You're looking at bean croquettes (red bean chili mixed with breadcrumbs & a little soysauce, baked for half an hour at 375), the porcini artichoke & potato bake from The Savory Way cookbook, a roasted pepper (jarred) and some skillet sweated onions. A surprise family hit and yellow all the way with a succotash of sorts on the side.

Asian Box has a myriad of yellower options out of the box. I chose brown rice, double vegetables (steamed) and all of the vegetable toppings- lime, jalepeno, pickles, bean sprouts, and on top- a sprinkling of asian street dust- from which I tasted salt & mint. No reds this time, but next time I might spend a red or two and wok toss the vegetables.

I was thrilled to see puntarelle and endive at my neighborhood farmstand. A preserved lemon vinaigrette and some cukes, radish & hothouse peppers rounded out the salad.

The rest of the meal? Butternut squash corn bean stew (Greens Cookbook) and some gently warmed whole wheat bread. (Trader Joe's) Oh and some lovely Mexican asparagus roasted with Dpray & salt and garnished with a little lemon zest.

I never make wheat berries because you boil 'em like pasta.  Forever. But I was headed to a class and wanted to be able to demonstrate how yummy they are, so when I was making breakfast, I put some on, and by the time I'd cleaned up the breakfast dishes, sliced the celery and cilantro, and dug some soy sauce/garlic/ginger sauce out of the fridge, they were ready to drain.

Usually I'm not up early enough for steel cut oats, but today I was. To 4 cups if boiling water I added a cup of steel cut oats, an organic tangerine, peel and all, cut in quarters, and my last vanilla bean from The Vanilla COMpany. Time to reorder.



I served it to myself with my other secret weapon, frozen wild blueberries. My hubby went for half a banana & honey, and my kids, home sick, opted out. Big sigh. Off to make pancakes.

My kids love crepes and I love that they'll cook them themselves! I took the recipe for the crepes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch, and the blueberry topping I based loosely on a recipe in Eating Well from a few months ago. Turns out Isa has a similar recipe further back in the book,

Crepes

1 c non dairy milk (I used soy)

1 c water

1 1/2 c w/w pastry flour

2 T tapioca flour

1 T salt

2 T veg oil

2 T maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process for 15 seconds, scrape down sides, then process for another 15 seconds. Refridgerate for an hour in the blender container.

Heat nonstick pans, and practice! Tomes have been written on how to deal with the frustrations of crepes- just practice,

For the blueberries, put some frozen blueberries in a microwave safe bowl with a splash of maple syrup and a teaspoon or so of arrowroot powder. Microwave for a minute or two, stir, microwave more until steaming & thick.

After I made up the recipe from a memory of a podcast, I found one here.



Verdict? Lots of work, but delicious. Here are some process photos.  I got the tofu to look like that by putting it in my sprayed nonstick  Scanpan for about 4 minutes a side (only spray pan once).

Our family loves Thai takeout and a movie on a Saturday night. I wanted to have a healthier option, so I modified this recipe.

1/2 box w/w fettuccine noodles

1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

2-3 field roast sausages

2 leeks, white & light green parts only, sliced

1 shallot, thinly sliced

2 c broccoli florets

2 carrots, peeled & sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c water

1 T soy sauce

1t maple syrup

1 1/2 t dark soy sauce or kecap manis

Boil noodles according to package directions, then drain & rinse.

Heat nonstick sauté pan on medium high flame.. Spray pan and cook mushrooms in batches and set cooked mushrooms aside in a bowl. it took me 3, depends on size of your pan. I use a 12" scanpan that's 3" deep.

Then cook sausage pieces in batches and add to the mushrooms. Spray the pan again if necessary, then add the vegetables (carrot, broccoli, shallot, leek garlic) to the empty pan. Add the water if the vegetables seem to stick, and when they are crisp tender, add the soy sauces & maple syrup.

Add the noodles, mushrooms and cooked sausage to the pan. Toss until everything is hot, adding more water if it seems too dry.