Wednesday Dinner - Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie with Whipped Parsnip-Potato (June 2)

European Night

Is it just my kids or do all kids and root vegetables not get along? Is it something in their genes?? Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed this variation of Shepherd's Pie, with sweet potatoes, adzuki beans, turnips, carrots and peas, but the kids...well, didn't. I bet they will when they get older. I've learned that children actually are very sensitive to certain taste profiles, especially bitter. My job, as I see it, is to keep exposing their juvenile taste buds to different flavors, and let them figure it out later.

Mission accomplished tonight.

3 out of 5 stars

Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie Recipe 

Tuesday Lunch - Braised Sweet Potato and Cauliflower (June 1)

Braising the vegetables in tomato puree and orange marmalade certainly gave this dish its flavor profile. Adding the black-eyed peas was a good touch because it balanced out the sweetness of the marmalade with some earthiness of the peas. Overall it was pretty good; very easy to make, too - the whole thing took about 20 minutes. I served it with a hearty whole grain slice of bread.

Maybe not a make-again-please-mommy-dish, but definitely worth making it at least once.

3 out of 5 stars

Braised Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Recipe

Thursday Lunch - Udon, Shiitaki and Kale in Miso Broth (May 20)

This dish, from Veganomicon by Moskiwitz and Romero, has been frightening my hubby - in fact, it was supposed to be prepared on Tuesday night. Since the kids aren't feeling well, I decided I would make it.  Well, it turned out to be delicious! I was very happy with it. The kids were not as impressed, however, bringing the rating down to:

3 stars out of 5

Wednesday Dinner - Mushroom Bolognese (May 12)

Wednesday night is Italian/Pasta night.

This was a very quick meal to make - 30 minutes. This recipe required one pound of mushrooms, a small can of tomatoes, and I added spinach and green peppers to boost the nutrition. Alas, the family was so-so about it. You can't win them all!

3 out of 5 stars

Yeah, that's what I thought... the picture in the book looked good, too. This is adapted from Cook's Encyclopedia of Vegetarian Cooking.