Meal Planning

Vegetable Cutlets and Saag Chutney with Crudites

Fresh Veggie Tacos and Fresh Guacamole and Slow Cooker Black Beans

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice 

Falafel with Flavor Sauce  

Soy Burgers and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

I didn't do official meal planning last week, so I'm just doing enough meals to finish off this week.  The soy burgers turned out to be something I really loved.  I baked them in the toaster oven, about 425 degrees Fahrenheit for ten minutes on each side, so they have no oil.  I served them on Ezekiel sprouted buns with red onion, tomato, lettuce, pickles, and yellow mustard. 

The falafel turned out to be fantastic too, also vegan and no oil.  I ended up eating all the leftovers as salad, with the patties served over a plate of chopped romaine, tomatoes, and vegan flavor sauce.  This time around, I bought some 100% whole wheat mini pita pockets from Whole Foods to serve with them.  I might make some hummus to go with that too.  

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I've had some great successes (IMO) with some new, all healthy, no oil recipes in the last couple weeks, so I'm making some of them again.  I define "great success" as actually enjoying eating it, not feeling hungry afterward, finishing off the leftovers for lunch, and wanting to make it again.  I rarely encounter "great successes," even if I'm the only judge.  Here is what I need to use up this week:  four ripe avocados, a couple cups fresh baby spinach, some sliced summer squash and red bell pepper leftover from fajita night, some whole wheat hamburger buns, a package and a half of corn tortillas and another of whole wheat tortillas, and a pound and a half of mushrooms (because I destroyed the mashed potatoes intended for mushroom shepherd's pie -- while an immersion blender works fine on sweet potatoes, it turns russets into glue).  Here is what I'm making this week:

Broccoli Cheeze Twice Baked Potatoes and Collard Greens with Almonds and Vegetable Cutlets
I still have collard greens leftover from last week since I had planned to make them with shepherd's pie.  These potatoes were fantastic considering how healthy they are.  No-oil, low-fat meals often leave me hungry, even when they are full of fiber and protein that make it impossible to eat any more in quantity, but these potatoes had flavor and filled me up.  I finished off all the leftovers.  The no-oil vegetable cutlets (I used whole wheat panko instead of crushed corn flakes) are great too.  I want to play around with the spices some.  I think I used more potato than the recipe calls for and intentionally used less cayenne (like I do) and they turned out a little bland.

Penne alla Vodka and Mushrooms with Spinach
I'm using up the fajita vegetables (they didn't get seasoned or cooked yet, just cut) on penne alla vodka.  I'm using up the mushrooms and baby spinach by making a sort of tapas-style side sauteed with fresh garlic and marsala wine. 

Cheese Pizza and Green Salad

Soy Burgers and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I'm going to use No Meat Athlete's classic slider recipe as a base, but I'm using soy beans instead of black beans.  We'll see how it goes.

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice

Meal Planning

I've realized there are a couple other meals I'd really like to find/create good recipes for:  vegetable maki (I love the basic stuff from cheap sushi restaurants or the grocery store, but I've never made it well, so I think it's a technique issue), vegetable cutlets (I realized that was the term I wanted when I included "ragda patties" last week -- corrected below), and soybean-based fake meats.  I want to be able to make my own soy-based mock meats, like really good burgers and maybe even vegetable cutlets with soy beans in place of the potato (I haven't worked with soy beans before, so I don't know yet if this is insane).  I'm not dreaming any higher than that yet.  I don't love the texture of vital wheat gluten, and the processed freezer section foods I love always feature soy, so I want to try working with it.  I already have some dried soy beans from the Asian supermarket because I was going to make meatless balls and the recipe called for them.  I think the bulk aisle at Whole Foods sells them too.

Veg Cutlets with Saag Chutney and Some Kind of Salad or Leafy Green Side
I realized what I have been wanting to make is "vegetable cutlets," any variety.  I also nixed the raita as I made vegan flavor sauce and realized the cashewed soy yogurt makes a solid base for a dressing but should not be the featured flavor.  It isn't as good as homemade dairy yogurt, at least not this particular batch.

Mushroom Shepherd's Pie and Collard Greens with Almonds
I've made mixed vegetable farmer's pie, and I've had it with just lentils (and onions and garlic, I think) at Tea & Sympathy in NYC, but I think the best vegetarian shepherd's pie I've had is the special Tea & Sympathy sometimes has where the base is mushrooms.  I love mushrooms.  I thought of this when I was making the vegan lasagna last week, which was okay but I didn't love it and it had SO MANY CASHEWS.  My god, the cashews in that thing.  The mushroom layer smelled heavenly while reducing though and had some ideas I hadn't seen before, like mild miso in the mix, so I'm going to make that as my shepherd's pie base (maybe stir in a small amount of cooked French green lentils for protein) and just pile some plain mashed potatoes on top (or pipe them on with a star tip and a pastry bag in the hopes it will entice Sim to try it). [Edited 1/14/16:  The mushroom layer doesn't have the miso in it.  It's actually pretty sparse.  I will probably add tomato paste and some dried herbs to flesh out both the flavor and the consistency.]

Veggie Fajitas with Fresh Guacamole and Slow Cooker Black Beans

Tofu Vindaloo with Brown Basmati Rice

Veggie Pizza and Green Salad

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice

Meal Planning

I still have a couple meals I haven't made yet and plenty of food, but I don't want to go grocery shopping over the weekend, so I'm adding to my meal plan and shopping tomorrow.  Here is what I'm making:
  
Vegan Lasagna and Green Salad
Carry over from last week's meal plan.  I'm making this tomorrow.

Falafel with Flavor Sauce
Carry over from last week's meal plan.   

Ragda Patties with Saag Chutney and Beetroot, Cucumber, Tomato Raita
The chutney link is just the recipe for saag dip again, which I plan to add cilantro to and then thin into a sauce.

Chile Rellenos with Rice and Beans

Broccoli Cheeze Twice Baked Potatoes and Collard Greens with Almonds and Crispy Breaded Tofu 

 

  

Creamy Chipotle-Lime Dressing

This is still my first effort at this dressing, but I don't want to forget what I used.  And apparently the key to thinning white bean puree into the consistency of dressing is the addition of water (for thinning) and vinegar (so that it doesn't taste watery). 

Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle in adobo, from canned (note:  ONE CHIPOTLE, not one can full.  If you use the whole can, the spiciness will murder you.  Put the rest in a sealed container and throw it in the freezer for later.)
Juice of 1 lime (again, I think 2 would be preferable -- yielding about a tablespoon of juice in total, I'm estimating -- but I'm out of limes.)
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup prepared salsa
salt, to taste
2 tbs nutritional yeast
2 tbs unsweetened yogurt (I used some of the homemade unsweetened soy cashew yogurt I made the other day -- I was shocked at how much it brightened and improved the flavor.  Though now that I've added vinegar, I'm not sure how much the yogurt mattered.)
2 tbs apple cider vinegar (vinegar seems to be essential to creating a bold enough flavor to serve as a salad dressing -- it was far too watery before I added it)

Directions
1.  Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend smooth.  Refrigerate for up to a week (conservative estimate).
 

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  Today I'm using up the last of my sweet potatoes by boiling and immersion blending them into whipped sweet potatoes.  I'm also making crispy breaded tofu strips and an arugula salad (still have lots of arugula) topped with artichoke hearts and my fresh batch of creamy roasted red pepper dressing.  Here is what else I have to use up:  1 ripe avocado, some fresh but aging broccoli florets (just now tossed them in the freezer), the better part of a pound of spinach, about half a pound of cheese ravioli, about half a pound of arugula, and a few sticks worth of celery.  Here is what I'm making:

Ravioli with Arugula & Pecorino Romano and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I'm making this again to use up the ravioli in the fridge, the last of the arugula, and at least some of the remaining romano cheese in the fridge. 

Vegan Black Bean Quesadillas with Fresh Guacamole and Tex-Mex Green Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing 
I'm still plotting the creamy chipotle dressing recipe (a chipotle, adobo sauce, white beans, garlic, fresh lime juice, a dash of salt, maybe a squeeze of mustard or some white wine vinegar -- I'll see how it tastes and go from there), but the salad will include lettuce (any kind), black beans (which I'll already have on hand for the quesadillas), avocado (which I'll probably substitute with a dollop of fresh guacamole this time around), diced tomatoes, maybe some sweet corn from frozen, and some strips of corn tortilla toasted in a pan until crunchy.

Tofu & Veggie Stir-fry and Brown Rice  
This will use up the remaining broccoli florets, as well as some cubed tofu already in my freezer.

Vegan Lasagna and Green Salad
I have multiple boxes of whole wheat no-boil pasta from Whole Foods.  I also plan to substitute my fresh spinach for some of the recipe's frozen, just to use mine up.

Slow-Cooker Dal Makhani and Brown Basmati Rice and Saag Dip (?!) with Raw Veggies (and the quarter bag of pita chips still in my pantry)
I don't know what this saag dip is all about, but it sounds my style.  I don't want to mess with a recipe I haven't even tried yet, but instinct tells me the addition of fresh cilantro would be positive.  I'll cut my remaining celery into sticks to serve as part of the crudites.

Falafel with Flavor Sauce
I'm going to make a batch of soy yogurt so I can see how vegan flavor sauce turns out.  I think I'll make the falafel in burger form and serve them on Food4Life's whole grain sprouted buns (freezer section) topped with tomato and romaine and maybe some tahini sauce too, as displayed at the end of the falafel recipe.  Or maybe mix some tahini and garlic and cayenne pepper into my creamy roasted red pepper dressing in an attempt to make what we call Liberty Sauce (a sort of spicy of red bell pepper sauce we had once with falafel at an aunt's house). 

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Salad Dressing

I was going to make Neal Barnard's Roasted Red Pepper salad dressing, as found on Healthy Girl's Kitchen, but I started getting things out and ended up making it my own way instead.  It's still vegan, no-oil, and no-salt.  It's not very vinegary since I'm not super into vinegar, and it tastes good plain on a spoon, so we'll see how it tastes when diluted over an entire salad.  I think lemon zest and juice could also be a good addition or replacement for the vinegar, but I have no lemons right now.

Ingredients
1 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannellini because it's what I had on hand, but great northern and probably even butter beans would work equally well)
1 1/2 tbs white balsamic vinegar (because that's how much I'd used when I realized the bottle was empty)
1 tbs fig-infused balsamic vinegar (because it smelled milder and more appealing to me than my plain balsamic)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash original salt-free blend (because I have two varieties of Mrs. Dash from when I first read Esselstyn and Fuhrman's books, and I never really use them)

Directions

1.  Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender (I used my Vitamix for optimal smoothness) and blend until smooth.  Store in sealed jars in the refrigerator for (I'm guessing here) up to two weeks.  Makes two standard size mason jars worth of dressing.