Wherein we Break the Rules

40 38 Days of Veggies Weekly Report:

The week started wonderfully:

We had some lovely omelets, an easy, satisfying way to clean out the fridge.

Omelets topped with salsa

Next, came an absolutely mouth-watering dish - Cooking Light: Way to Cook Vegetarian's potato gnocchi with lemon thyme sauce.  This was a most fabulous dish for a Monday. It was quick (about 30 minutes prep and cook time), simple (just a few basic, inexpensive ingredients), and yet we felt fancy and satisfied. Though the dish might sound strange at first, the bright lemony flavor of the simple buttery sauce was at once surprising and comforting. It was also addictive - none of us, including the Bean, could keep our paws off of it. We will most definitely make this one again.


The week also featured a lovely broccoli casserole and black bean burgers from the same book. The burgers were so wonderful we forgot to take a photo - we could not wait to dig in!

Broccoli Casserole

...and then came Friday. Meat day. Lunch was all veggie - leftovers from the week's feasting. But dinner was, well, indulgent. We hit up the local Chinese buffet for the first time in months. Do I feel bad about it? No. Did I learn something? Yes. I've pretty much lost the taste for Chinese buffet fare - my mouth sensed nothing but salt and sweet syrup. What does this prove? Taste is truly acquired, and can also be lost. I am looking forward to trying homemade chinese dishes, made with more wholesome nutritious ingredients, in the near future. This girl cannot live without a Chinese food fix everyone once in awhile!

...and then came Saturday. We ate meat again, but not without careful consideration. Saturday was spent cooking the nine chicken carcasses that were in our freezer down into a wonderful broth, and then turning that into 9.5 quarts of noodle soup - can you blame us for tasting the goods?

Sunday, those goods were packed up and shared with my Mimi, company and homemade food being the best medicine the world has to offer. 

Today? Back to the veggies, and no regrets about the brief trip off the wagon. No matter what we eat, we have become much more conscious of it, and I believe that will continue beyond this 40 day experiment.

Veggies for Lent - Review of our first week

OK, so it was more like 4 days, but still. We got ourselves started with 40 days of Veggies, and things did get better after the first night. Here's a synopsis of our first few days' dinner efforts. It's been important to us that all meals are easy and quick to prepare and fairly inexpensive. This lifestyle needs to be sustainable.

Day one, Ash Wednesday

Pancakes. As I noted that day, there were no veggies to be found, but no meat either. For day one, which included a teething sick child, I call that a success.

Day two, Thursday.

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas. Our own recipe.

Mix one can corn with one can black beans (both drained). Add juice of 1/4 - 1/2 lime, and 1/2 tsp. cumin. Add some cilantro and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust seasoning to preferences.

Spray nonstick pan with cooking spray and heat to medium high. Place tortilla in the pan, spoon bean mixture and some of your favorite mexican cheese into the tortilla, and top with a second tortilla. Once the bottom tortilla is brown and the cheese begins to melt, flip to brown the other side. Alternatively, spoon the mixture onto half of the bottom tortilla and fold it in half. Then flip when the bottom is brown.

Slide finished quesadilla onto a plate and serve with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, or your own favorite Mexican food toppings.

Day three, Friday. 


Meat Friday. We went out for dinner to celebrate this, and the fact that our family had attained health. I enjoyed a crabcake sandwich, the Bean had chicken fingers, and the Husband had a great big hamburger. Noms.

Day four, Saturday.


My new love is crockpot soup. You chop up the ingredients, throw them in the pot, push the button, and go on your way. Come home at the end of the day, and the house smells awesome, and your dinner is ready.

Saturday, we had vegan Minestrone, a recipe found in The Vegan Slow Cooker, one of our new favorite books. This meal was a reprise of the one I cooked for my friends last weekend at the farm. I forgot to document it this Saturday, so I am re-sharing the photo from that weekend. The results were similar and wonderful.

So far, so good. The food has been fun, delicious, and easy. I can't wait to tell you about this week! Two days in, and I'm already drooling.

Some Lovely Finds

We've got the antiquing itch, and we've got it bad! A few years ago, I started a fabulous collection of 1950s dinnerware by collecting a functional set of the Temporama pattern by Canonsburg Pottery. It's a great representation of oven-to-table dinnerware, typical of the 1950s and 60s, when serveware designers produced some great pieces that were highly versatile. Dinner could be cooked in a casserole, served on a plate, and then reheated later on that same plate. Revolutionary, considering the microwave heyday was still a few decades away. I love this set in particular because of the modern-style pattern - I've had many people ask me what modern store I purchased the set in. I also love it because it uses my favorite color palette in the whole world - dusty blues and tans. I've since painted my kitchen to match.

Once I'd completed my everyday set, however, I stopped buying. Life happened, the Bean happened, and I also lost my great Temporama hookup at the local antiques mall. I could purchase pieces to complete the set on ebay or etsy, but that's just not as much fun unless they are both super rare AND a super steal - hard to find when it comes to vintage wares these days.

Fastforward to New Year, 2012. For Christmas, I splurged and bought myself one of those rare steals I mentioned - I picked up a lovely coffee pot. Then, a deviled egg plate. Then, for Valentine's Day, the Husband and I took a day trip to a small town in PA known for its great antiques houses. And the itch caught both of us. Of course we were hunting for more Temporama, but I had also decided that some sour cream glasses and pyrex casseroles would help to flesh out my fetish for this particular era of kitchen stuffs.

On my trip to Autumn House Farm last weekend, we spent an afternoon antiquing in nearby Punxsutawney, and I scored. I found a beautiful pyrex bowl with a hot air balloon pattern - and it is MY COLOR! Simultaneously, the Husband was out with his family and the Bean, and picked up two lovely casseroles which were also in my favorite color and decorated with snowflakes - so adorable. And then, this afternoon, the Husband and I went on a lunch date to a local shop, finding some lovely "swankyswigs," collectible glasses that were created by Kraft in the 1940s to hold cream cheese. (It was just after the Depression. If people were going to splurge on cream and cheese, they'd appreciate doing so much more if they got a useful glass out of the deal.)

And so it is that I share with you our latest spoils. I'm so proud of these finds, because they truly were finds - no internet involved. And they represent the rekindling of an interest that the Husband and I enjoy together and use to make our home and kitchen more beautiful. Aren't they lovely?

Three lovely Pyrex finds, and four adorable Swankyswigs