Comfort Casserole

Ah comfort foods! Various
bruschetta made with
mostly local ingredients:
- tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil.
- swiss chard, garlic scapes,
raisins, cannellini beans,
olive oil.
- roasted garlic & herb "butter".

Roasting garlic couldn't
be easier. Just cut off
the tops off each head
enough to expose the
cloves inside. Then wrap
in foil and bake in a 400
degree oven for half an
hour. Pop out the soft
roasted cloves and voila!
This is still from our remaining garlic share from the farm last year! They're just starting to sprout so I thought it was time to use some serious quantities in preparation for the new harvest coming later this month.

Monday:

Now here's something all-American...macaroni casserole. This is NOT health food! I think my pregnant nesting instincts took over and I just had to have it. Ryan declared it "the best dinner in a long time!" and "Even better than spaghetti!" My father used to make something similar with tuna and cheese, but here's my vegan version from what I can remember:

Comfort Casserole

1 box macaroni pasta, cooked al dente and drained
2 cups frozen peas & carrots, (or fresh carrots added to pasta water during last 5 minutes)
1 can fried onions (or 2 onions roasted until carmelized and crisp)
1 package Lightlife Chick'n Style Strips, diced (optional)
1 cup grated soy cheese (optional)
2 cups (or one batch) nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce (see recipe below)
1 cup creamy broccoli soup (I use Imagine Creamy Broccoli Soup)

Place cooked pasta in a large casserole dish.
Stir in peas, carrots, 1/2 can of onions, chick'n strips, cheese, 1/2 of the cheese sauce, and soup.
Spoon the remaining cheese sauce over the top.
Cover. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
Uncover. Add other 1/2 can of fried onions. Bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Nutritional Yeast Cheese Sauce

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup flour
2 T. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 cups water
1 T. margarine
1/2-1 tsp. mustard

Place first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan.
Add water and cook over medium heat, stirring consistently until the sauce thickens (5-10 minutes).
Remove from heat and stir in margarine and mustard.

This recipe is easily doubled, and keeps covered in the fridge for days.
Great for mac & cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, casseroles, stuffed shells or enchilada toppings, pizza, etc.

Tuesday:
Ryan's lunch for farm camp: tempeh, lettuce & tomato sandwiches; flat pretzels; watermelon; cold spinach; black raspberries.

Ryan loved using this
2-tiered Pokemon
bento. I'm sure it will
get a lot of use this fall
for kindergarten.




Ryan wearing a
flower crown he
helped make at
the farm.





CSA farm share:
- 2 1/2 quarts strawberries
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1/2 lb. mixed baby greens
- 12 stems rainbow swiss chard
- 12 stems kale
- 15 garlic scapes
- 2 large zucchini
- 1 quart peas (1/2 snow peas, 1/2 shelling peas)
- 1 lb. carrots

Wednesday:
Oops! I totally forgot to photograph AJ's lunch!! He had his first day of preschool camp and obviously pregnancy brain took over. He watched me pack his lunch, and declared every single item to be his favourite: "Spicy tofu! My favourite! Mashed potatoes! My favourite!" Etc. His lunch box came back empty, with the exception of the juice box...he's never been a juice drinker.

AJ's lunch: spicy baked tofu; green beans; mashed potatoes; cantaloupe; mini pumpkin-carrot-apple muffin; a cookie; juice box; water bottle; and a Luna bar (for his morning snack).

Thursday:
Ryan's lunch for his last day of farm camp: strawberries & black raspberries; spicy baked tofu; green beans; onigiri triangle; carrots; mini pumpkin-carrot-apple muffin. Not shown: juice box; Luna bar for his morning snack; water bottle.

We have a patch of black raspberry bushes on our property and each year I've trimmed them back just a bit and we've been getting better and better yields every summer. Ryan has been picking/eating about 1/2 pint each day! But I can't manage to get out there and get a photo before everyone picks them!

At camp the kids made herbal "dream pillow" sachets and drew pictures of the dreams they wanted to have.

I love using kale in
soups. Beans go
particularly well,
along with an orange
vegetable and anything
else you have handy in
the fridge. My favourite
herb for soups is
marjoram.

From the farmer's market:
- kettle corn
- loaf of white bread
- quart of new red potatoes
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- loaf of apple pie bread (not
shown...my husband hid it!)

Just a fun picnic dinner (I'm getting lazy while so uncomfortably pregnant):
- popcorn, green bell pepper, apple, pretzels, tortilla chips, celery & carrot sticks, peanuts/almonds/raisins.
- fresh shelled peas, black raspberries, tiny pickles.
- grilled nutritional yeast "cheese" sandwiches.

Friday the 4th of July:

My husband took the
boys to grandma's pool,
along with a deli style
pasta salad, watermelon,
and popcorn. I usually
add broccoli to this pasta
salad, but some steamed
zucchini seemed like the
logical choice at the
moment. I stayed home and ate a few bowls of my own!

Try, Try Again

Picky eaters can be tough. My middle son is quite sensitive to the appearance of his food, its taste, and its texture. The "experts" say children will often need to be exposed to a food a dozen or more times before they'll like it or even try it.

Try 100 times.

I must have offered green beans at least 100 times to AJ between age 1-3 before he willingly tried them. I never complained, never forced him to try a bite. I also never offered "alternative" meals. I just offered, asked, and modeled eating them again and again and again, and eventually, one night, he took one out of his ma po tofu dish and tried it. And another. And soon they became a favourite. Just like that.

But I was beginning to lose any hope of him ever liking cucumbers. While they are one of Ryan's favourite foods, AJ wouldn't touch them...until this week.
I was making an asian cucumber salad, as I have done probably a dozen times in their presence. Ryan and Nate were clamouring at my side to "steal" a piece before I had even finished the dressing. Suddenly there was AJ, talking about the soy sauce I was adding to the dressing (one of his favourite condiments), and asking to have a bite also.
He ate half a dozen slices right there.
The next afternoon, when I offered everyone popcorn and banana halves as a snack, AJ said, "No, I want cucumber salad." He ate 3 bowlsful.
Now I have to be careful. Whenever he gets turned on to a new food, I don't want to let him overindulge. I strive to keep these foods a novelty for a while. In a month or so, when cucumbers are in season at the farm, I'll probably say, "Ooookaaaaay, we'll make a cucumber salad," like it's a special treat. And after a few hundred tries, for me, it is a treat to see my picky eater enjoying a new food. But boy does it take patience.

Sunday:

Pizza/pesto foccacia.
I used some frozen pesto
from last summer to cover
my half (and tomato), and some
homemade sauce (with
pureed pumpkin & collard
greens hidden in it) topped
with Veganrella cheeze and
dandelion greens on the
boys' side. Veganrella is a
great soy-free vegan
cheeze that melts well.

Magpiedee's Nudgies

1 can (or equivalent) pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 cups oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup ground or whole flax seeds
1-2 T. spices (such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice)

Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl, then add the remaining ingredients. Mix well.
If desired, add 1 cup walnuts or other nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc.
Spread in a 13x9 inch baking dish or brownie pan (I use a Pampered Chef medium-sized Stoneware bar pan).
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then cut into bars or squares.

These get eaten like brownies at our house. They also freeze really well, and are a great snack on hot summer days just out of the freezer.

** Huge thanks to Delilah D for sharing this recipe with me. She is one incredibly creative mama. **

This recipe is so versatile. You can replace the pumpkin with just about any fruit or vegetable. I have made pumpkin-pea nudgies, carrot-zucchini nudgies, blueberry-banana nudgies. You are only limited by your imagination! And they taste fantastic!

Monday:

For Ryan's preschool field trip to a farm I packed him a bag of nudgies and a juice box.

AJ also got a nudgie bar
for his snack, along
with some Veggie Booty.





Dinner started out as a lazy ramen noodle night, but then I got carried away adding side dishes:dinner: ramen noodles & broccoli with peanut sauce; cold tofu; cucumber salad; honeydew melon; shiitake mushrooms; spinach.
Nate just couldn't get enough of the shittake mushrooms. He and my husband finished off the leftovers after dinner. They were a very simple recipe from Japanese Cooking that I will definitely be making again as soon as I can restock my dried shiitake supply!

Tuesday:
Ryan's snack: Mini Golf!
Sliced cucumber "turf", white chocolate chip "golfball", carrot "putter", artichoke hummus "sandtrap", red bell pepper "flowers", and snow pea & lettuce "rough". Plus a few Wheat Thins square crackers to mop up any extra hummus.

lunch: spicy rosemary
polenta (veganized) from
the Barefoot Contessa.
My husband loved it.
While I thought it was
very tasty, it was a
bit too greasy for me. I
think I'd rather bake it
than fry it if I make it again.

Wednesday:
Ryan & AJ: soba noodles; carrots; edamame; mini blueberry muffin.


My second breakfast:
soba noodle salad with
edamame, cucumber,
tomato, sesame oil &
soy sauce.




Friday:
Star Snacks: cantaloupe & honeydew melon; sesame tofu; soy cheese; Tofutti cream cheese & jelly sandwich; white/dark chocolate.