil (doming it a bit so the cheese does not stick to it) and extend the cooking time about 15 minutes. Adding a 2-3 T of water to the bottom of the pan before assembling the lasagna gives extra insurance of it getting cooked properly. 

This has to be one of our more expensive meals, but putting things into perspective, each generous serving is $2.70. You can't even buy a frozen meal for that much.

Cost Breakdown:
noodles: $2
spinach, basil, tofu: $8
Boca: $3
tomatoes: $5
onion, garlic, olive oil: $1
Daiya and Follow Your Heart: $8  
Total for 10 servings:
$27.00