Meatless Mania

A friend of mine started a Facebook group asking for meatless meal ideas for Lent.  However, I just gave up Facebook for Lent.

Just Facebook.  Not blogging or reading blogs or online shopping or Words with Friends.  Just Facebook.  Among an Easter basket of other assorted good intentions.  We'll see how it goes.

Since I cannot share my meatless meal planning with her on Facebook, I will share with everyone here!  Huzzah!  (One of my intentions is to use more colorful words like "Huzzah!" instead of the colorful words I usually use.)

Meatless meal planning at Chez Housewifespice is more involved because the Chef does not eat fish or cheese.*

*Unless the cheese is on pizza, in ravioli, in Nickson's Smoked Cheddar Grits, in pasta, or good parmesan.  He says he's allergic.  (eyeroll.)  Huzzam.  One of my intentions was not to roll my eyes at or about the Chef.  Flurbt.

So, here is a link to a good meatless pasta entree that I love, and I don't love pasta.  It's that good.  The smoky sundried tomato flavor mimics bacony goodness.  Plus cream.  I adore cream.

Also, on the menu this month is another one of these.

This one is for Mediterranean Herb Crusted Tilapia.  I can either wait for a night when the Chef is not home to make this, or I'll serve a side of gnocchi with it.  Costco has some delicious gnocchi, vacuum sealed, super easy to make.

I'll also try to sneak in an Asian Sesame Salmon.  I adore salmon.  If I could eat salmon daily, I would.  The Chef says it smells up the house.  I am NOT rolling my eyes here.

The Chef is a lost cause, but I have done an excellent job creating non-picky eaters.  With one exception.  Peter won't eat any fruits except apples and grapes.  And he'll eat strawberries, but if and ONLY if they are dipped in dark chocolate.  He says he's allergic.  Hmmph.

Maybe my kids' aren't picky eaters because we never do the jarred baby food thing.  Babies eat what we eat, just milder versions.  Everyone has to taste everything (except the Chef, no eyeroll).  If you don't like what's for dinner, you may have cereal, toast, or a peanut butter sandwich.  In Edmund's case, a soynut butter sandwich.

Once, Susan declared that she no longer liked Chicken.  Any Chicken at all.  Chicken nuggets, fried chicken, chicken piccata (The Chef's Chicken Piccata is divine), chicken noodle soup, chikin in a biskit crackers, you get the idea.

We did what parents sometimes have to do.  We ridiculed her out of it.  We use sarcasm and humor as parenting tools.  We laughed at her.  Then she laughed at herself.  Now, she eats Chicken.

Edmund tried the same thing with Soup.  He refused anything in the Form of Soup.  It didn't matter what kind of soup it was, if it was served in a bowl with a spoon, he wanted no part of it.  He was a little too young to appreciate mockery, so I did what any parent would do.  I ignored him.  I kept serving soup.  He eventually realized that either I was never going to make a separate entree just for him, or that we serve some fine soups and he was missing out.  Now, he eats Soup.

Back to meatless meals, I will make this at least once during Lent.  Cause it has Lent-ils.  Hee-hee.

Curried Lentil Burritos with Cilantro-Scallion Spiced Yogurt

Originally from Cuisine at Home April, 2005

This is a fabulous meatless meal, perfect for fish haters.

This recipe is written to serve 2 people, but I have tripled, quadrupled and quintupled it with great success.  You just have to know your way around fractions.  And since the magazine said it would take 45 min to make 2 burritos, the time lengthens somewhat for each tortilla you have to fry.  It’s a labor of love.

For the filling-

1 T. vegetable oil:

¼ c. onion, diced

1 t. curry powder

1 t. jalapeno, minced

1 ½  c. vegetable or chicken broth ( Chicken broth does not violate the meatlessness of the dish for Church purposes.  Just ask Catholic answers, or my husband.)

½ c. tomatoes, chopped

½ c.red potatoes, cubed

¼ c. brown lentils

1 bay leaf

½ c. frozen chopped spinach, or 1 c. fresh spinach

Juice of ½ lime

Salt to taste

Saute onion, curry powder, and jalapeno in 1 T. oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook until onion begins to brown.  5-8 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in broth, tomatoes, potatoes, lentils, and bay leaf.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until lentils are tender, 20-30 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the spiced yogurt while lentils cook.  Finish lentils with spinach (if using frozen spinach, no need to thaw it first), lime juice and salt.

For the Spiced Yogurt-

1 c. cilantro leaves and stems

¼ c. scallions, sliced (white and green parts)

2 t. fresh ginger, chopped

1 t. sugar

¼ t. ground cumin

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Juice of the other half of the lime.

Salt and cayenne to taste

½ c plain yogurt (Please not the nonfat kind.  Eeewww.)

Process all ingredients except yogurt in a food processor until minced.  Stir herb paste into yogurt; chill until ready to serve.

For the tortillas-

1 egg

1 T. milk

1 T. chopped fresh parsley

10”tortillas

Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Blend egg, milk, and parsley in a pie plate.  Heat a 12” nonstick skillet over medium high heat.

Dip the tortillas in the egg mixture.  Fry in 1 T. vegetable oil until golden brown on one side, about 1 min.  Flip.  Sprinkle with 1 /4 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese and continue frying until second side is brown, about 1 minute; transfer to a work surface.  Add another T. oil and repeat for all tortillas. 

To assemble the burritos, place ¾ c. filling on the lower third of each tortilla, then roll the bottom of the tortilla over the filling to cover.  Fold in both sides and roll to the end.  Serve with the yogurt ladled across the top and sprinkled with chopped parsley to look pretty.

Everyone loves it.  No fish, no eggs, and it's darn tasty.  Lots of work though.  

And my last meatless-fishless-cheeseless meal is Vegetarian Black Bean Chili.  This isn't my recipe.  I can't find mine for some reason.  But this recipe looks an awful lot like the one I use.  

I'd call my mom to get the original recipe, but she just had a hip replacement, so she won't be able to get up and find her copy, and my father and brothers are no good at that sort of thing.  I could wait until my baby sister gets home from school.  She's eleven.  Yes, I have an eleven year old sister.  Weird.  I know.  But I don't want to wait that long to publish this post.  Baby J is going to wake up any minute.

This recipe is especially like mine in that it involves lots of chopping.  Get some kids to do those parts.  Edmund loves to chop.  Edmund loves knives in general. Add some serrano or jalapenos to the skillet with the onions , if you like spicy things.  We like it hot here.  Don't let the kids cut the chili peppers though.  Of course, you already knew that.

Maybe I will get the Chef to make a guest post to share his Pasta Puttanesca recipe.  Don't google translate Puttanesca.  It's not a nice word.  But it's a good pasta dish with black olives and capers.  Capers are my favorite vegetable.  

Tonight I'm serving  Falafel Pitas.  I picked up falafel at Costco, when I went nuts for packaged vegetarian items.  I also picked up veggie burgers (in the kids' lunches today) and some spinach/chickpea patties that looked good.  I might try the spinach/chickpea patties in pan covered with spaghetti sauce and topped with mozzarella and parmesan.  Sort of a vegetarian Chicken Parmesan.  I'll let you know how it goes.

If anyone has a delicious potato soup recipe to share, I'm looking for one.  Or if you'd like to share how you meet the meatless challenge, I love comments.  And I'm off Facebook, so I'm sort of desperate for adult interaction.