Back from Thanksgiving Trip Meal Planning

Simran has been sick since the day before Thanksgiving, and we just got home yesterday afternoon. She's started wanting occasional food again and her fever is getting back to normal, but I'm not forcing her to eat anything she doesn't want to eat when she's sick, so I'm not inclined to make as much food. The only thing she really wants right now is pumpkin pie, which I don't have, nor do I have the ingredients to make one, and it's been snowing steadily since before we got up this morning. Here is what I've got to use up (some from the freezer, some from a grocery store run after we got home yesterday): three entire containers of homemade soup taking up space in the freezer, lettuce, tomatoes, so many bags of dry beans from my latest Rancho Gordo Bean Club box, and a few sweet potatoes. Here is what I'm making for the next few days:

DIY Sandwiches and Vegetable Barley Soup

DIY Burritos

This will use up some beans, lettuce, and tomato.

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Sweet Potatoes and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

The loaf will use up some more lentils and the carrots and celery in the fridge. Just realized I have two entire containers of vegan cream of broccoli soup in the freezer from the last time I made it, so I don't think I'll be making more yet this week. I need to clear out the freezer enough that it can hold both my ice cream maker core (gigantic) and the box of ready-to-bake chocolate croissants (even larger) that I ordered Sameer from Williams-Sonoma. 

Tofu Pot Pie

Mostly because it uses up the tofu and some of the veg I've got taking up space in the freezer. I don't really want to eat this though.

Mini-Thanksgiving

So far Sim has only expressed an interest in this including pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes. This will be a special Friday night meal. I'll tack on a frozen pre-made fake meat and some kind of green vegetable, probably Seared French Beans with Caper Bagna Cauda or Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Whole Grain Mustard Sauce. And maybe a serving of Christmas Lima Beans from my Rancho Gordo Bean box. Maybe even in place of the fake meat.

Meal Planning

Sameer will be out of town Wednesday and Thursday for a work conference, so it'll just be me and Sim those nights. I'm still working on clearing the freezer and cleaning out the pantry. The fridge is pretty much down to condiments, pickled things, and very recent leftovers. Here is what I'm making:

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Sweet Potatoes and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

I keep making the broccoli soup because it's healthy and easy on to digest (presumably due to the pureeing). I'll make today's batch with the leftover buckeye beans in the fridge and the remainder of the kale in the freezer. I think the loaf will use up my remaining brown lentils, in which case I'll substitute black caviar lentils to make up the difference. They're tiny but have a similar firmness that should work. I think I just need celery and broccoli to make this meal.

Vegan BBQ Ribs and Collard Greens with Almonds

To use up the half bottle of KC Masterpiece in the fridge and some of the vital wheat gluten taking up space in the freezer. I already have everything I need to make this meal.

Miso Soup with Spinach & Dulse (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 51) and Grocery Store Vegetable Sushi?

Sim has musical practice until dinnertime on Wednesday, so this should be pretty easy for me to throw together before picking her up. I just hope the grocery store has enough vegetable sushi. They usually only have one serving available at a time. I have no idea why. The soup will use up the spinach in my fridge as well as some of the dried seaweed in the pantry, and I just like miso soup.

Leftover Soup and DIY Sandwiches

An easy Thursday night dinner with Sim before Sameer gets home from his conference.

I plan to finish off the week's meal plan by finishing off the week's leftovers on Friday and Saturday. If we run out, it's easy to make sandwiches or quesadillas or fake meat from the freezer.

Meal Planning

More cleaning out of the fridge/freezer/pantry! I went through quite a bit with last week's meals, but I've still got quite a bit more in the freezer and tons in the pantry as usual. Plus I've got another Rancho Gordo Bean box heading my way soon, which I think usually means a jar of spices and several pounds of dry beans. 

I currently have some corn tortillas in the fridge and some green onions, and I diced up my red bell pepper last week and stashed it in the freezer. I also bought a bag of shaved brussels sprouts because I like when I can find them pre-shaved and that only happens when I go to the Whole Foods a 20-minute drive away. I didn't end up doing brinner night yet, so I still have everything for that. I've also still got leftovers from last week's beef-less stew, kale with walnut sauce, garlicky Korean mac 'n cheese, and a serving or two of fat free cottage cheese. Tonight may or may not end up being a leftover night. Here is what I'm making this week: 

Brinner with Breakfast Burrito and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

Because I didn't make it last week. I already have everything I need.

Chilaquiles Casserole and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

To use up the corn tortillas from the fridge and the enchilada sauce in the pantry. It will also use up some of the corn from the freezer. It's not in the recipe, but I think I'll add my frozen diced red bell pepper too. I should just need a zucchini to make the chilaquiles. The soup can be for lunches or go with dinners throughout the rest of the week. There are other healthy soups I could make and will make another time, but this one has cruciferous greens and it's drinkable (and freezable/reheatable if necessary), so I'm going with broccoli again for now. And I already have everything I need to make the soup.

Nut-Crusted Tofu and Sweet Potatoes and Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Whole Grain Mustard Sauce

I'm down to my last sweet potato, but other than that I have everything to make this meal.

Catalan Sauteed Polenta with Spinach & Butter Beans

This will use up some of the coarse corn meal and the can of butter beans in my pantry. I need to buy a new red bell pepper (my frozen one won't have the right texture for this, which is why I'm using it on the chilaquiles instead) and some spinach. I also need some pepper jack. We've used up most of our cheese.

Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup

I want to make this because it looks tasty and I keep thinking about soupy red curry noodles, but I'm going to have to make some substitutions to make it vegetarian. I'm also going to avoid buying anything new to make it, so who knows how close it'll taste to the original. My only goal is that it tastes good. I've got coconut milk, red curry paste, cilantro, and green onions. I've also got stir-fry vegetables in the freezer (I think) and a variety of noodles in the pantry. I'm going to use vegetable Better Than Bouillon instead of chicken broth, tofu instead of chicken, and I don't really know what fish sauce entails, but I've got two kinds of miso and multiple kinds of seaweed that I could try in this dish (I'll use whichever is the little one -- wakame? I don't remember). I'll just keep adjusting it until it tastes reasonably good, and worst case scenario I'll learn something.

Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal

To try for breakfast. Plus I have lots of overripe bananas to contribute to it.

Vegetable Barley Soup 

Probably won't happen until next week because two soups in one week is usually too much food to consume (and I'm already making two, technically), but I wanted to remember I have everything to make it.