Lunch Time Law

August 24th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (2 Comments)

An amusement park excursion was on the docket for today. And like most day trips, a packed lunch was the first order of business on the agenda.

It is at this juncture that I would like to present our midday meal + snacks for inspection:

Lunch Time Evidence

Exhibit A: Carrot sticks

Exhibit B: Homegrown grape tomatoes and green pepper slices

Exhibit C: Standard kid packed-lunch fare = two sunbutter and jelly sandwiches on Ezekiel bread, cut into quarters

Exhibit D: Bare bean butt hummus (2 cans, 22 minutes! I’m improving!)  Read more...

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Leftover Lentil Burger Leftovers

August 23rd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (5 Comments)

A great way beat the leftover blues is to create something new and different with your uneaten foodstuffs from a previous meal.

Thanks to a big scoop of rolled oats, lentil tacos from Sunday were turned into lentil burgers last night.

Lentil Tacos Turned Lentil Burgers

With oats stirred in to the last of the lentil taco filling and then given a few minutes to sit, they’ll very generously soak up the sauce and thicken up. It’s then easy to form the mixture into patties with your hands.

Cooked in a lightly oiled pan for about 15 – 18 minutes, flipped a couple of times.  Read more...

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Spicy Red Lentil Chili and CSA’s: Totally Related

February 19th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (10 Comments)

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.  (Not “Can’t Stand Alison”, thankyouverymuch.)

If this acronym is new to you, in short – a CSA is an opportunity for you, the consumer, to get your produce direct from a local farmer.  Find a farm that offers CSA memberships and you can buy a share of their crops for what will hopefully be a bounty of locally grown fruit and/or vegetables from late spring until mid fall – or whatever the growing season is where you live.  Read more...

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gazPACH!!o! Gazuntite.

August 17th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (5 Comments)

Don’t be fooled. Gazpacho is not cold, raw soup. That’s a lie. Gazpacho is a vegetable slurpee.

‘Round these parts, tomatoes are in abundance right now. If you too have been looking at the slew of tomatoes on your counter thinking “what the FREAK am I going to do with all of those?!” every time you walk by them – then a tomato garlic cucumber pepper smoothie is for you.

I mean, gazpacho. Gazpacho is for you.

Tomatoes  Read more...

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Ratatouille, Ratatouille

August 1st, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (14 Comments)

Whenever I say “Ratatouille”, I always want to say it twice and then the chorus Rock Me Amadeus starts to play in my head.

What? Is that just me?  Probably.

So… Ratatouille. Yeah. I’m fairly sure “Ratatouille” is French for “what the hell am I going to do with all these summer vegetables?”

My mom has been making Ratatouille and raving to me about it during recent phone conversations.  When she described what went into it, I realized that I had every single one of the ingredients in my overstocked-with-produce fridge.  That’s what I call vegetable fate.  Read more...

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How to Make an (Awesome) Salad

July 30th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (15 Comments)

A dear reader named Kenzie left a comment the other day asking me to do a post about how I make my salads and what I put in them. Turns out I just so happen to have “Big Giant Salad” on the dinner menu tonight! Here’s how I make a salad that will knock your (and maybe even someone else’s!) socks off.

Step 1: Start with a beautiful head of lettuce. Something OTHER than iceberg for crying out loud please. Red leaf is typically my head of choice, but green leaf or romaine work nicely.  Don’t be afraid to throw in spinach, arugula, dandelion or other mixed field greens too if you’ve got ’em.  Read more...

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Tomato Currency

September 17th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Dinner Time - (23 Comments)

Ava loves to ask what she’ll be able to do when she’s X years old. What can she do when she’s 7? How old does she have to be to drive a car? How old will Maxine be when she’s 9? How old does Mommy think she is eating all those prunes?

Today in the car on the way to the grocery store (where else would we be going?) she asked what she can do when she’s 13.

Me: *thoughtful for a moment* Ummm, you can babysit.

Ava: BABY SIT?!? Naw, that’s boring.  Read more...

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

March 30th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Dinner Time - (6 Comments)

(Adapted from Feb 2009 Vegetarian Times) Serves 4.

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 clove minced garlic
5 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 15oz can diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
7 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 + cup quinoa, rinsed
2 medium carrots, grate
1 c vegetable broth
3/4 c pepper jack cheese, grated, divided
2 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs and seeds removed  Read more...

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