Back to School. Back to Packing Lunches.

This is a super-short post, as I'm furiously multi-tasking, getting ready for the start of school for my kids, and back to full-time work AT school, for me.

I already dread the packing-lunches routine. NOT because I don't know what to pack. That's never a problem - But because of the amount of waste and trash involved. We try to use reusable containers and whatnot, but there always seems to be a pile of wrappers, napkins and "junk" left over after lunch.

I'm looking for suggestions and specific links to reusable lunch-box ideas...

That said, I'm also mentioning this giveaway for those who might be interested. A reusable lunch system that looks easy and convenient and BIG enough for those teenager lunches I'm packing this year. Go enter. I know I am!!

Easy, Basic, Chunky Garden Salad

I had, quite possibly, the most basic and NON-blog-worthy lunch today.

But it wasn't boring. In fact it was quite lovely and delicious - and actually pretty too! Best of all, it was cheap, because all but the bell pepper came from my Mom's or my gardens.

This tends to be my default when I'm bored with cooking or just can't think what else to make for lunch. Cut up whatever's in the 'fridge. Add dressing. Call it salad. I like the texture of the large chunks here, but cut things up however you like.

Here ya go:

Chunky Garden Salad

• 1 cucumber, cut into chunks
• 3 new potatoes, cooked, cooled and cut into chunks or cubed
• 6 radishes, cut into chunks or sliced
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. chopped sweet white onion
• 6 - 8 black olives, halved (optional)
• several large handfuls of lettuce or other greens

Toss chilled, cut up veggies together, place on bed of torn lettuce greens. Add dressing of choice and serve. I tend to like this with a vinaigrette but a creamy dressing would be good too!

Easy Vinaigrette Dressing (not pictured)

• 1 1/4 cups olive oil
• 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp. fresh rosemary
• pinch each; Sea salt and black pepper

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until thick and completely blended. Taste and adjust by adding more salt, pepper, sugar or vinegar if needed.

Mediterranean Vegetable Soup

I love this soup because I always have the ingredients on hand during the summer. Plus, as a bonus, it's a huge favorite with my kids (because I used to put "ABC" noodles in when they were younger!).

I guess it's basically a type of minestrone but I've never called it that because I don't like minestrone. Kidney beans and I do not get along. However there are no kidney beans here. So maybe it's not really 'minestrone'. I digress. Call it what you want.

At any rate, this is great when you have a garden full of greens and tomatoes to use up, and even with the chick-peas and pasta, it's nice and light, perfect for a summer supper.

Experiment with the beans and vegetable amounts and types, I've even used zucchini in it with great results.

Mediterranean Summer Vegetable Soup

• 1 sweet onion, chopped small or left in thin sliced rings
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups cooked chick-peas/garbanzos or white beans (or 1 can)
• 2 cups tomato juice or V-8 (OR 1 cup sauce + 1 cup water, OR your own homemade equivalent)
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 cups vegetarian broth (I use the broth from home-cooked chick-peas - Don't use the broth from canned ones though, it's salty and yuck)
• 3 Tablespoons minced fresh basil
• 2 Tablespoons finely minced fresh sage (or 1 tsp dry)
• 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
• 1/2 cup uncooked whole wheat pasta (macaroni, "A-B-C's" or orzo all work well here)
• 2 cups finely chopped greens; I use the quicker-cooking varieties here - chard, spinach, beet greens, tatsoi, dandelion, etc.
• several drops hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, cook the onion and garlic over medium low heat until onion is transparent. Add juice, wine and tomatoes and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or so, until tomatoes start to break down.
Add broth, chick-peas and herbs.

Increase heat to medium high to bring broth to a boil.
Add pasta then REDUCE HEAT to simmer 7 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
Add greens and simmer 5 more minutes, until greens are soft/lightly cooked and pasta is done to your taste.
Season with a drop or two hot sauce, (for flavor, not heat), salt and pepper to taste.

Serves about 4 people.

Taco Salad with Raw Taco "Meat"

Today is just WAY too hot to cook what I had planned. And on careful examination, my refrigerator and garden revealed JUST enough ingredients to conjure up a fairly decent taco salad.

I was particularly inspired to make this after seeing friends' pictures of a trip to Portland and a "live" taco salad from Blossoming Lotus. SO YUM!

This raw option worked perfectly, since I had no beans or TVP already cooked for taco "meat", and no desire to cook any in this heat, I pulled out a recipe I invented (by combining a whole bunch of internet ideas) ages ago, in an attempt to copy the filling for the first raw dish I ever tasted (other than a green salad or something!) a raw taco at Seattle's Chaco Canyon restaurant.

Really, why don't I make this more often?
Don't let the "raw" word intimidate you. Seriously.
It's REALLY easy and fast, the "taco meat" has a great taste and texture, and it's perfect for those no-cook nights (or, yes, you could just get some already-cooked beans out of the fridge if you planned ahead. Which I did not.)

Don't worry. I'm not big into the whole "raw foods" movement, in fact sometimes I think it's a little silly, (don't hate me, all you raw foodie people!) but I won't deny the occasional raw-ish recipe can be very tasty and a great way to use ingredients in a different manner, even if I'm not running out to buy a spiralizer or taking great pains to make sure EVERY minor ingredient is indeed raw!! (Is salt raw? Sugar? I have no idea and can't be bothered to find out).
And, if you use plain old corn chips, like I did, the salad isn't actually all "raw" anyway. Who cares. It tastes good! Enjoy.

Taco Salad When It's Too Hot To Cook!!!

"Raw" Taco "Meat"

• 6 med-large mushrooms, rinsed and chopped medium-fine (nearly 2 cups finished)
• 1/2 cup raw pecans or walnuts, chopped fine, but not into powder (I am allergic to walnuts but most people prefer them in this dish)
• 1/3 cup corn kernels, cut off the cob
  
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (use cacao powder if you're really wanting this to be "raw")
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sweetener of your choice
• 1 tsp. soy sauce (or bragg’s or nama shoyu for the raw food purists)
• cayenne to taste
  
• salt and pepper to taste (use liberally)
  

Mix all ingredients well and check for taste, you will want it to be a bit on the salty side.

This is good to eat as is, but the real secret to it being "meaty" is to warm slightly in your dehydrator or low, low oven for just a little while so the mushrooms start to release some liquid. VERY YUM!!
After the "taco meat" is mixed up, set aside or "warm" slightly, stirring every now and then.

Salad:

• leafy salad greens, as little or as much as you like
• shredded green or purple cabbage (the white-ish cabbage sortof looks there's Jack cheese in the salad, this may or may not appeal to you)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, slivered
• 1/4 red onion, slivered or chopped
• 1+ cup chopped tomatoes
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
• (optional) 1 minced jalapeno
  

Make a green salad: toss your choice of salad greens with lots of chopped tomatoes, onions, chopped red bell pepper, jalapeno if desired and, most important, fresh cilantro.

Dressing:

• 1 ripe avocado, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• juice from 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Blend above ingredients in the food processor, adding water, if necessary to make "dressing" consistency.

Assemble salad:
Sprinkle taco "meat" and crushed taco chips (if desired) on salad, toss to combine, drizzle with dressing, serve and enjoy!

My kids usually add olives and hot sauce, that's up to you...

21-Dollars-A-Week-Challenge: Are We Surviving?

As you may remember from Sunday's Blog Post (or not, I don't expect people to remember everything I post, seriously!) I am taking part in fellow vegan blogger "Vegan Hope"'s 21-Dollars-A-Week Vegan Blogger Challenge.

Since I didn't post a full menu on Sunday, and because I'd shopped but not actually 'started' the week, I thought I'd check back here, mid-week, to let you know how it's going.

First of all, as I mentioned on Sunday, living on 21-dollars-per-person-a-week is already slightly more than my actual 'real-life' budget allows. So as expected, this week is going about the same as any other week. I got home early, so I have the batter made for tonight's zucchini-garbanzo fritters, and the peach cobbler in the oven. I even made a vegan-cashew ranch for dipping (made from garden dill, and a few leftovers from last week which I realize skews the total weekly numbers a bit).

The only thing we've changed about the menu so far is that we opted for Biscuits and Gravy yesterday instead of Thursday. That's pretty typical, my "menu" is just a guideline for HOW to use the food we have on hand, not specifically "when".

Here's the plan for Saturday, which, when added to the previous list I made on Sunday, completes the week.

SATURDAY:
Breakfast:
Carrot-Potato Latkes (Nava Atlas's recipe with shredded carrot/potato/onion - I use cornmeal instead of matzoh meal),
applesauce, fresh blackberries!
Lunch:
Peanut-butter and Jam* sandwiches, leftover cashew ranch dip with zucchini sticks and cherry tomatoes
Supper:
Curried lentils (lentils, curry powder, ginger, onions, garlic, salt), rice, homemade roti (Indian bread) and spicy (Indian spices/curry) tomato-zucchini-and-carrots.

*jam = from the dollar store = 1.00

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I haven't added it up exactly, but I'm pretty confident we came in well under 21-Dollars-Per-Person, because I still have a few dollars in my pocket.

(Another budget-helper. Take your grocery money out, in CASH at the first of the week. That is all you have to spend. Cash only. It works wonders!)

I've appreciated all the great comments and questions this subject has generated. Feel free to add or ask anything else!!

A couple things:

1.) Yes, as many have commented, my prices may be really low, but I don't think this is because I live in a "cheaper" part of the country, we're actually rated as "upper-middle" according to the Census, cost-of-living-wise and however they measure that thing
But keep in mind WHERE I shop. I bought all of the week's produce at the Asian and Latino markets at substantial savings, and was able to pick out exactly the amount I needed, nothing was pre-packaged or wrapped in per-selected bundles. I bought tiny portions of spices from the bulk aisle at Winco, some of them only pennies per tablespoon.

2.) Yes, my kids do snack some... We don't buy any "snack" foods but there is almost always bread, hummus, PB, Jam, carrots and apples. Also, there are usually leftovers, this week I've had leftover hummus, veggies, tortillas and refried beans. Not a LOT of any of those items, but a snack is just that, a snack. I'm not a fan anyway. I haven't yet found any compelling, truly scientific evidence that convinces me we need to snack all day anyway. Maybe after school, but that's usually it.

3.) Beverages. Water! We don't drink soymilk or other plant milk as a beverage, or any type of juice. Both of these items are expensive and just don't fit into the budget. And juice isn't necessary for anyone anyway! We don't do a lot of "smoothie" type drinks unless I have a lot of odds and ends to use up. When my children were toddlers we did more high-protein drinks and smoothies so I could pack in the nutrients. I DO have iced herb tea in the fridge almost all the time and when we want something other than water it fills the craving.

4.) Nutrition. Are my kids getting adequate nutrition? Yes. Even though my current budget can't be modified at the moment, I won't sacrifice my children's health. If I needed to change something - vegan or not, I would do it, their nutrition and health come first.
We do take B12 and D suppliments, just because I want to be extra careful. When my kids were toddlers we did do a lot more smoothies and even eggs once in a while (because I still think free-range chickens are the best pest controllers a garden can have, but this isn't the forum for that whole "egg" discussion, please). There are certainly plenty of vegan options for raising healthy toddlers if you don't have chickens laying eggs on your front steps.

Nowdays my kids are older, they eat more variety and are getting more than adequate nutrition with the meals we have. I realize we scrape the bare minimum number of fruit-and-vegetable servings some days, I wish I could afford to add more to our meals but overall, it seems to even out. Their health history, weight, blood tests and yearly physicals indicate they're healthier than the "typical" teen out there for sure. Every few weeks, just to be sure, I track their meals (using teenage-female statistics) on nutritiondata.com or similar sites just because I'm a paranoid Mom that way.

5.) Time. I work, two jobs during the school-year. My kids are in school and work as well. We have as busy a life as the next person. All told, most meals don't take more than 1/2 hour to put on the table. Lunch usually significantly less, and it's packed the night before during the school-year. If you can't give your family an hour to an hour-and-a-half every day towards their health and nutrition, you probably need to re-evaluate something in your schedule. Sorry, not trying to be harsh, just my 2 cents. I make copious use of time-saving utensils: the crock-pot, time-bake on the oven, timed rice-cooker, pressure-cooker and meals in the freezer. (And microwave, if that's your thing, I don't use it) And I try to sit down at the table most evenings for supper. Yes, even with teenagers.

6.) Cooking ahead. I don't do a lot of meals-made-ahead but I DO spend a lot of time in the summer, as I said before, preserving for winter. Making use of EVERY bit of produce I can get my hands on, from my garden, my friends extras, my Mom's over-abundant corn patch, etc. I'll use ANYTHING! I make tomato sauces, salsa, apple sauce, apple butter, jams, frozen beans, greens, squash and cooked, mashed pumpkin. I also make seitan (vegetarian wheat-gluten-meat-type product) in BIG batches and different products (sausages, cutlets, crumbles) and freeze for future use. Again, very cheap to make your own... I have a huge freezer and a pantry full of canning jars I got off Craig's-List and they've paid for themselves many, many times over.

21 Dollar-A-Week Challenge

This week my post (or posts if I have time) are inspired by the "21 Dollar A Week Challenge" going on over at Vegan Hope's blog.

This Blogger's challenge is for fellow vegan Bloggers to: "For one week agree to live on a $21.00 food budget (per person in your household). This is a "food stamp budget" or the weekly grocery allowance for a person living in poverty."

Well, with four people in my household, and a significantly lower income than would be ideal, my food budget is only about 70$ a week, (sometimes much less) - already less than The Challenge's suggested amount (21$ X 4 = 84$).
I do continually have people asking me "How do you do it?" so I thought, in keeping with this challenge, (though maybe not following all their "rules" exactly) I'd post some dollar amounts for my week's cooking:

First of all though, let me explain a few things about my food budget; I have developed a few survival tricks that make my budget stretch even farther than you might think - I realize I'm blessed to live close enough to a major metropolitan area where I can shop ethnic markets and warehouses of super-bargains, PLUS I have a spot to garden, good soil that needs little care, a freezer and large pantry, and an abandoned orchard of wormy apples down the street. There are many summer nights I stay up all night processing fruits and veggies for the pantry or freezer, but the savings are SO very worth it when winter hits:

1. I set aside 12$ from my food budget each week (48$ a month) towards large, (and VERY inexpensive-pr-lb) bulk purchases from Andy's Market, Azure Standard and Bob's Red Mill. I DO realize buying in bulk isn't possible or practical for some people, but look into it, it's the only way I keep a wide variety of interesting food on the table.

2. When I have enough saved to place a bulk order, (usually every other month) I shop the above sites (and sometimes others) for the best price on what I use, as their prices may vary from month to month. Most 25# bags are 12 - 20 dollars, last our family up to a nine months, maybe more = pennies per meal.
Often I have friends who will be passing Bob's Redmill in Portland or Andy's in Eastern Washington, so I save on shipping too (or they sometimes have free shipping specials!)

3. Currently I purchase (on a rotating basis):

• rice
• garbanzos
• lentils
• pinto beans
• black beans
• wheat flour
• cornmeal
• oatmeal
• gluten flour
• olive oil
• sugar (10 lb)
  

in 25# bags, (oil in 2 gallon jugs) which saves me HUGE in the long run. I must spend LESS than the 12$ I set aside because I always have plenty of bulk/dry left when I send in my next order.
I have a freezer and cool pantry to store these items in safely. I guess I should try and break down the per-serving price as close as I can (but I'm also miserable with math and that sounds like way too much work).

4. I also grow my own herbs, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, greens and beans and freeze a great deal for winter. The seed prices I also subtract from my food budget in the spring. (Sorry, my math skills aren't good enough to figure out how much water I use over the growing season and break down that cost per serving...). I also pick wild blackberries and apples (abandoned orchard) in the fall. I make many quarts of applesauce for free - and salsa and tomato sauce for virtually pennies.

5. I shop at alternatives to the standard supermarket and I realize not everyone has these available, or the luxury of a freezer to store extras - International markets, Dollar stores, Day-old-bread outlets, scratch-and-dent canned foods warehouse, Grocery Outlet, Bulk Barn, Asian and Latino markets and farmers markets. So when I list coconut milk at 49 cents a can, or tofu for 89 cents a carton, that's an accurate price - on sale, at the Vietnamese market down the street.

OK, so all that said - here are items I purchased this week (I rounded up sometimes because I canNOT do math, seriously!)
KEEP IN MIND I have two ravenous teenagers and a ten-year-old, these amounts (and meals) will obviously be more than you typically serve just for one person:

• bulk container fresh-ground peanut butter (less than a cup) = 1.80
• several ounces bulk spices, just a tiny bit of each (curry, taco spice, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon) = 1.60
• 2 blocks tofu @79. each = 1.60
• 1 bunch asparagus = 1.80 (yes, a splurge)
• 5# bag potatoes = 1.00
• 1 can coconut milk = .89
• bag carrots from Farmer's Market = 2.00
• 2# fresh peaches = 1.80
• bunch small red onions from Farmer's Market = 1.50
• 1 bottle soy sauce = 1.70
• 4 packs Ramen noodles = .50 (yes, so nutritious!! Don't judge. They ARE actually vegan)
• bulk ww pasta = .99
• fresh ginger = .69
• 1 carton soy milk (Asian market) = 1.20
• bulk nutritional yeast = .89
• bulk vegan chicken broth powder = 1.29
• 3 loaves bread at the bread-outlet = 1.00
• 2 bananas = .69
• 2 cans corn = .50
• cantaloupe = 2.00
• cashews (bulk, just a handful) = 1.20
• sunflower seeds(bulk) = .80
• 4 (very small) lemons) = 1.00
• vinegar = 2.29
• 2 heads garlic = .50
• salt = 1.00

TOTAL 32.23 Aprox. (and some of these items I'll have partially left over for next week)

THAT DONE, let's move on to the meals for the next few days - I've tried to break down costs for items I didn't purchase this week (marked with an *).
If an item isn't listed in the cost breakdown, it came out of the week's groceries (^^above) or it's come out of the "bulk items" stash (which I've already paid for so with my 12$ set-aside so don't see the sense in listing again.) This website, The Hillbilly Housewife (though NOT vegan, has been a life-saver in the past when my budget's been even tighter, outlining exactly what to buy and how to make it work - easy to veganize too!!)
My other estimates I got from Home Economics websites and the County Extension Worksheets that list how much your garden produce "costs". I sometimes estimate slightly lower as I don't use fertilizers, weed killers and insecticides like they use in their estimates:

SUNDAY
Breakfast:
Oatmeal Waffles with Applesauce (using approximately this recipe, without their fruit topping or vanilla)
Lunch:
Pasta with tomato sauce*, greens, apricots
Supper:
Roasted potatoes, with herbs*, onions, garbanzos and carrots (pictured above). Salad from garden lettuce with lemon-olive-oil dressing.

• 3/4 jar homemade tomato sauce = .60 (the extension office estimates homemade tomatoes cost about .20 a cup)
• applesauce - free!
  
• greens from the garden (a few cents? They keep growing and growing from a 1.00 pack of seeds, so I have no idea? I'm going to wildly estimate .75?)

MONDAY
Breakfast:
Toast, peanut-butter and applesauce (try this, it's so good to cut your peanutbutter toast in strips and dunk in the applesauce, my kids' FAVE!)
Lunch:
Ramen Noodle soup with fresh ginger, greens* and carrots shredded in; melon, cherry tomatoes and lettuce from the garden
Supper:
Tofu Breaded* "Fish sticks" and oven fried potato wedges, garlic roasted asparagus

• chard and lettuce from the garden = .75
  
• breading for "fish-sticks" = flour, cracker-crumbs*, nutritional yeast, spices, pinch of nori* seaweed, salt and pepper, plus soymilk and vinegar for dipping before breading. Ingredients from my cupboard that I didn't purchase this week equal at the most = 1.00

TUESDAY
Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar* and peanut butter (yes, I know :P... this is my kids' choice)
Lunch:
Homemade crackers (this recipe) made with flour, oil, nutritional yeast, and sunflower seeds*.
Hummus (made with home-cooked garbanzos, olive oil, lemon, garlic and peanut-butter instead of tahini), carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes
Supper:
Cornbread (with a can of corn, cornmeal, flour, baking powder*, soymilk, vinegar, sugar) Black-Bean soup (beans, tomato sauce from Sunday, broth, onions, garlic, herbs), oven-roasted green beans

• Aprox. 2 Tbsp. brown sugar = .30
• baking powder = .40
• green beans from garden = .80 (@.20 per person according to Extension Office garden estimates)
  

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast:
Cornmeal waffles (using extra batter from cornbread yesterday)
Salsa-scrambled tofu (tofu, nutritional yeast, homemade salsa*, onions, a few leftover black beans, tomatoes* and herbs* from garden)
Lunch:
Refried beans (homecooked) and homemade tortillas (flour, water, oil) with chopped tomatoes, lettuce and little bit of onion (and leftover tofu, if there is any).
Supper:
Zucchini-garbanzo fritters (veganize this recipe using leftover mashed garbanzos for egg and adding carrots).
Kale* and shredded carrot salad.
Peach cobbler (this recipe using peaches instead of berries and flour instead of cornstarch if I don't have it).

• jar homemade salsa = 1.00
• 1 cup garden tomatoes = .20
• baking soda/powder = .45
• kale = .50
  

THURSDAY
Breakfast:
Pancakes from this recipe with applesauce to top (unless there are ripe blackberries)
Lunch:
Creamy potato soup (potatoes, onions, broth, cashews, onions, herbs*) and toast
Supper:
Curry gravy (carrots, fresh ginger, garbanzos, onions, green beans*, curry powder, coconut milk, just a small handful of each stretches a LONG ways with the curry sauce) over rice

• handful chopped herbs = .50
• garden green beans = .80
  

FRIDAY
Breakfast:
Biscuits and a cheaper, stripped down version of Punk Rock Chickpea gravy (from the fabulous Isa and her Vegan With A Vengeance, though this particular recipe is all over the Internets too).
Lunch:
LEFTOVERS! (This is a Friday lunch tradition around our house during the summer because it seems to be the one meal no one's ever home for. So I don't bother to plan - everyone packs leftovers for their work/school lunches anyway!!)
Supper:
Cashew-Cream Garlic Alfredo (pasta, cashews, garlic, soymilk, lemon juice, herbs) green salad-tomato-carrot thingy from garden (in the winter I have lots of coleslaw instead - cabbage is super-cheap!) and garlic-pesto toast with basil, nutritional yeast and garlic.

• baking soda/powder = .45
• garden herbs = .50
• garden tomatoes = .20
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

Are you bored yet? So far, less than 10$ on weekly incidentals not part of my bulk or grocery purchases.

That's as far as I'm going with menus until later in the week. I usually have to change things up if we eat more or less than planned.
All the above, while quite disjointed and full of numbers and rambling from my head along with too many details is the start of my 21 Dollar-A-Week (per person) Challenge. Hopefully it makes a LITTLE sense, or helps give you some ideas?

Summer Orzo and Vegetable Salad

This salad was inspired by one I saw Giada De Laurentiis do on Food Network. She, of course, used large shavings of Parmesan and some fancy-schmancy vinegar I'd never heard of.

That's OK, I've made this so many times now, I'm sure it doesn't resemble her recipe any more, I still like to say I got it from Giada though, sorta sounds impressive... At any rate, it's a refreshing summer lunch salad and a great way to use up tomatoes and zucchini; feel free to add whatever sounds good, it's so easy to throw together!!

Summer Orzo and Vegetable Salad

Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Sherry (or White Wine) Vinegar
• 1 Shallot, chopped (or 2 Tbsp. white onion, chopped)
• 1 clove Garlic, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Italian Parsley
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Mint
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Lots of fresh ground black pepper to taste

Puree the ingredients together in a small processor or blender. Set aside.

Salad:

• 2 (or three or four!!) medium zucchini (or yellow summer squash), diced into small (1/4-inch) pieces
• 1 cup drained, rinsed chick-peas/garbanzos, canned or cooked from dry
• 1 1/2 cups dry orzo, cooked as directed and drained well
• 1 container (or 1 1/2 cups) tiny grape tomatoes, halved or quartered (if you have the time and patience)
  
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced, rinsed (or diced small, the rings just look really pretty)
  
• (optional, but yummy!) 1/4 cup coarsely chopped (pitted, obviously) kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup finely minced FRESH Italian flat-leaf parsley, or parsley and basil or whatever you have...
  
• (optional) toasted pine nuts
  
  

Directions

For the Vinaigrette: Puree ingredients and set aside.

For the Salad: Place the orzo, garbanzo beans, zucchini, tomato, red onion, olives and parsley in a large salad bowl.

Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and more chopped parsley if desired. Chill and serve.

This keeps well for several days in the fridge, if you can manage to stay out of it!

Creamy Green Chile Enchiladas

So I realize there are many, many versions (vegan and very NON-vegan) of green chile enchiladas out there, filled with all manner of whatever you want - but this just happens to be the recipe I've been making for my kids forever; it's easy, requested frequently, has many variations (using whatever veggies suit your fancy) and I thought perhaps it was worth sharing, especially since fresh, fire-roasted green chiles are showing up in New Mexico farmers markets about now and I'm SO jealous that I'm not there to indulge....

OK, so this recipe does tend to read like an endorsement for New Mexico green chile products, (and it's one of the few recipes I depend so heavily on canned, packaged products since I can't actually GET freshly roasted green chiles easily except when I'm actually hanging out in the Southwest) but I have to admit, canned enchilada sauce makes this recipe quick, easy, and delicious. Seriously, I don't think you should use any other chiles if you want REALLY amazing enchiladas. I particularly like the creamy sauce in this recipe as it's rich enough that no fake-cheezy products are needed.

Green Chile Enchiladas

Sauce:

1 can Hatch Green Chile Enchilada sauce (use whatever green enchilada sauce you like, but this is, hands-down, a million times better than any other)
1 carton Better Than Sour Cream
OR use THIS RECIPE for tofu sour cream
1/4 cup soy/rice/whatever milk
1/4 cup minced white (or green) onions

Mix sour cream, enchilada sauce, soy milk and onions together and set aside. If you want, you can stir some additional chopped roasted green chiles into the sauce to taste. (see below)

Filling:

2 cups of your favorite veg. "chicken" product, shredded or chopped (gardein or Morning Star Meal Starters, for example)
OR use THIS RECIPE for tofu-style "chicken" (baked, not fried)
1/2 cup chopped, fire-roasted New Mexico green chiles (fresh, or I use the frozen Bueno Foods brand, you can use whatever aproximation you have available)
1 cup cooked white beans
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp. garlic salt or to taste
(optional) 1 cup cooked, chopped greens - spinach, chard or kale
(optional) 1 cup chopped, sauteed mushrooms, zucchini or summer squash
(optional) black olives

Mix filling ingredients together.

To assemble:

One by one, warm corn tortillas (or flour tortillas if you prefer) in an oiled frying pan until pliable, lay on clean plate and put several tablespoons of filling down the center and roll up. Place in 8 X 12 oiled glass or ceramic baking pan, seam side down. Continue until pan is full, you can "squish" the row of rolled enchiladas together as needed if you have lots of filling to use. If you have leftover filling, spoon it around the edges.

Cover with creamy green sauce, poking it down around all enchiladas so they're covered and surrounded.
Cover pan with foil.

Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly in center - about 45 min. Remove foil and broil JUST for a minute to get top a little brown.
Sprinkle with more cilantro and some minced onion, if desired, and serve.