Samosa Casserole

(If it looks like this picture was taken in the morning, you're right! The pictures from the night before were just so awful.)

Thursday night I made a recipe I've been meaning to try for a long time. It was from an older issue of Vegetarian Times. The Samosa Casserole. They have the recipe on their site!

I'm slowly learning that I'm the queen of substitutions as of late. I only had two potatoes, so I mashed in a sweet potato. No ginger powder, so I threw in some garam masala. And I was without corn, so I used broccoli. The pie was so delicious! Very little fat, all vegetable filling....mmmm.

Each serving is also six point, if that's what you're looking for. I'll share my story about why I'm telling you that tomorrow.

Deep Breath!

So I've finished my challenge. I'm finding that it's really flippin' hard to commit myself to something like this AND do crazy school and work hours AND attempt to be healthier.

But no worries, dear readers.

I managed to squeeze in two recipes from the Vegetarian Times cookbook last week....for the same meal....on a Sunday. Hey, it works, right?

#1 & #2 - Pesto Mashed Potatoes & Sesame Broccoli

Wow, this is a sort of lovely picture!

The potatoes basically soaked up the broccoli's juices. It was tasty, but something was missing from both. There's an espresso cake in the Veg Times book that I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make, so I'll be making my third recipe....in the future.

This week, I also made my challenge recipes from the Almost No Fat Cookbook for the same meal. I had a long, luxurious time in the kitchen, and I'm happy to say that it was time well spent. Well, except for the third recipe. The first two were delicious and used up sooooo many veggies I had laying around!

#1 - Enchilada Casserole


#2 - Spanish Rice (drowned in salsa)


#3 - (not pictured) tofu sour cream. I don't know what happened here. I think the tofu I bought THAT DAY was bad, cause this was awful. I've made variations of tofu sour cream before, so I know this wasn't supposed to taste rotten!

I have about 2 more weeks of school and then I can breathe and ready myself for the big kid's school. I've got Isa's East Coast Coffee Cake in the oven, variation chocolate chip + strawberries. It smells insane.

Catch! Up.

I was doing so well too.

I know I've mentioned this before, but we were broke growing up. Like, way, way, WAY below the poverty line. I always knew when my mom got her tax return 'cause that's when the "lunch money" basket was overflowing with dollars and sometimes fives. Most of the time it was change. My mom worked really hard during our childhood, and did a damn good job at raising my sister and I. One of our "treats" happened every couple of months: my mom would ring up ole Nick's Tavern, order 3 Nick's Burgers (2 without onions!) and we would feast on the deliciousness. It wasn't any better than any other burger, but it was a treat, which made it special.

Recently, I tried to recreate the experience. I used my standby, the black bean burger from VCon, and caramelized onions and mushrooms for the top. As you can see, I had no bun, but that's ok. It was delicious anyways. I dedicate this burger to my mother and my sister:

I also got a full day with the husband and an empty fridge over the weekend. Turns out we had the supplies for two breakfasts in one day. First up, for real breakfast, was the mushroom frittata from Vegan Brunch, with caramelized onions(I love those buggers) and spices:


Next up, for brinner, I utilized my hated waffle maker. We had requested one through our registry and didn't end up with the same. Now, I am so not the person to pick apart a freaking gift, and they didn't have to get us anything at all, but this thing is junk. I got it to work for me though! I made the gingerbread waffles from Vegan Brunch, topped with the diabetic friendly lite syrup (read: gross):

And finally. It's time for the blog cooking challenge on the PPK! I have lots of stuff in store for this weekend, but I made the Tempeh Helper on Tuesday. It's fast and filling. I didn't think it was close to the original taste-wise (which is ok with me!) but when I reheated the leftovers, I was taken back to a dark place; a place where my then-boyfriend requested Hamburger HELL almost every night. A place where I gained a million pounds.


I've just about set my Thanksgiving menu in stone. In addition to the family get together (in which I will have to bring my own food) I'm holding a vegan dinner the Saturday after. I'm greatly anticipating the feast.