Menu Plan Monday

It is our last week of school! Yeah! We are all really looking forward to summer vacation. The last week of school is usually very hectic for us and so in our menu you will see some convenience items. At this point, I feel the need to keep it simple and just get through this week. You will also see a few things we didn't get to last week.

Breakfast Ideas:
Maple Banana Loaf (from freezer)
cereal
toast w/almond butter and jelly
creamy oatmeal
zucchini spelt muffins
egg burritos
yogurt banana splits

We normally serve green drink with our breakfasts.

Lunch Ideas:
almond butter and jelly/tuna sandwiches
pasta and meatballs
ABC pasta soup
Goddess Garbanzos in a WW pita pocket (similar to chicken salad w/garbanzos)
chicken strips
mac and cheese w/peas
leftovers

We usually serve raw fruit and veggies with lunch.

Dinner Ideas:
Chimichangas
Orange Sesame Tofu w/brown rice
burgers (beef and portabella), corn on the cob, roasted potatoes
vegan risotto
lentil and barley soup in crockpot
pizza night


We usually have fresh bread/rolls and salad with dinner.

Have a wonderful week!

J

PS - Check out www.orgjunkie.come for more menu ideas!

Raw Vegan Truffles - Super Easy

Recently I went to a seminar presented by folks from Hallelujah Acres. It was wonderful. I strongly encourage you to check out their site. Basically, they teach about healing and maintaining your body using a diet of 80% raw foods and 20% cooked. They shared a lot of recipes. One of my favorite is this one for raw vegan truffles. They require only a few ingredients, are super easy, and healthy. They will surely satisfy your sweet tooth. My whole family loves them!

Truffles
1 cup organic raisins
1 cup raw pecans (I have also used other nuts and they came out wonderful!)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
unsweetened coconut

Place all ingredients in your food processor with the S blade. Let it blend until the mixture forms a ball. It will take a little bit. Then pull out about small amount (about the size of a tablespoon) and roll into a ball.

(see how greasy my hands are from the oils in the nuts!)


Then roll each ball into unsweetened coconut.


You can eat them just like that and they are wonderful, but we think they taste even better if you put them in the freezer. They don't really freeze solid. Oh so yummy this way. They are usually gone very quickly in our house.

We actually added some vegan chocolate chips to the processor last time and that was really yummy, but they do eliminate the raw factor. I was thinking you could also roll them in raw chocolate powder.

I hope you'll give these a try! Let me know!

Blessings,
J

Menu Plan Monday

As you may know, I haven't done a weekly menu plan in a while. It has been very hard to manage without a plan and I must admit, our meals have been a bit boring. Now that school is winding down, I am hoping to get back to sharing our menu each week. I have been given the green light to try a week of all vegan dinners. I am going to serve meat at lunch only. We'll see how it goes. This is great for me because it enables me to try some different recipes. If they turn out, I'll be sharing them over the week.

Here is what I have planned for this week:

Breakfast Ideas:
-granola w/almond milk
-Maple Banana Loaf
-cereal
-toast w/almond butter
-creamy oatmeal
-Blueberry Carob Pancakes
-Apple Hemp Muffins

We normally serve green drink with our breakfasts.

Lunch Ideas:
-stromboli
-taco salad
-almond butter and jelly sandwiches
-chick pea and pasta soup
-leftovers
-Goddess Garbanzos in a WW pita pocket (similar to chicken salad w/garbanzos)
-beef and barley soup in crockpot

We usually serve raw fruit and veggies with lunch. (On meat days, I'll be enjoying salads)

Dinner Ideas:
-Chili Pasta Bake
-Brown Rice ‘n’ Beans “Jumble-aya”
-Mac and Cheeze
-Chimichangas
-Orange Sesame Tofu w/brown rice
-Roasted Tomato-Fennel Pasta w/pine nuts and capers
-vegan risotto

We usually have fresh bread/rolls and salad with dinner.

snacks
Kale chips
Celery w/dressing
Apple slices w/almond butter
popcorn

guacamole w/chips

Have a great week!

Banana Cream Pancakes (vegan)

Hey there!

I know I have been gone a while, but the end of the school year is a bit brutal for me. As things begin to close out, I am hoping to blog a lot more. I have really been encouraged by those of you that noticed my absence and have asked when I will return to the blogsphere. I really didn't think anyone would notice. So thank you for your kind words.

I am not coming back in full force yet, but I promised a sweet friend this recipe for her daughter's birthday! So here you have it....Banana Cream Pancakes.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite vegan cookbook authors that I have mentioned many times, Dreena Burton. It is in her most recent book, Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. This is a really wonderful book with many, many great recipes. I highly recommend it!

Banana Cream Pancakes
1 1/3 spelt flour ( I order mine in bulk, but you could get it from the bins at Whole Foods)
1 tbs + 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I used cinnamon)
1/8 tsp salt
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup banana (1 large)
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl mix together all your dry ingredients. Then I place all the wet ingredients in the Vitamix and blend until smooth and creamy. It is much faster than doing it all by hand. I am sure any blender would work here. Then I just pour the wet into the dry and mix until well combined.

Oil your griddle/pan and cook then pancakes as you normally would. When I make pancakes I use the Pampered Chef scoops to get them to be all uniform in size. It is also less messy.


As you can see below I added a few vegan chocolate chips to each one. I don't add many because we use pure maple syrup on pancakes and that is just too much sugar for me! But if you notice there is no sugar in the recipe at all, which I LOVE!

Here are some pictures. I know they are not that great. Need to really work on that over the summer, but none the less, here are some that I took over the weekend.

I hope you enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday

I am really struggling to post consistently as we get closer to the end of the school year. With field trips and planning for next year I have no time to squeeze blogging in. The menu plan is easy to get to simply because I have to do that for my sanity each week. So bare with me as school comes to a close. Over the summer I am hoping to blog a lot and change the blog up a little. Happy Monday!

Breakfast Ideas:
granola (free from EarthFare) w/almond milk
Maple Banana Loaf

cereal
eggs and toast
Whole Wheat Blender pancakes
Baked French Toast
Zucchini Spelt Muffins

We normally serve green drink with our breakfasts.

Lunch Ideas:
hummus and brie (FREE from EarthFare) w/assorted veggies, fruit, and crackers
taco salad
leftovers x2
almond butter and jelly sandwiches
chick pea and pasta soup


We usually serve raw fruit and veggies with lunch.

Dinner Ideas:
Rigatoni Puttanesca w/Veggie Meatballs
Steak Burgers w/roasted potatoes and roasted bell pepper salad, Tollhouse Pie (friends over)
Chicken Pot Pie w/roasted broccoli
Chili Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Spinach Rice Casserole
Spaghetti w/vegan Pesto (insanely delish)
Beef Ribs in BBQ Sauce (crockpot), mashed potatoes

We usually have fresh bread/rolls and salad with dinner.

For more menu plans visit www.orgjunkie.com

Skillet Shrimp Fajtas

EarthFare has been having some amazing deals recently. If you join their Health Journey, you can get coupons for lots of free items. The coupon usually says that you have to purchase one item, which is not a problem as we always need something from the store. We have gotten FREE granola, pound of coffee, brie, fresh mozzarella, pizza dough, and TWO pounds of shrimp.

I normally don't buy shrimp because it is too expensive. So I was very excited to see this sweet deal since my husband LOVES shrimp.

Here is our most recent package of free shrimp. $12.99 worth of shrimp for FREE!!


I guess I am on a Rachael Ray kick lately because I decided to use the shrimp to make a recipe in my recent issue of her magazine, Skillet Shrimp Fajitas. It was quite easy and Chuck loved it!

Skillet Shrimp Fajitas
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 can 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb of shrimp (peeled, deveined, and tails removed)

1. Heat 2 tbs olive oil over medium high heat; add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook until browned. (I added some red pepper here as well)

2. Add the can of tomatoes and increase heat. Cook until the tomato juice evaporates. Remove from skillet.

3. Add the remaining olive oil (2 tbs), the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for about one minute. Add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook until pink, about 3-5 minutes. Add chopped cilantro here if you like.

We served the fajita mixture on Trader Joe's Whole Wheat tortillas with brown rice, avocados, sour cream, cheese, and hot sauce. It was really a hit with my husband!

Enjoy!

J

Menu Plan Monday

It is almost St. Patrick's Day. Even though I am not Irish (my husband is) I love St. Patrick's Day. I always try to make it a special day for the boys.

Here is our menu for the special day:

• breakfast - green whole wheat pancakes, green drink
• lunch - peas and macaroni
• dinner - Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew, Colcannon Puffs, Irish Soda Bread
• dessert - slab apple pie

Here is our menu for the rest of the week.

Breakfast Ideas:
Cinnamon Rolls
applesauce bread
cereal
eggs, sausage, and toast
Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes (Eat, Drink, and be Vegan)
Challah French Toast

We normally serve green drink with our breakfasts.

Lunch Ideas:
hummus and guacamole w/assorted veggies and crackers
almond butter, banana and honey sandwiches
Mellow Lentil “Sniffle” Soup (Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan)
pasta and marinara
egg salad sandwiches


We usually serve raw fruit and veggies with lunch.

Dinner Ideas:
Manhattan Cod Chowder (I didn’t get to it last week!)
Slow –Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans and rice
Sloppy Joes w/roasted potatoes
Cuban Chicken Legs w/roasted broccoli
Spaghetti w/Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
White Bean and Barley Risotto, w/ roasted tomatoes

We usually have fresh bread/rolls and salad with dinner.

Hope you have a wonderful week! For more menu ideas check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/

Jennifer