Meal Planning

Dumplings with Dipping Sauce and Peanut Sesame Noodle Salad

Indian Style Sandwiches

This refers to sandwiches with baked potato, cucumber, tomato, and chutney.

Dal Bhat Shak Rotli

With green beans and urad dal.

I think we're going to order pizza Saturday for my birthday.

Chole

Sameer wants to make this on Sunday. He presumably has the recipe he wants to use as I do not.

 

Pav Bhaji

 

Breakfast Burrito with sausage

 

Thai Green Curry Noodle Stir Fry

 

Vegan Elote and Fresh Guacamole and Quesadillas or Tacos or Something

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls  

Probably better if we have a rainy day, probably not this week.

Falafel

When it's not so hot since it involves baking, but I'm listing it here so I don't forget about it in future meal planning.

 

    

 

Taco Salad

Ingredients

2 corn tortillas

1/2 cup refried beans (or fat free refried beans from a can)

1/2 cup salsa of your choice (my favorites are chipotle salsa, pico de gallo, and La Victoria brand's cilantro salsa)

1/2 cup chopped tomato

2 tbs chopped red onion

2 cups salad greens (your choice of lettuces, arugula, and spinach)

1/4 cup cilantro (optional)

Directions

1) Toast the corn tortillas in a nonstick skillet until cooked. I like to cut them up so I don't have to try to cut them up once they're underneath beans. Add them to a plate.

2) Heat up the refried beans and put them atop the corn tortillas.

3) Top with salsa and all other ingredients. Eat.

Easy Refried Beans

This is the latest way Sameer and I make refried beans from dry beans in the InstantPot. It's the best I've found so far. The amounts of the seasonings to replace the salsa might need tweaking because I currently eyeball it, but it can be corrected by taste after cooking the beans.

Ingredients

2 cups dry beans (black or pinto)

1/2 cup Mrs. Renfro's green salsa (OR 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbs pickled jalapeno slices)

Directions

1) Put all ingredients plus 5 cups water into InstantPot and cook for 30 minutes with natural release. (If you soaked your beans ahead of time, that's great, but not necessary.)

2) Drain most of the water and blend the beans with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning as necessary. If you forgot to put in any seasoning at all (as I sometimes do), add it to taste now.

No Oil Tofu Veggie Stir-fry

This recipe varies for me based on what is currently in the refrigerator and freezer.  Anytime I have more vegetables than I can use in other meals, I chop them up and freeze them to use in this stir fry.  All of the ingredients in this stir fry freeze and reheat well, and you can swap out any vegetables you want.  Here is my favorite version of this recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup extra firm tofu, cubed (this recipe also works well with sliced seitan or a combination of the two)
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp fresh ginger root, minced (or ginger paste, if you're lazy like me)
1 clove garlic, minced (or about 1 tsp garlic paste, if you're lazy like me)
2 carrots, chopped
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup baby corn (or however much is in half a can)
1/4 cup water chestnuts, sliced (or however much is in half a small can)
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, sliced 
2-5 tbs Braggs' Liquid Aminos (Adjust to taste.  Low sodium tamari also works, but I find full-sodium soy sauce makes the dish too salty.)
1/2 cup water
1 tbs corn starch


Directions

1. First drain the tofu.  If it is already cubed, just drain as much liquid as possible.  If it's still in one big block, wrap it in a couple of paper towels, place it between two dinner plates, and put a few cans on top to weight it down.  After a couple of minutes, most of the water should be drained from the tofu block. Cut into cubes. Add two tablespoons of water to a nonstick skillet, heat over medium, and cook the tofu cubes for 5 minutes, adding more water if it starts to stick.

2. Add the sliced onions to the skillet.  Cook onions until slightly translucent, then add garlic and ginger. Continue to add water a tablespoon at a time as needed to prevent sticking.

3. Whisk together Bragg Liquid Aminos, corn starch, and water or vegetable broth, and add this sauce to the skillet. 

4. Add remaining vegetables.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  I usually cover the skillet and let it cook on low for up to 30 minutes while the rice finishes cooking.  If the vegetables cook to the point of getting mushy, it just makes them taste more like take-out to me, so I've never seen this overcook.

5. Serve over your choice of brown rice, brown rice noodles, or soba noodles.

Meal Planning

My MIL is arriving tomorrow. Here is what I currently have to use up: 2 bell peppers, a few cups of spinach, a few russet potatoes, and 12 oz of cremini mushrooms. I don't think I'm tailoring my meal plan to what I have particularly well, but this is what I'm making (I plan to use the potatoes in breakfast burritos, and I'll probably just steam the mushrooms and eat them plain). I'm only buying enough to make the first few meals, and I'll decide if/when to do the last three (new to me) recipes after that. Here is what I'm making:

Avocado Grilled Enchiladas with Red Chile Pesto

Red Chile Enchiladas and Red Cabbage Slaw

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls  

Creole Red Beans & Rice 

Dump & Done Spinach Rice & Chickpeas (from Vegan Richa's Instant Pot Cookbook, pg. 172)

Gochujang Tofu Stir-fry

Tex-Mex Rice Casserole