Family Recipes, help!

Here are a few things you might want to add to your dinner list:

Potato Pancakes with applesauce

Small shell pasta added to a pan where you've pressed about 3 cloves garlic into a layer of
olive oil. Add pine nuts and steamed broccoli tops, some hot pepper flakes to taste. toss it all
and sprinkle with some soy Parmesan, and chopped Italian parsley which has more flavor than the
curly parsley.

In a rush, frozen Pierogis are great alone or served with some veggies. It only takes 6 minutes to
boil them and another few minutes to sautee them till golden brown. I also add some chopped onion
when they're half browned.

In summer I do a cold pasta sauce served over hot pasta with raw shredded zucchini. Just put some
fresh tomatoes in a blender with lots of garlic, basil, parsley, salt and black pepper and some
dried red pepper flakes and blend into a sauce.Put the shredded zucchini over the hot pasta, pour
sauce over, toss, and sprinkle with soy parmesan.

Another dish I like is Yaki Soba noodles. I used to buy a package of noodles with the flavoring
packet. You soak the noodles in hot water for five minutes and then add them to sauteed veggies. I
would sautee sliced onion, garlic, mushroom for a few minutes till mushrooms were almost tender,
then add some diced serrano or jalapeno peppers to taste, some sliced zucchini, or broccoli or both,
bean sprouts, sliced water chestnuts, and some snow pea pods. Sprinkle with Tamari to taste, and
some Mirin (it's a sweet Japanese wine). This really is a fast and very tasty dish. You can make it
with only some of the suggested veggies and it's just as good.

Do a fast Portabello mushroom burger with soy mozzarello, sliced tomato, onion, lettuce, ketchup and
serve with oven baked french fries.

Another burger you can do is an eggplant burger. You slice eggplant really thin and fry it fast in a
hot pan with oil. Put it on a burger bun with sauteed mushrooms and onion. Can also serve with
potato salad, or oven roasted potatoes.

Another fast pasta is pesto sauce on any pasta along with a salad.

I also use deep fried tofu pieces instead of meat in a lot of Chinese and Indian dishes.

Another simple meal is just brown rice topped with chopped tomato, chopped onion, a little curry
powder to taste, or cumin and basil or your favorite herb combination. I serve a big salad with this
with a oil, lemon, garlic dressing and I put a little of the dressing over the rice veggie combo and
mix it all up. If you are a bread eater, you can serve it with some chapati or bread or roll of your
choice. You can also add a little cooked corn kernels to the rice.

Rice and beans with cornbread is another simple meal.

Regards, June

"Nick P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi everyone,

I've been coming to a dead end with what to have for supper over the last little while and,
unfortunately, I'm a lazy Vegan/Vegetarian who just doesn't want to deal with 100's of ingredients
or steps just to make food.

You're already making things hard for yourself by exaggerating. Cooking doesn't have to be difficult
or time consumming with a little meal planning. Plan things so you cook only a couple of times a
week and make enough for leftovers. And look for cookbooks with simplicity themes. Nava Atlas wrote
"Vegetarian Express: Easy, Tasty, And Healthy Menus in 28 Minutes or Less!" and "Vegetarian 5-
Ingredient Gourmet". Joanne Stepaniak's books usually contain very simple and very good recipes.

Quoted message said:

SO because of that, I've been relying on simple 2 - 3 step meals for myself and 2 other adults
(wife and cousin) - I need to find something that's easy, and tasty enough to please a meat eater
(cousin) as I just won't touch the stuff, and he's lucky to eat 1 meal a week if we don't make
something FOR him! 😉

Then let him fend for himself.

Quoted message said:

One of the biggest problems I have is a sensitivity to "additives". Unfortunately this seems to
hang heavily on the rest of the household as they are nowhere near as picky. Me, on ther other
hand, I can't eat anything with garlic or with onions and probably a good 100 other "flavour-
adding" additives without feeling sick as a dog after (Yves "Veggie Meat" is a prime example).

Your loss. Maybe you should fend for yourself and let the other two adults enjoy flavorful food.

Quoted message said:

So in all honesty, if I took myself outta the picture, we'd be FINE... but, well, I don't think
that would prove to be acceptable to the rest of the family, the wife at least! 😉

Right now, the following "main courses" are as follows:

- Pasta
- Pasta
- Quesadillas con queso (yes, I'm horrible - I can't give up my cheese!)
- Veggie "Taco Salad"
- Pizza (last resort! 😉)
- Order-in

Boring! And there's very little nutritional balance in this diet. How about some vegetables and some
grains? What about fruits and nuts? These things should make up the vast majority of your diet.

Quoted message said:

Obviously, the last option (order-in) is not fiscally viable, especially as our family grows - as
we're now 3 1/8th, and growing 😉 We need to find some sort of diet that will grow with us, and
for the new addition to the family when that happens. We always are sure we get good food in us,
but it's just getting far too repetitive and is beginning to put stress on our options!

Then expand your options!! Stop trying to please everyone all the time. You can't do it and have any
kind of variety in your diet.

Quoted message said:

Also, we're in Canada and our selections for holisitic food sources is seriously lacking - but
ethnic alternatives are more available, as being on the west coast, we have the pleasure of
experiencing Indian and Asian cuisines (the former being more "healthy", obviously, than the
latter for the most part of what I've seen).

You make Canada sound like a 3rd world country -- it's not. Maybe you live in a rural area, I don't
know. You might have to travel to a more metropolitan area to shop for food, at least once in awhile
on a regular basis.

Quoted message said:

I digress - any help in the matter would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I really hope there are
some good and, preferably, free options available - personal experiences would be great!

Try growing your own vegetables and preserve them. That's pretty inexpensive.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and provide some interesting points...

"C. James Strutz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Nick P" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi everyone,

I've been coming to a dead end with what to have for supper over the last little while and,
unfortunately, I'm a lazy Vegan/Vegetarian who just doesn't want to deal with 100's of
ingredients or steps just to make food.

You're already making things hard for yourself by exaggerating. Cooking doesn't have to be
difficult or time consumming with a little meal planning. Plan things so you cook only a couple of
times a week and make enough for leftovers. And look for cookbooks with simplicity themes. Nava
Atlas wrote "Vegetarian Express: Easy, Tasty, And Healthy Menus in 28 Minutes or Less!" and
"Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet". Joanne Stepaniak's books usually contain very simple and very
good recipes.

This is a good point, and I will most certainly take it into consideration. I know I am good at
cooking, but always end up seeing it as more a chore than anything with a "positive" outcome. I will
check those out.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

SO because of that, I've been relying on simple 2 - 3 step meals for myself and 2 other adults
(wife and cousin) - I need to find something that's easy, and tasty enough to please a meat
eater (cousin) as I just won't touch the stuff, and he's lucky to eat 1 meal a week if we don't
make something FOR him! 😉

Then let him fend for himself.

As I've mentioned, if we let that happen then he will end up not eating properly and we do care
greatly about his well being.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

One of the biggest problems I have is a sensitivity to "additives". Unfortunately this seems to
hang heavily on the rest of the household as they are nowhere near as picky. Me, on ther other
hand, I can't eat anything with garlic or with onions and probably a good 100 other "flavour-
adding" additives without feeling sick as a dog after (Yves "Veggie Meat" is a prime example).

Your loss. Maybe you should fend for yourself and let the other two adults enjoy flavorful food.

I've thought about that - but the problem is that the other two adults would end up eating simple
meals that have very little preparation, basically the list that you see below. I would then need
to cook not only for myself, but also for the rest of the family - As I'd mentioned, I have to
ensure, at the very least I need to ensure that my wife is eating properly, as she is not just
eating for herself.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So in all honesty, if I took myself outta the picture, we'd be FINE... but, well, I don't think
that would prove to be acceptable to the rest of the family, the wife at least! 😉

Right now, the following "main courses" are as follows:

- Pasta
- Pasta
- Quesadillas con queso (yes, I'm horrible - I can't give up my cheese!)
- Veggie "Taco Salad"
- Pizza (last resort! 😉)
- Order-in

Boring! And there's very little nutritional balance in this diet. How about some vegetables
and some grains? What about fruits and nuts? These things should make up the vast majority of
your diet.

There are always vegetables within our diet, usually as a side dish. It often consists of greens
such as salad and broccoli, peas, carrots
- the "garden variety" vegetables.

As far as grains, fruts and nuts go - What would you recommend to do here? I can't see of any way to
include these in a menu, other than making, say, a salad with oranges... etc. I know I'm in need of
help, and if the books you'd mentioned above will prove helpful, I will research them a bit more.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Obviously, the last option (order-in) is not fiscally viable, especially as our family grows -
as we're now 3 1/8th, and growing 😉 We need to find some sort of diet that will grow with us,
and for the new addition to the family when that happens. We always are sure we get good food in
us, but it's just getting far too repetitive and is beginning to put stress on our options!

Then expand your options!! Stop trying to please everyone all the time. You can't do it and have
any kind of variety in your diet.

That's what we're trying to do, and is why I'm posting here.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Also, we're in Canada and our selections for holisitic food sources is seriously lacking - but
ethnic alternatives are more available, as being on the west coast, we have the pleasure of
experiencing Indian and Asian cuisines (the former being more "healthy", obviously, than the
latter for the most part of what I've seen).

You make Canada sound like a 3rd world country -- it's not. Maybe you live in a rural area, I
don't know. You might have to travel to a more metropolitan area to shop for food, at least once
in awhile on a regular basis.

For fruits and vegetables, we have no problem obtaining those - there are many small "markets" near
by, however there are, at most, 3 "holistic" stores within our province, all of them which are
horrendously expensive for even the most simple ingredients.

No, we're not a 3rd world country, but the focus here, currently, does not focus on eating healthy
food low in preservatives - It may not be Africa, but it certainly isn't downtown California... The
prices are outrageous and the selection is miniscule IMO, but who knows - maybe after doing a bit
more research, I'll find some solutions...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I digress - any help in the matter would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I really hope there
are some good and, preferably, free options available - personal experiences would be great!

Try growing your own vegetables and preserve them. That's pretty inexpensive.

This is a possibility - luckily we no longer live in a condo, but we at least have a bit more
space to grow vegetables for our own personal consumption - I may have to do a bit of research
into space and preventative measures to keep cats and other "creatures" out, as there are many
around where we live...

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions.

Nick