Pasta Fazool

Here's a vegan dish that the kids would eat - pasta fazool. There are many recipes. The one I chose uses canned beans and mostly ingredients that you can keep on the shelf. It's a recipe that you can vary to fit what you have around.

One tip: leave out the pepper, a frequent turnoff for my kids at least. You can easily add pepper at the table from the pepper shaker - easy peasy.

It goes well with some Italian bread, or even cornbread.

Sweet Potato Fries

This meal worked out well:


Trader Joe's Sweet Potato French fries (baked)

Green beans

Fruit salad

Fake chicken nuggets - you know the kind



Everyone liked it and it was very simple to prepare, also healthy.

Veggie Tacos

1 package Morningstar Farm Recipe Crumbles
1 packet MILD powdered taco seasoning
8oz shredded Mexi-cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Taco Shells
MILD salsa

Cook recipe crumbles and taco seasoning in a sauce pot, adding water enough for a good consistency - maybe a cup. Chop up lettuce and tomatoes into small bits. Put out the shells, fake meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes in bowls to make a buffet. Make sure to use mild taco seasoning, as kids don't (usually) like hot, and make sure your taco shells are fresh. They don't last long and taste really bad when stale. Serve with mild salsa.

Sloppy Joes

1 package Morningstar Farms frozen Recipe Crumbles
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 envelope Sloppy Joe flavoring
1 cup water
Toast

Put the crumbles (ground beef substitute), tomato paste, flavoring and water into a pot and heat it up until almost boiling. While it's heating up, toast your bread. Apply the joe to the toast. What could be easier? Serve with a side salad and some fruit.

Enchilada Pie

Cedarlane Three-Layer Enchilda Pie goes down pretty good with my family. It's a little spicy for our youngest, but she will usually eat it, and the rest of us like it very much. I just microwave it. I accompany it with some fruit, maybe a potato dish, and a salad.

The Vegan Family Cookbook

The publisher of the Vegan Family Cookbook sent me a free review copy. So it's about time I posted a review, eh? Well it's a very nice cookbook, vegan obviously, laid out one recipe per page. Tonight I made the Biscuit Casserole Stew. It took me about 45 minutes. Our son Bobby liked it pretty well, but our daughter Stacia was in some kind of mood and refused to even taste it. Us adults liked it very much. It's an unusual dish (to me at least) wherein you make a hearty veg stew, pour it in a baking dish and top it off with biscuit dough, then bake.

It's a worthwhile cookbook to have, esp. if you are a vegan family. I myself often depend on cheese sauces to make the meal a hit with the kiddies. There are fine recipes in this book and I'm sure I will be trying more of them.

Bean and Cheese Burritos

• Flour tortillas
• Can of refried beans (vegetarian)
• Shredded Mexi-cheese
• Canned peas
• Blueberries

Empty the beans into a saucepan and add a little water, just enough so you can stir it. Heat up peas in another (small) pan. Warm up a tortilla on both sides in an ungreased non-stick skillet. Spoon a line of beans across the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold into burrito shape. Serve with peas and berries when the cheese is melted.

Tofu & Mashed Potatoes

• BBQ tofu from PCC
• 3 large potatoes
• 4 tbs butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Small can of Veg-all
• Fruit (what have you)

Peel and halve the potatoes. Boil them for 35 minutes and drain. Mash them and add butter, milk and salt. Mix them with an electic mixer until smooth. I get the barbecued tofu already made from our local co-op and just heat it up in the microwave.

Quesedillas

• Flour tortillas (soft taco size)
• Shredded Mexican cheese
• Red & green lettuce
• Fruit cocktail

Get a non-stick frying pan nice and hot at medium heat on the stove. Put a tortilla in it and warm, flipping once. Sprinkle cheese on one side of it and fold in two. Press down with spatula. Cook until the cheese melts, flipping once or twice. Cut into four little pie-shaped pieces. Serve with mild salsa. Serve the lettuce plain or with raspberry vinaigrette.

Mac & Cheese

• Macaroni & Cheese (the classic Kraft box with powdered yellow cheese)
• Green beans
• Fresh fruit - what have you
• Goldfish or other crackers
  

Cook the mac & cheese according to the directions on the box. I use whole milk and butter. Heat the green beans, which Bobby loves. I know it's a cliché but it's still a very kid friendly and easy meal.

Pasta

• Pasta (rotini, farfalle or other fun and easy type - not spaghetti, too messy)
• Marinara sauce (from a jar) with Morningstar recipes crumbles (fake meat) mixed in
• California vegetables (frozen) - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
• Fresh fruit - grapes, melon, bananas, whatever you have

Boil the pasta 10 minutes - kids don't like al dente. Mix some crumbles in the sauce and heat. Put veggies and a little water in a saucepan and heat. Stacia likes her pasta and sauce separate. Put salt and butter on veggies and toss before serving.