Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  Here is what I need to use up:  one ripe avocado, four whole wheat hamburger buns, five eggs, and two tomatoes.  Here is what I'm making:

Spinach Lasagna and Minestrone
I made some variations on this minestrone recipe, and it turned out really great and healthier than the original (vegan, no oil, whole grain pasta).  I'll have to post my version soon.  I think I just need to buy some frozen spinach to make the lasagna because I already have whole wheat lasagna noodles, cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan and romano, and seitans on hand.

Black Bean Burgers and Crudites with Homemade Ranch Dressing
This will use up the buns, tomatoes, and avocado, as well as some of the ranch dressing I made the other day.  I also have more burgers already in the freezer.

Seitan & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice

Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips and Collard Greens with Almonds and Mashed Potatoes
I wasn't sure what starchy side to make with this meal, so I'm going with a healthy vegan mashed potato since I need some potatoes anyway for the oven fries.  I might fry up the leftover mashed potatoes into pancakes and eat them with my remaining eggs (fried).

 Veggie Pizza and Green Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing

Truffled Seitans and Oven Fries and Arugula Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette
I have two containers of marinated truffled seitans in my freezer, and this will get rid of one.  I'm taking a new stab at this and treating it like bistro-style flank steak this time.  I'll pan fry it and serve it with sauce made from the marinade. 

I'm also going to make some no-sugar granola to go with the unsweetened soy yogurt I made last night.  I also have some fresh berries from the farmer's market too, so I'm going to try out soy yogurt parfaits for breakfast.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I got through a lot of my fridge and freezer last week, but I still haven't used my various containers of formerly canned diced tomatoes, and I have two containers of truffled seitans in there as well that I have no idea what to do with.  I have a fair amount of non-perishables in my pantry that I need to work through, so I'm aiming to use up at least some dry pasta this week.  Here is what else I need to use up:  three ripe avocados, a handful of fresh spinach, a head of green leaf lettuce I bought at the farmer's market yesterday, a couple half-empty jars of salsa currently in my fridge, a couple pounds of organic russet potatoes, two tomatoes, a whole mess of grape tomatoes from the farmer's market, and six whole wheat hamburger buns.  Here is what I'm making:

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice
I keep putting this on the meal plan and then not making it.  I still have all the ingredients since they're all frozen (spinach) or non-perishable (canned tomatoes) or things I purchase every week (cilantro).  I can also throw the handful of leftover fresh spinach in to use it up.

Seitan & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice
I've skipped this one the last couple weeks too.  It will use up at least three containers of pre-chopped vegetables currently taking up space in my freezer.


Chik'n Patty Sandwiches and Minestrone
I have one or two Boca chik'n patties in the freezer, so this will use those up, but I'll also have to buy more.  I also include lettuce, tomato, and mayo on the sandwich, and maybe American cheese.  The minestrone will use up some elbow macaroni (I still have several boxes of the quinoa/cornmeal blend in the pantry since I bought them in bulk), as well as most if not all of the diced tomatoes in the freezer.

Pav Bhaji
This will use up most of the hamburger buns, all of my tomatoes (I'll need to buy more actually), a container of diced red bell pepper currently in my freezer, two of my russet potatoes, and the better part of a red onion that has been in my fridge waiting to be used up since I made burgers last week.

Nachos and Green Salad 
The nachos will use up the avocados in the fridge.  The slow cooker refried beans that I now include as a base layer beneath the cheese on the nachos (adds flavor and makes them less sickeningly fatty) will use up at least one jar of the salsa in the fridge.  The green salad will use up half the green leaf lettuce and about half of the cherry tomatoes.


Baked Potato Skins and Green Salad and [Leftover Vegetable Side]
The baked potato skins will use up any remaining russet potatoes.  I'll just bake them all tomorrow when it's supposed to be cool outside to save time later.  The green salad will use up the rest of the cherry tomatoes and lettuce.  The leftover vegetable side will be leftovers of whatever I've cooked recently, such as the beef-less stew or the minestrone.  I'm doing a lot of recipes that yield a fair amount of leftovers this week.

Beef-less Stew
Because I realized I had even more potatoes than I thought I did and baking all of them left after the pav bhaji would be insane.  This stew will burn through a few of them though.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I want to clean out my freezer and fridge, so I've got a lot of random foods that last a long time and have been hiding behind other things.  Things I want to get rid of:  a couple cups of finely shredded gruyere, about half a bottle of pomegranate juice and half a bottle of spiced pear cider (I can make breakfast smoothies with the pomegranate, but I might have to just drink the spiced pear), a cup or two of frozen shredded potatoes, two frozen homemade vegetarian Italian sausages, over a pound of frozen sweet corn, a bag of frozen peaches from god-knows-when (will work for smoothies), the better part of a bag of frozen cranberries, two cups of frozen cauliflower, a couple cups of frozen butternut squash, a couple cups of frozen sweet potato, and a whole collection of containers of diced previously-canned tomatoes that have taken up residence in my freezer.  I also have some carry over from last week, so I'm not planning for seven whole dinners since we'll probably get takeout at least once.  Here is what I'm making:

Amish Breakfast Casserole
I haven't made this in ages.  I used to make it on holiday mornings so we'd have something easy and relatively wholesome to eat before our big dinner, but I haven't done that since we stopped having holiday guests -- it's just too much food.  Anyway, it seems like a good way to use up the Italian sausage and gruyere and shredded potatoes.  I'll make a scaled down version on account of having maybe half that many hash browns and needing significantly less food in general.

Awesome Almost All-Orange Vegetable Soup and Vegetarian Turkey Club
I don't recall this soup being awesome, but I'm going to play around with the ingredients and try it again since I already have most of them on hand.  I'm using my frozen butternut squash in place of the acorn squash, and I'm going to puree the whole thing.  I might replace the red bell pepper with some roasted red pepper from a jar for flavor reasons.  Not sure yet.  I think I'll use curry spice instead of the rosemary and whatnot in the recipe too, which will effectively make this a completely different soup.  I might just end up making this a squash-based version of curried pumpkin soup.

Vegetarian Korma and Brown Basmati Rice
This will use up the cauliflower, as well as one container of curry base, which I also have taking up space in my freezer.

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice

Black Bean Burgers and Curried Sweet Potato Salad  

Seitan & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice 

Tropical Kale Smoothie

I've been making this for breakfast pretty much everyday for awhile now.  I put any leftovers in the fridge until lunch.  It's better tasting than the spinach smoothie that tastes like banana bread, and it has more calcium on account of the kale.  The original recipe is from thedailymeal.com.  I've made a few changes in mine, mostly to increase calcium because my intake was a little low. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 2 tsp hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup rolled oats (optional, but it helps me feel full a little longer)
• 1 - 2 cups frozen kale (I use curly green kale -- I de-spine and wash it when I first buy it and toss it in a bag in the freezer to use whenever -- the freezing process also kills a lot of the flavor, so it's kind of gross if you don't freeze the kale)
• ½ cup pineapple (I use canned chunks in their own juice)
• ½ cup frozen mango 
• 1 frozen banana   

Directions

1. Add ingredients to blender in order listed above (they blend up easier if the liquids are closest to the blade).  Blend until smooth, and serve.

Beef-less Stew

This beef-less stew from StraightUpFood.com is one my new favorite meals.  Cathy from StraightUpFood makes vegan whole food plant-based meals that are free of sugar, oil, and salt -- a diet I aspire to for health reasons -- and she makes some of the best dishes that meet this criteria that I've found.

When I gave up meat, beef stew was one of my favorite dishes that I never learned how to make vegetarian.  Seitan makes for a kind of weird texture, and the same goes for tofu, but portobello mushroom chunks are a surprisingly simple solution.  My version of the recipe has a couple minor spicing changes, but the original is at the link above.  It's a very forgiving recipe, like most soups and stews, and adding extra vegetables works great, especially if you have something you need to use up.  It's also a really good source of vegetables and starch (the potatoes) and protein (the peas and green beans).  I'll probably be making this once a week come autumn.

Ingredients

• 1½ large yellow or white onions, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
• 3 ribs celery, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
• 3 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch pieces
• 2 portabella mushrooms (about ½ pound), cut into ¾-inch pieces (I like to use even more, depending on how much I have on hand)
• 1½ tablespoon finely chopped garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
• 5 cups water (amount varies depending on if you add more veggies like me -- just use enough to cover the vegetables)
• 2 pounds white potatoes (I use about 3 large Yukon Gold), cut into ¾-inch pieces (peeling is optional, but I buy organic and just give them a scrub and leave the peels in tact)
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tbs herbs de Provence (or herb blend of your choice -- I like this one because it has sage, rosemary, and thyme, among other things, without letting the rosemary be overpowering like it tends to do)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tbs dried parsley 
• 1½ cups green peas (frozen is fine)
• 1 cup green beans (optional -- I use frozen)
• 1 tsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos (optional, but I like the relative saltiness)
• Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat a large soup pot on high with 1 tablespoon of water. When the water begins to sputter, add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently as the edges of the onion browns slightly, and adding a little water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, and continue to cook while stirring for an additional 5 minutes, adding water as needed.
3. Add the potatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs and spices, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low boil. Cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peas and green beans, and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
4. Place about one fifth or one quarter of the stew (broth and vegetables) into a blender, and blend under very smooth. Stir this back into the pot to thicken the stew. Season with a few twists of ground black pepper and Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or low-sodium tamari or soy sauce) to taste.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I skipped both the pizza and the stir-fry this past week and I put off off the breaded tofu strips until tomorrow, so not too much planning to do.  I still have a bunch of organic sweet potatoes (my store doesn't sell any organic potatoes individually), some corn tortillas, and some romaine lettuce.  Here is what I'm making this week:

Seitan & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice

Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips and Collard Greens with Almonds and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Fresh Veggie Tacos and Slow Cooker Black Beans

Black Bean Burgers and Curried Sweet Potato Salad
This potato salad seems like a good use of my remaining sweet potatoes.  It'll use up any remaining celery too.

Enchilada Casserole
This seems like a good way to use up my remaining corn tortillas finally, and I can just make extra black beans when I do the taco night and use the leftovers for this.  It sounds a lot like the chilaquiles recipe I haven't made in awhile, except minus the cheese.  I think I will probably end up serving this with sliced avocado.

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice
This will be completely vegan this time around since I have homemade unsweetened soy yogurt to go in place of the dahi.