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.

WIAW #12: Oven-Roasted Broccoli

I'm going to start answering to "Cookie Monster."

It has been a super long time since I've photographed everything I've eaten in a single day. I think that's probably because when I was carrying our trio, what I ate in a single day was super scary. 

I ate a lot. And I got really big (50.5 inches in diameter, to be exact). But I made really big babies (for triplets, at least). So it was totally worth it.

Now that I'm feeding all three of them, I still eat quite a bit. I don't count calories. I don't always think before I put food in my mouth, unless it has to do with how much I can eat in a given timespan: How much longer will the babies be happy? What time are they going to wake up? When do we need to feed them again?

And, no, I have no idea when this is all going to catch up with me. All I know is that I have 10 more pounds of baby weight to lose before I'm back to where I was when I started. I guess if I think I'm going to get there sooner rather than later I should probably be eating more veggies.

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.

Review: 125 Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes

125 Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes 
By Carol Fenster, PH.D.


I don't like to think the husband and I are superstitious, but we do have a habit of taking note of things in threes, good and bad. We simply know things haven't come full circle until we've faced three.

When we moved to our second nest, we arrived to find the hot water heater was busted, the fridge wasn't cooling and the water running into the washer was set up backward. (Luckily it only took a couple of washes to realize "cold" actually meant "hot.") Once we got those three discomforts straightened out we were good.

The husband has even tried - and disliked - meatloaf three times. (Yes, Momma, even your meatloaf.) So I've given the man the benefit of the doubt and promised him to never ever, ever, ever serve meatloaf again. I've resorted to ordering it restaurants, as strange as that sounds.


When I received Carol Fenster's 125 Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes cookbook in the mail I was quite excited. I'd never bought, or even been given, a vegetarian cookbook before, so I was excited to put Fenster's creations to use for Meatless Mondays. 

We started out with the Sherried Mushrooms on Crispy Polenta Rounds. Unfortunately, neither of us wanted to star this one in the cookbook. So we put the book aside for a couple of weeks. Once the husband got the taste of those sherried mushrooms well out of his mouth I decided to make Fenster's Creole Vegetables on Basmati Rice. The husband is all about Creole spices. I thought surely this one would win him over.

Meatless Monday: Veggie Calzones

Veggie Calzones

It's no secret that the husband and I love pizza. We eat it at least once a week. But pizza can get a little boring after awhile if you're just eating cheese or pepperoni all the time. Sometimes I even get tired of veggie pizza, and we all know I love me some veggies.


So I decided it was time we had calzones. I made the thin-crust pizza recipe we've had plenty of times before and made calzones. I split the dough recipe in half, saving half in the fridge for breadsticks or something tomorrow night (God willing the dough will keep nicely in the fridge and rise again or something). Essentially one-quarter of the dough recipe made one nice calzone. 


I filled my pocket o' pizza with low-fat mozzarella, part-skim ricotta, Italian seasonings, eggplant, onions and peppers. The husband had peppers, onions, red pepper and a lot of cheese in his. After about 12 minutes in our 450-degree-F oven we topped our calzones with a fresh tomato sauce: tomatoes, garlic, and salt and pepper I pureed in that new mini chopper I love so much.


Dinner was quick, easy, filling and meatless. What more could you want on a Monday?

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.

Mushroom-Stuffed Mushrooms

Homemade Stuffed Mushrooms

I really wanted stuffed mushrooms at our wedding. But I'm always really scared to order them because I hate sausage and fear they'll be stuffed with sausage. So when it came to planning the wedding menu, I asked our caterer what he put in his stuffed mushrooms. He looked at me like that was the silliest question he'd ever heard. "Mushrooms," he said. (He also told me this wasn't his first rodeo and I had nothing to worry about, but that's another story.)  

I was sold on the mushrooms. And I was happy to find out the morning after the wedding that I'm not the only one who contemplates the stuffing in stuffed mushrooms.

"I'm-a-Vegetarian-Today" Mexican Pizza

As we discussed tonight's dinner last night I asked the husband if we should have something meatless or put it off until Friday. (We missed the Meatless Monday boat this week, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, I'm sure.) We debated our options and out of the blue the husband told me he wanted Mexican pizza. No, I had no idea what that meant, but he told me Mexican pizza calls for beans, vegetables and cheese. Where does he come up with this stuff? I had to admit, though, that it sounded interesting. 

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.

Mushrooms and More Veggie Pizza

The wife: I think I need a part-time job at a pizza place. I need to learn how to toss dough. Do you think I'd get hired?
The husband: No, you my have been raised by Italians, but you're not Italian. And you'd want to make everything too healthy.
The wife: Isn't that discrimination?
The husband, shaking his head: No. It doesn't matter. An Irish girl can't work at a pizza place. I wouldn't eat pizza if you made it.
The wife: But you're eating pizza I made right now.
The husband: But I wouldn't pay for it. 

I frowned when the husband said that, but he just smirked and laughed. Yes, the man thinks he's hilarious. Actually, I think this might be one of those instances he was telling me about last night. He said we have a long, long time to be together, and he has to keep things interesting, which is exactly why he feels the need to crack jokes that aren't one bit funny. (You heard right, Little Big Brother. Your brother-in-law is not one bit funny.)