I have no proof...

...since my camera battery died when I was trying to take a picture of tonight's dinner, but it was lovely! Planks of marinated baked tempeh, alongside organic green beans and a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes covered in rich brown gravy...very comforting!

In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that the tempeh was a bit salty (too much tamari in the marinade?) but if you mixed it with the mashed potatoes, it was yum. Berkeley (my son) loved the tempeh, dabbled in the potatoes a bit, and only had maybe one green bean, but it's a step. He finished off dinner with a banana, so hey, it's all good.

By the way, last night's soup, salad, and bread meal was super-comforting and made us really ready for the cool weather to get here and stay. We got a bit of a cool front today, but we want more! I'm ready for chili and cornbread weather.

Thursday is a fun night to cook, because it's the last cooking night of the week (takeout pizza tomorrow night, leftovers on Saturday). So stay tuned for Sunday's new menu! I'll try for more pictures next week.

Family Style

Whew! Tonight's dinner experience was so relaxing--my son ate lots of tofu, potatoes, and carrot sticks (he wouldn't do the kale)--all dipped in the tahini sauce. It's so nice when we all eat the same meal, which doesn't always happen. It's exciting that we may be passing his uber-picky phase. Knock on wood.


Anyway, here is my first attempt at a photo. I'm sure they'll get better as I go. The tofu came out great. Here is the marinade recipe:

1/3 cup tamari sauce
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. basil (I usually do fresh but tonight did dried)
1/2 tsp. rosemary (ground)

I sliced the tofu and pressed it in a towel to get most of the moisture out, then soaked it in the marinade for a few minutes. I baked the tofu (with all the marinade on a cookie sheet) and the red potatoes (lightly tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper with a touch of rosemary) at the same time, in a 375F oven for about 45 minutes. The kale was steamed and then covered with the tahini sauce.

I'm so happy to be cooking again!

Thumbs up on last night's dinner...

The Lentil/Tomato pasta was well received by both husband and child...my son ate a huge bowl of it, and slept all night! (that is a rare occurence, and I think I'll attribute it to his hearty dinner.) He can be (like many 2-year-olds) a picky eater, so I have resorted to sneakiness at times to make sure he's getting all he needs. The hidden lentils are a great example, beacuse he just won't sit down and eat a nice bowl of lentils right now...but I'll keep trying.

Smoothies are another great way to pack a lot of healthy foods into a tasty package. I've had success with adding things like raw kale, steamed sweet potatoes, and/or steamed carrots to our regular base of non-dairy fortified milk, frozen bananas, and either juice or another fruit (strawberries or blueberries are the most popular). Blend it up, and he drinks it right down. I always add flax oil or ground flax seeds so he gets his Omega-3s. Almond butter (or another nut butter) is also a great addition to smoothies.

Off to make marinade...

Dinner Menu for the Week of September 24

Sunday
Rice Pilaf with Red Beans, Salad, and Garlic Toast
Basic and yummy.

Monday
Pasta with Lentil-Tomato Sauce and Cheezy Toast
I cook the lentils until they are pretty mushy, blend them smooth with my wand mixer, and stir them into the pasta sauce. They add some heartiness to the sauce, but do not affect the tomato flavor. It's a way to make a pasta meal a bit more balanced. Cheezy Toast is basically toasted bread with Earth Balance spread and some nutritional yeast sprinkled on top.

Tuesday
Herb-Marinated Baked Tofu with Tahini-topped Kale and Roasted Red Potatoes
In the interest of healthy diversity, I try to only have a soy-based main dish 2 or 3 times a week. We love this baked tofu recipe--simple and very firm. The tahini sauce for the steamed kale is basically tahini blended with lemon juice, garlic, salt, and a bit of water to get the consistency you want. Mmmm.

Wednesday
Vegetable Barley Soup, Salad, and Italian Bread
My goal, especially now that it's fall, is to have a soup meal one night a week. I usually freeze half the batch I make so that I don't have to cook soup from scratch every week.

Thursday
Baked Tamari Tempeh with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes/Gravy
Tempeh is a fermented, dense cake made from grains and soy. Tastes way better than it sounds! Fermented soy (tempeh, soy yogurt) can be easier to digest than unfermented (tofu, soy milk). I soak the tempeh slices in a marinade and bake for 25 minutes or so.

Friday
Pizza Night
We order take-out one night a week. It's usually from a local Indonesian restaurant that delivers to us, but we sometimes opt for pizza. We are currently loving a new pizza place that just opened on South Congress here in Austin--yummy fresh ingredients, great sauce and crust, and it tastes totally complete without cheese, unlike some other pizza places we have tried.

Saturday
Leftovers
We also eat leftovers one night a week. They don't go to waste this way, and we spend less.

Some extras I plan to make for my son's lunches/snacks:

Mac 'n Cheeze

Not-Tuna (a chickpea-based spread)

Zucchini Muffins

Hummus

Craving a Routine

Now that we are finally moved into our new place and getting settled, I am so ready to get back into a cooking routine again! I plan to post our weekly menus on Sundays, and then throughout the week I might post a couple of times with recipes, comments on how things turned out, etc. I will also attempt photos, if I remember to take one before we eat! It really helps me to sit down once a week and plan the menu, make the shopping list, and do our grocery shopping in one shot--I find I spend much less this way, rather than going several times a week. I also buy much less convenience food this way.

I am starting this blog because 1) It will keep me on a good routine with menu planning (so we don't eat out so often!) and 2) I know lots of people might wonder what a vegan diet looks like in reality, and I hope this can dispel any images people have of vegans eating only plain tofu chunks and brown rice. Don't get me wrong, we love (properly seasoned and cooked) tofu and brown rice, but we love lots of other things as well.

We have a two-and-a-half-year old son, and I will also include some things I plan to make for his lunches and snacks.

So, here I go!