Meal Planning

In honor of Labor Day and the fact that we ordered dinner from a local pizza place one night last week (and therefore have enough meals to last through tomorrow), I won't be doing grocery shopping until Tuesday.  It's time for regular weekly meal planning though, and I haven't had time to even re-post the recipes I've been making lately, so it seems like I should get started.

This week I have the following in my fridge that needs to be used up:  some celery and the better part of a pound of fresh baby spinach.  I managed to use up most of my leftovers in other dishes (e.g., used my leftover roasted tomatoes from last week's pizza in place of fresh tomatoes on the lasagna).  Last week I made all vegan meals, and most were pretty good.  I'm still collecting new dinner recipes though in my epic struggle to make things Simran will condescend to eat, especially leafy green things.  I'm not sure at what age children are supposed to get really picky with what they eat, but Simran is there now.  Even things she used to love -- or loved even a week ago -- prompt her to fuss and shake her head in protest.  My goal at each meal is to get her to try two bites of each dish and then fill up on fruit or whichever part of dinner she finds least disgusting.

Here is what I'm making this week:

Sun-dried Tomato, Mushroom, & Spinach Tofu Quiche and Garlic Broccoli
This is yet another recipe from OhSheGlows.com.  It's a tofu-based quiche that will use up the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes currently in my fridge and require me to buy very little.  I'm also curious to see how this healthy crust turns out.  I have a fantastic pie crust recipe I use for most pie-related items, but it's mostly butter and shortening, so I'd like to relegate it to the realm of "special occasion foods."

Tasty Breaded Seitans and Rice Pilaf and Beet Salad with Goat Cheese & Arugula
I have a little cylinder of goat cheese that has been sitting in my fridge for a few weeks now, and a beet salad with goat cheese sounds really good to me.  The breaded seitan will use up some of the enormous number of containers of homemade seitan taking up space in my freezer.  I'm going to slice them up chicken-finger-style in the hope that Simran will eat them.  I'm not sure yet what kind of rice I'll make.

Creamy Avocado Pasta and Winter Squash Puree and Kale in Walnut Sauce
This pasta dish from OhSheGlows.com looks like a sort of vegan fettuccine alfredo.  Since everyone in our house likes avocados and garlic, I think it will work well.  An alternate version of this dish also features peas, which I think I'll include as well.

Loaded Vegan Tortilla Pizzas and Kale in Walnut Sauce
These tortillas pizzas are based on a recipe from OhSheGlows.com that I used last week.  This time around, I plan to use less of the cashew-based sauce (very rich as it replaces both the sauce and the cheese in a typical pizza) and more variety of chopped vegetables.  I might add more tomato to the sauce too.  

Black Bean Oatmeal Croquettes over Mexican Salad
These croquettes are based on the black bean oatmeal burgers from Esselstyn's book.  The Mexican salad aspect is based on the beans and rice recipe from the same book, minus the beans and rice themselves. 

Tofu Scramble and Green Banana Power Blended Salad and Zucchini-Raisin Muffins
Simran still likes tofu scramble, and I like it much better now that I have tried it with ground seitan seasoned with herbs de Provence.  The zucchini-raisin muffins are an Esselstyn recipe that I think Simran will enjoy.  She loves raisins.