 We've officially made it to day 5 of our plant based meal challenge! 🙌🏻 For the most part - our meatless dinners have been delicious - according to me. 😉 (There was really only one that kind of missed the mark.) I've gone out of my comfort zone and made some new recipes that I wouldn't normally have tried if I hadn't been specifically looking for plant based recipes. What I have come to realize though is that there is one unfortunate consequence to eating plant based meals every single day - eating a lot of beans tends to backfire. (literally) 😂😯🤣 (I can't believe that I'm talking about flatulence on my food blog - just trying to keep it real, folks.) My go-to move when I prepare meatless meals is to just replace meat with beans in my favorite recipes like lasagna, tacos and salads. My new goal is going to be to find meat alternatives that won't have the adverse effects of beans.😅  Although I don't recommend that you consume a ridiculous amount of beans every single day for an entire week - I do suggest that you use them as a meat replacement - on occasion. Swap out the traditional chicken or beef filling to create something new like these Black Bean Quesadillas. They're so flavorful and delicious - you'll never even miss the meat.  Black Bean Quesadillas 1 can black beans 1/2 onion, finely sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 2 teaspoons taco seasoning 1 roasted red pepper, finely sliced 1/2 Tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water 1 cup Colby Jack cheese flour tortillas avocado, sliced
 Cut tortillas in wedges and serve with avocado slices.  The definition of a quesadilla is a tortilla filled with cheese and heated. (I had to look it up. 🤣) I always thought a quesadilla had to be fold like a crepe - not stacked, grilled cheese style. I was wrong. By definition - a quesadilla can be either folded or prepared flat and sliced like a pizza, into wedges. As long as it contains warm cheese and a tortilla - it's a quesadilla and I'm a fan.
Ciao!
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 Here it is the very first day of my meatless, plant based meal challenge and I'm already having to make adjustments to my menu. 🤦🏻♀️ I didn't want to bail on my plant based diet but we ended up having a dinner guest tonight. 🤷🏻♀️ I mean, how can I serve a black bean and lentil filled tortilla to a guest who would prefer a spicy beef taco loaded with cheese, guacamole and sour cream? 🌮 You can see my dilemma. 😬 Hesitant to serve a plant based taco to our dinner guest, I considered ditching the meatless nachos that I had planned to make and prepare more traditional ("company worthy") beef tacos instead. Even though I hated to ditch my meatless meal challenge on day one - I also didn't want to risk making a brand new vegetarian recipe which may or may not be a complete failure. 😬  I found the answer to my meat vs. meatless taco dinner dilemma in a book that I received from a friend on my birthday called "Beautiful Boards." Think charcuterie boards taken to a whole new level.🤣 The one that caught my eye was a "build your own" taco board. Why not pull together all of our favorite taco ingredients and arrange them all on one beautiful board with both meat and vegetarian options? What started out as a build your own taco board turned into a tacho board. (A taco/nacho combination for those of you who don't speak "Amy.") I won't take the time to list all of the things that were on my board - I think that most of the ingredients are pretty obvious from the pictures. 🥑The only thing that you probably don't recognize is the bean and tomato mixture in the center. That, my friend, is the black bean, tomato and lentil mixture that I added as the plant based option for our meal.  Meatless Nachos olive oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon coriander 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/3 cup red wine 1 can brown lentils, drained and rinsed 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 2 (14.4 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes 1/2 cup water 1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon 1/2 teaspoon salt Tortilla chips fresh cilantro, chopped avocado, smashed
 Season with salt to taste.  Soon bean mixture over a bed of tortilla chips,  spoon into a tortilla and serve with fresh avocado slices  or add to a build your own tacho board. 😋 Here's the good news about this recipe: It's easy enough to put together that I felt like I could make this AND make some meat options for our tacos as well.
Here's the bad news: I didn't LOVE the spice combination in this mixture. It wasn't terrible - just not my favorite. Don't take my word for it though - try it for yourself. Ciao!  \Mushrooms are brown. Even when stuffed with amazing aromatics, onions, rice and nuts - they're still very monochromatic. And albeit delicious - they aren't very good subject material for photographs. So in an effort to make today's blog post more visually appealing - I'm adding a few of the pictures that I took this morning at the Monroe Blooms flower festival. The pictures really have nothing to do with a recipe about stuffed mushrooms other than the fact that they add some color to what would otherwise be a very brown blog post. 😅 
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love this little town that I get to call home. This was my first visit to the flower festival and I was totally impressed. So many beautiful flowers and I'm not color bashing mushroom brown by any means, but the vibrant colors of the flowers at the festival were incredible. 🌼  Now onto the recipe of the day - stuffed mushrooms. 🍄 I'm not much of a meat or pork eater so a lot of times, I'll make myself a big stuffed mushroom as an alternative to a hot dog and a burger at summer cookout. I normally stuff my mushrooms with cheese and spinach so when I found this brown rice and pine nut stuffed version, I was intrigued.  Stuffed Mushrooms 1/2 cup pine nuts 3/4 cup brown rice 3-4 large portobello mushrooms olive oil 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme 2 onions, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable bouillon fresh lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
 I was never unhappy with my recipe for cheese stuffed mushrooms but I feel like this rice and nut filled version is more of a "meal" mushroom rather than an appetizer "mushroom". Does that even make sense? Maybe it's because I made big portobellos instead of small ones but these seem heartier and more filling than a cheese stuffed mushroom. I think that there's room for both types of stuffed mushrooms in my life though. 🤣
Ciao!  Happy Memorial Day!! How do you celebrate/commemorate this special holiday? I make red, heart shaped pancakes on Valentine's Day, green milkshakes on St. Patrick's Day and mashed potato frosted meatloaf cupcakes on April Fool's Day so it should come as no surprise that I'd make something red, white and blue for Memorial Day. 🇺🇸 I'm not so good at putting up holiday decorations around the house but I always make sure that we have a themed, color coordinated meal to celebrate special days. 😊 I mean is it really Easter without Jello eggs and sugar cookies decorated like vegetables? 🥕😅  Traditionally, people fire up their grill for Memorial Day and cook up burgers and meats. 🍔 So if you're looking for a healthy side dish or a vegetarian alternative, consider this delicious Summer Grain Bowl this weekend. It's full of fresh summer vegetables, crispy spinach, crunchy seeds, savory goat cheese and a bright citrus herb vinaigrette. 🍋 I just love fresh summer produce. After a trip to the strawberry farm this morning, I made a quick stop by the farmer's market on my way home. I just can't resist a home grown watermelon, some freshly picked corn or a basket up perfectly ripe tomatoes. Now that my frig is stocked with fresh summer produce, I'm ready to make my red, white and blue summer grain bowl for my Memorial Day. 🌽🍅🥗  Summer Grain Bowl 1 cup pearled barley or farro 2 cups spinach 1/2 cup fresh blueberries 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1/2 cup fresh corn 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese 2 Tablespoons roasted pumpkin seeds Lemon Basil Vinaigrette 2 cups fresh basil 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 cloves garlic 1 whole lemon, juiced and zested 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup olive oil
 Top with crumbled goat cheese and pumpkin seeds.  Drizzle with lemon basil vinaigrette. I'm rarely on time with my holiday blog posts. #obviously Most of the time, I post my recipe 3-4 days AFTER a holiday. 😬 And yes, I'm aware that Memorial Day isn't until Monday - but better to be early than late I guess. 🤷🏻♀️ My excuse is that if I post early, you have time to go out and shop for ingredients and still make this delicious recipe for Memorial Day on Monday. It was my plan all along. 😂
Ciao!  Today - I'm feeling BLESSED. I consider myself one lucky girl to have this group of friends who were willing to drive more than 2 hours just to have dinner with me on my birthday. ❤️  Spending a weekend with friends in the cutest, most quaint little North Georgia town nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains was exactly what this tired girl needed to restore her soul. We visited a winery that sits in a tiny Italian style village that you would swear was transported here right from the heart of Tuscany. 🇮🇹 Complete with ivy covered villas, rolling hills planted in grapevines and lots of great food and wine, it was the perfect place to kick off this new decade of life. 🍷  If you know me, you know that I'm somewhat of a fitness fanatic, so it was probably no surprise to anyone when I announced that I wanted to incorporate some exercise into my birthday celebration. And what better way to burn some birthday calories than hiking through the winery grounds? 🥾I mean, how often do you get served samples of local wine at the end of a hike?
  Spending the day in this Italian style village was awesome and it has inspired me to try making fresh, new Mediterranean style food this week. Tonight - I tried my hand at a Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Grilled Vegetables. I've got to say - even though I was missing the Tuscan atmosphere - it was still a delicious Mediterranean style dinner.  Mediterranean Quinoa Salad 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed 1 small eggplant (about ¾ pound), diced 1 small zucchini, sliced 1 small yellow squash, sliced 2 Tablespoons olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 Tablespoon lemon zest 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced ½ cup halved grape tomatoes (quarter any larger tomatoes) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves 2 tablespoons walnuts nuts, toasted For garnish: crumbled goat cheese
 Add tomatoes to quinoa. Garnish with goat cheese and walnuts. Hey feta fans - If you want to make this quinoa bowl even more Mediterranean - substitute feta for the goat cheese. Also, I had plans to grill an eggplant to add to this salad as well but there were none to be found at the grocery store. So if you've got one handy - by all means - toss it in. 🍆
Also, out of curiosity - after looking at these pictures, does it look like I'm shrinking to anyone else? 😅 Ciao! |
