Give Them Something Better

Author: Stephanie Howard

Meatless Monday! Eggplant Parmesan
It is time to collect all that wonderful produce from your garden! I am guessing you have too many cucumbers, tomatoes and maybe some eggplant… right. I know our garden is bursting with all kinds of good things so for this months Meatless Monday Supper Club we decided to share some creative ways to use up all of your garden produce.

Our menu included a yummy “Tangled Thai” Salad that we found on Pinterest. A delicious Gazpacho soup, which is simply a cold soup made with lots of those amazing fresh vegetables from the garden. For the main meal we had “Eggplant Parmesan” (the only way I like eggplant!), fresh tomato sauce and Zoodles (that would be zucchini noodles) I cannot even tell you how good it was! A lot of our guests thought it was the best supper club yet!

I am sharing the Eggplant Parmesan recipe with you here but if you would like to receive all the recipes from our monthly supper clubs, sign up for our newsletter In the sidebar and we will send you each months recipes!

Eggplant Parmesan
- Breaded Eggplant (see below)
- 4 cups Tomato Sauce
- 1 pound Angel hair pasta or Zoodles
Serve breaded eggplant on a bed of pasta (or zoodles) and top with your favorite tomato sauce.

Breaded Eggplant
- 2 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch thick slices
  2 cups breading mix (my homemade recipe is below…)
- ½ cup soy mayonnaise
- ¼ to ½ cup water or soymilk
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Mix batter ingredients together in a small bowl; set aside. Place Breading Mix in a shallow dish.
3. Dip eggplant into the batter, then into the breading. Place breaded eggplant onto prepared baking sheet.
4. Lightly spray the tops of the eggplant with non-stick cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes on each side, or until browned and crispy.
October 2, 2014
Easy Homemade Refrigerator Pickles
Re-Posting this recipe for those of you who saw us on 3ABN today!

Now that grilling and picnic season has arrived we need something extraordinary to top those burgers. My favorite thing is homemade pickles. I love homemade pickles…however I’m not a huge fan of canning. So these refrigerator pickles are perfect! They are quick, easy and way better than the kind you buy at the grocery store.

I like to give my homemade pickles a milder flavor by using lemon juice instead of vinegar in the brine. They come out nice and tart but without a strong vinegar flavor!

For Meatless Monday Supper Club this month I made the Black Bean Burgers from last week and we topped them with these yummy pickles.

Bread And Butter Refrigerator Pickles
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup honey or other sugar
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper (optional)
- 3 tablespoons canning or kosher salt
- 4 slices bell pepper
- 4 slices onion
- 8 cups sliced cucumbers
1. Place lemon juice, water, honey, celery seed, turmeric, cayenne and salt in a medium sized saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the salt and honey dissolve.
2. Place 2 slices of onions and 2 slices bell pepper in the bottom of 2 wide-mouth canning jars and fill with as many sliced cucumbers as you can fit in each jar.
3. Carefully pour the liquid mixture in the jars, completely covering the cucumbers.
4. Put the lids on and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Lemon Dill Refrigerator Pickles
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup canning or kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 thick slices onion
- 2 tablespoons dill weed or dill seed
- 8 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
1. Mix water, lemon juice, and salt together.
2. Place 1 clove of garlic, 1 slice of onion and 1 tablespoon of dill seed in 2 wide-mouth canning jars. Fill with as many cucumbers as you can fit in the jar.
3. Carefully pour the liquid mixture into the jars, completely covering the cucumbers.
4. Put the lids on and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
TIP: Regular table salt works okay too, it will just make the liquid cloudy.

TIP: If you don’t have jars, mix in a glass bowl. Just make sure the cucumbers are under the brine (water and lemon mixture).
September 16, 2014
Pinspiration! Single Serve Blueberry Muffin
My favorite son is heading off to college at the end of the month! He will be living in a dorm, with only a microwave and a mini refrigerator to prepare some of his meals. What can you cook in a microwave? Apparently you can cook a lot more than I thought. How about blueberry muffins?

I saw a recipe for microwaved blueberry muffins on Chocolate Covered Katie’s site and decided to give it a try. They are completely dairy free! And although they are not much to look at, they are amazingly…surprisingly…unbelievably good! With just a couple of modifications I am planning to make a little mix for the ridzoboy to take to school. Just add the wet ingredients and microwave for 90 seconds and he has something besides cereal for breakfast.

Single Serve Blueberry Muffin
- 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons blueberries
- 1 -2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large microwavable mug.
2. Add blueberries and stir briefly to coat with flour.
3. Add wet ingredients and mix well, making sure to mix in all the flour off the bottom.
4. Place in the microwave for 90 seconds. It may not look quite done but that is okay, it will continue to cook as it cools off.
5. Let it cool and eat it!
August 7, 2014
Vegan Brownie in 90 Seconds! (That You Don’t Have to Share)
You want a brownie but you know if you make a whole pan you’ll probably eat the whole pan, right? And besides who wants to heat the whole house up and wait for more than a half an hour for a pan of brownies to bake! I certainly don’t!

So here is the plan: We will make a single serve vegan brownie in 90 seconds! Oh and yes, it is just as rich and gooey as you would expect a perfect brownie to be.

Perfect Dorm Room Brownie (yes it is vegan!)
- ¼ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- ¼ cup cane juice crystals or sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or roasted carob powder
- ½ teaspoon Roma or other coffee substitute
- pinch salt
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons oil or melted earth balance
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon walnuts or pecans
1. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, Roma and salt in mug or small microwave safe bowl. Stir with a fork.
2. Add water, oil, and vanilla and mix well. (Make sure you get the corners of the mug)
3. Top with walnuts.
4. Microwave on high for 75 to 90 seconds, the top will still appear a little wet or underdone. Remove from microwave and let sit for a couple of minutes to finish cooking and cool slightly.
August 4, 2014
Pinspiration! Nutella Wreath

So back to that oatmeal bread…we had some homemade Peanutella just sitting around and we saw this beautiful wreath on Pinterest that used bread dough and Nutella, so we thought we would give it a try.

Isn’t it pretty? But to be honest I think I like it spread ON the bread better than cooked into the bread, because it gets kind of dry. It was fun to make and I think I could use this same wreath technique with date butter or cinnamon sugar like I did with the cinnamon roll and it will probably come out better. We’ll have to let you know!

July 17, 2014
Pinspiration! Cinnamon Roll Creations

Remember that oatmeal bread we made a few weeks ago? It is a very soft bread dough and works for many different things. I really like making date rolls or cinnamon rolls with it. Since the Ridzogirl is home from school for the summer we decided to have some fun with our rolls and we made a cute lamb and a star.

(more…)

July 14, 2014