Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  Sameer suggested doing the green banana power blended salad again.  He says it's the best green vegetable I've ever made, probably because it's mostly fruit.  I want to make other easy-to-eat foods this week too since Simran is cutting at least one new tooth and has been turning down most foods that require chewing.

I also want to move toward more vegan meals -- something I had started doing for our health based on Caldwell Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and T. Colin Campbell's The China Study.  Last week I watched a documentary on Netflix called "Vegucated" and it said some specific things about the treatment of chickens and dairy cows, even in the best organic farms, that make me want to stop buying eggs and dairy altogether.  For now, I'm just focusing on making more vegan meals and trying out alternatives such as vegan soy cheese in place of dairy. 

Here is what is currently in my fridge that needs to be used up this week:  about half a pound of fresh baby spinach, a bunch of grape and cherry tomatoes, half a container of ricotta, half a container of cottage cheese, about half a chopped yellow onion, half a red onion, and about 3 lbs of fresh carrots.  Here is what I'm planning to make:

Spinach Lasagna and Butternut Squash Puree and Green Banana Power Blended Salad
I already had the spinach planned from last week.  It will use up a half container of homemade seitan I had sitting in the freezer, as well as the ricotta, cottage cheese, half a jar of pasta sauce, and half a chopped yellow onion that were in the fridge.  I already had the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses on hand too.  The blended salad will use up a banana from our current hoard of ripe bananas and about half of the baby spinach in the fridge.  I figure even if Simran refuses the lasagna (she normally loves it, but her teeth...), there will be plenty of soft foods for her to eat tonight.

Vegetarian Reuben Sandwiches and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
This will be my birthday dinner because it is rich, delicious, and not hard or time consuming to make.  Reubens are one of the things I grew up eating in my parents' home that I missed when I gave up meat, so I devised a vegetarian version a few years ago (there are lots of other veg reuben recipes on the internet).  I normally would make my own rye or pumpernickel bread for this, but I didn't want to do that much work, so I found an already sliced loaf of marble rye at the Whole Foods today.  The soup will use up two of the open, half-empty bags of organic broccoli currently in the freezer.  I found three of them in there yesterday when I was looking for a bag of frozen chopped spinach.

Black Bean Burgers and Carrot Ginger Lemon Soup
I've made these black bean burgers a couple of times now, and they would be very easy to make vegan and even healthier and a better consistency than the original recipe.  I'm excited at the prospect of making something so delicious from exclusively produce and inexpensive dry goods.  The soup recipe is new to me but will use up a lot of the fresh carrots currently in my fridge.  It appealed to me because it wasn't overloaded with beans or lentils, which I don't really need in this side dish since I'm pairing it with bean burgers.  It will also be easy to modify into a vegan soup.

New York-Style Pizza and Kale in Walnut Sauce
I have a couple more pizza doughs in the freezer, and this seemed like a good way to use up one of them and make something I *think* Sim will be able to chew.

Barley Risotto with Fennel and Kale in Walnut Sauce and Squash Puree
I tried this barley risotto recipe once before and found it incredibly bland, but I hadn't used oil cured olives either, which I managed to obtain yesterday.  I'm taking another stab at this recipe because it will be creamy and easy for Sim to eat.

Tofu Veggie Pulao and Green Banana Power Blended Salad
Simran enjoys eating rice by the fistful, so I wanted to make her some kind of rice pilaf with tiny veggies in it.  I figure I'll make a bland version of pulao, probably not seasoned with much more than a little ghee, and add peas and tiny chopped up carrots.  I will add either cubed tofu or veggie "beef tips" by Gardein, which are a similar size and consistency to tofu cubes but have a little flavor.