HippieMommy

posted by amanda on Dec 17

Sauce
6 ounces tomato sauce or 6 ounces tomato paste with desired seasonings

Cheese filling
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg

Crust
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls, (8-oz.)
2 slices mozzarella cheese, (7×4-inch)
1 tablespoon milk (optional)

1. Heat oven to 375F. In small bowl, combine all cheese filling ingredients; blend well. Unroll one package of dough onto a cookie sheet. Press the dough into a rectangle, sealing all of the seams.

2. Spoon half of the tomato sauce to within 1 inch of the sides. Spoon cheese filling over tomato sauce; spoon remaining tomato sauce evenly over cheese mixture. Arrange mozzarella cheese slices over tomato sauce.

3. Place second roll of dough on top. Press 1″ of the sides together all around. Seal any seams. Brush with milk, if desired.

4. Bake at 375F. for 23 to 27 minutes or until deep golden brown.

*Meat eaters can brown 1/2 lb. pork sausage and 1/2 lb. ground beef and add it to the tomato sauce

posted by amanda on Dec 17

Baked Ziti

1 quart prepared spaghetti sauce, divided
1 lb. ricotta cheese
½ cup parmesan cheese
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
1 lb. ziti pasta, slightly under cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 9×13 or 2- 8 inch square baking pans or 3- 8×6 rectangular pans. (I usually freeze one or two.)

In a large bowl, completely combine 2 cups of sauce, ricotta, parmesan, and 1 cup mozzarella. Stir in ziti.

Spread 1 cup of sauce in bottom of your pan. Spread ziti mixure on top of sauce. Spread last cup of sauce on top of ziti mixture. Sprinkle top with rest of mozzarella.

Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown around the edges.

This recipe freezes wonderfully! After cooling the ziti pans, either cover them with foil, or use Pyrex pans with lids and stick the lid on there. You can then pop them in the freezer. When you decide to cook them, you can either cook them frozen (this will increase cooking time) or defrost them and then cook them for the same time as the original recipe called for. If your ziti dries out, add a little extra sauce to add some moisture. I have also microwaved the ziti, and it still tastes good!

posted by amanda on Dec 17

1 cup elbow macaroni (I use more like 1/2 - 2/3 a box)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 dash pepper
1 1/4 cups milk
6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
bread (about 5-10 slices)

Cook macaroni in unsalted water until tender, but firm.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour and pepper. Add milk all at once. Stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Add cheese. Stir until melted. Stir in cooked macaroni and pour into casserole.

Cut the bread into cubes. Melt enough butter to coat the bread. Toss the bread in the butter. Sprinkle on top of mac and cheese. Top with paprika, if desired (I usually don’t, but my family does).

Bake in a 350 oven for 25-30 minutes, or until it is bubbly and the bread is slightly browned.

posted by amanda on Dec 17

I have been a vegetarian off-and-on since 1992, and I have found that its easy for me to get stuck in a rut when it comes to my meal planning. Before I know it, I’m only eating a few different meals. I thought I’d go ahead and post some of my lunchtime favorites. If you have any, please feel free to comment and add them on!

Make Ahead Lunch Wraps
Summery Tomato Pasta Salad
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Peanut Butter and Banana
Baked Beans on Toast or Cornbread
Vegetable Soup
Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese
Nachos with guacomole and tons of fresh veggies
Pizza
Pinto Bean Pasta Salad (Pintos, tomatoes, pasta, corn, cauliflower, broccoli - whatever is in your pantry, basically) with Italian dressing on top
Peanut Spaghetti
Yellow rice with black beans
Deviled Eggs
Chickpea “chicken” salad in a pita

For more ideas, check out this amazing site: The Vegan Lunchbox

posted by amanda on Jun 25

Ahhh, yet again I am vegetarian. I am so fickle with this! I feel really good today though, and I always prefer the way that I feel when I’m veg. I also hate it when I start back up on meat, and yet I do it. The same thing happens with sodas. They don’t even taste good when I go back to drinking them, and yet I do it from time to time. I’m so silly.

For lunch I made Spaghetti with Peanut Sauce from vegweb. I love that site! The recipes are soooo good! For breakfast I had eggs and toast and then for dinner I had a salad and yellow rice with black beans. The black beans were organic and from Wild Oats and were REALLY yummy.

I’m almost done with my scarf that I’m knitting. I need to get batteries for my digital camera so that I can post pics. I’m very proud of myself!

I had a bit of a panic attack last night, and I don’t know why. I wasn’t even worried about anything. This morning I did my ashtanga yoga and I felt better. I did a modified primary series, and I was definitely more relaxed by the end. I’m just frustrated that it happened since it had been about a month since it last happened. It seems to be related to my hormonal cycles. (sigh) Its very annoying.

M and J are doing great. They are growing up so quickly. Today J started saying “Uh Oh!”, which is really cute. She still says f*ck instead of “flag”, and it keeps catching me off guard when she screams it out, lol. She really makes a hard “k” sound at the end, so its really jarring to hear! We were in line at Chick-fil-A the other day and the cashier was going on about how beautiful J is (grin) and then J yells “F*CK!” and points. The girl and I both looked shocked and then I saw they had a huge American flag hanging in the back of the store. LOL. Its really embarassing. She’s done it a few times here at the house and I’ve whipped my head around, thinking she was cussing, only to see her pointing at a flag, lol.

Well, on that note, I’m off to finish my knitting! Good night