Meal Planning

We finished off our Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday and Saturday.  I didn't end up making the tofu pot pie last week (realized I needed the pie dish for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie instead), so we still have ingredients for that.  The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas I traditionally try to clean out my fridge, freezer, and pantry to the best of my ability, so here's is what I'm aiming to use up:  some celery, two veggie dogs, a bunch of asparagus I got on sale a few days ago and promptly forgot about, a couple pounds of organic russet potatoes, some cubed tofu and chopped red bell pepper that have been in the freezer for ages, a homemade whole wheat pizza dough in the freezer because I accidentally used too much water the last time I made pizza dough and ended up having to nearly double the flour to make up for it (I was delighted by how much this WASN'T a catastrophe), some frozen homemade black bean burgers, about eight corn tortillas, and a variety of random frozen vegetables.  Here is what I'm planning to make:

Chilaquiles Casserole
I'm going to make this tonight to use up the corn tortillas in the fridge as well as some of the frozen corn.  We also have sour cream leftover from Thanksgiving cookery that we can use on this.   

Veggie Dogs and Black-Eyed Pea & Roasted Red Pepper Dip with crudites and crackers and Steamed Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayo 
Sim and I will finish off the veggie dogs in the fridge on Tuesday.  I went ahead and trimmed off the parts of the asparagus that were starting to look sad and lightly steamed the rest this morning since it tastes best chilled anyway IMO.  The dip is a How Not to Die Cookbook recipe I've been meaning to try for the last year, and I have two jars of roasted red bell pepper just taking up space anyway.  I don't recall if I have canned black-eyed peas or dry, but I feel like I have one or the other.  I just need to dig through the pantry to find them and soak them tonight if they're dry.  This will be an easy meal to prep in advance and have ready to eat as soon as Sim gets home from her extracurriculars on Tuesday evening.  I might get long pretzel rolls for the hot dogs if they're available since they're easier to use up on sandwiches and Sim's lunches than a full 8-pack of hot dog buns.

Tofu Pot Pie
I'm making this Wednesday to use up some of the frozen tofu and vegetables in the freezer, as well as some of the celery in the fridge.

Homemade Pizza
I'll make this Friday night. Or possibly switch it with the tofu pot pie so that I can put leftover pizza in Simran's lunches on Thursday and possibly Friday.

Fresh Veggie Tacos and Black Beans
Sameer requested we have this on Friday or Saturday (I choose Saturday), so I started soaking broccoli seeds today to make sprouts.  I'll need to go to Whole Foods later in the week in case I need to buy sprouts (mine might not be ready yet) and to get guacamole, fresh mushrooms, and whole wheat flour tortillas.  None of these things are easy to find at a store in my town.