Meal Planning

It's back to school time.  I'm planning to make homemade pizza in honor of the first day of school since Simran loves it and it might yield leftovers I can pack in her lunch the next day.  It's also supposed to be the coolest weather of the week, which makes cranking the oven up to 500 degrees less unappealing. 

I don't have much that needs using up right now, but I want to try some new recipes that don't look too labor intensive.  I want to balance healthy meals with things that are easy and tasty enough I won't be tempted to order in instead of cooking, even on the weekend.  I was a couple pounds heavier this morning than I expected to be and a few pounds heavier than I'd like to be, but eating my own cooking, no matter how unhealthy, tends to make losing weight a lot easier than eating anything I could buy from a restaurant (and I've eaten restaurant food three times already this weekend).

Grilled Avocado Enchiladas and Black Beans and Summer Corn with Green Chile Cream (Vedge,  pg. 101)
The corn is a new recipe.  I have all the ingredients already except for some fresh corn and a poblano.  Looks pretty basic and like it might go well with the rest of the meal.  I'm making the grilled enchiladas again at Sameer's request.  He says it's his favorite thing I make, and I like it a lot too.  Should be a good Saturday meal.  I can do most of the enchilada and pesto prep while Sim is at school Friday, which makes it easier.

Homemade Pizza and Seared French Beans with Caper Bagna Cauda (Vedge, pg. 97)
I'm making the pizza with Daiya vegan cheeses (because it's less unhealthy and Sim will eat it either way) and maybe some vegetarian pepperoni (either store bought or homemade, depending on what I can manage) in addition to the sundry vegetables I'll put on half of it for Sameer and me.  This should finish off the green bell pepper I cut up for last night's chilli-garlic noodles.  The green beans are a recipe I've made before that didn't come off perfectly last time but which Simran announced was her new favorite vegetable dish (it was all the oil and garlic, I think).

Black Bean Burgers (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 88) and Kohlrabi Salad with White Beans & Horseradish (Vedge, pg. 38)
I've been eyeing this kohlrabi salad recipe since we got this cookbook last Christmas, but I couldn't find kohlrabi the last time I looked.  It's the only ingredient I might not be able to find (this cookbook features all kinds of ingredients I've never seen in stores).  Since it's a chilled salad, I'd like to try it while it's still hot outside.  I've made the black bean burgers before, and they turned out to be both better and easier to make than the recipe I invented.  I'll probably put the burgers on pretzel rolls and also make some vegan chipotle aioli to go on them because I like that a lot.  I'm planning to make this for dinner Friday.  I can prep everything hours in advance, which makes this dinner more likely to happen than something I have to cook after Simran gets home from school.

Hearty Veggie Hoagies (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 74)
These are an easy make-in-advance sandwich that I don't think anyone in the house loves as much as I do.  We have orientation for the new school year tomorrow though right when I'd normally be cooking dinner, so I want to have something that'll be ready to eat as soon as we get home.  I can make these without much ado tomorrow afternoon and just pull them out of the fridge after orientation.