Sunday Supper - Stuffed Zucchini

I grew up eating my Nana's stuffed peppers so when I saw this recipe for stuffed zucchini I was definitely intrigued, especially since zucchini is one of the few vegetables everyone in my house will eat without complaining.

Bell Squash

But, since I can't leave well enough alone, I decided to make a healthier version of stuffed zucchini. My first dilemma though was it was going to be a total pain in the a** to stuff cut rounds of zucchini. Then on a trip to the farmers market this weekend I discovered these little beauties - the farmer called them Bell Squash - but really they are just bell shaped zucchinis! Perfect to just cut the tops off and stuff!

I also decided to make two versions of the recipe - a healthier meat version for the kids and a vegetarian version for myself.

I used a spoon to scoop out the zucchini bells
leaving a flat bottom. The insides were used
to bulk up the filling.

The most obvious way to make the meat version healthier is to cut out how much ground beef I used. I read through the recipe twice to figure out what she did with all the zucchini meat she cut out of the zucchinis. Why would you be wasteful and not use it? So I cut the amount of ground beef in half and used the extra zucchini meat to help bulk up the stuffing.

Also, two cups of shredded mozzarella cheese? No. I used one cup of a lower fat colby jack blend - less cheese but more taste.

For my vegetarian version, I skipped the 90% lean ground beef altogether and instead used an equal amount of pre-cooked quinoa. I also chopped up some asparagus I had in the refrigerator that needed used.  Next time I think I'll also add in some diced cauliflower. Yes, I realize the cheese is the only thing keeping these from being vegan. I'm OK with that.

For some reason the little kids liked the
boat shaped stuffed zucchini more than
the round ones. I think they just
liked saying they were eating zucchini boats.

I had a lot more stuffing than I anticipated so I pulled a couple regular zucchini out of the refrigerator and sliced them in half, scooped them with a spoon and made little boat shapes out of them to stuff. I didn't pre-cook the zucchini because I didn't want it to get soft or squishy. Mine only needed 15 minutes to cook ( everything in the stuffing is cooked so really you just need to heat the zucchini through).

Of course the test comes when I call the kids to the table. And the answer is...
Yes - they loved them. OK, maybe love is a little strong. But all six kids ate them and no one complained! That is a successful recipe in my house!  I served them with a salad and cup up watermelon (also from the farmers market) - a perfect summer meal.

Vegan option on the left. Meat option on
the right.

Stuffed Zucchini


Using a bit of olive oil, saute diced onion, green pepper and minced garlic. Add in diced asparagus or any other vegetable you choose. With just a minute or so left, add in the zucchini meat to heat through. Remove from heat and place in a bowl.

Brown extra lean ground beef. Drain grease.  Allow to cool slightly before adding to vegetable mixture. ( To make this vegetarian use quinoa instead of beef)

Add in a half jar of marinara sauce and a 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Stir all together.

Scoop into zucchini bells or boats. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Top with a dash more cheese and heat until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Sunday Cooking 3/11/12

When my kids were all very little and I was a SAHM, out of financial necessity I was very good about eating most of our meals at home. I even got so good at once a month cooking we went out and bought our first deep freezer for the garage. 

The kids are older now and we all are way busier. In the garage we now have a deep freezer and an upright freezer/refrigerator full of drinks, snacks and heat-and-eat processed meals. Although the teen boys aren't complaining,  I hate that the kids are eating so much processed food lately ( I call it Tyson frozen chicken shit). Since most nights I'm either working and/or chauffering kids to their activities, dinner needs to be something quick and easy. 

So I have recommitted to cooking ahead in hopes of getting my kids back on a healthier track.  Since most cook ahead and freeze meals are high in fat and calories (cheesy casseroles made with "cream of" soups), I'm cooking ahead one week at a time for now. 

The other benefit is I'm hoping it will help me stay on a (mostly) vegetarian diet. I actually feel better when I eat vegetarian, yet lack of vegetarian options in my area combined with a family that prefers meat make it way too easy for me to fall off the wagon.

Yes, cooking ahead takes planning and an afternoon spent in the kitchen, but the financial and health benefits are worth it.

Today's cooking session (I'm sure it will be obvious which meals are for me only vs. the whole family):

• Chicken Spaghetti
• Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups - the kids LOVED these tonight so I'm glad I made a double batch to freeze. I originally found the recipe at my friends blog Dreaming of the Disney Princess Half and she found them over at between 3 Sisters blog. Really, if you have kids you must try these! Although it would be easy to leave out the chicken and make them vegetarian, I no longer eat any pot pie after a very nasty pregnancy induced sickness 17 years ago.
• Pizza casserole
• Large batch roast vegetables
• Sweet potato veggie burgers - I had one tonight with a slice of avocado and it was delicious!
• Large batch quinoa
• Oatmeal
• Glowing Green Smoothie - I've never had much luck making ahead juices or smoothies. But Kimberly Snyder says on her website that she freezes a few days worth in individual size cups. So I made 3 days worth and hopefully they will freeze and thaw well. 
• Happy Herbivore Tomato Soup - I had never made homemade tomato soup until I tried this recipe. It's so easy and so good! Of course I made enough to freeze for later too. It will  also double for Spaghetti Soup when I add the spaghetti squash to it that I roasted tonight. Yes, the kids also like the Spaghetti Soup.
• Hard boiled a dozen eggs for egg salad for kid lunches
• Chickpea salad  for my lunches this week. 

Wednesday and Saturday I'll be home to cook a good, fresh dinner. Looking at my list and all my hard work in the refrigerator right now, I think the rest of the week will be pretty good too.

10 Reasons To Go Vegan That Have Nothing To Do With Sex

Earlier this week I went to lunch with some of the girls after yoga. The restaurant we chose was offering some new vegetarian options so I eagerly ordered the veggie melt.

I'm not a hardcore vegetarian, in fact for a few months last year I fell off the wagon and was a complete carnivore. It quickly showed in my increased weight and decreased energy levels. And living where I do vegetarian options are few and far between, so it's a struggle to stay true to vegetarianism.

But I'm trying.

As the waitress brought my meal, I hungrily took a big bite and ...

There was bacon on my veggie melt!

Seriously! Who does that?

For more about vegan eating and some of the reasons I try to maintain that diet, please read my newest Elephant Journal post:

10 Reasons To Go Vegan That Have Nothing To Do With Sex

You can see a list of my other Elephant Posts by clicking on the Elephant Journal link on the top of this page. 

Falafel Frenzy

My falafel obsession began about two years ago when a friend from work told me she was making falafel waffles for dinner. Falafel waffles? Aside from being fun to say, I learned falafel is what happens when you take the really healthy food of chickpeas and you fry it up. It's delicious!

Shortly after my falafel introduction, I made my first trip to Los Angeles, epicenter of healthy living. Admittedly a little star struck with the whole LA scene, I convinced a fellow aspiring yogi to drive me up to take class with the amazing Steve Ross of Maha Yoga.

After, we walked in the rain and splashed in puddles along the Venice Beach boardwalk as I soaked in the counter culture only found out there. Eventually we found a little corner cafe and ducked inside to dry off and grab a bite to eat. My friend ordered a cheeseburger and fries and thought I was a little over the top for being so excited that they had falafel and hummus on the menu.

Those crazy Californian's just don't get it! 1 - the rain outside is not a hurricane, it's just some rain. 2 - falafel and hummus can't be found everywhere the way it can out here on the West Coast. and 3 - it's OK that you eat your murdered meat burger while I eat my falafel, we yogi's don't judge.

The falafel was great, the hummus was OK and the rainy afternoon at the cafe was absolutely perfect.

Fast forward eleven months and I'm sitting in a delightful little vegetarian cafe for lunch with my mom after her latest radiation treatment. We don't know it at the time, but she'll be gone in less than three months. But today, she's feeling good and we are having a girls lunch.

She also laughs at me a little because as a transplanted Southerner I don't have as many vegetarian options and I have to ask the waitress what some of the menu items are. I decide, once again, on the falafel and a lovely tomato soup. But I tell the waitress nothing with eggplant because it's the one vegetable I just don't like.

The whole time we are talking I'm chowing down on my falafel and dipping into some sauce that I'm absolutely digging! When the waitress came over to refill our crystal wineglasses with water and fresh sliced lemon, I asked her what this was on the side of my plate.

"Oh, that's baba ghanoush."

"What is it," I ask like the dumb Southern baby vegetarian.

"It's basically eggplant."

Oh, well what do you know? I guess I do like eggplant!

Here we are a year later and my attempts at home-made falafel have been failures. My dear friend and fellow Southern vegetarian Diane Z told me the problem is I've been using canned beans instead of dried.

Well what do I do with dried beans? A google search says to soak them overnight. Is it really that easy? At 11pm I post to Twitter my dried bean ignorance and get lots of responses that yes, it really is that easy. Put them in some water and go to sleep.

The next day I embark on a wild goose chase through two surrounding Memphis counties in search of falafel mix. If it exists it can't be found in the Memphis metro area. But no worries, I'll just cook these old school with the recipe Diane Z passed along to me. And my driving from store to store did pay off in that I found a small tub of baba ghanoush!

I carefully measured, mixed and blended everything together exactly according to the recipe. I got nervous when it came time to fry them because I fry food so rarely that I wasn't sure how much oil to use or how long to keep them in.

I got even more nervous when they didn't look like the falafel I'd had before. But, trying to stay optimistic I put them on the table for dinner.

They were....just OK.

They tasted like falafel, mostly. But they just weren't as good as I'd remembered.

Was it because I wasn't sitting on the beach or because I wasn't with my mom? Definitely a little bit.

Was it because I really have no idea how to fry foods? Definitely a little bit of that too.

I'm not sure if I'll attempt home made falafel again. I would like another chance to sit in a cafe at Venice Beach and enjoy the scenery, the company and the falafel. For now though, I'll hope some of my local friends who are better cooks than I am will take falafel pity on me and bring me some for lunch one day.

A Health-Nut Mom Makes Mountain Dew Cupcakes

Last Sunday I posted about the delicious and healthy whole wheat oatmeal blueberry muffins that I baked. They only lasted a few days because the kids - and me - scarfed them down. As I offered to share my baked goodies with those around me, a few people asked why I'd ruin a good muffin with healthy ingredients?

Some people have accused me of being a health nut - absolutely not true. I try to eat a mostly vegetarian diet but I'm not extreme or super strict about it. And some have accused me of not letting my kids have "good" food - again, absolutely not true. Just because my kids have never had Spaghettio's doesn't make them deprived!

Today, I did my usual pre-cooking for the week. I made a big pan of roast vegetables, four servings of steel cut oatmeal, quinoa, and a pot of Buddha's delight. I'll eat off all that this week when I get home in the evenings after teaching.

When I was planning my menu for the week, I mentioned I was also going to make root beer cupcakes. I found the recipe in the Happy Herbivore cookbook. I figured it might be a neat way to sneak in a vegan dessert on the kids!

Well, my kids don't really like root beer, so the oldest instead asked for Mountain Dew cupcakes.

I do NOT recommend drinking or
baking with this soda.

Mountain Dew cupcakes?

I googled and sure enough such a recipe exists. Now, being the health nut that I am (not), I don't allow my kids to drink soda. However, as the older ones have reached their teen years they are less under my control and unfortunately know all about Mountain Dew.

Now the really funny thing is, this Mountain Dew cupcake recipe says it makes "lite cupcakes" because it omits the eggs and oil. I guess us health nuts have a different version of "lite" because I would never consider 7 cups of powdered sugar to be lite!

Anyway, wanting to be a cool mom, I made the cupcakes. I don't drink Mountain Dew and I didn't try the cupcakes so I can't personally vouch for how good (or bad) they are. However, they smell so sickeningly sweet that the smell alone gave me a headache.

And the best part -- my kids don't love them! Even the oldest Mountain Dew guzzling teen said they were "OK, but too sweet."

I'm considering it a personal victory that just maybe some of my health nuttiness will rub off on them after all.

For those who want to give it a try, here is the Mountain Dew cupcake recipe:

Combine a yellow cake mix with 12 oz Mountain Dew. Bake according to package directions.

To make the frosting, beat 2 sticks butter, 1/4 tsp each vanilla extract and lemon extract. Blend in 7 cups* powdered sugar. We tinted our frosting with green food coloring.

* I'm thinking the recipe I used possibly had a misprint. 7 cups of powdered sugar is crazy! And it made enough frosting for three times the amount of cupcakes we had. So you could easily cut the powdered sugar down if you also have health nut tendencies.

When A Vegetarian Falls

I ate a Nathan’s hot dog from Sam’s Club tonight.  Well ok, since the blog is supposed to be a place for me to honestly explore and evaluate my life, I admit to eating two Nathan’s hot dogs – with relish and mustard.

I know eating a hot dog isn’t a reason for a blog post to most people. But it’s way out of my normal eating pattern for me. So far out of the norm I’ve spent the past 20 minutes curled in the fetal position in pain and nausea.

My favorite
fresh roasted vegetables

I call myself a vegetarian. Well a part-time vegetarian anyway.  I have very loose rules regarding my eating; I still eat eggs, dairy and fish. Yes I know, in some circles that means I’m not a real vegetarian.  But in my house we call it a fishetarian. Hey, it works for me.  

Earlier this year I spent a week in Los Angeles where it was super easy to eat super healthy. Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables were everywhere. I was working hard and pushing my body physically harder, yet the healthy food choices sustained me and kept me going strong.

Yet, as soon as I returned to Memphis the fat, greasy, non-vegetable options tempted me. I let the drama going on in my life be the excuse to succumb and feed my emotions rather than face them.  Within a week I was bloated, sluggish and moody.

Fortunately though, my vegetarianism is like my Catholicism.  I have the foundation,  I have a basic belief in it, and I return to it when I need it. If I decide to indulge in a juicy greasy cheeseburger, or if my clean eating diet wanders too far and gets a little too dirty, I can return again. Say a few Hail Mary’s and perhaps a 2-day soup cleanse to rid my body of sin and toxins.

Recently I was home in Philadelphia for a week – the land of greasy cheesesteaks, sugary Tastycakes and salty soft pretzels.  Did I indulge my taste buds? Of course! But only in moderation and I balanced it out with lunch at a delightful little vegetarian restaurant we found and fresh fish from the local market.

But life has a way of continually throwing blockades up along my health and wellness journey. Drama at home or an unusual amount of daily stress all too easily derail my healthy eating and daily exercise habits.  When I have too much to do the easiest thing to give up is taking care of myself.

A nightly love affair with both Mr Ben and Jerry is a temporary solution to life’s stress.  When I'm too tired/lazy/forgetful to pack my lunch it's easy to swing through McDonalds. But at what cost? And I don't just mean financial. 

I like eating good, healthy food. I feel good when I do. But I always think a sugar or fat binge will fix what's wrong. It never does.  I never eat junk and afterward think "Oh I feel so wonderful I could go do a two hour power yoga class".  I wouldn't make it through the first ten minutes before my body gave out. It wasn't fed properly first. Organic roasted vegetables, fresh blueberries or a ripe juicy orange can be just as soothing to my soul, yet nourish me in a way to help me deal with life’s drama’s and turmoils in a stronger, healthier way.

Let’s face it, I’d be kicked out of a vegan meeting. I really, really like my Aldofi leather coat. It’s not strictly a matter of cruelty to animals. Although the facts of factory farming  and genetically modified food scare me.  For me, it’s about how much healthier I feel when I eat closer to nature.

Better for the planet, better for my health and better for my wallet. It’s a much better motto than any fast food jingle. I just have to remember to sing it to myself!