Meal Planning

Sameer is out of town for work this week, so I'm only cooking for Sim and me.  She asked for Brinner tonight, so I'm making veggie bacon and a healthy French toast recipe from The How Not to Die Cookbook.  The other nights I'll be aiming to make easy, reasonably healthy meals.  I still have a large amount of asparagus from our neighbors that I plan to steam today and chill in the fridge for use throughout the week.  Here is what I'm making:

French Toast (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 16) and Veggie Bacon
I already have all the ingredients for this.  I'm using Ezekiel 4:9 raisin bread for the French toast.  I'm making both the Morning Star veggie bacon Sim likes as well as the tempeh bacon I like (it's also easier to use it up when I've cooked the whole package in advance and put the leftovers in the fridge for vegan BLTs or just snacking -- I'm the only one in the house who eats tempeh bacon).  I also have three fresh mangoes I'm going to chop up for dessert.

Veggie Dogs and Pita with Hummus and Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayo
I already have so many veggie dogs in the fridge and freezer, and the asparagus is easy because I can steam and chill it in advance and make the mayo in advance too (which Simran does not eat, but she likes asparagus plain).  I have some leftover whole wheat pita pockets I don't foresee a use for, so I'm going to cut them up and toast them into chip form to eat with the garlic hummus already in my fridge.

Quesadillas and Refried Beans and Edamame Guacamole (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 38)
Quesadillas are easy and one of Sim's favorite foods, and now that Sim prefers them with refried black beans inside, they are healthier than they used to be.  I'm going to make the edamame guacamole simply because I have frozen shelled edamame in my freezer that I'd like to get rid of, and the dip claims to be good with crudites and steamed asparagus.

Garden Pretzel Sandwiches and Leftover Veggie Sides
I make the Garden Pretzel vegan for myself now (with a Daiya provolone slice and homemade pesto mayo made from Vegannaise and no parmesan but a little garlic salt instead).  Sim just eats the pretzel bread with a slice of dairy provolone.  This is easy though and her favorite sandwich.  I'll be able to use up the leftover pretzel bread by putting it in her school lunches. 

Red Chile Cheese Enchiladas
I'm making these Friday for when Sameer gets home.  They are one of his favorite dinners, plus they are easy to make in advance, they reheat well, and they should help me use up the vegetable broth I made last week.

There is so much food in my refrigerator right now.  I need to use up anything I can and buy as little new food as possible.  I currently have: one red bell pepper, three fresh jalapenos, a ripe avocado, green lettuce, two tomatoes, a small amount of watercress, an entire package of whole wheat pita pockets, and quite a few flour tortillas (some whole wheat, some not).  Here is what I'm going to do:

Vegan Seafood Salad in Pita Pockets and Crudites
This seafood salad was why I bought the pita pockets and red bell pepper in the first place, so I won't have to buy much more.  I do need celery, a new red onion, and a lemon.  This should use up a pita pocket or two, plus some of the red bell pepper (I'll chop and freeze the rest), avocado, tomato, and the watercress.  I'll probably give Sim baby carrots and celery sticks with hummus for her veggie side.  I'll either eat that or a salad if I have the energy to make more salad dressing before dinner.

Yellow Rice & Black Beans with Broccoli (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 152)
I have to make broth for this, so I'll need to use up the rest of the broth on other recipes.

Tofu & Vegetable Stirfry with Brown Rice
I'll use some of the broth for the stirfry.  I don't use oil in this recipe anymore.  I just saute everything in vegetable broth instead.  Sameer actually thinks it tastes better this way.

DIY Sandwiches and Yellow Split Pea Dal with Watercress (THNTD Cookbook, pg. 134)
I have so many random sandwich fixins and veggie dogs that I'll just do that plus the soup for Sim.  I'll have the soup over rice and a salad or something.  I want to make this soup to use up the rest of the broth as well as one of the jalapenos in my fridge.  I also already have tons of yellow split peas that I don't really use, and I'd like to see how the texture differs from chana dal in this sort of recipe.

Lots of healthy vegan recipes this week.  Hopefully we can handle this much healthy.  On the bright side, none of it looks particularly challenging.  I'll just have to set aside some time to prep the things that need prepping (e.g., I need to mix up more savory spice blend, make broth, and chop some vegetables).

Meal Planning

Zucchini Noodles with Avocado-Cashew Alfredo (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 105) and Super Salad with Garlic Caesar Dressing & Hemp Hearts (HNTD Cookbook, pg. 83)
Since this meal is mostly vegetables, I think I'll make some garlic bread or something to go with it so we aren't all starving after dinner.

Veggie Dogs and Vegetable Sides
I figure I can get some of the Beyond Meat veggie dogs from the freezer section at Whole Foods, and Sim likes the Field Roast ones that I already have on hand.  I will also heat up some veg baked beans and maybe steam some asparagus to make Pan-Steamed Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayonnaise.  Maybe add a salad, especially if the one I'm making tonight turns out well.  This is an easy Wednesday dinner.  

I don't even think I'll plan Tuesday and Thursday.  I'll just do easy sandwiches or chik'n tenders and soup or veggie sides like I've been doing.  We have company coming Friday and we're going out, so I'll plan beyond that later.

Meal Planning

Meatless Ball Subs and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I'm making this today because I have a whole mess of chopped onions in the fridge to make the soup and all the other ingredients are on hand.  I'm making subs because I have two brioche buns to use up (Sameer is fasting today, so that's enough for Sim and me), as well as marinara in the pantry, cheese in the fridge, and meatless balls in the freezer.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushroom Saute and Gardein Turkey Cutlets

Veggie Dogs and Vegetable Sides
This will be Wednesday because I have good veggie dogs with an expiration date of Thursday.

Meal Planning

Veggie Fajitas and Black Beans and Mexican Rice
I'm making this today (with boxed yellow rice and a can of black beans) to use up the zucchini and yellow squash leftover from last week's penne alla vodka.  I also have sliced red bell pepper in the freezer and red onion in the pantry, as well as lettuce in the fridge.  I pretty much only had to buy appropriately sized tortillas, tomatoes, and the ingredients for guacamole (the storemade guacamole looked unappealing).

Tofu Scramble Breakfast Mess and leftover Pancakes
I need to post what went into this tofu scramble.  I made it a couple weeks ago based on what I remember of a breakfast skillet dish my mother made us on a Girl Scout overnight trip when I was little.  Her version had egg, cheese, hashbrown potatoes, all the breakfast meats, and I think onion and green bell pepper.  My version is a tofu scramble in place of the eggs, sweet onion, bell pepper (using red this time to get it out of my freezer), hashbrown potatoes, and veggie sausage.  I'll try to remember if there was anything else in it.  It turned out surprisingly well last time.

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls

Meal Planning

Crispy Breaded Tofu and Purple Sweet Potatoes and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Brinner with Tofu Scramble

Idli-Sambar

Vegetarian Club Sandwiches and Soup

Meal Planning

Portobellos Frites and Shaved Brussels Sprouts
I think the only thing I need to buy for this is portobello caps.

Brown Rice Idli and Sambar
The normal white idli was fine last week and we ate all of it, in spite of a few hiccups with the batter jamming the venting piece of the Instant Pot so that it never sealed all the way.  Now I know how to work around both those issues.  I bought red and white poha at the Indian store last week and will try making idli with the red poha and cooked brown rice in place of the white and see how it goes.  The sambar is ridiculously easy since I just put together vegetables and red lentils and spices and boil/simmer until the potatoes and red lentils are cooked.  I bought frozen drumsticks (a vegetable I had never heard of before scouting sambar recipes) from the Indian store because the fresh ones didn't look green like the ones I've seen in pictures online so I wasn't sure if they were going bad.  Those will be a new addition this week.  I also found an unsweetened plain non-dairy yogurt by Kite Hill that tastes just as good in sambar as the dairy yogurt I've been using, though it's fattier than the dairy version by quite a bit.  Maybe I'll actually bother making the no-oil pakoras this week to go with all this.  I skipped them last week because it was just too much when I was having trouble with the Instant Pot.

Homemade Pizza
I made some tofu pepperoni yesterday that didn't turn out quite how it was supposed to -- the texture is very crumbly on account of the super firm tofu -- but the taste is good.  If I make it again, I'll add vital wheat gluten and water when I put all the ingredients in the food processor to see if that fixes the texture problems.  I'm going to try to use up some of what I made yesterday on homemade pizza since crumbling like sausage shouldn't be a problem on pizza.  I'll make my pizza vegan with arugula and mushrooms and things of that nature.  I'd like to try getting some shredded Daiya in place of the cheese to make Sim's vegan too.  She's eaten homemade vegan pizza before and ate all the leftovers, but she can tell she doesn't love it as much as dairy cheese pizza.  I previously bought mozzarella from Miyoko's Creamery, which is great cold but melted into a drippy oily substance.  If I skip the cheese altogether like I do on my own pizza, she will notice to an extent that I think it will interfere with getting her to eat it.  Vegan cheese seems like a good compromise.

I'm also going to make vegan bacon from the plain tempeh I bought using a recipe in the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart app by the PCRM.  I'll do this tomorrow and Sim and I can eat Vegan Cream of Broccoli soup and vegetarian club sandwiches.

The same app also has a mango sorbet I want to make Wednesday as dessert after the Indian food.  I bought frozen Atulfo mango slices when I was at the Indian store that should work well for this.  The entire ingredient list is frozen mango, agave nectar, and lime juice, so this should be easy.

The same app also has a chocolate mousse recipe made from silken tofu that I want to try on Friday night.  I just have to find silken tofu.  The store in town doesn't carry it.  I might have to go to Whole Foods again; I'm not sure.

Thursday is another fast day for Sameer, so we'll do soup and sandwiches again or leftovers from the other days.

I also want to try making the leftover cooked brown rice from idli production into rice pudding from the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart app.  In place of maple syrup, I'd like to use homemade date syrup from The How Not to Die Cookbook and in place of raisins, maybe bananas.  Maybe cooked bananas.  I want to make a bananas foster sort of flavor.  The base recipe looks simple enough that I don't feel the need to try it before I mess with it this way.