(see Feb for recipe) )The Arugula tie in (Wheatberry, Panini, gyoza) and plans for the summer

You can see the winter sun hitting the dish, a great lunch and
it was at home, unfortunately not enough grains and veggies in
the ravioli to count for much........just the taste..mmmmmmm

DIGNITY WITH ARUGULA

Just in case anyone is actually reading this, I should let you know that the first 40 plus recipes were originally from the Pampered Chef.  I have seen similar recipes in my Vegetarian Cookbooks, of which I have many.  However, once I make the recipe, I go back and edit the original recipe.   For instance, I do not have all the seasonings that are first mentioned.  Also, I avoid the microwave, partly because it means I have to have so many dishes to cook from.  Also, when it required that food be strained, I basically don't do it, because that process takes out the fiber.  Anything where they talk about transferring from one bowl to another makes me very suspicious....I mean that there has to be a better way, like cooking it all in the same bowl and using an immersion blender in the same bowl.   So if you like these recipes and want to do them the way they were meant to be done, buy the Pampered Chef Vegetarian Recipe book.   I will probably have edited all the recipes before April 1, so if you have tried anything beyond the Panini, it will have morphed before long.

Now that I have been using Arugula for the Wheatberry Salad with Brie and the Panini Sandwich, I am not minding it so much.  It seems to have a kind of peppery taste.  Today I still have the Gyoza Mushroom Ravioli and have decided to make another meal.  To keep the calories low, around 400, I decided to add cups of Arugula as the salad, and adding a No calorie, No fat, No carbohydrate Dijon salad dressing on top to add a flavor and a color.  This was a great lunch and as long as I add slowly it seemed to fill me up.   Because I had already browned the Ravioli, it wasn't too much time to heat the sauce and the Ravioli in it to soften it.   It was great.   A good combination/sequence of meals, include as many similar ingredients as possible.  The next recipe is with spinach, asparagus, and roasted peppers, so that will also included the pepper ingredient as a tie in from a recent recipe.    I am trying not to waste these ingredients and still love getting my 5 cups of fruits and vegetables and 3 grains in a day.  The dried cranberries in the oatmeal this morning condensed down the quantity so that was a kind of short cut.   Juices don't count because they are not a complete fruit........I agree.

So I am reviewing my plan for the summer.   I should have it all placed on a grid, but I may need to start now.   The seasonal produce is predictable on some level, but planning for the year may take some doing, so instead of doing that I am going to document my cooking by date and place the ingredients in another column, .....whew....maybe too ambitious.