My Almost Yummy Meal

Tomorrow one of my lucky followers is going to be the eater of an oh so yummy chocolate kika from treasuredearthfoods.com.  It is not too late to follow my blog for a chance to win!!!

In an effort to keep costs down on my organic, grass fed meats, clean food lifestyle, I decided to make vegetarian meals a few times a week.  Allrecipes.com had a vegetarian link that had some interesting recipes.  http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Twenty-for-Twenty-Vegetarian-Edition/Detail.aspx

Well, with 3 runny nose little people that needed to be held, rocked, and pampered all day, tonight was  going to be a cereal night.  Then I remembered the 20 for 20 link.  I went to the computer and stopped the netflix movie 1 of 3 was watching much to her chagrin.  I found the information I need to have a quick yummy meal.  I chose to make the Lentil Stuffed Tomatoes for the grown ups.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lentil-Stuffed-Tomatoes/Detail.aspx  And I can tell that next time they will be great.  This time the meal was almost great.  It was my first time to make lentils and I never use uncooked rice.  I was reminded why tonight.  The stuffed tomatoes had a lovely flavor but the lentils and the rice were probably a bit crunchier than intended.  I will make this again but make sure the rice is cooked before the tomatoes were stuffed and cooked.  And that is why it was my almost yummy meal.  I ate 2 of the stuffed tomatoes inspite of the unintended crunchiness.  Just for laughs I'll tell you this.  I was hurrying to prep grown up dinner and I forgot that little people's dinner was in the freezer for a quick cool down.  When the meal was retrieved it was almost frozen.  Bless my babies!

On another note I have also tried the baby spinach omelets and they were fabulous.  Well, mine were almost fabulous, more like scrambled eggs with spinach.   http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baby-Spinach-Omelet/Detail.aspx  Notice a theme here?  I'm working on my cooking skills.  Practice makes perfect, huh?

Here is the 20 for 20: veggie edition by allrecipes.com.

 

Twenty for Twenty: Vegetarian Edition

Don't like repeated trips to the grocery store? Stock up on these 20 ingredients, and you can make 20 delicious dinners.

Essential Pantry

Here are some spices, herbs, condiments and other staples to have on hand:

• Bread crumbs
• Baking powder
• Cornstarch
• Sugar
• Vegetable oil (olive, peanut, canola)
• Vinegar (white and red and white wine)
• Dijon mustard
• Soy sauce
• Hot sauce
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Curry powder
• Curry paste
• Chili powder
• Cumin (seed and ground)
• Parsley (dried and fresh)
• Onion powder
• Dried oregano
• Dried thyme
• Ground nutmeg
• Cayenne pepper
• Ground turmeric
• Dried red pepper flakes
• Fresh mint
• Fresh basil
• Fresh cilantro
• Bay leaves

The Ingredients

To make the 20 recipes below, stock up on these 20 ingredients (and be sure your pantry includes the essential ingredients listed on the right).
1. Tahini
2. Lemons
3. Limes
4. Canned garbanzo beans
5. Canned black beans
6. Fresh ginger root
7. Tomatoes
8. Tomato puree
9. Celery
10. Raw jalapeno peppers
11. Spinach
12. Onions (white, red, green)
13. Garlic
14. Bell peppers (green, red, yellow)
15. Tofu
16. Lentils
17. White rice
18. Eggs
19. Parmesan
20. Cheddar cheese

---

The Recipes

With the above 20 ingredients, you can make these 20 delicious and distinct vegetarian meals--everything from lentil stew to tofu burgers.

Baby Spinach Omelet Jeanie's Falafel Mediterranean Chickpea Salad II Hot and Spicy Tofu Cumin and Coriander Chickpea Salad Easy Red Pepper Hummus Moroccan Lentil Salad Lemon Lentil Salad Real Hummus Garlic Ginger Tofu Rice with Black Beans Lentils and Spinach Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers Simple Arrabbiata Sauce Tofu Burgers Scrambled Tofu Easy Masoor Daal Red Lentil Curry Lentil Stuffed Tomatoes Tomato-Curry Lentil Stew