Menu Plan... Kind of!

Hey, everyone!

I have finally come up with somewhat of a menu plan for the next week or so.  I had to go to the store, and I wanted to make sure I bought lots of fruits and veggies-- but also ones that I would use up in the next week or week and a half.  I didn't want to just buy veggies all "willy-nilly" and then not know what to do with them or never end up using them before they went bad!

So, here's the list of meals that I came up with to eat in the next week.

• Lentil Shepard's Pie (recipe coming tomorrow!) 
• Split Pea Burgers and spaghetti squash
• Spaghetti and Salad
• Vegetable soup
• Baked Beans with sweet potatoes and broccoli
• Indian Cauliflower and Potatoes with Indian veggie patties
• Bean soup 
• Pizza
• Farfalle with Broccoli

Yay!  This whole list is vegetarian.  Allright, I lied a bit.  The broccoli farfalle has anchovies.  :-) 

Pumpkin Scones

I made these pumpkin scones yesterday, and I think they are delicious!  I didn't even put the glazes on them and I cut the sugar almost in half. (just 1/4 cup!) Also, I used unsweetened coconut milk instead of half and half and 2/3 coconut oil and 1/3 butter.

Ellie calls them pumpkin pie. 

When we got back from the Nutcracker last night, we ate them for dessert-- one that would hold us over since we had eaten dinner so early. I drizzled a bit of warm honey on them and we all ate them right up. 

So, if you are in need of a pumpkin scone recipe, I would recommend checking this one out!

Applesauce Pie

A few weeks ago, I had no idea what was for lunch, and it was already lunch time!  I was in the mood for something different, and I thought of apple pie.  But, to make a whole apple pie and then bake it would not work for eating at lunch.  I tried a recipe I just thought up while we were making it, using things from the fridge, cabinets and fruit basket.  It turned out too sweet.  But we enjoyed it nonetheless.  I would definitely make this again, but it would have to be about half as sweet for me. 

First assemble three crazy helpers

First, we started with the crust.  This is where most of the over-sweetness was.  I will have to think of something other than dates to hold this crust together.  Or maybe see if less dates would work.  We used 1 cup of nuts, about 3/4 cup of dates, about a tablespoon of coconut oil and 1/2 cup of oats for the crust.  Just whiz it up in the food processor. 

Make sure to cover your ears while the food processor is on!

Next for the filling, we cut up three apples (I would do four or five next time!) and chopped them in the food processor also.  Then I added 2 TBS chia seeds, 1/2 cup of water and about 1 cup applesauce to a bowl and let it sit for a bit.  When you put chia seeds in water they kind of make a gel, which is what I was going for.  This is where the other extra sweetness came in-- we had sweetened applesauce that someone had given us leftover from Thanksgiving.  I put the apples into the pie crust and then the applesauce mix, but next time I would stir them all together before dumping it in the crust. 

The chia seed mixture

Finally, we let it chill in the refrigerator until it was time to eat.

As I said before, this was good, but it was too sweet.  I would try this again with less dates in the crust (and more nuts to replace them) and unsweetened applesauce. 

I am really interested in using chia seeds as a thickener, especially to make pudding like foods.  I hope to have more experimenting on this soon!

Crust:
1/2 cup dates
1- 1 1/2 cups nuts
3/4 cups oats
1 TBS coconut oil

blend together in the food processor.  press into pie pan.

Filling:
4-5 apples chopped in food processor
1+ tsp cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
2 TBS chia seeds
1/2 cup water

mix all ingredients in a bowl. dump into pie crust.  let the pie set up and/or chill before you eat it.  mmmm. 

ps.  now that I'm looking at this last picture it could really use some crumbly oat topping!

Vaccines

Here's a website with some very interesting information on the ingredients found in vaccines.  Good 'food for thought.'

http://vaxtruth.org/2011/08/vaccine-ingredients/

Flour Wars

I lost.  :-)

Photo credit: Benjamin (with my phone)

Breakfast

Pumpkin pancakes made with leftover pumpkin. Saving eggs for later, so we made a vegan version. 

Coffee leftover from last night.

Not pictured: smoothie made with 1/2 carrot, 1 handful spinach, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 banana, 4 dates and 1 scoop of enriching greens.  

Still have the rest of that pumpkin to bake and cook into something delicious!

What do you think?

What do you think of the new look?  I am unsure.  :-P  Comments welcome.

Also, real blogging to hopefully commence soon.  I miss this! 

ps.  Today we made Thanksgiving dinner!  We always go away for real Thanksgiving, but try to have one on another day anyway.  We decided on the way to church this morning to make it today.  We went to Wegman's on the way home.... and had a lovely dinner with lovely friends.  On the menu: Turkey, Mom's stuffing (No sausage, though!), mashed sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry relish, gravy.  For dessert: pumpkin custard (Dairy free!), gluten free pumpkin bread, coffee and chamomile tea.  We even got out the china and let the kids use it too. :-)  no pictures, of course! 

Good night!