Happy Summer Solstice

Click HERE for a summer solstice morning glory feast :)

Happy Beltane!!!

Click HERE for an oldie but goodie Beltane recipe & post :)

Happy Ostara!

Well, Spring has sprung -- although it snowed for a wee bit today, as if Winter wanted one last hurrah :)

We celebrated the Vernal Equinox as we always do: a dozen trinket-filled plastic eggs are hidden throughout the house, and in order to get the goodies in the 13th egg (a large, wicker egg-shaped container thingy) you must find all 12 of the small colored ones. That and a basket of little toys for each child to open takes up pretty much the whole morning.

For lunch we had eggplant lasagna from my FAVORITE recipe blogger -- her stuff is soooooo good I wouldn't even dream of tweaking it. To go along with it we had a simple salad of spring greens and our traditional crescent rolls (yes, Pillsbury) -- one of which is 3 points. Oh, and they are vegan! Not healthy, mind you, but vegan nonetheless.

It's our tradition to decorate cupcakes instead of coloring eggs. This is my tweaked version of a carrot cupcake recipe found in Isa Chandra Moskowitz's book, "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World". Without frosting they are 2pts ea -- I usually just let the gang go crazy with the different colored frostings & sprinkles while I blissfully nibble on mine naked (the cupcake is naked, that is, not me!)

Orange Carrot Cupcakes

(This recipe is halved to make only 6)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup grated or shredded carrots

1/8 tsp baking powder

3/8 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1 TBS grapeseed oil

5 TBS plain or vanilla soy yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1/2 orange

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with 6 cupcake papers.

Wisk the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and blend well. Evenly distribute the batter between all 6 cupcakes. Bake for about 23-27 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack. Cool completely before frosting/decorating.

Hoppy Spring, have an egg-cellent day!!!!!

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

And that's no blarney, neither :) Yet I confess we don't go all out for St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it's because March 17th falls so close to Ostara, the first day of spring -- a holiday we DO celebrate. Either way, my family and I wear our green, and we eat some sort of Irish inspired foods at our meals.

If you'd like a nice dinner idea, click here -- my Imbolc menu would make a lovely St Pat's feast.

This year we're very busy and so going quite simple -- that means cabbage & onions, along with "tatties in their jackets" (aka baked potatoes with the skins on). I'll roast a few carrots, too, and we'll have our traditional soda bread as always, along with a glass of Guiness, of course :)

Irish Soda Bread

WeightWatchers POINTS: 2

· 4 cups (1 pound) flour (I like whole wheat pastry flour)
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 to 3/4 pint of soured soymilk*

Mix dry ingredients together. *Add 1tsp white vinegar to 1 cup of soymilk and set aside for 5 minutes. Mix the soured milk with the rest of the ingredients and stir to form a loose dough. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a round about 2 inches high and make a large X with a sharp knife in top of dough. Bake on a baking sheet misted w/oil at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Makes 1 loaf, 8 servings.

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May the road rise up to meet ye, and the wind be always at your back!

All you need is Love...

...well, and chocolate, of course! But we'll get to that in a minute.

Actually, we don't make a really big deal out of Valentine's Day. (I'd rather honor V-day, but that's a whole 'nother post) Anyway, I've told my DH not to buy me over priced flowers or trinkets anymore. (Yes, his friends do think he's lucky to have me, lol) But seriously, we celebrate our love in many more meaningful ways the other 364 days a year. And for special moments of awareness there's always our wedding anniversary, birthdays, Mother's & Father's day, etc. Oh, and as to greeting cards, well, I'd rather get a love note straight from the heart than some sappy Hallmark creation anyday.

Instead we do a couple little fun things w/the kids. This year we're placing pieces of paper with each family member's name on them into a basket and then choosing one person to make a Valentine for. We're going to sit around the dining table and make the cards together as a family, but it will be a secret which person we're each making our special Valentine for. Since my little one is still a baby, his older sister will also make one for her little brother, whom she adores.

As to edibles and sticking with my 2008 Holiday Menu Challenge, I'm geting creative with cookie cutters! I've got a few in various sizes to choose from. I might cut out veggie burger hearts, maybe some heart shapped polenta slices to float in a bowl of tomato soup...or how about pretty heart shapped slices of beets set upon a bed of greens for a sweet salad? (hmm, I think there's a joke in there about my beeting vegan heart, but I won't go there ;p )

If you're looking for something more creative than cookie cutter cut-outs, go to one of my favorite food blogs and check out what's there for Valentine's Day, some of the recipes are pretty impressive.

I can hear it now...yes, but...what about the chocolate??? Ok, ok, I hear you. I do intend to make some VERY simple dark chocolate hearts with a candy mold I bought at a craft shop. I'll just melt some vegan chocolate chips in the microwave and pour the chocolate into the molds; couldn't be easier. But perhaps the best part is that each heart is only 1/2 tsp of chocolate, so for 2 points I can have 10!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to me :)

Imbolc Menu

For quick access to the recipes:
Cottage Pie (aka Shepherds Pie) – Core (3 Flex pts)
Smokey Cabbage & Onions – Core (0 Flex pts)
Roasted Applesauce (1pt)
Crispy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies (3pts)

To see the original post introducing the year of holiday menus: click here

Game on!

Here's some game time snack ideas in keeping with my 2008 Holiday Menu Challenge. Ok, so I know the Super Bowl isn't really a holiday, but it is a good reason to celebrate -- especially if your team is playing (Go Giants!)

These are simple, but still a bit of a step up from your routine pizza & chips:

-seasoned roasted chickpeas (roast for approx 1hr @350)
-stuffed potato skins (stuff w/broccoli, melt soy cheese on top)
-guacamole w/pita chips (1 pita = 12 chips for only 1 pt!)
-polenta rounds w/salsa to dip (broil 1/2" thick slices for 10min ea side)

That leaves me with 4pts -- enough for 2 lite beers!

May the best team win!!!

PS: Hey, they DID -- yay Giants!!!!!!!!

A 2008 Holiday Menu Challenge

(In a hurry & just looking for the Imbolc recipes? Scroll down or click me)

Celebrating holidays with food seems to be a HUGE trigger for me to overeat, not just on that day, but unfortunately for several days after. As many who have read this blog know, my family and I honor a series of seasonal holy days known collectively as “the wheel of the year”. Essentially that’s 8 holidays that weave their way thru the calendar year – and that’s also 8 opportunities to go WAY overboard with celebratory foods.

But of course any holiday/celebratory tradition could pose difficulties when it comes to staying on a healthy eating program. Let’s face it, I can call it Ostara, you can call it Easter, but either way for many of us the chocolate bunnies are hopping into our mouths faster than you can say Peter Cottontail!

Yet food is still an important facet of any holiday that I don't want to deprive myself or my family of -- although finding other traditions to focus on is a strategy I also intend to employ.

But either way, this year I decided to create a challenge for myself and I’m sharing it here. For each of the 8 holidays, (plus a few other observances tossed in for good measure), I am going to do a completely WeightWatchers Core Plan menu from start to finish, including dessert -- and use not more than my 5 daily points towards the meal. Even if you do Flex and not Core you will find this helpful since those same recipes will likely be low in points, too. Oh, and lots of holidays from various traditions tend to be essentially interchangeable when it comes to food, so hopefully you’ll find something of use no matter what you celebrate.

I want to prove to myself that I can enjoy these special occasions with distinctive foods yet not hit a speed bump in terms of my weight loss/health. Of course there are other ways to do this. Saving up points, earning more AP’s (activity points), etc – but that hasn’t always worked for me, and besides, I thought this would be an interesting experiment.

So, the first major holiday I’m doing is Imbolc/Candlemas (2/1 or 2/2 depending on tradition). For some of you this same meal could make nice St Patrick’s Day fare. Here’s the menu, just click on the dish & you'll go to the recipe, or scroll down to see them all in succession:

Cottage Pie (aka Shepherds Pie) – Core (3pts)
Smokey Cabbage & Onions – Core (0pts)
Roasted Applesauce (1pt)
Crispy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies (3pts)

And here's to the first of what I hope to be a years worth of happy healthy holidays!

(PS: with the exception of the applesauce, these are WeightWatchers recipes I’ve tweaked to make either vegan or more aptly core.)

Cottage Pie (aka Shepherd's Pie)

Imbolc traditions have a Celtic flair in our house as elsewhere, and this first recipe from my Imbolc holiday menu is a tater-topped pie that fits both the cultural flavor as well as symbolically reflecting what is occurring within Mother Nature – for buried beneath a bed of luscious, fluffy white potatoes is a warm and hearty stew, mirroring the still dormant seeds buried deep in the snow-covered earth just waiting to sprout.



Cottage Pie
CORE
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 8

12 oz Lightlife Smart Ground Original Vegetarian Meat Substitute
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
1/8 tsp table salt, or more to taste
1/2 cup onion(s), chopped
2 cup zucchini, or yellow summer squash, sliced
14 1/2 oz canned tomatoes, undrained
1 ½ cups canned black beans, drained & rinsed
6 oz canned tomato paste
cooking spray or oil mister
1/4 cup vegetable broth, or more, as needed
1/4 cup Silk Unsweetened Plain Soymilk
8 medium uncooked red potato(es), peeled and quartered
6 oz Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack flavor Vegan gourmet cheese alternative

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place potatoes in a large pot and fill with just enough water to cover, boil until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and place back in pot. Add soy milk, 1/4 cup of FYH cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Mash until fluffy, adding veggie broth if needed; set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet misted w/grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and zucchini or squash and cook till vegetables are tender crisp, deglazing with veggie broth as needed. Next add Smartground and saute for a minute or two till beginning to color. Finally add undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, allspice and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper; bring to a boil.

Coat an 8 1/2- X 11-inch baking dish with cooking spray; fill with veggie & Smartground mixture. Spread potatoes on top, covering it completely. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of soy cheese and bake until potato mixture is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before dividing into 8 portions.

Smoky Cabbage & Onions

Of course any decent Irish meal would include both potatoes and cabbage, at least according to my late grandmother, so this second dish in my Imbolc holiday menu line up fits the bill. No recipe really needed for this, – it’s a most humble side dish that goes particularly well with the cottage pie: take about 8 cups of shredded cabbage and a large thinly sliced onion & sauté in a large skillet misted w/grapeseed oil, using veggie broth to deglaze as needed. When the cabbage is wilted and the onion nice & tender, add a bit of liquid smoke to finish the dish, or you could use some extra points for some nice veggie bacon crumbled atop.

This would serve about 8, is Core, and has 0 points.

Roasted Applesauce

With the hearty goodness of cottage pie & the smokiness of the cabbage & onions from my Imbolc feast, I thought something a bit more on the sweet side would make a nice dish to round out the whole meal. Applesauce came to mind – and the one from “Vegan with a Vengeance” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is FABULOUS. This accounts for 1 of the 5 daily pts, incidentally, but it’s well worth it. Still, you could forget the sweeteners called for and try just adding Stevia for a totally Core recipe. Oh, and in terms of the holiday, of course apples were a big part of the sacred mythology of the Celts…what comes to mind immediately is the legendary Isle of Avalon.

Roasted Applesauce

POINTS® Value: 1

Servings: 6-8

3lbs McIntosh or Granny Smith apples (about 9)

juice of 1 lemon

4 tsp canola oil

¼ cup real maple syrup

2 TBS sugar

1 tsp sinnamon

½ tsp lemon zest

pinch allspice

¼ tsp salt

preheat oven to 450.

Peel, core & slice the apples into 1 inch chunks. Sprinkle w/the lemon juice. Set aside.

Combine the oil, maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon & lemon zest in a glass baking dish and wisk together. Add the apples and toss to coat.

Roast until the apples are quite tender, about 25min or so, stirring once after about 15min. Either in the roasting pan or transfered to a large bowl, mash the applesauce to your desired texture. Can be served warm, room temp or chilled.

Crispy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Last, but certainly not least on my Imbolc holiday menu is dessert. Oats have been a staple food of the British Isles & Ireland since ancient time, made into porridge or small griddle-cakes sometimes called bannocks. What better way to end our contemporary Celtic-y meal than with a homey batch of cookies celebrating this favored Gaelic grain. I’m planning to serve these with some Stevia sweetened hot cocoa for a sweet ending to this midwinter festival of light & hope.


Crispy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 12 (@ 2 cookies ea)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
1 1/2 tsp ground flax seed meal, mixed w/1.5 TBS of water, set aside
4 Tbsp Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread Margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-grain wheat flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, margarine, granulated sugar, vanilla, flax & water mixture until well blended, about 2 minutes. Stir in the applesauce. Add the dry ingredients except the oats & cranberries and stir until evenly combined. Finally, add in the oats and cranberries and stir till just blended. Drop the batter by rounded teaspoons onto the baking sheets, 3 inches apart, making 24 cookies; with the back of a spoon, spread each to a 2' diameter. Bake until the edges are browned, 13-15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets 2 minutes, then remove with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely.