Woo Hoo, Veggie night a hit!

Well, OK, Nessa pretty much only ate applesauce, but that could happen no matter what else we serve. Shawn, on the other hand even took seconds -- and those that know him know that he was naturally more than a little nervous about "veggie night." :-)

A couple of weeks ago we decided Tuesday nights would become veggie night since it's generally a good night for me to cook. The idea of veggie night was also appealing because we're trying to cut back on our out of control grocery expenses and I thought one of the easiest ways would be to eat less meat (especially since we like the good stuff when we eat meat). When Shawn agreed to try a night w/out meat once a week I figured he was just trying to make sure I would cook supper at least once a week. :-)

Last night was the first night (we were sick last Tuesday). And today I'm enjoying yummy leftovers of:

• Apple Burgers (yum! http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/appleburgers.html)
• Quinoa and Spinach pilaf (http://www.incaorganics.com/Entree&Side.htm) -- YES Shawn took seconds AND it did indeed have spinach in it ... I did modify this a bit by using some balsamic vinegar instead of just the rice vinegar and I think that really gave it more zing and is flavor we prefer.
• Rosemary roasted potatoes (http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1850,144168-239193,00.html -- that recipe is pretty close but I didn't have that much garlic yesterday) This was the safe bet so that Shawn would at least eat something. :-)
• And then of course the applesauce so that Nessa would at least eat something. :-)

Why did I choose those recipes? Well, first and most importantly -- I had the ingredients or enough that it would be close enough (recipes are just suggestions, right?) -- I was determined not to have to run to the store (hence no salad w/ it as we were out of fresh greens and we always have that on other nights anyway), and I also wanted things that I thought had a chance of being enjoyed while being somewhat new and different. Shawn said he didn't want to know ingredients until after he said if he liked it or not. :-)

You may notice there really weren't that many vegetables in our veggie meal. Oh well, it's a start. And if you have any gluten free (or easily adaptable as the apple burgers were) vegan* recipes to share, please do! :-)

Happy End of November!

*I simply use vegan because it's the easiest way to find recipes that have no egg or dairy which I'm allergic to.