IP Beans with Chorizo

This Budget Bytes recipe calls for pinto beans, but I used some Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman beans and a half package of Trader Joe’s soy chorizo. This is ended up more like Chili than I was anticipating, but it was still pretty good! I would make this again!

Lemony White Bean and Arugula Salad

I have arugula growing like crazy so I found Giada’s Lemony White Bean and Arugula Salad. I used Rancho Gordo flageolets and honey in place of the cannalini and maple syrup. I skipped the capers, but missed the saltiness.
It kept in the fridge pretty well, but I probably won’t make this specific thing again.

Pumpkin Apple Breakfast bake

I made this Pumpkin Apple Breakfast bake during my W30 time. I thought it might be more “bread or cake” like, but it wasn’t. It was very moist, and almost more like a cooked smoothie or pudding. The flavors were delicious, but texture was off or at least not what I wanted. If I tried this again, I’d probably shoot for less moisture or add in some almond or coconut flour.

Belated MW30 close out update

I'm  quite a bit past day 30, so I’m behind on this update.

Overall, it went pretty good and I would call it a success. I didn’t eat eggs, but I did eat beans, lentil and soy/tofu.

I lost about five pounds. I was hoping to loose a little more, but understood that the modifications I made probably affected the weight loss.

I had some digestion issues most of the W30, but I wasn't sure if it was related to the egg thing or something else. I felt pretty good, slept ok, and had good energy, but I felt about the same before too.

I continued on without eating added sugar for quite some time, and tried to continue on my weight-loss journey with Weight Watchers (or as it's now branded WW). After some time with that and "being able to eat what I want," my sugar/processed flour addiction has returned. I need to reconsider this or figure out a better way to control it.

At the end of the last one I said I wouldn't do another one, but here I am. I might do another modified W30 to help reset my sugar addiction, but probably won't for a while.

Smashed potatoes

This was a food trend going around that I’m glad I finally tried. I used this NYT recipe as the base, but steamed the potatoes with the IP to start. E got some smaller potatoes that cooked up quite creamy. This was a good side to have with veggie dogs/sausages.

Pizza beans

This style of meal had been sweeping my Facebook dinner group and I finally got around to trying it. I opted for the “fake” pizza beans from the New York Times, versus the original from Smitten Kitchen.
I liked them and they came together very quickly, I had used dried beans I cooked the day before. I’m not 100% convinced the entire family liked them though. L keeps saying she doesn’t like beans, which hurts me. I’m going to try again, because I have so many beans. I think I’ll try royal Coronas next.

White Vegetable Lasagna

We had people over for an Easter egg hunt and since most people were coming from far away, I wanted to make dinner for them. I made two pans of lasagna. One traditional with tomato sauce and cheese and the other with roasted vegetables and a white base (lots of butter!). This is the recipe I used for the white lasagna, though I veered from the original recipe a bit.

I roasted zucchini, red pepper, and mushrooms the night before and I only had a tomato on hand so I roasted that to. I chopped all the veggies put into the veggie layer and I put the no-cook noodles in hot water until they were soft, as recommended by several other recipes to ensure the end texture was proper.

My mom and SIL both said they really liked it. I won’t make this just for my family, but I would bring this to a pot luck. I

Kala Chana

I made this black chickpea curry, also known as Kala Chana. I was trying to make an effort to recreate a dish I loved at Guru in Somerville.
I cooked the chickpeas in the IP ahead of time, but maybe didn’t cook them long enough because they were still a little firm.
Otherwise it was pretty good. I’m not sure if I will try this again, but I probably should with more properly cooked chickpeas.

Minimalist Baker work-potluck take-over

Around May, some people at work organize having pot-luck lunches to raise money for the Relay for Life. Groups usually pick a theme for their food. Last year our group did soup/salad and I made a wicked good chili. This year, we opted for Italian food. I have a couple co-workers who have issues with gluten and dairy, so I wanted to make something they could eat too. Well, I probably went a little overboard, but I had a lot of fun making everything. I thought it all tasted pretty good too.

I made

• vegan "meatballs," which also required me to make the 
• vegan "Parmesan cheese"
• No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites
• vegan, gluten-free brownies

I thought everything turned out great. Making everything did take some time. I made everything over two nights and each night I made quite a mess in the kitchen with all the bowls and the food processor.

For the "meat"balls, I used GF-soy sauce instead of the Worcestershire sauce, I didn't use fennel because I didn't have it. I used dried herbs where fresh were called because that's all I had. I also just  skipped the pan-fry step and baked them in the oven. They held together quite well and tasted good too. 

I didn't include raisins in the carrot cake bites and just coated them in finely-shredded coconut.

For the brownies, I used almond butter instead of peanut butter and skipped the chocolate chips because I didn't have any dairy-free chocolate chips. I baked the brownies a bit longer than the recipe called for - probably about 20-25 minutes total, and they still looked wet when I took them out. They definitely set up after cooling, like the recipe said.

I had several people at work ask for my recipes, and that always makes me feel like I made something somewhat tasty.