A Giant Cluster

It's Monday, and my brain is set on auto-meal plan.  But then I realized that I lied about sharing a picture of my nephew's cake.  And I had such a success cooking tonight, I wanted to share all of my messy cooking pictures.  So this is a cluster post.  I can't help it.

To begin, two days late...  Duhn, duhn, duhn, duuuuuuuuhhhh.

The Monster Truck Cake!!

I have pictures for a how-I-made-that-craziness post, but I am not even going to promise or give a timeline on that.  Just be pleasantly surprised.

Next, our meal plan for the week is a bit thrown off, because we have started the Daniel Fast.  Every year, before the Men's Conference at our church, leaders and their wives fast.  I was really ticked off about that the first year, and I didn't go into it as positive and supportive as I should have been.  My coffee withdrawals were almost as bad as withdrawals anyone with a drug or alcohol addiction would have.  I. Was. Siiiiick.  But it got better, and I learned a lot.  And I look forward to this time of year, because I know I need to cut back and focus more on God and less on what I want for a snack.

Today is our first day, and while I am giving myself extra time to cut down on caffeine, we are done with meat, dairy, sugar, and all the other wonderful foods that make life easier.  Back to basics and much healthier eating habits. 

A perfect time for quinoa cakes, sans eggs and cheese...

Now, I mentioned quinoa cakes a while ago, but I never gave a link.  I found the recipe online at HealthyChild.org.  Here are some links to other sites I found just Googling quinoa cakes. 

Handle the Heat -------------Whole Foods Market -----------------Dishing up Delights

The coolest thing about them is that they are almost impossible to mess up.  If you look at the recipes at all the sites, they are all slightly different.  My recipe tonight was even crazier.  When I try something new for the first time, I usually stick to the recipe.  But once it works, I let loose.  I can never make the same thing twice, at least not exactly the same way.

My challenge tonight was making these egg and cheese free.  So instead of egg I used refried beans.  Instead of cheese, I went without cheese (sad face).  And instead of white flour, I used maseca (natural corn flour).

I also added black beans for fun.

Here are a few photos of my cooking mess.

They disappeared so fast after I made them, that I didn't get an after picture.  But check out the after pictures at the links above.  They are prettier anyway. 

Most of the utensils, bowls, and dishes you see have been purchased at a garage sale or thrift store.  My favorite of them all, especially for this potentially time consuming project, is my $5 food processor.  I discovered today (I am so duh) that it chops carrots faster and better than any stupid grater.  (I broke the grating attachment on this one).  But I had never tried just chopping carrots with it. Please don't ask me why I hadn't thought of it before.

I am so excited. In fact, I made a triple or maybe quadruple batch of these suckers, I was so excited.

I make enough for our dinner and lunches the next day, and then I freeze the rest in patty form on cookie sheets.  When they are frozen, I Ziploc them up in portions.  I have enough for two more dinners and four more lunches.  Makes my life so much easier on the dreaded days of unpreparedness.

Okay, lastly, meal planning.

Tuesday:  Veggie burgers on thinwiches (ugh, I dislike thinwiches), fruit and salad.
Wednesday:  Bean soup and salad.
Thursday: Potatoes and carrots in the crock pot.  Veggies (more veggies) on the side.
Friday:  Veggie fajitas on tostada shells.

The weekend is undecided.  Probably leftovers!