Meal Planning

Time for some meal planning. I'm still working on cleaning out the freezer for Christmas, though I've made some progress. Here is what I've got to use up in the immediate future, including some fridge leftovers: leftover spiced spinach tofu curry, cooked sweet potatoes, cinnamon baked apples, leftover cooked white rice, baked beans, homemade blueberry pie filling, some Bosco stix Sameer made, homemade refried black beans, a tiny bit of guacamole, lettuce, and pico de gallo. We've also got four ripe avocados, cashew yogurt, vegan Parmesan, and a tomato. The things taking up the most space in the freezer right now seem to be assorted frozen vegetables, Indian flatbreads, and frozen fruit, especially bananas. Here is what I'm making this week:

Enchilada Casserole

I don't have corn tortillas at the moment and I want to do this today, so I'm going to try doing it with flour tortillas. It'll use up the refried black beans, and I can top them with the guac, pico de gallo, and lettuce. If I have any kind of enchilada sauce in a can I'll just use that. If not, I'll have to make some from the red chile enchilada recipe or similar. This dinner should also use up two containers of cheese currently in the fridge and possibly more of the avocados. I also might just make this into enchiladas. The difference between that and casserole in my mind is whether the tortillas are rolled up and filled (enchiladas) or layered (casserole).

Vegetarian Chili and Cornbread

This was easy and good this past week, and it'll use up some more frozen veg, TVP, and cashew yogurt, as well as some more of my Rancho Gordo Beans. Last time I used a combination of Ayocote Morado beans and Bayo Gordo beans and it was really good, so I'll probably just do that again. I *might* need a new can of tomatoes to make this meal, but otherwise I've got everything I need. I could also serve any leftover Bosco stix alongside this meal. I made this last time by presoaking and pressure cooking the beans, then cooking everything together in the Instant Pot on saute followed by the bean/chili function (I'm loving my Instant Pot so much for soups and stews these days -- way more energy efficient than simmering something on the gas stove top for 45 minutes). 

Indian Food Sundries

The leftover spiced spinach tofu. The saag paneer individual freezer meal that has been taking up space in there for months. Dal Lasooni with mung beans (I might need tomato sauce and fresh cilantro). Turmeric mustard seed rice from the leftover white rice and cashew yogurt. A combination of garlic naan, onion kulcha, and chapati from the freezer.

Vegetable Barley Soup

This is nice to have available at lunch time, and Sameer wanted to have it again immediately. I think I need to buy a zucchini again but otherwise have everything I need. I used up the last of my tiny chickpeas last time, so I'll try out another Rancho Gordo Bean variety this time. Something small and firm. I finally ran out of pearled barley and started using my hulled barley last time (slightly less processed than pearled) and it cooked up just fine. I precooked the beans in the Instant Pot and then dumped everything together in the Instant Pot and cooked it on the soup function. I've put this recipe at the end because it might create too much soup/stew on a week when I'm already making chili and dal. I might make it alongside sandwiches later in the week.

I took inventory of my fridge and pantry and cross-referenced against the above recipes, and here is what I need to buy to make these meals:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 14 oz can tomato puree 

That's it. Not bad for creating a net loss in my stockpile of food. I do need to make enchilada sauce for tonight though.

Ideas for using up my stockpile of frozen over-ripe bananas:

• Banana "nice cream" with chocolate, strawberry, cherry, or blueberry (this is my go-to recipe for healthy dessert that uses up frozen bananas; I usually just blend up a couple frozen bananas, a couple spoonfuls of cocoa powder, and just enough unsweetened soy milk to thin it out)
• Banana bread
• Banana mocha chocolate chip muffins (I'd need someone to gift most of these to)
• Kale-Berry smoothies (I don't have kale at the moment, but I think I have everything else -- I could probably make this once from the spinach and berries currently in my freezer)
• Gingerbread Banana Bread (never made this before but it sounds good and maybe Sim would eat it for breakfast or snacks -- she's not a big banana person, but we all love gingerbread)