New Years Day, 2013
I am a product of many traditions. I grew up in a family that started each New Year with pork and sauerkraut for good luck. I now live in the heart of the deep south and black eyed peas and turnip greens are standard New Year's Day fare. My family loves it all!
Menu for New Year's Day was Black eyed peas, a mixture of turnip and collard greens, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and rye bread. We were supposed to also have applesauce, but there was only enough for HR, the 7 year old.
I cooked the black eyed peas with Better Than Bouillon vegetable base (everything tastes great with Better Than Bouillon.) The black eyed peas were bought locally this past summer and frozen.
I stir fried the greens which were purchased fresh from our local CSA. I used peanut oil, a little garlic, and a pinch of soy sauce.
The sauerkraut was from a jar. My plan was to doctor it up with caraway seeds but I realized too late that I was out of caraway seeds.
I mashed the potatoes using almond milk and Earth Balance buttery spread. Everyone enjoyed their New Year's Day meal so 2013 is off to a great start!
Wednesday, January 2
Wednesday was my grocery shopping day. I had several errands and did not get out as soon as I planned, so I needed something quick and easy for supper. I try to plan quick meals on shopping days or busy days. One of our favorite quick meals is homemade personal pizzas. I buy ready made pizza crusts and jarred marinara sauce although this week I had some leftover sauce I had made so we used that. Everyone adds their own toppings. I use whatever I have on hand which was black olives, sliced fresh mushrooms, chopped green and red peppers, some vegan sausage and, for the omnivores, pepperoni. I used Daiya vegan cheese which is surprisingly good and there was regular mozzarella for the kids. I planned to have a salad, but since it was later than usual, we simply enjoyed our pizzas.
Thursday, January 3
Thursday we went to Memphis for the day. I always think I will return earlier than I do. I again started dinner later than hoped, but Rick was running late as well. I made one of my favorite Chilies - Chili to Take the Chill Off with Salad and Vegan Sweet Beer Bread. The day was cold and cloudy so chili really hit the spot!
Friday, January 4
Many of you may know that I generally don't cook on Fridays. I love to cook, but it does take time, so Friday is my day to do other things. Some Fridays we go out and find a lovely vegan meal and other weeks we eat leftovers. This week was a leftover week. We had enough leftovers for a tasty meal.
Saturday, January 5
Indian food is one of our favorites and very easy to make vegan. I had some sweet potatoes to use so I looked for curry recipes using the ingredients I had on hand. Two sweet potato curry recipes I found sounded good so I decided to use a little from both. I mainly used Sweet Potato Curry with Spinach and Chickpeas with a few ideas from Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry. I wanted a curry with coconut milk so I used the first recipe and added a can of coconut milk. The curry was complemented with Basmati rice. No Indian meal is complete without Naan so I found this vegan version. The house smelled fabulous, but the flavor of the curry was a little bland. If I make the recipes again, I will add some more spices. The Naan was great!
Sunday, January 6
I decided to be a little experimental today. I wanted to make enchiladas, but I didn't find any recipe that wowed me so I decided to create my own. I made some red quinoa (a high protein grain) with vegetable broth and combined the cooked quinoa with onions, black beans, roasted green chilies, a few mushrooms and black olives. All of this goodness was then distributed in corn tortillas, which were rolled up and put in my pan. Corn tortillas are traditional for enchiladas but sometimes I use flour tortillas because they are easier to work with. I used the Happy Herbivore cookbook for the enchilada sauce, queso sauce, and vegan sour cream. You could also use canned enchilada sauce and purchased vegan sour cream. The enchiladas were very good. I served them with roasted turnips. I had turnips from our last CSA share. I combined cut turnips with olive oil, chili powder, cumin and a little garlic powder and roasted them in the oven. A salad completed the meal.
Well, 2013 is off and running. I hope these menus and recipes will help make 2013 a happy and healthier year!
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