Meal Planning

Time for meal planning.  We have a lot of random leftovers that work for lunches still, but I need to be able to make dinners.  I'm going to aim to make things that won't create more leftovers.

Shakshuka

Because we have eggs.

 

Brinner

Because we have eggs.  And I can use up some of the cashew yogurt making pancakes.

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles

Because it rarely yields leftovers.

 

French Onion Skillet Lasagna  

Because it never yields leftovers and will finish off the spinach.

 

I'm also ordering sourdough bread so I can make sandwiches.  Mostly I just want to avoid more food waste this week.  Here are other meals I could make without buying anything new:

Creole Red Beans & Rice

 

Tofu Salad Sandwiches

 

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

 

Jalapeno Popper Chickpea Salad    

 

Vegan Malai Kofta

 

Seven Layer Tortilla Pie     

Meal Planning

Time to order groceries again, so I need to plan our meals for the next week or more.  Tonight we're going to have red beans & rice because it'll use up the last of my cut red bell pepper and it's pretty easy and healthy.  I'm going be repeating some other easy dinners that we already have the ingredients to make.  A couple days in the next week and a half we will be ordering in dinner for Simran's birthday.  The meals later in the list will just be things I can make from what I will already have on hand.  They may or may not happen.

 

Creole Red Beans & Rice

French Onion Skillet Lasagna 

Because I have enough lasagna noodles left in one box to make it again.  And spinach too if I make it soon.

 

Black Bean Burgers and Baked Truffle Fries 

I need to make a fresh batch of black bean burgers, and between this and the French Onion skillet lasagna, I'll use up the container of mushrooms.  I put the fries on here because I have pounds of potatoes.

Idli-Sambar

Because it's supposed to be cool again for awhile and I have some random veg and cashew yogurt to use up.

Vegan Methi Chik'n Curry and Basmati Brown Rice

Because it's easy and will use up ingredients I already have.

 

Buddha Bowl from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook

Because I really want to try this for lunches and I'm concerned I can't eat that much all on my own, especially when there are leftovers from other dinners, so I might just make it for dinner one night to try it out.  

 

[Edited 4/18/2021: I ended up just making this for myself for lunch today.  You can't really tell what's in it from the picture with the lettuce on top, but I used a base of the basic BROL recipe from The How Not to Diet Cookbook because I made it a few days ago for another dish and had some to use up.  The No Meat Athlete Cookbook calls for a cup of quinoa or brown rice, but I did about 3/4 cup BROL in anticipation of this thing being so filling I wouldn't be able to eat that much.  I added about 4 ounces of tempeh I had marinated and baked according to the recipe as well as a Korean BBQ sauce recipe from the same book.  Microwaved it about a minute then added about 1/2 cup of shredded carrot, 1/2 cup of vegan kimchi, 1/2 avocado, and as much lettuce as I could fit in the bowl.  The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of mung bean sprouts too, but I didn't have any at present.  It would be a good addition.  This Buddha bowl definitely has a kick to it from the spicy kimchi, but I can't imagine eating it without the kimchi.  I love kimchi and it sort of makes the thing.  If you don't like kimchi, I think you'd need something healthy and saucy and flavorful to replace it, like chipotle salsa and make it into a Mexican style bowl.  I like this dish.  I will definitely eat it again (now that I've made the BROL and tempeh and sauce, it'll take two minutes to put together, and it turned out to be a reasonable amount of food for lunch).  I made Simran try a kimchi-free bite and she deemed it "meh," which is better than the gagging and fussing I had imagined.]

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

 

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles 

 

Pav Bhaji    

Meal Planning

I'm ordering from Whole Foods again today.  It'll be hot out today and tomorrow and then back to springtime cool, so I'm going to make sandwiches for dinner tonight and tomorrow if possible and we can have dinner out on the deck.  Here is what I'm getting the ingredients to make:

Hearty Veggie Hoagies    

 

Tofu Salad Sandwiches

 

Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff 

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

Homemade Pizza

 
Black Bean Burgers

 

Creole Red Beans & Rice

 

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles   

 

French Onion Skillet Lasagna 

 

A lot of this is redundant from last week, not because I made it or meant to but because I've been keeping the ingredients on hand for the pizza, vegan mac 'n cheese, red beans & rice, etc.  I do keep making the peanut sauce noodles every week though.  I made it again last night.

Also sides of:

 

Brussels Sprouts

 

Steamed Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayo

 

[ETA: Groceries won't be delivered until tomorrow, so I think I'm going to do a makeshift version of the tofu salad sandwiches with what I've currently got on hand plus a crudités platter on the side for dinner on the deck tonight.  Maybe with the vegan ranch dressing from The How Not to Die Cookbook.] 

Meal Planning

Time to order groceries.  We don't really need them just yet, but Simran wants hearty veggie hoagies for our picnic lunch at the tallgrass prairie tomorrow, so I need supplies for that.  Here is what I'm making in the immediate future (most of it is just meals we could make from what we already have on hand):

 

 Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake

Definitely making this tonight because I didn't get around to it last week and I want to use up the fresh spinach to make room in the fridge.

 

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles 

I've been making this every week, so it may or may not happen this week.  It's a nice, healthy, easy dish though.

 

Creole Red Beans & Rice

Haven't made this in a few weeks but could make it any time since it's mostly non-perishable and I've been keeping bell peppers on hand.

 

Black Bean Burgers

Three more burgers remain in my freezer.

 

Homemade Pizza 

May or may not actually make this since Sameer is planning to order a takeout pizza this week.  We have the ingredients though, so it'll happen eventually.

 

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

I keep putting this on the meal plan but haven't actually made it in awhile.  It may or may not happen immediately since the ingredients are non-perishable.

 

Hearty Veggie Hoagies     

To take on our hike through the tallgrass prairie to look for bison tomorrow.

 

Italian Escarole Soup from The How Not to Diet Cookbook, pg. 6

This will be the veggie side of the week that I serve with practically every meal until it's gone.  It'll be the most labor intensive dish since I have to make broth before making the soup, but it's healthy and tasty and will be worth it.

 

Meal Planning

Time to order groceries again.  Here is my meal plan for the week:

French Onion Skillet Lasagna

Everyone in the house likes French onion flavor. [Edited 3/26/21: I made this last night and forgot to take a picture (as I so often to) but it was very good.  Will make again.]

 

Vegan Quesadillas with Walnut Taco Meat

On the off chance I can entice Simran to enjoy a vegan quesadilla since she eats a bean and cheese quesadilla for lunch most days.

 

Instant Pot Teriyaki Fried Rice 

Because I'm always interested in new fried rice recipes.  Especially healthy, easy ones.

 

Black Bean Soup and Jalapeno Popper Chickpea Salad

The sandwiches were good last time and the soup sounds good and healthy.

[Edited 3/26/21: I made the sandwich into a jalapeno popper melt.  I put Earth Balance vegan butter on the outsides of the sourdough bread slices, then filled them with the jalapeno popper salad, a layer of pickled jalapeno slices, and a thin layer of Daiya brand vegan havarti with jalapeno.  Then I grilled it in a skillet until the buttered sides were brown.  It was so good, like a jalapeno popper in sandwich form.  Simran complained about the spiciness of the soup because she still has low spice tolerance, but it was very good and not very spicy.]

Vegan Malai Kofta

I think I made this once before.  It was really good and indistinguishable from restaurant malai kofta.

 

Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake

Because it was good when I made it a week or two ago and I need a way to use up the spinach I'm ordering.  Plus there's always a surplus of pasta in the pantry.

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles

Because I love it so much and there are never any leftovers.

Lunches:

I've been looking for some high protein, whole grain, veggie-heavy lunches I could make for myself.  But they also need some kind of sauce to be palatable to me.  The soba noodles jumped out because I have some soba noodles in the pantry.  It also seems good for summer since it's cold.  I plan to make the Buddha bowl fixins this week.  It sounded appealing because it's so hearty and healthy but also has Korean chile flavors in the sauce and marinade and I discovered last year that I love gochujang.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad

Buddha Bowl from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook

Green Juice

 

I bought a juicer so I could get nutrients even when ulcerative colitis is bad and eating a lot of fiber is painful.  If you're doing multiple very small meals for digestive reasons, this is a good one for keeping blood sugar normal.

Ingredients

1 green apple

1/2 cucumber

1 tsp fresh ginger root

1 celery stalk

1 fistful baby spinach

 

Directions:

 

1) Put everything in a juicer.  Don't bother peeling anything and only cut as much as you have to to get it in the juicer.  Juice it.  Add lime juice if you like (I add 1-2 tsp lime juice because I don't want to do the work of peeling an entire lime).  Stir well and drink immediately.

Meal Planning

Time to order groceries again.  We still have lots of things but we're out of a few things.  Here is what I want to be able to make over the next week and a half:

 

Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup

Because I have cauliflower and red bell pepper leftover from meals this past week and this will use them up.

Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chicken

 Not sure if I've made this before but it sounds easy and good.

 

One Pot Peanut Sauce Noodles 

Because it's easy and good.

 

Vegan Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake

Sounds good and I have some artichokes and pasta shells to use up.

 

Creole Red Beans & Rice

Easy and good.

 

Black Bean Burgers

I still have black bean burgers in the freezer so this is easy and good.

 

Homemade Pizza and Lacinato Kale with Walnut Sauce   

 

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

Calls for no fresh produce so I can make this whenever.

 

Seven Layer Tortilla Pie   

Good stand by meal.  Doesn't call for much fresh produce so I can make it later in the week.

 

Avocado Grilled Enchilada with Red Chile Pesto 

 

Red Chile Enchiladas and Red Cabbage Slaw

I could make this and the avocado grilled enchiladas on back to back nights to use up the slaw.  This would also use up the corn tortillas taking up space in the fridge.

[Edited 3/6/2021: I managed to get some marinated baked savory tofu and sliced sourdough bread in my Whole Foods delivery yesterday, so I'm making tofu salad sandwiches for dinner tonight.]