Rainbow cupcakes!

These are fabulous, but I can't take the credit for them. I found the website here .

From Food pics

Ingredients:

cake part:
1 white cake mix
12 oz sprite zero
food coloring - the gel kind

Icing:
1 tub fat free cool-whip
1 package fat free vanilla pudding powder.

1. Mix the cake and the sprite. Stir until its not lumpy.

2. Divide evenly into 6 bowls. Color appropriately.

3. Add muffin liners to a muffin tin - I got 12 muffins out of this recipe.

4. Drizzle gobs of cake mix into the cupcake liners in whatever order you want. they won't mix with each other.

5. bake according to package instructions.

6. when they are cool, you can frost them. seriously, you have to wait until they are completely cool. combine the cool whip with the pudding powder, and voila! I also added a tiny bit of food coloring.

Cran-orange muffins

Makes about 8 jumbo muffins

Ingredients:

2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with oil.

2. In a bowl, combine cranberries with hot water. Let them hang out for about 15 minutes.

3. Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside for about 10-15 minutes so it gets nice and curdled.

4. In the meantime, you can mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and all the wet ingredients, sans curdled milk, in another bowl (egg whites are a wet ingredient). Strain the liquid out of the cranberries and add that to the wet ingredients.

5. If the milk is looking pretty curdled, you can add that to the wet ingredients.

6. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet ones - stire well. Fold in the cranberries.

7. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full, and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin (but only if you want to).

8. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. My favorite way to enjoy these is with a little dollop of margarine - yum!

From Food pics

From Food pics

(by the way, you can totally tell that I took these pictures and not ej.)

Super Loaded Pasta

This is uber healthy, and tasty.

Pasta sauce:
3 cups tightly packed spinach
1 large bunch asparagus
1/2 of an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup reduced-fat grated cheddar cheese
3 tbsp ground flax seed
2 tbsp flour
2 veg bullion cubes
salt, pepper, to taste

1 package whole wheat pasta (i used linguini)

1. cut up asparagus and put in boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.

2. Turn the heat on the water off and add spinach for 30 seconds - just enough for the spinach to wilt.

3. Drain the vegetables and transfer to a blender. Add onion, garlic and flax seeds.

4. in a saucepan, pour milk and add crumbled veg bullion. Whisk until cube is dissolved and turn heat to high. Add flour and whisk until there are no lumps. Stop whisking and wait for the milk to boil. The second it boils, turn the heat to low and whisk constantly until it thickens, about 2-4 minutes.

5. Turn heat off, add grated cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.

6. Transfer everything to a blender, add salt and pepper, and puree.

7. Cook the past in salted water (you can start this earlier) and toss with pasta sauce. I added raisins and pine nuts to the sauce with the pasta, but if you don't care so much about being fat free, i bet feta cheese would be great with this.

From Food pics

From Food pics

Low fat shepherd's pie

This was awesome! It was one of those dishes that ej tastes, gets a huge grin, and slaps me a high five, saying "nice job!"

Ingredients:

Mashed potato topping:
3 large idaho potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 egg whites
1 tsp garlic powder and onion powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Faux meat:
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups frozen peas
1 can corn kernels

Gravy:
1 cup fat free milk
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 veg bullion cubes
2 tsp soy sauce
few drops liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Boil chopped potatoes in salted water until tender (about 15 minutes). I left the skins on them, but if you prefer to peel them, do that before you boil.
2. In the meantime, saute the garlic in a non stick skillet with a little spray oil. Saute for 30 seconds to a minute, then add onions. Saute until the onions are translucent.
3. Add frozen faux hambruger crumbles. My preference are Morningstar. I bet this would be awesome with chopped seitan, though.
4. When meat has thawed, add carrots and saute for about 5 more minutes, or until the carrots are tender.
5. Remove from heat and add the peas and corn. The peas can still be frozen.
6. By this time, the potatoes should be done. Strain them and put in a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients for the mashed potato topping and stir well. Taste to see if more garlic, onion powder, salt or pepper should be added.
7. Make the gravy. In a saucepan, add milk, crumbled veg bullion cubes, soy sauce and liquid smoke. Stir well. Turn the heat on high and add the flour and whisk it in. Watch for it to boil, and the second it starts boiling, turn the heat to low and whisk without stopping until it thickens (2-4 minutes). If it never thickens, you can add a little more flour and try again.
8. Once you get your gravy to the desired consistency, add the grated cheese (you could sub any other type of cheese you want, or leave it out. I bet cheddar would be really good). Stir until the cheese is melted.
9. Combine the gravy with the faux meat and stir well.
10. Spray a baking dish with oil. I used a large pie plate, but a casserole dish would be fine. Add the faux meat and spoon the potatoes over the top, spreading evenly.
11. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes at 350. Turn the broiler on and bake for another 8-10 minutes, until the potatoes start to brown. Mine hadn't browned after 10 minutes, so I transferred it to the top oven rack and baked for another 5. Then it was perfect.

From Food pics

From Food pics

Sort-of-saag paneer with dal

These dishes are actually really easy and really tasty - and really easy to veganize! I was especially pleased with the way the saag turned out. EJ and I ate it over basmati rice with some frozen naan that we keep on hand. These recipes are modified from the Happy Herbivore blog - my all time favorite food blog. Check her out.

Saag

Ingredients
1 small white or yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
1 tsb fresh grated ginger root
1 tbsp garam masala spice blend
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp coriander
cayenne powder, to taste
salt, pepper
3-4 cups tight packed fresh spinach
1/4 cup low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
(to veganize this, sub the above two ingredients for vegan cream cheese, vegan yogurt, or even a little soy milk).

1. Saute onion and garlic in water until the onion is translucent
2. Add all the spices, including the ginger, and saute an additional 2 minutes
3. Add spinach, saute on low until the spinach is completely wilted.
4. Add cream cheese, stirring frequently, just until the cream cheese melts.
5. Remove from heat, add cottage cheese, and pulse in a blender until spinach is chopped (just a couple of pulses - you don't want to puree it).
6. Taste it - you might want to add some garlic powder, ginger powder, or more garam masala (my favorite spice blend).



Dal

Ingredients

1 small white or yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp tumeric
1/4 cup water
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp garam masala
cayenne powder, to taste
1/4-1/2 cup diced tomatoes
2 cups veg broth
1/4 cup lentils
1/4 cup raisins

1. Saute the onion and garlic in water until the onion is translucent.
2. Add spices, except garam masala, and saute for an additional 2 minutes (add more water if needed)
3. Add tomatoes (can use tomato sauce), broth, lentils, and bring to a boil. Bring heat down to low, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove cover, add raisins, and keep on low heat for an additional 3-4 minutes.
5. Serve with basmati rice and a dollop of greek yogurt!

From Food pics