Food for Thought

A couple of my friends have recently done some food-themed blog posts which I thought were really interesting.  So I thought I might do my own...not really because what we eat is all that interesting, but more because I think Keith deserves a lot of props for his cooking and baking these days.  Lately he does about 95% of the cooking around here.  And it has really, really improved over the last few months.   And he always includes Colin in his baking endeavors and Colin even helps him with lots of the cooking that he does for the family meals.

After taking about a 12 month vegetarian "vacation" and eating fish and poultry while I was pregnant and pumping for the twins, I'm back to a vegetarian diet.  Keith never really stopped.  Colin does eat meat.  Our weekday meals are pretty quick and easy.  After all, Keith prepares them by himself (or with Colin's "help") with three kids running around and has the meal ready about 10 minutes after I get home from work.  Enough time for me to change clothes and kiss everyone hello.  But on the weekend Keith is experimenting with new recipes and trying more difficult things.  If you follow me on Pinterest, most of the recipes were put there by Keith.  He would prefer to just use my account rather than get his own.  We used to eat at home Sunday through Thursday and on the weekends we'd usually get carryout one night and go out to dinner one night.  Lately we've been eating at home on Friday nights too.  Whether it's the cold weather that makes us want to just stay home or whether we're sick of the local carryout options, I'm not sure.  But it's probably good for both our health and pocketbooks!

So here's a few of the recipes that Keith has tried and we've really enjoyed.

Vegetable Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings

This crock-pot recipe was a great way to use a lot of the winter squash given to us by my parents who grew it in their garden.  The flavors are delicious and the unique cornmeal dumplings are very satisfying.  Keith has made this one a couple of times already.  Perfect for a fall or winter night!

Baked Ziti

Layers of provolone cheese slices and sour cream make this a delicious crowd pleaser!  The original Allrecipes recipe calls for ground beef but Keith has made it with spinach and mushrooms and it is wonderful.  He has also made it with soy meat which gives it a nice meaty texture.  This recipe is great for entertaining.  When we hosted my family at our house for Christmas he made two pans of this with different ingredients to please everyone and froze them without baking.  He thawed them in the fridge the day before our gathering and baked them that evening.  Delish!  He also recently made one for our friends who just had their first baby.  We took it over to them frozen so that they could bake it at their leisure.  They gave it great reviews!

Vegetable Pot Pie

What could be better than pot pie for comfort food?  This recipe from the Food Network calls for 3 bulbs of fennel.  I couldn't believe that Keith had actually purchased and put fennel in this recipe (just because it's a bit of an obscure ingredient that I thought might have made him shy away).  And I didn't know that fennel bulbs basically taste like onion!  Another winner!

Vegetable Casserole with Polenta

Another slow-cooker recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  We hit the jackpot on two recipes from the same article.  This one has garlic and pesto in it so it is just so full of flavor.  We love polenta and have many recipes that we enjoy using it in.  The recipe called for radicchio which we decided we'd leave out next time.  Too bitter!

And now onto some baking.

Best Brownies Ever

Allrecipes Best Brownie recipe and they are the BEST!  So moist and just bursting with chocolate flavor.  Keith and Colin have made them with chocolate chips and with chocolate icing and we prefer the chocolate chips actually.  At Christmastime Keith lined the pan with foil and then he was able to pull the brownie block out of the pan in one unit.  He put that on a cutting board and then cut them with a pizza cutter.  He was able to make neat little squares that way which were perfect for putting on a cookie tray.

Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

Yes, these cookies have a box of vanilla instant pudding in them!  They are very, very moist and chewy and I'm not sure if that is why?  Keith and Colin crush up pretzels and put them in these cookies along with chocolate chips and M&M's.  At Christmas they made them festive with red and green M&M's.  I love the sweet and salty mixture!

Monster Cookies

This Paula Deen recipe is top notch.  The interesting thing about this recipe is that they have no flour in them! They do have 12 oz of peanut butter in them though and just about every other good thing imaginable...raisins, tons of oatmeal, chocolate chips and M&M's.  The recipe makes a ton!  Keith and Colin made these too for our friends with the new baby and they were able to take them a huge tin plus leave quite a few at home for us.  Win, win!

And if you are interested in our easy weeknight meals, here's this week's menu.

Sunday - taco bar with all the fixin's (and soy meat instead of ground beef).  Refried beans (from a can) and Mexican rice (from a mix).  This meal was in honor of Super Bowl because it seemed somewhat like football food.  We had some store-bought guacamole too.

Monday - chicken nuggets (faux meat), baked potatoes topped with broccoli and cheese (a frozen veggie steamer)

Tuesday - potato soup (from a Bear Creek mix...so GOOD) that Keith enhanced with frozen broccoli and some sharp cheddar.  He made a loaf of "Quick and Easy Cheese Bread" to go with it.  This is something else we really enjoy and he's made a few times.

Wednesday - gnocchi with a cream sauce, peas, and mushrooms.  Colin loves gnocchi.  Keith used a recipe we got from a Kroger mailing.  He made the cream sauce a little healthier by mixing the cream with 1% milk and omitting some of the butter.  The original recipe called for prosciutto but we substituted that for baby bella mushrooms!  This was topped with an asiago and romano cheese blend.  I definitely want him to make this one again!

Thursday - couscous with chickpeas, tomatoes, and edamame.  This was one of our first vegetarian recipes and we're still making it.  I think the recipe was from an old Vegetarian Times issue.  It also has feta cheese, garlic, and green onions in it.  An old favorite - easy and full of flavor.

Friday - tomorrow's menu is veggie burgers, baked fries and green beans.  Simple and good at the end of the week!  Goes well with a beer :)

Bon appetit!