Lunch & Dinner

Lunch was egg rolls & fruit. The sauce is sweet & sour sauce. I needed to use up my cabbage & spring roll wrappers.
Dinner was AMAZING!! It was caramelized onion, mushroom & spinach pizza. I did put just a little bit of cheese on top. I used less than 2 tablespoons on the entire pizza!! I used the pizza dough recipe found in Vegan Planet. I highly recommend this book. If you don't buy any other cookbook this year buy this one...oh wait you need to buy The Joy of Vegan Baking as well.

Coffee Cake & Peaches

Hubby had to work overtime today, so I made a very simple breakfast. I got the Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Vegan Baking. The peaches were just canned peaches that I have had for a while.

Awesome Eggplant!!

Last night I made the best eggplant dish that I have ever tasted. I am not trying to toot my own horn. I don't think that it had anything to do with the cooking, but with the recipe. This picture doesn't do the dish justice.

Here is the original recipe. I have noted the changes that I made at the bottom of the recipe.

Eggplant -- Easy, Good and Tasty

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/3 large eggplant
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tomato, chopped
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup Italian-style salad dressing

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet or pizza pan with olive oil.
   
2. Slice the eggplant into 8 round slices, each 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Trim the skin, maintaining the round shape of the slices. In a small bowl, whip together the egg and water. Place the breadcrumbs in a separate small bowl.
3. Dip the eggplant slices one at a time into the egg and water mixture, then into the breadcrumbs. One by one, place the coated slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet or pizza pan. Top the slices with equal amounts of tomato, Parmesan cheese and Italian-style salad dressing.
4. Bake in the preheated oven approximately 15 minutes. Change oven setting to broil, and continue cooking 3 to 5 minutes. Check the slices frequently while broiling to avoid burning.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008 Allrecipes.com

My Notes:
I didn't use the oil. I sprayed the cookie sheet with canola spray. I used the entire eggplant(and that was barely enough to feed my 5..they kept going back for more). I also peeled the eggplant before I sliced it. Instead of eggs & water, I used egg substitute. I added some fresh ground pepper and garlic powder to the eggs as well. I also added dried oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese to the bread crumbs. I also had to substitute grape tomatoes for the regular tomato. My last substitution was the Italian dressing. I didn't have any plain dressing. I used Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing.

I served it with orzo, green beans and baked tofu bites. It was a family hit. It was very light. This will be a great meal for the summer here.

Publish Post

Personal Cheeseburger Pizza

This was a last minute decision. I couldn't make what I had planned on having due to the eggplant going bad. When I couldn't come up with anything good to eat, I stood staring into the freezer hoping something would scream..cook me. I found 4 veggie burgers that needed to be used. So veggie cheeseburger pizza was born. LOL. I knew that this dish was a family favorite at the pizza place in the past.

Here is what I used for each person...

Ingredients:

pocketless pita
1 veggie burger(cooked), chopped
mustard or ketchup(whatever they prefer)
relish
mexican cheese

Spread the mustard or ketchup on the pocketless pita. Top with a little bit of cheese, the burger, relish and more cheese. Then cook in a 350º oven for about 5 minutes.

This was a HUGE hit. Everyone asked if I could make them again.

Smmothies

I made smoothies for my kids the other day. They were very good. I used half a box of firm tofu, a bag of frozen strawberries, half of a bag of frozen blueberries, apple juice & orange juice. I normally don't like smoothies and these were delicious!

Messy Lasagna

My kids named this dish Messy lasagna. It was a result of finding a great eggplant & spinach lasagna recipe and not having all the ingredients. I also made a bread stick recipe that was just ok. If anyone has a tried & true bread stick recipe, I would love to try it.

Eating Healthy

It has been very hard for me to eat the way that I would like to here lately. We have been relying too much on the packaged meat substitutes like Morningstar Farms burgers. I think that they are great, it is just not the way that I want to be eating. I would like to eat fresher foods.

My goal for this week is to eat fresher foods and drink less soda. That has always been my downfall.

Check back later today for my weekly menu.