Zucchini and Carrots by Steph

1-1/4 cup olive oil
2 carrots, jullienned
3 small zucchini, julienned
4 cloves garlic, crushed with salt
blackpepper or aleppo pepper

Heat the oil and add the carots. Saute, tossing for 2 minutes. Cover and simmer for 3 additional minutes. Increase the heat and add the zucchini and the garlic. Stir-Fry for about 4 minutes, vegables are crisp-tender. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper.

Posted by Steph

Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas by Bob

Inspired by Stacey's recent veggie post I decided to try something veggie myself. Since we are broke, and I also want to buy meats from local farmers I have been trying to convince Jovan we should cut back on meat. This hasn't been easy, but the best way to do it is just cook the meal!! He really liked it but did say "just a little chicken added and it would be perfect." With a sly grin on his face.

Here it goes:

1 pkg dry black beans (seasoned to taste)
1 can of corn (or fresh/frozen corn)
1 block cheddar cheese (i only used half but the more cheese the better)
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 jalapeno
1 tomato
2 cloves garlic
corn tortillas
enchillada sauce

Cook the black beans early, and season them to taste. I added salt, pepper, cumin, bean seasoning and taco seasoning. Also threw in a couple of whole garlic cloves crushed. When black beans are about done add the corn. In a separate pan saute onion, green pepper, jalapeno, tomato and garlic in a pan. Add this to your black beans.
Begin cooking corn tortillas (as Steph says in a previous post it helps to but a couple of drops of water on them). Fill each tortilla with cheese and them bean mixture and line the bottom of a pan. Sprinkle cheese on top and add enchilada sauce. I used a green enchilada sauce from a jar. It had fewer unidentifiable ingredients in it that the canned ones. Bake on 350 until cheese is melted.
It was yummy :) Jovan clearly liked it since he at about 8 enchiladas. I had two and was stuffed!

Vegetarian Recipe Links -- by Stace

We have been eating vegetarian meals on weekdays for about two weeks. We tend to eat a lot of our meat on the weekends, so it has made sense to try and find new ways to prepare veggies and beans for during the week.

We only order 5 lbs of local grassfed beef per month, but lately it seems like we buy other easy things like hot dogs if we are too busy to cook. We do not want to spend money on bad meat from the grocery store, so we are trying to find inexpensive, healthy veggie meals for weeknight dinner.

Here are the recipes I am using this week:

Monday: Egyptian Edamame Stew (went over well -- Boddhi did not eat it, but I saved him some brown rice and edamame without the other stuff, and he gobbled it up)
Tuesday: Bean Bolognese (yummy! I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe. It really tastes like a rich pasta dish, and it has no meat - I was full all night -- did not even need a midnight snack. I gave Boddhi some pasta with plain beans, and he enjoyed that).
Wednesday: Creamy Avacado and White Bean Wrap (I will let you know how it turns out, but I am really looking forward to this one!)
Thursday: Eggplant, Mushroom Tomato Casserole (not so excited about this, but I have been wanting to try an eggplant recipe - will let you know).
Friday: Homemade pizza (this one is always a hit with everyone. We use the pizza dough recipe from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters and the kids have fun rolling out the dough and creating their own individual pizza. We do use some of our grassfed beef for the pizzas on occasion, cooked with habanero peppers from the garden --so yummy).

I have also found that if I force myself to commit to a menu plan, I spend so much less at the grocery store. I just buy what I need for my recipes (plus fruit, bread etc.), and I am all set for the week. Weekends are usually casual and unplanned -- I am trying to let Dude and the girls take over on cooking and cleaning during the weekend since they really do not have a lot of time to help during the week, and I end up cleaning up after them all (which is not my job just because I am at home!).

What works for your family?

--posted by Stace