(not so) spicy thai noodles

the mister hates spicy food.  it doesn't balance out his fiery personality.

so when I found this recipe, I knew he may put up a fight.

"what are you making?"

"oh just this thai noodle dish"

"is it spicy?"

geez, why does he always ask this question.

I used very few red pepper flakes.

in turn, my noodles were a little bland, but mister was happy and his personality remained balanced.

good flavor combination... recipe here.

veggie BLT's

oh, Blogger, acting the fool and messing up my meatless monday post.  

so meatless tuesday it is!

the mister has been lovin' BLT's lately.  I recently introduced him to vegetarian bacon and he just can't get enough.

look at those beautiful tomatoes!

look at 'em!

so good.

he's been eating them every day for about a week now.

granola.

I love granola.  LOVE.

I've been looking for a great granola recipe online and this one I really do love (although I made some modifications)

cranberries, slivered almonds, rolled oats, sunflower seeds, ground flax

isn't it a beaut?

I doubled the liquid part of the recipe because I read that this recipe was really dry, and it was.

even with doubled binding agent.

but still delicious.

crumbs.

did you know you don't have to count the calories when you're eating crumbs?  

it's like a sweet little bonus ;)

taco night!

we love Mexican food.  we love it.

the mister has been wanting to have taco night for a few weeks and we did it.

I found a pin to this recipe for homemade taco seasoning... tastes just like the seasoning you get in the store and you can make a ton of it if you want to keep having taco nights OR just enough for your meal.

tomatoes, cheese, shredded lettuce

yay for toppings!

that's fake meat trying to masquerade as real ground beef.

don't let it fool you, fool.

all together now.

delish.  we inhaled it and decided we should have more taco nights.

a vegetarian story.

after a pretty awkward lunch with my in-laws which resulted in a big veggie throwdown, I wanted to use my blog to say a few things about being a vegetarian.  

AND hand out a few old meatless monday posts!

black bean and corn quinoa

I have chosen to not eat meat for several reasons.  Before I gave it up completely, I was hardly eating it anyway, so it made for a pretty simple transition (minus the chicken burrito sharing the mister and I would do at one particular super large burrito serving restaurant in town... he's still a little bitter about that).  I always was very intrigued by vegetarians... even when I was younger, chunkier, unhealthier and couldn't dream of giving up steaks, burgers, Chik-Fil-A, etc.  Anyway, the quick version is this... I read Fast Food Nation and I quit eating meat.  

cauliflower pizza crust

I still eat eggs and dairy products, which makes me a lacto-ovo vegetarian.  I'm slightly lactose intolerant, so if I take in too much dairy, the belly starts a-rumblin' and I start to shut down a bit.

Speaking of shutting down, let's talk about this awkward family lunch.

I have not been eating meat for quite some time now... a few years.  For some reason, family forgets a lot.  A LOT.  It's honestly no big deal, though.  Most of my friends are not vegetarian so I'm used to searching for a way to take the meat out of the meal.  

spaghetti and beet balls

After the mother-in-law put bacon in the beans and the sister-in-law put cream of chicken in the hash brown casserole, I ended up with salad and a roll on my plate.  I really don't mind this.  It forces me to eat a little healthier and the salad was delicious.  Here are some quotes from our lunch...

"Can't you just pick out the chicken?"  out of the cream of chicken?  I still find a great amount of humor in this question.

"It's not like you have an allergy or anything."  true statement.  I'm also not allergic to roaches, but I think we can both agree that we probably won't eat a roach anytime soon.

"I want you to understand that your choice to eat meat is stupid."  well, that's just mean.  even if you're trying to be funny, which, in fact, you're not.  So maybe we don't tell people they are stupid for the decisions that they make.

"There is an overpopulation of white-tailed deer in our state and we need hunters to control that population."  Wow.  Where did this come from?  Okay great.  I don't remember telling you that you shouldn't hunt.  And if I did eat meat, I'd probably stay away from venison anyway.

black bean and mushroom chili

As an in-law, I feel like I should be nice.  non-combative.  easy to get along with.  So I kept my mouth shut and tried to smile my way through dinner.  A tough thing to do when you are feeling attacked.  A couple of other family members tried to defend me, but it just turned into a heated debate that I felt that I was the root of.  It was awkward and I don't deal well with confrontation and conflict, so I got up and hung out in the bathroom... in tears.  Fun times.

crustless quiche

So the meat lovers decided that I was upset about them eating meat.  No.  Like I said, most of my friends are carnivores.  I don't care.  It's a personal decision for me and I would never force anyone to go vegetarian.  It doesn't offend me that you want to eat meat or even hunt.  I just don't want to be the source of a heated argument.  And I certainly don't want people to walk on eggshells around me, so maybe I'm the crazy one??  could be!!  

garlic mushroom tortellini

I want to start sharing more personal stories on this blog, so this is the beginning!

I love veggies and I love you!

thanks for reading... and any future advice on how to handle in-laws is greatly appreciated!

strawberry salsa

I love strawberries.

I love salsa.

 What would it be like to combine them?

it would be a heavenly match!

recipe here.

black bean mushroom tortilla casserole

oh, Martha Stewart.  You just made my vegetarian heart smile with this recipe.

Now I'm not one to go scouring Martha Stewart's website for recipes, but Pinterest was created and well, the rest is history...

how can you go wrong with cheese, mushrooms and beans?

answer: you pretty much can

Martha's recipe

edamame hummus

"Allison, you eat too much.  And you're starting to neglect crafting."

I know.  I KNOW!  I'll craft and post.  I promise.

my friend posted this fantastic edamame hummus recipe on her blog.  I've made it twice already.

It's super awesome.

crafts are a-comin'

eggplant gratin

we started receiving veggie bags every two weeks from a little co-op we joined.

Eggplant was included and looky what I did!!!

(looks greasier than it actually was)

tasty tasty.

the mister ate his with leftover noodles.

recipe here.

meatless tuesday??: spaghetti and beet balls

oh, beets.  I don't really like you own your own, but I love you when you have other friends mixed with you.  maybe you're socially awkward... or maybe I am.

We have this local food truck that makes beet balls every now and then and I happened to get coerced into trying them and falling madly in love with them.

these balls will make your hands very red like a bloody massacre.

look at all those flavors!

ready to bake.

(store bought marinara... don't judge)

recipe here.

sweet potato veggie burger

I was nervous about this dinner.  The mister was extra nervous.

There were some interesting flavor combinations but it turned out pretty tasty!

recipe here.

crustless quiche

quiche is great because its kinda hard to screw up.  you can just throw whatever you like inside and it's a fancy little meal.  pretty inexpensive as well.

here.

veggie sloppy joes!

the mister requested sloppy joes for dinner so I scoured Pinterest and found this recipe

loaded with lentils and random spices.

I made 'em extra sloppy for ya!

I thought they were tasty, but he was dissatisfied so the next day we had veggie crumbles in canned sloppy joe sauce.  Then he was happy.  That's the important part, right?

quinoa black bean burgers

these little meatless patties really dirtied up my kitchen... 

gettin' crispy

it's always better with cheese.

and it looks like a finger peeking out from under that cheese, but it's not.  I swear.  I wouldn't be able to call it Meatless Monday otherwise.

dinner served!

recipe here.

ah... oui oui!

We had out of town guests come visit us last weekend and I got up and fixed breakfast for us all.  When you make your toast on a baguette, it really makes you feel good about yourself.

so no more sliced bread.  Baguettes are the way to go.

au revoir!

My favorite french toast recipe.