Luckey's Lunch: You Can Be A Veg-Head Too!

As some of you may or may not know, today marks my 3 year anniversary as a vegetarian. I dabbled in it before, but now I can say everyday, for the past 1,095 days I have been making a conscious effort to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian (lacto-ovo meaning I eat milk and eggs). It's really nuts how fast time goes and if you have known me during this period, you know I have been taking pictures of my food the ENTIRE time!

Since I have been keeping this blog updated lately, I have had a few people ask me for recipes, tips, ideas and the like. Most of my recipes come from an array of websites and cookbooks, others I have come up with myself. Either way - to mark my three year anniversary I have went through some of my pictures and picked some of my favorite things to eat and make. I have either included simple instructions or have provided a link to the recipe so you can try them out yourself!

Enjoy!!!

First things first - BREAKFAST! Probably my favorite meal of the day. Every once in a while my family prepares breakfast for dinner. It's a fun way to change up the pace a bit. Below is a picture of a simple veggie-omelet, an english muffin, and my FAVORITE breakfast potatoes - Steve's Famous Garlic Home Fries. These home fries have become a staple at my house. If we are making breakfast, these potatoes are ALWAYS made. They also are pretty good heated up in the microwave the next day!

A great snack I have taken to MANY Thanksgivings is the Cranberry Salsa. I sub the serrano peppers for chipotle peppers in adobe sauce and this gives the salsa a nice smokey flavor. You would never know how good these flavors go together until you try it! Serve it over cream cheese and it will be a surprise hit! I promise!

This Fancy Thai Wrap is simple and delicious when you need a hardy snack or something quick for on-the-go! I start out with a whole wheat tortilla and spread low-fat peanut butter on the entire tortilla. I then top the peanut butter with shredded carrots, drizzled honey, raisins, and sesame seeds and it is good to go! This is one of my favorite snacks and I haven't made it in so long - looking at this picture seriously makes me want on right now!!! HAHA

My Happy Sandwich is something I came upon because I was looking for a way to use avocados for lunch. This simple recipe uses some of my favorite ingredients including avocados, sprouts, mushrooms and pita bread. I add a bit of cumin powder when making this filling. Though the avocado browns a bit, this still makes for a great sandwich filling for lunch at work!

Another staple at the Luckey-Meyer house are these Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers. These are so good, I served them to a crowd of about 40 at Scorched Nuts 2008. I usually double or triple the recipe and freeze the extras. I rarely buy store-bought veggie burgers now, as these are so much better!!

The Best Veggie Sandwich, though I personally wouldn't call it the best, it's still pretty darn good! The smoked cheddar adds a really interesting element and I wouldn't skip that at all!!! Again, this sandwich utilizes avocado and sprouts, but it has a completely different taste and texture than the sandwich above. The sandwich is paired with baked Spicy Fries. I cannot tell you enough how good these fries are! I like to mix in a sweet potato too! I will warn you though - these fries pack a major kick! Ronnie would never eat them because they are so spicy. Hmmm.... I think I might make some of these tonight! They are so good!!!

Temphe is a fermented soy bean loaf that I use a lot more than tofu. It is so easy to prepare and it crumbles just like a ground beef would, so I often substitute it for things like taco meat. The loaf can also be cut into strips as I do for the Temphe Fajitas. Before I cook the temphe, I let it marinade in a lime juice and soy sauce mixture as I am cutting up the fajita vegetables. These are always a hit - even the Ron-man likes them!

The first lattice I ever made was for a savory pie. This pie happened to be the Meatless Mushroom Tart. I was hesitant about this recipe at first, but it ended up being super delicious, and kind of fancy and expensive tasting all at the same time. A truly elegant and surprising dinner to make!

As I have mentioned in the past, I would rather have red peppers than green peppers, but these Stuffed Peppers My Way are the exception! These are so yummy and they also freeze up great to have future lunches and dinners ready to go! I usually double the recipe and individually freeze the other's for later. For this particular recipe I have added black beans and use canned tomatoes instead of fresh. These are GOOD and they make a great meal with some crusty bread and a side salad.

If I had to pick a favorite homemade pizza - this would be it! This Pizza Without the Red Sauce, as the name implies, does not have a standard tomato sauce base. Instead it uses a sun-dried tomato pesto (mixed with extra garlic and parmesan cheese) that can be purchased at any major grocery store (I have seen it at both Biggs and Krogers). I always add mushrooms to this pizza, just because mushrooms are like a pizza staple at my place.

PIZZA! Can't get enough! I LOVE pizza because you can put just about anything on there to please a number of different tastes. This particular Veggie Ranch Pizza uses a ranch dressing base instead of a tomato sauce (I know - I am such a rebel when it comes to pizza). I always skip the cheddar cheese base and use Naturally Fresh Light Ranch Dressing, I saute the onions and mushrooms in some olive oil and garlic, steam some broccoli, and add chopped tomatoes and green olives to the topping's list! This is one of Ronnie's favorite pizzas!

Looking for a tasty and beautiful summer salad? This Feta Cheese and Basil Salad is just what you have been waiting for!!! Oh my gosh - this is so good. I could seriously eat all of it in one sitting. Avocado, red bell pepper, and kalamata olives? I think I am in love! I follow this recipe exactly except I usually use dried basil instead of fresh - awesome none-the-less and it's just so pretty!

I left this entree for last because it is my favorite recipe online (so far anyway). The Seven Layer Tortilla Pie is something you should try ASAP. I'd like to think of this as an all-around awesome meal because it is so easy, comes together quickly, and the ingredients are almost always at my house already and really some of the cheapest things I buy at the grocery store. I always add chopped green onions, a can of chopped green chilies, and black olives to this bad boy.

And now onto the sweet stuff. I am not a baker - I rarely make desserts at home. But like anyone, occasionally I want to try something different. Seeing as I am not a particularly good baker, this No Bake Peanut Butter Pie is perfect for me! It came together really easily and it tasted even better! All I did differently was add chopped Reese Cups to the filling, sprinkled some extras on top, and drizzled some Hershey's syrup on top too.

Who knew something like baklava could be so simple? I surely didn't until I tried this Easy Baklava recipe. Though it seems kind of intimidating, this really was super easy to make. Time consuming - yes! Hard - no! I use a mixture of walnuts, pecans and almonds for my filling. I would also suggest keeping a close eye on it in the oven as it only takes mine about 35 minutes to bake through.