Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  Here is what I currently have in the fridge that I need to use up:  a whole mess of corn tortillas, lots of carrots, about half a chopped green bell pepper, a sliced red bell pepper, about half a green cabbage shredded, a few homemade whole wheat tortillas, about half a pound of sliced white mushrooms, a pound of baby spinach, and one tomato. 

Pudla and Cucumber Tomato Salad
Turns out these are really easy to make, pretty healthy since I use almost no oil, and I like them a lot.  I made the batter too thick the first time and they were more like pancakes than crepes, but they tasted good anyway.  This time I'll be throwing some vegetables in the food processor -- I think onion, tomatoes, and a few peas is what Sameer's aunt includes -- and mixing it into the batter.  I chose to err on the side of very very bland last time, just in case I messed up the consistency of the batter or Simran refused to eat it with flavor.  I attempted to make cilantro chutney last time and failed miserably.  I plan to buy some this time and try making a couple other veggie-based dipping sauces (e.g., red bell pepper tomato chutney, which is actually a thing that exists, though I plan to make up my own recipe based more on the buffalo hummus recipe).  The coconut chutney turned out great and there's still some leftover in the fridge.

Tostadas with Slow-Cooker Refried Beans and Red Cabbage Slaw
I've never made tostadas before, but Sameer likes them, and they seem easy.  They'll also use up some of the corn tortillas in the fridge.  I'll just crisp up the tortillas and layer them with refried beans, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, green onions and sour cream.

Chilli-Garlic Noodles  
This will use up the remaining milder chile-garlic paste, the shredded green cabbage, some of the carrots, and all of the green bell pepper.

Raw Rainbow Pad Thai
Since my BFF Jackie got me a vegetable spiralizer for my birthday, I'm finally making this vegan pad thai dish with raw veggies as noodles.  Since it looks pretty low-cal (which can often lead to Sameer and feeling the need to eat something else later), I think I'll heat up some of the appetizers in the freezer to go with this.  We have potstickers and some other kind of fried vegetable thing.

Spaghetti with Marinara & Veggie Meatballs and Fresh Broccoli & Carrots with Homemade Ranch Dressing 

Wraps and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
Now that I have a recipe for 100% whole grain no-oil wraps that I can make myself at home easily (and they taste several times better than store-bought wraps, though that isn't hard to do), wraps are a more desirable meal for me than ever.  I plan to lay out our various leftovers from the week (dipping sauces from the pudla, leftover cut veggies, random cheeses, etc.) and we can make our own wraps to suit.  I've done this for lunch before, and it's fantastic.  It uses up leftovers without tasting like leftovers.

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice and Naan
I made this meal a couple weeks ago, and it was really good and shockingly easy.  Especially the naan, which I didn't expect to be so easy.  I even used half whole wheat pastry flour, and Sameer didn't notice.  He said it tasted like restaurant naan.  This time I want to try making garlic naan since I find the plain a bit bland.