Meal Planning

I made way too much food last week.  Apparently alongside my rule of only making one soup or stew per week, I also need to include at least one weekday meal of sandwiches or re-purposing leftovers or else the amount of leftovers created in one week is just too vast.  Here is what we need to use up:  some fresh broccoli, about a cup of leftover potsticker innards, another package of wonton wrappers (they were buy one get one free because their expiration date is looming), a huge jar of homemade vegetable broth, shaved brussels sprouts, veggie dogs and hot dog buns, and the better part of a package of cherry tomatoes.  There is also some leftover dipping sauce from the potstickers and the lemon-caper mayo that I eat with asparagus.  I'm also still finishing off the leftover vegan methi chicken curry, whole wheat naan, and vegan macaroni and cheese.  We didn't even get around to making the ravioli with arugula yet.  Here is what I'm making this week:

Vegetarian Beef & Broccoli and Cream Cheese Rangoon with Sweet & Sour Sauce
I made this dipping sauce to go with the potstickers, and we had some left over after eating all the potstickers Friday night.  Sameer has been microwaving it on fresh broccoli and says it's like a spicier version of the typical beef & broccoli sauce and he really likes it, so we're making it into a meal this week.  I'm going to use the Gardein vegetarian beef tips from the freezer section for the beef, plus the broccoli already in the fridge (plus we have some in the freezer if we need more) and maybe a small amount of julienned carrot and red bell pepper.

The cream cheese rangoon is what I plan to make to use up the last of the wonton wrappers after I finish off filling them with the potsticker filling.  It's a delicious junk food I haven't had in a long time that I feel confident I can make.  I already have cream cheese in the fridge that needs to be used within the next few weeks anyway.

Idli-Sambar
I'm making this to use up the broth I made.  I could've sworn I needed the broth for a couple different things last week, but here it all is, sitting in a giant mason jar taking up space in the refrigerator.  Sambar will also use up a number of containers of frozen cut vegetables that have been leftover from other things, as well as some of the potatoes in the pantry (I will either bake the rest or make them into potato skins) and the last of the cherry tomatoes.  I'm going to halve the idli recipe because it just made way too much last time.

Veggie Dogs and Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayo
This will be Tuesday, when Simran gets home from choir, because it's incredibly quick and easy.

Sameer wants to try a local pizza place Thursday night, and Simran is going to be eating dinner at a birthday party Saturday night, so I think I'll leave Friday's plan open dependent upon what is left over from earlier in the week and just have this be it for now.  We will do the ravioli with arugula at some point this week too.

The Tomato Soup I Made Today

Simran said it was good and instructed me to write down the recipe.  She also just added that it needs to be thinner, so I guess add water to this.  Maybe a cup of water to start.  The version I made tonight had no added water.

Ingredients
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced
most of a bulb of roasted garlic
28 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes
a couple fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp agave nectar (or sugar of some kind to cut the acidity of the tomatoes)
1/4 tsp sea salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup coconut milk
fistful fresh basil

Directions

1) Heat the oil in a large pot and cook onion.  Add the garlic (I used almost an entire bulb of roasted garlic because I made it a few days ago for a different recipe and had it leftover).

2) Add the tomatoes and cook until they start to get mushy.  This is probably where you should add some water.  Add basil.

3) Season with agave, salt, pepper, and coconut milk.  Puree smooth in a high speed blender.  Serve hot.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I want to buy a cabbage, so there is a lot of planning around that.  Here is what I'm making:

Potstickers
I think I need to come up with something else to make this a full meal.  Or maybe I'll just make them and toss them in the freezer for lunches since Sim is leery of anything resembling stir-fry ever since that one store-bought sauce made her sick.  I'm really just making these because I like them and they will use up the last of the cabbage.

Chilli-Garlic Noodles

Vegan Irish Sausages and Colcannon (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 164)

Saag Paneer and Vegan Methi Chicken Curry and Naan and Basmati Rice and Carrot Halwa
Friday night dinner.  Or maybe Thursday.  It'll use up the last of the paneer in the freezer.  I normally do a dal, but the methi chicken is also a protein and sounded good, and I just saw soy curls at our local grocery store for the first time and had been wondering what they could be used to make, so it seemed like kismet.  The carrot halwa is a recipe from a vegan kickstart app, and I'll already be using my salad shooter to grate a bunch of carrots and cabbage anyway, so I might as well use it for these cups of carrots too.

Vegan Grilled Cheese with Pesto and Tomato Basil Soup
I don't foresee using fresh tomatoes on the soup unless I just have some to use up.  I'm going to get a large can of fire-roasted tomatoes and a tiny can of tomato paste and just figure it out from there.  My basil plant also needs pruning, so this will be a good way to use some of its leaves.  As long as the lite coconut milk in the fridge is still good, I'll dump it in there too.  I prefer a smooth bisque to a rustic tomato soup, so I'm only using the recipe as a jumping off point. 

For the grilled cheese, I can't find a recipe that looks like what I want (a plant-based sort of homemade cheesy spread made from beans, veg, and nutritional yeast), so I'll use the vegan cheese sauce I like, maybe with some hummus or pureed white beans stirred in to thicken it so it doesn't just pour out of the sandwich.  I'll use the vegan pesto already in my fridge, some arugula for crunch, tomato for texture, and maybe avocado for added creaminess.  My plan is to dry toast it in my nonstick skillet it so it's more like a panini than a buttery grilled cheese.

We also have more veg hot dogs and ravioli in the fridge.  Those will work well for weekend meals.  My weekday meal plan feels overly ambitious, between the amount of prep work and the number of new dishes.  It'll take some forethought and a whole lot of chopping one day while Sim is at school.

Meal Planning

I just returned from a trip to San Francisco where I ate so much rich food.  I'd like to detox a bit, but mostly I want to use up what is already in the house.  Here is what I have to use up:  an avocado, almost an entire pack of hot dog buns, a bunch of baby arugula, a green bell pepper, and a few crowns of broccoli.  We also have some leftover penne alla vodka and some leftover spaghetti & meatless balls from when I was out of town.  Here is what I'm going to make:

Meatball Subs and Some Kind of Vegetable
I can use up some of the leftover meatless balls and some of the hot dog buns making them into meatball subs.  I think I'll do this today.  It should be pretty quick to throw together, and Sim always wants dinner right away after choir practice.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie
Because I keep putting this on my meal plan and then not making it.

Veggie Hot Dogs and Some Kind of Vegetable
This will use up more of the hot dog buns and the last of the hot dog's Sim likes.  I'll buy a pack of the brand Sameer and I like for us to eat.



Ravioli with Arugula
I already bought all the ingredients for this because Sameer originally planned to make it while I was out of town.  It sounds like they've had a lot of pasta in my absence, but this should be okay by Friday or Saturday night.  It's a really easy, tasty, reasonably healthy dish, which is good criteria for a Saturday night dinner.  I've also noticed the new grocery store in town has both vegan Parmesan and vegan ravioli, so I'll try making this dish non-dairy the next time I need to buy ingredients.