What's for dinner...quick and easy veggie meal

I am a vegetarian, and the children (for right now) are as well.  D is not. The "agreement" is that as soon as the children know what they are eating and if they choose to start eating meat- they can.  I am secretly openly hoping they never decide to eat meat:) For me- I was never a huge meat eater as a child.  I stopped eating meat altogether in a teenage-angsty type of phase (I was a challenging teenager), I now have moved toward not eating meat for both health and moral reasons.  I think that it is healthier (in many cases) to have a vegetarian diet.  I also think it is more sustainable and cost effective to have a vegetarian diet.  And I think it's rather cruel and unnecessary to eat animals.
                                            I will now step down off my soap box

A quick dinner that I make frequently, follows.  It has been a long week- the hubby traveling since early (4 am) Tuesday morning.  I am not used to working out of the home (other than weekends), then throw getting Zella ready for school, myself ready for work, and Moses changed and dressed, on top of D not being here to split the duties- needless to say- it was a frazzled type of week.  So my go-to, easy, vegetarian dinner was just what the doctor ordered.

Roasted chick peas

(so quick, easy, and versatile- and of course- delicious)

1 can of rinsed chick peas

olive oil

spices of choice (I usually do salt and pepper, basil, fresh crushed garlic)

toss altogether and roast at 375 degrees for 20 min.

Brown rice pilaf

This is the total easy-way-out.  I take a box of Near East rice mix, make it according to the directions on the box, and while it's cooking I microwave a bag of Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice (a staple in our house).  Then I combine the two (good for a family of 4, plus it cuts back on the sodium content per serving) and it's super-simple.

Sauteed Green Beans

I used Trader Joe's organic frozen green beans for these.  I simply dumped them in a pan with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper, cooked on medium high until the beans were lightly browned.

 *** I should say that I always use sea salt (for both cooking and baking), and freshly ground pepper***

And while I was cooking- the kiddos were playing...

Yes- she is wearing many hats- just like her mama;)

And here's the little guy playing in the dog food. Then- they turned the kitchen storage bench, into a recently popularized boat- and played together quite nicely.

Among the many things I love about these two is how cooperative and willing little Mosie is to participate in Zella's dress-up games. 

Then we baked...

Although they were more than happy to eat the cookies- the product was not blog worthy- that's what I get for straying from my recipe sources!