Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  We didn't end up getting takeout or anything over the weekend, so I've effectively run out of meals before grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'll have to include something for tonight on this meal plan out of whatever I have on hand.  Here is what I currently have on hand: one ripe avocado, a small bowlful of vegan cashew cheese sauce I made a couple days ago, three hearts of romaine, some carrots, some celery, a broccoli crown, four pita pockets, two whole wheat hamburger buns, two russet potatoes, one yam, about half a bottle worth of KC style barbecue sauce I made last week.  Here is what I'm going to make:

Vegan BBQ Ribs and Steamed Broccoli with Cashew Cheese Sauce and Leftover Potatoes & Carrots (from the Vegan Pot Roast two nights ago)
Sameer claims to like these ribs, and it will use up more of the barbecue sauce I made.  I made the cashew cheese last week to try on baked potatoes topped with broccoli, and it was really good with the broccoli (not bad with the potatoes), plus this will use up the broccoli crown in the fridge.  I'm going to throw this meal together tonight. 

Falafel and Hummus
I have four pita pockets leftover from making pita pizzas last week, so I've decided to make falafel.  I'm using a new recipe since I'm more comfortable with frying now and I don't like my old recipe all that much.  I've also always wanted to try this hummus recipe, and I only need a few lemons to have all the ingredients.

Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayo and Cinnamon Squash Chowder
I have a bowlful of the chipotle mayo already made in the fridge, plus the burgers already in the freezer.  I also have some red onion in the fridge and that ripe avocado and some of the romaine to go on the burgers, and they will use up the remaining whole wheat burger buns (I'll actually need to buy more).  I have a sweet potato and a sweet onion in the pantry, plus the celery in the fridge for the chowder.

Chilli-Garlic Noodles   
This is a fairly easy dish that's nice on rainy days like most days this week are supposed to be.

Vegetable Fried Rice
I'm using a cauliflower fried rice recipe, but I'm substituting cooked brown rice for the cauliflower because I prefer it.  I wanted something with a more complex flavor than the last fried rice recipe I tried too, and this one involves a shiitake mushroom sauce that sounds good.  I only need to buy the mushrooms, some fresh ginger root, and some green onions.  I'll have to check on the freshness of the shallots in my pantry before shopping tomorrow too.

Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips and Collard Greens with Almonds and Leftover Something Else From Earlier in the Week as a Side Dish
We're probably going to have excessive amounts of leftovers, particularly from things like the noodles and the fried rice and the chowder.  I'll just plan to serve this meal the day after one of those and serve the leftover as a side dish.

Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup
I've wanted to experiment with vegan grilled cheese, but I've only ever hated store-bought vegan cheese.  This recipe sounds worth trying, especially with the vegetables mixed in to make it less cashew heavy.  This tomato soup recipe isn't the best looking one I've ever seen, but it doesn't require me to spend tons of money on fresh tomatoes and basil, and it looks comparatively quick and easy.  I plan to replace the cream with coconut milk (and chicken broth with veg broth) because it's vegan and tastes better.  This will be another good rainy day meal.

[Edited 5/28/2015: I'm making the vegan grilled cheese tonight, and I just finished making the cheese sauce.  It is PHENOMENAL.  I don't know how well it will work in sandwich form since it was very gooey warm, but it would make a fantastic fondue with bread cubes and lightly steamed vegetables.  It actually tastes cheesy to me, not just "good-but-not-actually-cheeselike" like a lot of vegan sauces I've tried.  I think the good flavor comes mostly from the onions and other veg, like what I was trying to create awhile back to go inside pocket pies.  I want to try this sauce inside pocket pies, maybe with chopped leeks and/or chopped potatoes to fill them up and give them more solid structure inside.  I think this sauce might make fantastic macaroni and cheese too.  I followed the recipe, but for my future reference I want to note that I used two russet potatoes instead of measuring because I had two to use up, I used one smallish onion and probably a little more than the 1/4 cup carrots called for, I used 2/3 cup cooking water from the veggies as recommended, I used 1/4 cup light coconut milk, and I cut the salt to 1/2 tsp.]