What's For Dinner?

Mushroom Crepes

Someone asked me the other day if I eat bread on this diet. The short answer is Yes!

But that got me thinking: which is harder, going without meat or going without bread?

I tried a no-wheat-product, mostly-meat diet awhile back and the first few days I did great. I felt better and lost a few pounds. Of course, I also quit drinking soda at the same time and I always lose a few pounds just by doing that.

I found that there were lots of choices with meat and that I could still eat sausage and bacon and chicken and taco meat, which I love, but it was so hard to stay away from English muffins, waffles, sandwiches, muffins, pretzels, brownies (the list goes on and on ...). Not that I eat a lot in the way of cupcakes or cookies, but I do enjoy one now and again.

Now that I am eating a mostly vegetable and fruit diet, I stay away from meat but I can eat all those things I listed above and more! I went out to lunch with my kids and got an avocado, tomato, lettuce sandwich on sweet French sourdough bread. Mmmm. It was marvelous. So marvelous that we went out to lunch at the same place twice more. If I had been on the meat diet, I would have had to go without most of that sandwich. And then I’d have eaten more fat and felt less full. And I would have felt gross as well. Meat seems to make you sluggish and slow.

I actually feel like I have a lot of freedom on this diet plan. I can still eat my delicious snacks when I want. And I can have a cookie or something sweet once in awhile without feeling guilty! The funny thing is, I don’t really want to eat junk food so much. I have naturally quit craving it!

I have found ways to make yummy things like muffins and substitute healthier ingredients (see recipe in my 3/28/14 post and  also on my recipe blog: chefmamanise.blogspot.com).

And I don’t really have to do those substitutions, that was just extra. If you want to go vegan, you can use the substitutions. If you are still using dairy in your diet, you don’t have to. But one of the things you can do either way to make it healthier is to add 1/4 cup white bean puree to the wet ingredients. It sounds crazy but it doesn’t even make it taste any different at all! (Just make sure the beans are all pureed; you don’t want to find one in your muffin like my daughter did.) This adds protein to your muffin without having to gag down a bunch of beans. (I know I’m rather hard on legumes, but I really am coming to like them a bit more.)

So for those of you who are looking for a new recipe, here’s what we did for dinner:

Mushroom Crepes with Alfredo Sauce

Crepes:  (vegan subs in parentheses)

1 1/2 cups milk (1 1/2 cups rice, almond or soy milk)

2 eggs (see egg substitute chart)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbl olive oil

1 1/4 cup flour

3 Tbl sugar (omit when making savory crepes like these)

1/8 tsp salt

Mix milk, eggs, vanilla and oil. Sift together flour and salt, then add to milk mixture.

Heat an 8 or 10 inch pan. Spray with oil, if needed.

Pour 1/4 cup mixture into hot pan and spread around by tilting pan until it forms one large cake.

Cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes, or until sides begin to brown.

Remove from pan.

Creamy Mushroom Filling:

2 Tbl butter (olive oil)

1 1/4 pound mushrooms

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbl flour

3/4 cup half & half (1/2 cup rice milk plus 2 Tbl flour, mixed)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3 tsp parsley flakes or 3 Tbl freshly chopped parsley

Melt 1 Tbl of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add mushrooms and salt. Cook, stirring frequently until mushrooms are browned, about 10 minutes.

Stir in rosemary. Transfer mushrooms to a glass bowl and return the skillet to medium heat.

Melt remaining butter. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.

Stir in half & half, stirring until thickened. Return mushrooms to skillet and stir in nutmeg and parsley.

Topping:

Since I didn’t have anything else, I used Alfredo sauce from a jar. You could also use some kind of gravy (using a vegetable broth base) or whatever else sounds good to you.

For lunch, Lee made a salad, as usual, but he made up his own dressing.

Lee’s Salad Dressing

(Makes about 2 servings)

2 Tbl olive oil

1 Tbl balsamic vinegar

1 Tbl red wine vinegar

Ground fresh pepper corn, to taste

Pinch ground cayenne pepper

Pinch chili powder

Dash Italian seasoning

Let me know if there are any recipes you are interested in learning. I am finding new things all the time!

Hugs and cheers!

Denise