Veggie Fajitas – Trader Joe’s to the Resuce

I knew Monday, that this would be a lazy cooking week. One of the best things about stocking up at Trader Joe’s is how easy and guilt free it is to cheat a little!

I bought some beef-less and chicken-less strips. Last time I used the chicken-less, I was disappointed in the spices, but I was cooking a delicate Chinese dish. I wanted to go ahead and try some southwestern food with them this time. And they fit perfectly just like I had hoped.

Cheater Chicken Fajitas– makes 4 tacos

• 1/2 pack of chicken-less strips
• 1/2 onion, in strips
• 1 red pepper, in strips
• whole wheat tortillas
• fixins: sour cream (or tofu substitute), lettuce, salsa, etc.

Heat up a non-stick pan and add the onion. Sauté until it is almost translucent, then added the pepper strips. A couple of minutes later add in the chicken-less.

Once the chicken-less is heated through, removed the pan from the heat, arrange 4 taco sized tortillas over the contents and cover with a lid to steam and warm the tortillas.

Remove the tortillas and place ‘clean’ side down. Now spoon in chicken-less mixture and top with your favorite salsa and taco extras.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I also served up some refried black beans with red jalapeno from whole foods. Bur be careful, they were hotter than I expected!

Happy Menu Planning Monday!

There was a great film festival in Durham this weekend. If you get a chance see Ready? OK! It’s about a little boy that wants to be a cheerleader. It has the actor that plays Ben from Lost in it, as well as, the most amazing new child actor. It was well made, and a feel good film to boot!

Anyhow, what all that really means is that I cooked nothing this weekend. So I’m going for more of a cook as you go week than last week. Looking into my crystal ball, I’m predicting it’s going to look a lot like this:

Monday: Trader Joe’s Beefless soft wheat tacos with rice and beans

Tuesday: Okra Creole with Veggie Sausage Jambalaya (I’m planning on using Susan’s recipe as a base and substituting veggies for the beans.)

Wednesday: Chicken Fried Boca Burger  and Fingerling Potatoes and Fennel with Asian Swiss Chard. (Dip veggie burger in a liquid and roll in flour. Then pan fry in a non-stick pan. Serve covered with your favorite gravy!)

Thursday: Veggie Chicken Parmigiana over whole wheat angel hair

Friday: Indian

Saturday: Grill veggies and burgers?

Sunday:Indian leftovers

Check out more menu’s here:

Have a great menu planning day!

Review: Turtle Mountain Coconut Milk Ice ‘Cream’

First off, if you got here from FatFreeVegan, a big hello and welcome to you. And if you’re here from somewhere else hello to you too! I’m so excited that Susan put a link to my site on her blogs she likes list. It makes me feel all giggly and warm inside. She is one of my cooking heroes!

I’m a huge Turtle Mountain fan, especially their fruit sweetened soy ice creams, and to me they taste less ‘beany’ than their regular ones. But give me one of their ice cream sandwiches, and you won’t hear a complaint from me!

When I saw coconut milk based ice cream from them, I was ecstatic. I love coconut milk. It’s so creamy and rich. In fact, I made some homemade ice cream with coconut milk this summer and it turned out pretty good. But they’re ice cream experts, unlike me, so I had high expectations.

Let me tell you now that I was not let down. I tried the coconut flavor. It’s sweetened with agave nectar, which is another plus in my book. It is 170 calories for 1/2 cup with 10 grams of fat, so don’t sit down and eat the whole thing. Compared to the fruit sweetened raspberry mango that has 110 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per 1/2 cup serving, the coconut milk based one is defiantly an indulgence.

Eating it I certainly felt indulged. Super thick and full of coconut pieces, it would fool any dairy eater. It doesn’t feel like a substitute for anything, it’s great in its own right.  But don’t just take my word for it, print out a coupon and go try one of your own! You will have to fill out a form first, but you get coupon links for their yogurt as well as the frozen products. I saw they are making coconut yogurt as well, I can’t wait until it comes to my area. Now all I need is someone to make almond yogurt too.

Vegetarian Menu Monday

I even cooked a few things ahead of time! Yesterday I made 2 breads, 2 main dishes, and cooked up some bean to boot!

Monday: Chinese night! More garlic ginger fairytale eggplant plus pepper steak made with Trader Joe’s beef-less strips

Tuesday: Pasta with heirloom tomato slow cooker sauce

Wednesday: Slow Cooker White Bean Butternut Squash Stew over Egg Noodles

Thursday: Kidney Bean Gumbo with brown rice

Friday: Quesdillas with assorted leftovers with spicy beans

Saturday: Paninis with zucchini-basil soup

Sunday: Dinner Out?

Check out more menu’s here:

Have a great menu planning day!

Clean Out the Fridge Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce

It’s slow cooker Thursday!
See other great recipes at Diary of a SAHM

I was lazy last week. Ok, so I was lazy this week too! And that means I have some veggies that are teetering on the verge of being compost worthy. I bought a few pounds of “ugly” tomatoes at the farmers market last weekend, and they were ready to use then. Ugly tomatoes are the best bargain at my market – 1.75 a pound instead of 3.00 a pound. And they’re heirloom ones to boot!

My plan is to throw together a big slow cooker of yummy pasta sauce. Since it’s not going to last as long in the fridge, I’m going to freeze them in serving portions. Then I can have some heirloom tomato sauce on my pasta in the fall and winter too!

Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce

• 10 – 15 heirloom tomatoes in any color combo, chopped
• 1 sweet onion (like Vidalia), minced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bell peppers, minced (yellow and green are nice in this)
• 1/2 hot pepper, seeds removed and minced [optional]
• Fresh Rosemary – 2 or 3 shoots
• 3 Tb. tomato paste
• 2 Tb. Vegetable Stock Paste
• Pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Splash of olive oil
• Splash of balsamic vinegar

Veggies you have on hand – I’m going to use:

• 1 eggplant, minced
• 1 zucchini, minced
• 1 yellow squash, minced
• 1/2 jar roasted red peppers
• A handful of Swiss Chard, cut into thin ribbons

Herbs to add at the very end:

• left over pesto or pureed basil with a little olive oil
• fresh oregano, thyme, marjoram, or other herbs you have around, minced

Throw it all in together. Or you can get all fancy and sauté the onion, peppers, and garlic first. I’m planning on cooking the heck out of it. I’m going to cook it overnight on low and see if it needs to go a little longer. If it does, I’ll alter this post accordingly.

Once it looks close to done I toss in my fresh herbs and/or pesto. If you are using dried herbs go ahead and put them in with everything else.  As always flavor to your liking, and taste throughout. No one knows what you like better than you!

It’s Menu Planning Monday!

Yes, it’s time for another menu plan. I’ve been extra busy the past few weeks and not planning my menu has taken a toll. We ate more junk and spent too much money eating out. So now it’s time for me to get back on track.

Monday: Pizza on homemade whole wheat pizza shells with pesto and kalamata olives.

Tuesday: Chinese night! Garlic Ginger Fairytale eggplant over brown rice

Wednesday: Pasta with heirloom tomato slow cooker sauce (recipe to come)

Thursday: Slow Cooker  Surprise! Maybe a White bean, kale, sweet potato stew…

Friday: Mock sausage Stuffed Summer Squash (recipe to come)

Saturday: Watermelon gazpacho with green salad

Sunday: Quesdilla surprise (putting those leftovers to work!)

Check out more menu’s here:

Have a great menu planning day!