Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A RAINY TRAVEL DAY AND RECIPES TO SHARE – REDDING, CALIFORNIA

Time to unhookOh my gosh!  Sunshine!  Those were my thoughts when we arose at 7 am and opened the shades.  Clouds were in the sky, but sun shone in our big front windshield.  We indulged on our morning routine of tea and computing, spending much less time than usual on email and FB since we since we wanted to head out around 10 am.

By 9 am it was sprinkling, and at 9:30, it was pouring rain with hail mixed in!  We unhooked from the utilities, brought in the slides, bid our friends adieu, and hooked up Jules in pelting rain as thunder rolled over our heads.  Odel got soaked early on, and I was drenched by the time we finished the brake and light checks.

Hurray for a motorhome!  We jumped inside, deployed the bedroom slide for easy access to the closet and changed into warm, dry clothes.  Hurray for a dryer!  We loaded the wet jeans, socks and shirts in, settled into our seats up front, and headed off into the storm, running in and out of rain until we arrived in Redding. 

IMG_1660Our 200 mile drive gave me a chance to type up a couple of recipes to share.  My friend Bobbie Chapman (Chappy Trails) is cutting back on her meat consumption these days, but has struggled a bit with her menus since her husband Jim likes meat.  With many vegetarians in my extended family, we work around this challenge frequently.  My solution?  Make recipes that work as a side dish for a carnivore and as a main dish for a vegetarian.  Serve with a bit of meat, chicken or fish – or not – and everyone is happy.  Here are a few recipes in that category:

I’ve had the Honey Lentils recipe for a long time; I made it for our Memorial Day BBQ and when Donna saw it in the photo, she asked for the recipe.  Made in the crockpot, it’s a filling entrée for a vegan or vegetarian, and is a satisfying side for grilled steak or lamb.  The leftovers are even better.  Too bad the recipe doesn’t include nutritional information - there oughta’ be a law!  Though the recipe calls for honey, I substitute agave syrup – better for any diabetics at your table.

Cabbage Casserole is a new recipe for me.  I had 3/4 of a head of cabbage in the produce drawer and wanted to make something other than slaw, cabbage soup or sautéed cabbage.  I found this recipe on Sparkpeople, a great source for healthy eating that I consult frequently these days.  The casserole (cabbage, carrots and onions briefly sautéed, then baked in a light cheese custard) is light and mild (4 Points Plus per serving for those of you on WW), delicious with salmon.  We reheated leftovers for breakfast this morning; yum.

Heading for the ElksBoth recipes have been added to the archive.  And, here is one more, this one a link to the Food.com website so you can print or save it yourself.  Lemony Chickpea Stir-Fry is vegan, made with tofu as a protein.  It includes garbanzo beans, a favorite of mine, and here they are sautéed until they are “deeply golden and crusty”.  OMG, those were delicious.   The tofu, on the other hand was (as usual) bland. 

I found the dish close to delicious, but plan to change it next time by replacing the tofu with additional garbanzo beans.  I also will cut the amount of olive oil in half, which will lower the WW points from 5 to something more like 3 per serving.  The lemony flavor is delightful, and this made a nice side dish for Odel’s baked Panko Crusted Tilapia, which we buy frozen at Costco (bakes to a crispy crust in 18 minutes).

As I’ve finished up this post, rain has returned to Redding, where we are settled in at the Redding Elks Lodge (read our review from May 2009 here).  I’ve got leftover Posole, one of our favorites, for dinner… time to heat and eat.

13 comments:

  1. Ran here in Los Gatos on and off all day. Hard to believe it is June!

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  2. That sunny weather has got to be coming to your area someday. It is June after all. I just may have to try some of those recipes. If I ever decide to cook again. LOL

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  3. Thanks for the interesting recipes Laurie! I cut nearly all meat from my diet over a year ago and have been trying to expand my horizons more with different meal options --particularly for the crock pot. Can't wait to give the Honey Lentils a try!

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  4. Thank you so much for the recipes!! When they come from you, I know they'll be good!!
    Donna

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  5. Thanks, Laurie, for the recipes!!! I'll definitely try them. Luckily I like a lot of the vegetarian stuff like chickpeas, tofu and yogurt. Jim continues to be supportive, but said this morning "woman time for a piece of meat", as I have been serving veggie spaghetti, pea soup, jambalaya, and trout the last meals. So today he gets a steak and me a big salad. Thanks again, I think I'm getting the hang of meal preparation now.

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  6. We must have been on the same channel when blogging..I posted a couple recipes that we use all the time...Thanks for yours!!
    Dennis belongs to the Moose Lodge and lots of them have RV parking too..Moose, Elk, ..if you are part of a "large animal" organization, you get some benefits, eh??

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  7. I had Chinese tenants for a year in my rental house. They would fry strips of tofu in a touch of oil with soy sauce and garlic cloves. It was very good. ~Susie Smeal~

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  8. Susie, I have some great tofu recipes... and they ALL involve reasonably heavy seasoning (except for my chocolate pudding recipe!). My favorite way to eat tofu is to drain and press it, then marinate it in any number of good marinades (soy and garlic - yum) and bake it. So savory! Or smush it up, season with chili podwer and cumin, mix it with green onions and cashews and use it as an enchilada filling. So many ways to use it - but "plain" in a stir fry is not one of my favorites.

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  9. Hi Laurie,

    You might want to check out Kim Miles and her blog "Taking the Long Way Home." She is a Vegan and posts lots of meatless recipes. Her quinoa tamale pie looks delicious. She is no longer fulltiming so some of her more recent recipes may not be RV friendly but could probably be easily adapted. Here is a link to her blog. http://www.longwayhomeblog.com/

    I'm so glad that Odel is recovering nicely and that your allergy is getting better.

    Happy Travels,
    Pam

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  10. You can dry your clothes driving down the road?!? Wow! How do you do that? Run the generator?

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  11. Nice cabbage recipe! I'm always looking for new stuff to do w/ cabbage. Happy you guys have sun again!
    Nina

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  12. Hurry up and get to Oregon fast! The sun is shining and supposed to be that way for a few days in the future.

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  13. Barbara and Ron: We didn't run the dryer while driving, but it certainly would be possible with the generator on. We just waited until we set up camp, then turned it on.

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