Meatless Monday: Pepper Polenta and Red Sauce

I'm realizing, more and more, that the iPhone photos aren't cutting it. I'll fire up the Canon again soon.

Sundays are for waking after the sun has risen, listening to in-the-spirit morning radio programs, dressing for church, playing ball in the backyard, eating brunch, pushing a stroller in the park and taking an afternoon drive with your sunglasses on.

Then again, maybe that's what Sundays are all about. Maybe not.

Maybe Sundays are about watching it rain, putting away groceries, folding laundry and ripping open the cardboard on a mixed case of Saranac. Maybe they're about watching babies roll around on a homemade quilt from their great-grandmother, stopping them only long enough to pull their tiny hands away from the dogs' tails.

Two things I know for sure, though: Sundays are for family. And Sundays are for red sauce.

Meatless Monday: [When You Need] Pasta & White Beans

I spent $2 on orange juice one morning last week. In fact, I spent $2 on 12 oz. of orange juice. That’s absurd. But I woke up with a little scratch in my throat, and if the momma bear gets sick, this whole ship is goin’ down. So I needed the orange juice.

Needed. It.

It was a need like the need I had to get a Snickers bar out of the vending machine while working last weekend’s consignment sale — a need like the need I had to eat this simple and delicious pasta dinner.

Meatless Monday: Eggplant "Sandwiches"

I like to think Eggplant "Sandwiches" are good for growing babies.

I almost ate an entire eggplant one day last week. You see, I let the husband eat four slices. So I can say I didn't eat the whole thing myself.

But let's be honest here: I could have.

Meatless Monday: Southern-Inspired Rice Pilaf

We hopped off the Meatless Monday bandwagon a few months ago - not necessarily by choice, but still. But I just realized this side that we served our company their last night here was meatless - and now it's Monday! Hey, hey, look at that. We've got ourselves another Meatless Monday post.

Meatless Monday: Tostada Stacks

After years of not even eating eggs, I've come to love 'em when the yolk is just barely cooked. Weird.

The truth is I went to Pilates after work and no one in this household went meatless tonight. Actually, when I told the husband I was going to start taking Monday night Pilates classes his exact words were: "Sweet! No more Meatless Mondays for me!" 

I don't know where he heard that rumor. We all know he wasn't hurt by any of the vegetarian meals I fed him. But I do think he has a point. I don't think we'll be going meatless on Mondays any more. I think it'll be too hard for me to plan, stay at work late, go to class and then come home and make dinner. 

Meatless Monday: I Can't Read, But I Can Cook Burritos

Bean and Corn Burritos

While in a big-box store a couple of months ago the husband tells me he needs white t-shirts. I pick up a pack and throw them into the cart. "Put those back," he tells me. "These are cheaper." He replaces the shirts I had just picked up with his better, cheaper, package.

A couple of days later, the husband is getting ready for work and comes out of the bedroom laughing. "We need to return those shirts we just bought. They're for little boys!"

So there I went, back to the big-box store, a few days and told the nice lady in customer service there was nothing wrong with the shirts. 

"Unfortunately," I told her, "my husband can't read." I got a kick out of myself and, luckily, after a few seconds she realized I was making a joke and found my humor amusing, as well.

Unfortunately, I was the butt of my own joke tonight when I realized I can't read either. I guess it's good we don't need to teach the dogs to read.

Fresh Tomato Pizza

Someone had way too much time on her hands Saturday afternoon while her husband played in a golf tournament. That's right: this girl did. 

OK, so I didn't bother to put three loads of laundry away or clean up my craft room, but I swear I was productive.

Meatless Monday: Pita Pizzas

My first red tomato of the season, a little fresh basil and some chives

Five things that made my Monday extremely happy:


1. The husband actually kissed me when I got home today. (He has been avoiding me ever since my body turned his "allergies" into a sinus infection and forced me to be on antibiotics. Ick.)


2. Yesterday the husband told me my (one) almost-red tomato wasn't red enough to pick. Today when I got home from work, I told him it was perfect.


3. I came home to two brown dogs who stayed in their cages all day. (Mr. Pants has developed the ability to escape his new cage no matter how tight the door is shut, no matter where it is in the garage and no matter how small the hole is that he can create between the bars. I think his bones compress.)


4. Dinner was ready in a snap - less than 20 minutes, to be exact. 


5. The husband liked dinner, even though he asked if it was going to be like Tomato Cheese Dreams and told me that it actually tasted like breakfast. He'd eat 'em again.

Meatless Monday: Lentil Burgers

I kinda took last week off. I fed the husband a lot of easy stuff: grilled chicken, baked turkey breasts, canned beans, corns. Actually, I fed him all of that easy stuff twice. Almost every meal I made last week resulted in leftovers. And we didn't even get around to going meatless until Friday. Talk about a wash.

So we agreed that I'd make a much better effort this week. I found a recipe for lentil burgers and asked the husband if he'd be willing to try them. The truth is I picked the recipe because it was meatless and I was out of ideas. But I also thought it sounded good. I wasn't really sure the husband would go for it, though.

Surprisingly he said yes - without hesitation! OK, maybe he just looked at me and said "sure." But, still. He didn't shoot the idea down. Although I think he regretted agreeing to dinner when he saw me mixing it all up.

Meat-Free Friday: Fridge Leftovers = Pizza

Vegetarian Pizza

During our engagement the then-fiance often told me I had until we got married to work on my cooking. (Did the man starve? No. But he liked to pick and tell me that once we were married there'd be no excuses for burnt lasagna or undercooked baked potatoes.) Now that we're married, my deadline has been extended and I have until the one-year mark. Oh, you know the Kenny Chesney lyrics, "Eatin' burnt suppers the whole first year and askin' for seconds, to keep her from tearin' up ... "

Well, our anniversary is quickly approaching and I'm starting to realize I don't really need to step it up in the kitchen, but I may need to work on my grocery shopping skills. This is the second Friday in a row that we've planned to eat pizza but failed to go shopping beforehand to actually make sure we had ingredients for pizza. Oy. 

(Yesterday was) Meatless Monday: Polenta and Bean Casserole

The weekend was loooong – in a really good way. Needless to say, it left me not so ready to face Monday. I just wanted to stay in weekend mode for as long as possible. I guess I rebelled by not searching for a fabulous new recipe for our Monday night dinner. Instead I just searched through the pantry and came up with a Polenta and Bean Casserole. The husband didn't seem to mind and, I have to admit, I didn't think it was that bad, either. In fact, I ate it again tonight. I guess I'm still not admitting that the workweek is in full effect.

Polenta and Bean Casserole
Makes 4 servings at about 200 calories per serving

1/2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 TBSP Creole seasoning
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes and chiles

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 garlic clove, minced
a dash of paprika
a dash of mixed-up pepper
9 TBSP cornmeal
2 cups water, give or take
a dash of salt

2 tsp Parmesan cheese

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and saute a few minutes. Add in the green pepper and let everything cook until the veggies get a little tender. (They don't have to cook much at all because they'll cook in the oven.) 

Stir in the Creole seasoning, evenly coating the veggies.

Add in the tomatoes, beans, paprika and pepper. (You may want to salt to taste, but I skipped this. I was worried the seasonings would have already made everything too salty.)

While you wait for the tomatoes and veggies to simmer, get another medium saucepan out for the polenta. Heat about 2 cups of water and a dash of salt over high heat. Once the water is boiling, quickly stir in the cornmeal; turn the heat down to low. The polenta will thicken quickly, so whisk, whisk, whisk! (I kept stirring until my polenta was probably just thicker than peanut butter. And if your tomatoes have been simmering for a few minutes by this point, no worries.)

Put the tomato and bean mixture in an 8x8 glass dish. Use a spatula to cover the veggies with the polenta and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the polenta has started to brown a little. Serve with nonfat plain yogurt, if you're a wimp like me. Serve with more Creole seasoning, if you're like my husband.

Meatless Monday: Chickpea and Pasta Soup

It was a high of 96 at our house today and the husband still let me serve soup for dinner without complaining. I made soup for dinner - sans meat - and the man was happy. Do I have a keeper or what?

I'd love to share the recipe with you, but it's from a new cookbook that I'm working my way through in preparation of a review, so I don't want to ruin the surprise. All I'll say is that this was a glorious soup (sorry, I had to do it). The tomatoes, pasta and chickpeas were so good together; I'd definitely recommend the pasta shells, too. It was a nice surprise when I'd find a chickpea had worked its way into a shell and hidden. I told the husband I thought spinach would be a nice addition to our bowls, but he shook his head in disagreement. I asked him if he thought chicken would be better and he said most definitely.

So mark this down as a successful Meatless Monday. Yes, the recipe title has something like "Summer Soup" in it, but I know we'll be eating this again even when it isn't almost 100 degrees outside. And, who knows, maybe next time we'll even throw a little animal protein in. Even if we don't, though, it's nice to know the husband will enjoy it.

Meatless Monday: Mini Chickpea Burgers

Mini Chickpea Burgers and Wild Rice

My lack of posts last week may have made it look like I was on vacation but, alas, I wasn't. The truth is I fed the husband tacos one night, a quick pancetta grilled cheese sandwich another night and Friday was an eat-whatever-you-can-find-in-the-fridge night. Sorry, readers. Life happens. I'm sure you know how that goes.

But Monday is here once again, and that means I get a fresh start; another opportunity to feed the husband a healthy dinner sans meat. Last Monday the husband kept asking: "Are we having falafels? Are we?" I asked him if that's what he really wanted, and he told me he didn't even know what they were. "What do we even eat them with?" He asked me.

The thing is, he does know what they are because I've made them before. So since I didn't make the husband falafels last week, and I really haven't in a while, I thought maybe we were due. 

Meatless Monday: Epic Mushroom & Polenta Failure

Sherried Mushrooms on Polenta Rounds

The weatherman on our Iocal news station has a "word for the day" segment that the husband and I catch just about every morning - it usually comes on just about the time I'm doing my hair and the husband is telling the dogs to stop wrestling so he can hear the weather. In the past few months the meteorologist has told us our days would be "cold," "fantastic," "insolent," "serendipitous" and even "vexatious." (The poor guy. I think he's starting to have a hard time coming up with words. But c'mon. Who really thought coming up with a word to describe the weather every day would be a good idea?)

I haven't asked the husband what word he'd use to describe dinner, but I know if Little Big Brother were here he'd offer up two: epic fail. (Yes, that's right. My little brother is so cool he'd leave off the "ure.")

But I'm getting ahead of myself here, so let me back up and tell you how dinner started.

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Ground "Meat"

Mushroom Stroganoff With Vegetarian Ground "Meat"

Sometimes when the husband isn't home I like to do things that would probably make him laugh - or shake his head and wonder what he signed up for when he told me, our friends and family, and God that he'd love me until death us do part. So yesterday while the husband was out golfing, I turned on some Hayes Carll and made vegetarian ground meat. In my pajamas. Why? Why not? The doggies didn't mind.


I've had this ground meat substitute recipe bookmarked for awhile now, but I hadn't found the time to actually make it. The truth is, it was a bit time-consuming and definitely not a recipe I'd be whipping up on a Monday night. A good solid hour and a half preparing for this meal - by myself - was just what I needed. And tonight, all I needed was a husband willing to go along with this crazy idea of faux meat.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Light Vodka Sauce

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Light Vodka Sauce 

I absolutely love penne a la vodka. If we go to a restaurant and I see it on the menu, I want it. I especially love it when it has fine bits of pancetta in it and a creamy tomato-y taste with just a hint of peppery spice. Mmmm. I love me some penne a la vodka. But I hate all of the calories I know come along with that creamy, saucy goodness. So I'm happy to share with you a recipe my momma shared with me - minus the pancetta. I'll save that for a more special occasion than a Tuesday night.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Light Vodka Sauce

1 tablespoon light butter

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes (no-salt-added, preferred)
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 dash mixed-up pepper
1 cup fat-free half-and-half (sometimes the momma uses cream or 2% low-fat milk)
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more)
1 lb whole wheat pasta

Melt butter with oil in large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes.

At this point, start a pot of water for the pasta.

Add tomatoes and cook until a lot of the liquid has cooked off, stirring frequently about 15 minutes or so. (I think the momma lets hers cook for 25 minutes, but you know us, we can't wait that long.) 

Add cream, vodka and red pepper to the tomatoes and boil until thickened to sauce consistency, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Light Vodka Sauce

Pour sauce over 1 lb pasta and top with Parmesan, if desired. (We also serve ours with a bit more red pepper.)

Serves 6

* Nutritional facts per serving, as calculated by Food.com:

372 calories, 4.4 g fat, 70 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber, 14 g protein

* Your choice of whole wheat pasta will alter the nutritional information. Our pasta had way more protein and fiber than Food.com thought it would, so our dinner was actually a bit healthier than noted above. Feel free to use your favorite pasta! The husband doesn't usually even like spaghetti, but these little nests were just too cute to pass up. Thanks for selling these fundraising goodies to Momma, Little Big Brother. 

And thanks, Momma, for giving 'em to us. They were a hit.

Meatless Monday: Baked Polenta and Tri-Color Beans

Baked Polenta Topped With Beans and Veggies

When they say you learn something new every day, does that limit us to one thing per day? If that's the case, I think I learned up all of today and tomorrow's lessons tonight. You see, tonight I realized polenta really is as easy to make as it sounds, and I learned how to cut open a pineapple. 

The husband sent me a text late this afternoon asking what was for dinner this Meatless Monday. (He's catching on nicely, don't you think?) I told him i wanted to make polenta that it might take awhile. He said that was fine, and I know we both started reminiscing about those delicious polenta dishes Momma made when she was visiting. I was more than excited to get home and get to work.

Creole Vegetables and Basmati Rice

Creole Vegetables on Basmati Rice

The husband: "What are you doing over there, blogging?"
The wife: "Probably not - I don't think I have anything to write about. You told me dinner was weird."
The husband: "You still have to blog about it!"


The husband likes to give me a hard time every now and then and pick on my little blog. A couple of weeks ago I couldn't decide what to pack myself for lunch and the husband suggested a turkey sandwich - and it was a Monday! He said, "Don't worry, I won't tell your little blogger friends." (Apparently he thinks y'all are small since you live in my computer. I hope you don't mind.) But all joking aside, the husband is supportive, which is exactly why he ate the underwhelming dinner I served him tonight and encouraged me to share the experience with you. What a silly guy.

Meatless Monday: Mushroom Stroganoff

Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff

I know, I know, I told the husband when we jumped on the Meatless Monday bandwagon it wasn't going to be pasta meal after pasta meal, and here we are two weeks in a row eating pasta for dinner Monday night. But I just couldn't help myself. I got a new cookbook for my birthday (thank you, Mama!) and this dish just looked too good to pass up. Plus, we're in the midst of a tornado warning here, and I just wanted a good ol' comforting meal. (Don't worry, I'm working off a battery, and Chance has taken cover beside my feet under the dining room table. We're good.)

Midweek Wrap-Up

Shells With Garlic, White Beans and  Roasted Tomatoes

I know, it's Wednesday and I'm about to talk about Meatless Monday. (Bad blogging habits live here.) But I wanted you to know that Meatless Monday did, in fact, happen in our household this week. I picked another Ellie Krieger recipe, mainly because I had all of the ingredients in the house, but the recipe did sound good. Two birds with one stone? Sure thing. The husband didn't think the recipe sounded that bad, either. We were on a roll.