Meatless Meals: Tofu Stuffed Peppers

This weekend Davey and I went shopping for a new barbecue. We have been without a grill for over a year now and that is too bad because Dave used to barbecue all the time. It's one of the simple joys in a man's life, I think. A man, his barbecue, and a dog to play fetch with while sipping on some cold beer - any time of the year. Throw in a lightning storm and they are all set. We didn't get one because we are still trying to choose between the "nice" model and the "fancy-smancy" model. The "fancy-smancy" one has a built-in rotisserie. Ohhhh. That would make some nice chicken. Can we stick a block of tofu on there? I think the "fancy-smancy" model may interfere with my quest to become a healthy vegetarian.

Anyway, here is the Meatless Meal that I've got for ya' for this week: Middle Eastern Tofu-Stuffed Peppers. This was very good so I'll post the recipe...

Shopping List:

2 tsp. canola oil

2 lrg garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups onions, diced

pinch of cayenne

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 2/4 cups carrots, peeled and diced

dash of salt

1 c diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups tofu (frozen, thawed, crumbled)

3 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs dill, chopped (optional. yuk!)

1 tbs lemon juice

1/2 c couscous

1/4 c hot water

3 tbs raisins

4 lrg bell peppers

2 c tomato juice

Directions:

Warm the oil in a med. saucepan, add the garlic, onions, cayenne, and cinnamon, and saute for 3 minutes. Add the carrots, sprinkle with salt, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, until the carrots are just tender. Stir in the tofu, soy sauce, dill (i left this out), lemon juice, couscous, and water and cook on low to medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring often. Cover tightly, remove from the heat, and set aside. After about 5 minutes, add the raisins and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Cut the peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds but leave the stem ends on so that the peppers will hold their shape during baking. Fill each pepper half with about 1/2 cup of filling and place it in a nonreactive baking dish. Pour the tomato juice into the bottom of the baking dish, cover tightly, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

{Served on a bed of basmati rice with shavings of Parmesan cheese on top}

These are quite good. The whole family liked them and ate them as a main dish. Unlike the veggie lasagna I made last week - where the protein came from all the fattening dairy - this dish gets it's protein from the tofu. I've never used tofu frozen and crumbled before and that is genius! It really makes it blend into the dish without being even noticeable which is good for those who are scared, or not fans, of tofu. I'll have to try that trick more often. This also made for a very pretty presentation but I found that for reheating the next day in the micro. it's much easier to just chop the pepper up and mix it all together. I'll definitely make this again and if you are looking to drop some meat from your meals I would recommend this dish for sure.

Recovery Pants.

Yesterday I passed the big 6 week mark: 6 weeks post Lily-Pie's birth. This means that I can now start exercising again after months and months of total sloth. As soon as I found out I was at high risk for preterm labour (I think that was at about 6 months) all exercising came to a halt. The only thing that mattered was trying to get baby-one to "38 weeks" where it would be safe to bring her out into the world. Well, gratefully, we made it safely to that goal but with the c-section I was instructed that there should be no exercising for 6 weeks after, either. Not even "hoovering" the floors as one, funny, British nurse put it.

But, here we are! Six weeks past her birth and, as luck would have it, it was the most beautiful day we have seen around here in months. We reached a high of about 15 degrees Celsius and we even saw a bit of the sun. I promised myself that on that day, the six-week mark, I would get out there and go for a nice, long, fast-paced walk. I signed my pal, Shan (aka The Fairy Blogmother) up to be my walking companion. Unfortunately, her little My-Pie, got "the burps" so Shan had to bow out of our expedition. This would, normally, be the point where I may let myself off the hook and pass on the hike...but it was such a gorgeous day and, I tell you, I was eager to move it! I knew I had to start off easy since I've been so sedentary for so long (the longest stretch of not having any form of exercise I've even had in my life), so I just put baby in her stroller and we headed off for our walk around town. I went as quickly as I could without getting terribly out of breath and I hit a few little hills and dips as well.

It was fantastic! I swear, I think I could feel my blood moving around my body again! I even met another one of my neighbours on my walk. A lady (who seemed really, really, nice) who just had a little baby girl of her own a couple of months ago. Yay! I've found a new friend for Lily-Pie already!

So, this will be a regular thing from now on. Dave has teased me throughout the pregnancy with, "I don't know...are you sure you are going to be able to recover from this one?" Well, I don't have a scale in my house (I don't believe in having the horrid things around), but I do have the "series of pants". The series of pants goes like this...1) My pre-preggo pants 2) My preggo pants and 3) My "recovery" pants. The "recovery" pants are sized somewhere in between my preggo pants and my pre-preggo pants and they are what I can fit my butt into at this point. The goal, of course, is to get myself back into the pre-preggo ones. Once I've done that, I know I've pretty much reached my goal.

I also measured my waist the night before having Lily-Pie and we were up to 40 and 1/2 inches. Having given birth to her in itself quickly shaved 4 inches off that number and just getting my uterus back down to size has knocked another 3 inches off...the rest, I suppose, will be my responsibility. ;-)

So, wish me luck!

I figure "9 months on, 9 months off" so I'm not in any hurry...but I'll post updates here regularly just to keep me going. If you have any fitness goals you are working on, maybe you could join me and we could spur each other on! I can always use the encouragement (especially since that 15 degree weather is already gone and it's just getting cold and wet again...blahh).

{btw--the picture above isn't me. I just found it on the web because I really don't have time to take a picture of myself right now - 6 weeks is also a growth period for the baby and she is wanting to eat constantly! Gotta' go! bye!!}

Thankful Thursday is back, baby!

Well, I think it's time to get back on track with "Thankful Thursday"! After all...regularly noting the things that you are grateful for can increase your overall happiness by 25%. I have no idea how "they" came up with that figure, but it makes sense to me. So, here are some things that I am Thankful for on this Thursday!

1) High Speed Internet Access!!
Yay!! It seemed like it would never be available to this area (which, in fact, is not so very far out of the way at all - but, still, getting high speed out here just seemed like an impossible task for so long for some reason). When we told the young man working at the store that we were on dial-up and that cost about $20 per month he said, in complete seriousness..."They charge you for that?". So funny. So sad. Dial-up should really be free because it is so horrible to deal with. I am so glad for the high-speed. I can surf around like crazy now and downloading scrapbook papers, etc., no longer takes two days. It's fantastic.

2) My New Laptop Computer.
It is so nice being able to speed around the internet from anywhere in the house! I don't have to go downstairs to the cold, drafty, office anymore. It is really nice down there when we have a fire going, but otherwise it is really just kind of...a basement. Now I can be upstairs, on the couch, in bed...wherever. Incredible. I feel like we've really caught up with the times...finally. That same man that sold us our high-speed access sold us our laptop. When we left the store he smiled and said, "Welcome to the modern ages". Thank-you. Thank-you very much.

3) My Bamboo Graphic Tablet.
Okay, now this is just getting silly! How lucky can one computer-addicted gal get? Davey bought me this little toy as a surprise present. It is the greatest thing. If you haven't seen one, it is like a little pen that "writes" on it's own little tablet. You can use it instead of a mouse to (much more easily) zoom around your computer pages...but more than this you can also use it to write, to draw, to color...etc. This makes it absolutely fantastic for digital scrap booking. I lerve it.

4) The Food Network.
I'm so glad their programming is on all night so that when I am up from 3 am until 4:30 am feeding and burping little baby-one I can at least watch the Iron Chefs battling it out, or Alton Brown explaining all that you can do with a ginger root, or that one young student chef smashing up his place in a drunken rage. It really helps to keep my eyes open while Davey snores away beside me. ;-)

5) Baby-One.
A.K.A. Nicole Lily-Pie. My little sweetie. The one for whom I don't even mind being up from 3 am until 4:30 am . She is such a great baby. She is so cute, and so cuddly, and so good natured. She really doesn't complain much at all - except when she realizes that, Hey, Wait a minute here...no one is holding me...C'mon people...Hold Me. She will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and she has never cried for more than, say, 30 seconds. Just the amount of time it takes us to realize we need to change her, or feed her, or - ya - pick her up. Then she is quiet again. So easy-going! And, yesterday she had another check-up with the doctor and we got to weigh her and find out that she has gone from her 6 lbs., 9.5 oz. birth wait -- to her 6 lbs., 4 oz. discharge weight (they were so concerned about her losing weight...but I knew she'd be fine as soon as we got out of there) -- to her current weight of 10 lbs, 2 oz., which is actually above average now! Yay! Little porker. I knew you'd put on the pounds!

We are very, very, lucky to have her (and all our girls)! So, I'll be thankful for her ~every~ week...but I just had to give her props today, `cuz, y'know...she's new and all.
;-)



{Picture taken just moments ago as my little Ten-Pounder heads out the door with Daddy and big sister Jamie for a little truck ride. What does that look mean?? Is she sick of me taking her picture already?? } ;-)

I don't think I'll be able to get Mr. Linky back up today, but if you'd like to raise your level of happiness by 25% then, please, make a list of your own and leave me a comment so I can go see what you are Thankful for on this Thursday.

Not to be Outdone...

So, of course Jamie wanted to make a phone call of her own!

We let her call her friend M. to accept the invitation to his birthday party this saturday.

Kinda' excited. :)

Life's Little Milestones.

Maddie has been asked over to her friends' houses before, and we've had her friends over here. But, generally, these visits are arranged between the friend's parents and us. What with Maddie being just a little kiddo and all. But, this weekend, there was a message on our phone that was left by one of Maddie's friends. The voice sounded so young: "Maddie? When you get home, can you play? Maddie? It's J. Bye-ie".

Well, an actual message left just for her by one of her friends?! This put both Maddie and Jamie into almost hysterical joy. I had to play the message over and over for both of them to hear while they giggled away.

So, I guess it was time to let Maddie make a phone call of her own. We coached her a little on what to say - made sure that she would ask to speak to her friend, politely, when her friend's parent answered - and we had her invite her pal over.

I've never seen anyone so excited just to use the phone. It really is quite amazing to watch kids as they cross these little milestones and see the kind of joy they find in the simplest things in life. It reminds me of when these routine, everyday, kind of things were all new and fresh and exciting to me. Something I've usually completely forgotten until I see it in my girls.

And, she did a great job with her call. She spoke very clearly and politely. I was quite proud, actually. Enough to go grab the camera (embarassing her, as usual).

I guess she isn't so little anymore.

Next she'll be asking for the keys to the truck.

Meatless Meals - Eggplant Lasagna

As some of you will already know - I've tried being vegetarian before. There was a span of several years, actually, when I didn't eat any meat. What I did eat was 7-layer burritos from Taco Bell and potato chips. That was okay (well, no it really wasn't) when I was a single gal with no kiddies. But, when the family came along I needed to provide meals that were slightly more nutritious than that. But, I still really don't like eating meat. My problem is I don't think eating tofu 7 days a week is much healthier than eating burritos and chips and I've never been a big fan of beans. So, what I'm going to try this time is to just make at least one good veggie meal a week and, then, once I have a fair number of them I'll be able to give it another shot - but be healthier about it this time.

So, this is "Meatless Monday" and my recipe for the week is "Eggplant Lasagna with Garlic Bechamel". This recipe was taken from the book "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone". I don't really have time to type out all the instructions right now (baby-one just isn't likely to give me that much time on the computer), but if you want them let me know and I'll try to get them up here. Basically you roast your eggplant and layer it between layers of instant lasagna noodles, cheese, and your garlic bechamel. To make the sauce you heat 2 1/2 cups of milk on the stove with 3 smashed garlic cloves. In another pot you melt 4 tbsp. of butter and mix in 1/4 cup flour. Then you combine the two (straining out the garlic cloves) and add 1/2 a cup of cream and salt and pepper to taste. The lasagna is cooked in a 8x10 inch baking dish at 400 degrees (or 350-375 on my wacky oven) for 25-30 minutes.

I should mention that I tried to make this dish three times. The first time I just didn't get around to doing it before the eggplant got mushy (that happens fast!). The second time I burnt the eggplant instead of roasting it (remember...I have a wacky oven). But, the third time everything turned out great. The lasagna was delicious. Even Dave (Meat-Eater-Man) said it was "very" good. However, I kind of think...well, no wonder it is good! It is milk and cream and cheese and a bit of eggplant! No calorie count was given with the recipe. Probably a good thing.

I'd say this is a good, and filling, side dish. Serve it beside a great, big, healthy salad so you don't feel so guilty eating it.

From now on I'll try to find recipes that are a bit healthier and ones that get their protein from leaner sources than, say, cream and cheese.

Knowing Me, Knowing You / March

My friend, Shan, over at Tales from the Fairyblogmother started up a cool little monthly feature called "Knowing Me, Knowing You". It's a quick little interview project that you can respond to yourself, and then link back to her so we can all see your answers. Here's mine...



#1 What is your dream life?

Well, I think in my dream life I may have been able to sing really well and I would probably be a rock star. I would also be drop dead gorgeous and, oh, let's say I can dance too. Yep. The triple threat. But, let's say I've just won the lottery and I can't make miracles happen...then I think I'd like to move onto a farm, too. I would still have to have farm-hands around to be responsible for all the work but I'd get to play with all the animals and even take care of them when I happened to be up early enough in the morning to do so. I would love to have cows and goats and pigs and chickens. I just love seeing chickens walking around. But, of course, we wouldn't be eating any of them...they'd just be pets. And, I would need a second home, or two, to run off to once the temperature around here drops below 25. There is no question as to whether or not I'd quit my job. Are you kidding me? But, I would take lots of classes and study lots of interesting things. I would have huge "crafting" spaces in my home where I could do scrap booking, and photography, and beading, and all kids of things. I think I would also study vegetarian cooking and open a restaurant with my hubby (but he'd want to cook meat so that may not work out. I'd get grossed out watching him chop stuff up). I'd be really busy!



#2 Do you play games online?

No. I'm not much of a gamer. I can't find enough free time to get all my other projects done.



#3 Seen anything good lately?

Well, we took the kids to see Madagascar II awhile ago and that was pretty cute. I can't remember the last movie Davey and I went out to see together. Is that sad? I think we need a date night. I just saw "Swingers" on t.v. the other night and that was very good (I just love that movie) but I've seen it lots of times before.



#4 What is your favourite pizza combination?

I always get mushroom, pineapple, and green pepper...preferably with garlic crust (from Little Caesar's). But, we just got our own (baby brain! baby brain!...I've just realized I can't think of the name of either of the things we got...) uh, the thing you put in the oven to cook the pizza on so the crust gets nice and crispy...as well as the thing you use to put the pizza into the oven. Man, I need some sleep.
[edited to add: I remembered in the middle of the night...a Pizza Stone and a Peel. Or is it Peal?]


#5 How are you with houseplants?

I'm happy to say that I am getting better. I used to get one little cactus plant and kill it off and that was about it. I really love a house filled with plants, though, but I figured that if I did that they would all die. Then I started learning about the plants that "clean the air" in my horticulture class and one day I took the plunge! I walked into the nursery and bought a Snake Plant, a Golden pothos, and a Peace Lily. I spoke to the lady who worked there and she helped me pick out the best potting soil and even the best kind of planters for each of them. They are all beautiful and all still alive! And, our air is cleaner for it too. So, Shan, I say you jump in and try again! As a matter of fact, I feel inspired now to get a few more for myself. Here's a list of all the best "Air-Filtering Plants" which I just got from treehugger.com:


English Ivy (Hedera helix)
Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
Golden pothos or Devil's ivy (Scindapsus aures or Epipremnum aureum)
Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
Bamboo palm or reed palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
Snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentii')
Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium, syn. Philodendron cordatum)
Selloum philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum, syn. Philodendron selloum)
Elephant ear philodendron (Philodendron domesticum)
Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
Cornstalk dracaena (Dracaena fragans 'Massangeana')
Janet Craig dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig')
Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina)
Gerbera Daisy or Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
Pot Mum or Florist's Chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica)



And...just because I love looking at pictures of Lily-Pie when I look at my blog...here is another one. ;-)