Sweet & Spicy Lentil Chili ... Tomato Soup

Another quick post... have been so busy with unpacking from the move and the upcoming holidays, but I really want to make the effort to post and get back into a blogging groove. Please bear with me with these briefs posts I've done lately.

Both of these dishes were crockpot meals from the book, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. I really enjoyed the Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili... my hubby, not so much. He didn't care for the lentils. He said he preferred my regular vegetarian chili. I would make this again though, even if I'm the only one who eats it... more for me, more for me! Muhahahahah! ;-p The Tomato Soup was supposed to be pureed and poured over Israeli couscous. I had the couscous but I'm such a sucker for elbow macaroni noodles in tomato soup that we chose to add those instead. And, my hubby wanted it chunky, not pureed. So, there you go. We both enjoyed this recipe though. Both dishes were perfect this week during the cold weather we've been having lately... winter is definitely here in my neck of the woods!

Jamaican Veggies with Spicy Chik'n

Tried to keep it simple last night. My local market had fresh veggies cheap this week, so I bought a lot. I decided to chop up peppers, eggplant, onion, yellow squash, zucchini and sunflower seeds and sautee them. I used a Jamaican seasoning blend I found here. Funny story behind that. I made some homemade seasoning blends for my Daddy-O for his birthday. I had tiny amounts left over from each batch, so I put them in sandwich baggies, figuring I could use them down the road. Well, the next night, when I had finished cutting up a yellow pepper for a salad I was taking to work the next day, I realized that in my haste, I tossed the half cut pepper into the baggy with the Jamaican spice blend, instead of the empty baggy just a few inches away. D'oh! Therefore, last night's dinner became Jamaican so I could use that half pepper with the spice all over it. :) I served the veggies over a Boca Spicy Chik'n patty (have I mentioned how much I love the spicy patties?) for a quick, delicious veggie meal!

Hot and Spicy Shake N Bake Tofu

Double post today, because I feel so bad about not posting in such a long time. Tonight, I made myself this tasty dish--Shake N Bake Tofu over Brown Rice. Now, I kinda cheated cuz I didn't actually bake it... I fried it. But, next time I most definitely WILL bake it. This is the second time I've tried Shake N Bake with tofu, and it tastes great, but when frying it, I find that some of the crunchy flavoring tends to fall off quite easily. :-/

Anyhoo, for this recipe, I simply marinated some tofu slices in Italian dressing... then I coated the slices with Shake N Bake Hot and Spicy. Fried those up in a little bit of Olive Oil. While doing that, I fried up some day-old brown rice, and a frozen mix of peppers and onions. Combined it all together and... YUM! I really enjoyed this. I don't like my food too spicy, and this was just right in my book. :)