Masalaa

Okay, so I'm going to do a very brief review of the restaurant I went to with some friends this evening. It's an Indian food restaurant near our home. It's a vegetarian restaurant, and they have a gluten free menu. They have really good food. They have a lot of dishes that you don't normally see - which I love! I love the dosas at Masalaa. They are gluten free. The ones they bring to the table have a potato mixture in them that is fabulous. The first and only time I've ever had tomato chutney was at Masalaa, and their tomato chutney is really good. I get it every time we go. The restaurant lacks a lot in decor, but they make up for it with the taste of the food. It sits in this little strip mall behind a Dairy Queen, and I never even knew it was there until someone told me about it. I definitely recommend it. The friends that I had dinner with were pleased with their food as well.
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The dosas:

Beth's bento

Beth's bento was pretty simple this morning, but she really liked it. I cut up carrots, celery, and apples. I put a container of dressing and a container of peanut butter for dipping. Then I added pickles, yogurt raisins, honey roasted pecans, and a juice.

Molasses and Beans Hot Pot

Okay - apparently I have found a new way to know if you are addicted to blogging! Tonight I ate my dinner, and then realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it to put on my blog, so I filled up my plate again, so I could take a picture. LOL. I made a recipe that I haven't in a while called Molasses and Beans Hot Pot. The original recipe comes from Vegan Delights by Jeanne Marie Martin. I also made a Greek Salad, and that original recipe was given to me by my friend Mirjam. I made some roasted carrots and fried potatoes with it. It was yummy. Here's my modified recipe for the Hot Pot.
2 cups dried pinto beans
1 chunk of kombu
soak the beans overnight, and then cook them until tender and the kombu pretty much dissolves.
Then add:
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup ketchup
4 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1/2 tsp salt
Cook 20-30 minutes over low to med heat until onions are tender.

Here's the salad recipe:
spinach
tomatoes
red onion, thinly sliced (which we didn't have tonight because I forgot to get one at the market!)
marinated artichoke hearts
grated carrots (which I also forgot)
Greek olives
Feta cheese
Dressing:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 of 3/4 cup white wine vinegar (yep - you read that right! LOL!)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/8 cup Bragg Liquid Aminos
ground black pepper
Shake well and pour over salad.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

One thing I have really missed since going gluten free is baking. I used to make everything from scratch, and now I have to completely relearn how to bake. I love this flourless chocolate cake. It is fabulous. It's moist and chocolaty and oh so yummy. Here's the recipe:
1 can of black beans, drained (the original recipe says you can use chickpeas, but I haven't tried that yet)
1/4 cup orange juice
4 eggs
3 ounces chocolate, melted (the original recipes says two ounces, but how could more chocolate be bad? Also, it says to use bittersweet, but I like it with bittersweet or milk chocolate.)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
powdered sugar, for garnish

Put beans and oj in food processor and process until smooth. Add eggs, pulsing after each one. Then add chocolate and pulse again. Add dry ingredients and pulse until just blended. Put in a prepared 8-inch round cake pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool 15 minutes before taking out of pan. Dust with powdered sugar.

Ray's last bento of kindergarten

My Ray is graduating from kindergarten tonight, and I made his last bento lunch of kindergarten today. I packed him two deviled eggs, dried blueberies, baby cut carrots, a dill pickle, chocolate-strawberry pudding, sesame tofu, tortilla chips, rice crackers, soy cheese that spelled "RAY," a chocolate, and a V8.

Cheese Names

The kiddos love to see their names in cheese. Who knew making them happy would be so easy! LOL. Today's lunch was tofu, carrots, soy cheese, a pickle, pudding, Fritos, mangoes, a vile of Bragg, juice, and a bag of Sharkies for Ray.

The Bento That Wasn't!

I made Ray's bento lunch this morning, and it was cute! I cute up veggie dogs and carrots into discs and then put olives and strawberry tomatoes in with them. I cut out "RAY" in soy cheese and put it on the top. Then on the bottom I put veggie booty and cinnamon-raisin rice pudding and gave him a juice to go with it all. It got spilled all over the garage! Gah. Oh well. At least I got a picture of it first!

Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

I have a recipe that I got off the Internet a few years ago called Vegetarian Crockpot Chili. I made that tonight. I cooked it on the stove, and I forgot that I had a green pepper, so I didn't put one in. I put in a yellow onion, two cans of corn (drained), a can of kidney beans (drained), a can of black beans (drained), two cans of chili beans, two cans of stewed tomatoes, taco seasoning, and roasted garlic and peppers. We made Frito pie with it. Everyone ate it up! Well, Louis ate the beans, left the corn, and fed the Fritos to the dogs!!!

octo-dog bento

I finally tried out my new cookie cutters this morning. I spelled Ray's name with white and yellow soy cheese. Ray thought it was pretty cool! Ray's lunch this morning included: two octo-dogs, a vile of ketchup, an olive, veggie booty, a strawberry tomato, two baby cut carrots, dried blueberries, Sharkies, a juice, Fritos, soy cheese cut into "RAY," and grapes.

On a sad note, one of the plates that Beth Ann made busted and had to be thrown away. This is the second one to break, and it's always so sad when it happens. She made this one just a few months after Louis was born. I got a picture of this one, so we could remember it! It was so cute.

Enchilada Casserole

My in-laws are in town, so it's been a little challenging to figure out what to feed them that's vegetarian, gluten-free, and not too weird! Tonight I made Lemony Roasted Potatoes from Veganomicon, an enchilada casserole (corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, chili beans, and cheese), and a green salad. Everyone ate it, so that's good!

Aunt Robin's Taco Salad

When my sister-in-law came to visit once, she taught us how to make a taco salad that my kids love. We have to make it every so often. We used to make it with Morningstar Crumbles and Kuner's chili beans. Unfortunately, both have gluten. So, here is how we make it now: a head of iceberg lettuce chopped up, a bunch of tomatoes chopped up, two cans of gluten free chili beans, a package of soyrizo, Catalina dressing, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips. It is very yummy. Here's a picture.

Finally more pictures

Finally I have more bento lunch pictures. This morning was crazy, but I managed to get Ray and Olivia's bentos packed. I packed them mandarin oranges, gf pretzels, carrots, oat-walnut balls, a chocolate, Sharkies, a juice, and for Ray a piece of soy cheese. Ray also got a banana for snack.

soba noodles

I made a dish called Marilu Henner's cold healthy spicy soba noodles - I think that's what it's called anyway. It's hard to find soba noodles that are strictly made of buckwheat, but Eden makes some. The dish is pretty yummy, and I wish I could post a darn picture of it!!! It has sesame oil, chile oil, tahini, Bragg liquid aminos, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and green onions. I made it with some sauteed tofu, carrots, and grape tomatoes.

Still no pictures

I am so bummed that I still can't post pictures! I packed the kids' bentos today, and they were very cute. I packed them "octodogs," a little bottle of ketchup, grape tomatoes, baby cut carrots, snap pea crisps, mandarin oranges, Sharkies, a chocolate, and a juice for Ray and a smoothie for Beth Ann.

grilled carrots

I made some really yummy grill carrots tonight. I cut up some carrots and put them in a foil packet with some margarine, dried thyme, and dried dill. I grilled them in the foil until they were soft. They were really yummy! I'm definitely going to make them again. I also grilled some zucchini the same way, but of course, I grilled them for a shorter time. They were also good, but I think they needed another spice because they are more bland than the carrots to begin with.

Glutino Frozen Pizza

I don't have a picture today because I can't find the attachment to my camera to download pictures! I had four extra kids at my house on Friday, so I decided to make them all pizza. Kids love pizza! I found a gluten free frozen pizza from Glutino at the health food store. It's pretty good. The crust is a little chewy, but it's not bad. I wasn't crazy about the sauce, but again, it's not bad. All in all - it was a pretty good experiment. It's something I would buy again. My husband finished it off tonight, and he liked it, too.