Bean dip

My big idea to institute Meatless Mondays at our house was a bust the first Monday I was hip to do it. Mainly because Wayne boycotted my tofu meal idea.

Then last Monday I had volleyball so Wayne decided just to get something for himself.

However, thanks in part to Tami from Meatless Monday, I didn’t give up. We didn’t use one of the yummy recipes we found on there. (Holy cow! You can have a true Meatless Monday the whole day because they have recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Plus snacks!) Maybe next Monday.

But we did pull off a Meatless Monday dinner meal: bean dip.

Sounds more like something you’d find at a party doesn’t it? But Wayne loves it for dinner sometimes. So…since it’s meatless, I agreed to make it for him last night.

Woohoo!

It’s a start…

Last year around this time one of Wayne’s co-workers gave him a Magic Bullet. Well, it was intended for the both of us.

I had just started chemo. I couldn’t eat much. I didn’t feel like eating much. However, I had a hankering for banana shakes. Not with ice cream or anything. Just a simple blend of bananas, milk and a little bit of vanilla sugar.

However, I didn’t always have the energy after whipping up one of my banana shakes to clean out the blender. Wayne was doing most of the dishes at this point.

Along with working his day job, taking care of cleaning cat boxes and walking Murph three times a day, picking up groceries, fixing dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house…I wasn’t able to do much back then. Cleaning out the awkward blender left him belly aching.

Well, his answer was just to throw the parts in the dish washer. But fat lot of good that did me when we weren’t running it every day. I’d have to ask him to help me clean it. (My left arm was useless and trying to do things one-handed drained what energy I had that much faster.)

His co-worker Rosemary had the answer: the Magic Bullet.

I’d seen them on TV and thought they looked neat, but I was wary because it was being peddled in infomercials. Can’t trust what you see on TV and all that.

But Rosemary had bought one and loved it. LOVED IT! She said we absolutely had to have one so she ran out and got us one.

It didn’t take but one use for Wayne to see why Rosemary had been raving. No awkward pieces to clean up anymore!

And he quickly started whipping himself up his own version of Slushies…just juice or Gatorade with some ice. He was making those from the moment he got up until he left for work, and that was among the first things he’d do when he cam home at night.

Yes, we’ve greatly enjoyed the Magic Bullet ever since. It’s a Happily Ever After Small Appliance story.

But I got to watching the infomercial again the other night. They were doing all sorts of things with the Magic Bullet. Including grinding coffee.

Not that I’m a coffee connoisseur. I only drink it occasionally, and always decaf. (It doesn’t seem to upset my tummy like regular coffee often does.)

Anyway, I’ve always wanted to grind my own coffee at home and then brew it. Just to try it. Mostly because anytime I can play with my food I’m on it! Grinding looked fun!

Sure, I can use the grinders in the store. But to have one at home would be neater. Plus, then I could see if it really does brew a fresher cup.

So when I saw that was one of the things we could do, I bought some decaf beans and went hunting for the other blade. (Wayne had stashed all the parts that came with our Magic Bullet because he was the one to unpack it.)

Anyway, I found it PLUS all the other shaker tops and stuff that came with it –which I also saw demonstrated the other night and didn’t even know we had!

WOOHOO! More playing with my food to come!

And how was the grinding process and the resulting cup of Joe? As fun as I’d hoped (maybe even funner) and DELICIOUS!

But to be fair, he might have been more game to give Meatless Mondays a try if I had chosen a different inaugural dish. I was going to make one I love and often make when he’s on the road: stir fry Swiss chard (or spinach, depending on my mood and which looks freshest) and tofu over rice. Yum!

Because I make it spicy (with lots of garlic and a Szechuan sauce), I figured he’d be willing to give it a go.

No.

He can’t get past the tofu. He thinks it’s gross and that he hates it. I can’t get him to remember the time he tried this dish and actually liked it. He was surprised by the flavor and the texture was not at all what he assumed it’d be.

But I could not for the life of me convince him of that Monday.

So, since I hadn’t gone to the store (in part because I feared he’d stage a revolt and I knew if I had other food on hand he’d insist I cook that instead), we had to eat out.

We ended up going to Sushi-O-Sushi up the street and spending $50 (!) on rolls and nigiri. Which, budget-busting as it was, ended up being a lot of fun because we tried new-to-us rolls that were outstanding.

I wish I could remember the names. Something moose and I think Smoky Mountain were two of them. But they had a bunch of interesting combinations we’re excited to go back and try.

One that sounded good to me were some of their fruit rolls. Especially the one with kiwi, strawberry, cream cheese and tuna.

So…bust that it was, Meatless Mondays was not without merit after all!

Image from stock.xchng

My dad gave me a subscription to Woman’s World last year and one of the features I like about it is their menu planning calendars. They’re usually in the back after the recipes. (Though I haven’t seen one of those calendars in a while, come to think of it.)

Anyway, they seem to have theme dinner days. Like Meatless Mondays or Fish Fridays.

I know I need to eat more veggies. I’m HORRIBLE about it.

It’s not that I don’t like veggies. The ones I know how to make I like just fine.

But that’s the trouble. I don’t really know how to fix a lot of veggies, aside from eating them raw, steaming or sauteing them. And to do it the way I know how only makes for a good salad or side dish, not a main course. (Unless I want to make a whole bunch of veggie side dishes and eat them as a main course. I could always do that. Smorgasbord veggies…hmm, it’s a thought.)

And sometimes we do have salad nights. Chef salad. Pasta salad. You get the idea.

But the other day when we went to the Indian buffet I realized there are a lot of items there I like that are vegetarian. Ones I could easily eat as a main course by themselves.

“Maybe you need to make Meatless Mondays more fun. Like trying new recipes and stuff. Somehow inspire yourself by making it a game,” I thought.

It was the inkling of my idea. Which caught fire after I watched the inspiring in more ways than one Julie & Julia….ah, that totally delighted my inner chef.

If you saw it, you know the scene where she fries up slices of bread then tops them with incredible chopped veggies? That looked absolutely scrumptious! I’ve been craving it ever since.

Not that it would make an entire meal, but it got me thinking how that’d be a nice way to add in more veggies. Tasty and healthy and something different. All while experimenting too!

So, I decided last night when I made sliced tomatoes topped with mozzarella and basil leaves drizzled with a balsamic glaze (ORGASMIC!) for my salad, that I’d do like Julie did: use my blog to help me cook.

Although this idea of mine isn’t as grandiose as cooking my way through anyone’s cookbook. I just hope it’ll help make it more fun to see what recipes Wayne and I end up loving enough to make Meatless Mondays a tradition we might carry through to other nights of the week too.

But today it’s overcast, 50s, and with the leaves past-peak, well…the landscape has that late fall/early winter kind of feel to it. Which makes it a perfect day for chili!

I was not a chili person until I started cooking for Wayne. Over the years we’ve tweaked this recipe to suit his penchant for all things hot and spicy –or caliente.

I like it because not only is it yummy, it’s easy, cheap, and only uses 1 pot!

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 tablespoon oil
2. 1 (or 1 1/4) pound ground sirloin
3. 1 can tomato juice (a 32 or 46 ounce can that is)
4. 1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed
5. 1 can white kidney (Cannellini) beans, rinsed
6. 1 can chopped green chilis
7. 1 bunch green onions, chopped
8. Red pepper flakes, to taste
9. Toppings: cheese and sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. On the stove, heat oil in a Dutch oven. (Or other pot large enough to hold all the ingredients.)
2. Add ground sirloin. Season to taste. Cook through.
3. Once the ground sirloin’s cooked, add the tomato juice.
4. Add the rinsed beans, green chilis, green onion, and red pepper flakes. (I probably add about two teaspoons worth. That’s plenty hot for me, but Wayne often adds more in his own bowl! That man of mine likes his food good and spicy!).
5. Let simmer about 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve, add toppings (I’m of course all about the cheese and sour cream; Wayne likes his chili straight), and enjoy!