Chewnola and New Recipes

I found my Chewnola stash today that I kept on hand for Rusty. It isn't that Nim won't enjoy them, but they were really special for Rusty. It gave something for Nim to work on and relax while I tried two new recipes.I figure it is time to interrupt the several straight weeks of quinoa variations.

One recipe was the Daily Garnish Cranberry Orange Lentil Quinoa Loaf. (Note the quinoa). I know my mom reads my blog so my apologies for this next statement but it has taken me this long to even try any form of a vegan loaf because I never liked meatloaf. Now in fairness, I don't think it had anything to do with mom's meatloaf. I think it is because I just didn't like meat (declaring myself vegetarian in high school was no real hardship for me).

For some reason I have been in the mood to try one and with some modifications, I figured this one would work.

First off, for the amount of fruit I eat, there are still places I don't think fruit belongs and I am pretty sure any type of loaf is one such place (although MANY recipes out there would disagree with me).

So my version has no cranberries and no orange juice. I still haven't purchased chia seeds so I used my standard Ener-g Egg Replacer, and I used sweet potato instead of carrot.

You will also note that my version didn't fit in a loaf pan. I have no idea why. It probably is not going to set up super loaf like, but that could be my mix or the egg replacer. Since it taste really good I don't particularly care.

A lot of recipes put some sort of tomato paste on the top. I decided to use some spaghetti sauce I had opened anyway (obviously fruit salsa was NOT happening) for this next recipe...

I have officially finally tried a recipe with polenta! My other recipe was Chocolate-Covered Katie's Vegan Polenta Casserole.

First off I realized I didn't have a clue how to make or work with polenta. It was messy, but I figured it out. I had 3 cups of boiling water and added 1 cup of polenta mixed with 1 cup of cold water which I added to the boiling. Then I just waited not really knowing what was supposed to happen. Eventually it turned into a thick porridge which honestly I could have eaten right there and that is what I poured in the pan.

My modifications to her recipe was basically yellow miso for the soy sauce (great substitute in my opinion for this recipe) and my vegetable mix was slightly different in quantity and type: bunch spinach, bunch kale, zucchini, mushroom, frozen bell pepper mix, onion, garlic, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I also left out the dill. I don't even own dill. On purpose.

I think both options will freeze well and most importantly bring some variety to my diet which I think I need (I can literally eat the same thing day after day for weeks).

It was a good cooking night. The kitchen was a huge mess and I accomplished trying new recipes with options I haven't tried before like a loaf and polenta.

Thankfully everyone was a little gentle this afternoon.

I brought Nim's food up a bit after realizing a couple of weeks ago that he was just too skinny and I think he is feeling better in general.