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.

Meal Planning

Time for meal planning. It's that time of the year when I focus on using up the food in my freezer and pantry. Here is what I've got that needs to go in the immediate future: about two bowls worth of vegan cream of broccoli soup, two bunches lacinato kale, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, a few cups of shredded green cabbage, fat free cottage cheese, some 2% milk leftover from Sameer's mom's visit, and maybe a cup of non-fat Greek yogurt. The freezer is so full I'll need to work my way through it, but it's mostly frozen fruit and veg and a slightly unreasonable number of packages of garlic naan. We've had a lot of Indian food lately, so I'm going to put off dealing with the garlic naan and just refrain from buying more. In the pantry I've got a lot of noodles of different varieties, way too many crackers and snack foods, and a wide range of beans and lentils. I've also got a variety of oatmeals. I also have a box of dry milk I figure I'll make into hot cocoa mix because that always uses it up quickly. Here is what I'm making this week in an effort to buy as little as possible:

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Kale with Miraculous Walnut Sauce

I just need to buy celery to make this meal. This will be dinner tonight.

Baked Apple Cider Mini-Donuts

I made these a week or two ago and they were one of the best things I've ever eaten. Sameer and Simran said they were the best dessert they'd ever had. I'm simmering the last of the apple cider right now to make them again today. They should also use up part or all of the last of the 2% milk, and I already have the "apple pie spice" premade from last time. Sameer and Simran both have long days at work/school today, so I should have plenty of time to make these as a nice surprise. 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Halloween dinner. I can make the soup in the InstantPot so it just needs blending when we come in from trick-or-treating. I need to buy a loaf of fresh sourdough tomorrow, but I think I've got everything else.

Beef-less Stew and Herbed Dinner Rolls

I just need to buy some mushrooms to make this meal. I think I'll add some of the tiny chickpeas from my Rancho Gordo Bean box to the stew for added protein and to make it more filling.

Brinner with Breakfast Burrito and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

I have pancakes in the freezer, but I'm not sure how many. I can always make more from the yogurt in the fridge. I've also got Impossible brand savory breakfast sausages too that this will use up. I don't think I need to buy anything to make this meal. I may or may not make a warm fruit compote from some of the fruit in the freezer to go on top of the pancakes.

Tofu Pot Pie

This will use up the cubed tofu in my freezer and some of the veg in my freezer. I don't need to buy anything to make it.

Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese and Veggie Sides

I don't need anything to make this, and it'll use up some of the broccoli in the freezer and the elbow macaroni in the pantry.

I'll use up half the leftover vegan cream of broccoli soup and at least some of the shredded cabbage for lunch. I'm going to make the cabbage into Crunchy Asian Slaw.

Meal Planning

Time for some meal planning. Sameer's mom is leaving Saturday morning, so I want to have meals planned through Friday night. I think he wanted to order pizza one night (Friday?) and I wanted to do idli-sambar one night. That only leaves two nights to plan for. Here is what I'm making:

Dal Bhaat Shaak Rotli  with Dal Lasooni and Bhinda Nu Shaak 

I'm making the mung beans again because I have a small amount of tomato sauce leftover in the fridge, plus Sameer made an exceptionally garlicky tomato soup last night and I figure the small amount leftover will season the dal nicely. I bought two packages of okra when we were at Patel Brothers last week, so I'm making okra shaak.

Idli-Sambar

Vegetable Lasagna

I bought all the ingredients for this yesterday.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup 

This isn't for dinner, but I cooked some small white beans this morning so I could have this soup ready for lunch today.

Pumpkin Spice Groatnola

This is my new favorite breakfast, courtesy of NutritionFacts.org's Instagram account. I eat the groatnola as a cold cereal with golden raisins, pumpkin seeds, and unsweetened soy milk. It's not really sweet at all on its own, but the addition of raisins and milk makes it really good, kind of like a raisin bran crunch flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup uncooked buckwheat groats, rinsed
1 large cooked sweet potato (1¼-1½ cups mashed)
1-2 teaspoon(s) cinnamon, or more to taste
2-3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or more to taste
8-12 cups rolled oats

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat the oven to 250F

2) In a sauce pan, bring 1½ cups water to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the uncooked buckwheat groats. Cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes or until soft.

3) Add the cooked buckwheat and sweet potato to a large mixing bowl. Using a potato masher or a fork, mash together until well combined. Add the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, and continue mashing together.

4) Add 8 cups of rolled oats and stir until the mixture is well combined and forms clumps. 

5) Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Spread the granola on the cookie sheets. Bake for 2½ hours. 

Meal Planning

Time for more meal planning. I've still got some tomato sauce in the fridge from making mung beans, so I'll make that again and some potato shaak. I've also got green kale that I need to use. I also got a few pounds of interesting beans from my first ever Rancho Gordo Bean Club box, so I'm looking for ways to use those. Here is what I'm making:

Dal Bhat Shaak Rotli

With Kobi Bateta Nu Shaak and Dal Lasooni made with mung beans.

Chana Masala

I got some tiny chickpeas in my Rancho Gordon Bean Club box, so I'm going to try them out in this.

Air Fryer Tofu with Rice and Crunchy Asian Slaw

Vegetable Lasagna

Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa and Black Beans

This is a nice backup plan dinner for when I'm tired or running low on time.

Instant Pot Chana Masala

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Ghee 

1 teaspoon cumin seeds 

1 onion (finely chopped) 

1 Tablespoons minced garlic 

1 teaspoon ginger 

 

Spice blend: 

2 teaspoons salt 

2 teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder 

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 

1/4 teaspoon garam masala  

 

1-2 cup tomato (diced) 

1 cup chickpeas (soaked overnight) 

Directions:

1) Soak 1c chickpeas in water overnight 

2) Add 2 Tbs Ghee to Instant Pot on Sautee setting 

3) Add cumin seeds when ghee is hot – they should sizzle for 1 – 2 mins 

4) Add onions and cook for 5 mins 

5) Add ginger and garlic and cook 1 min 

6) Add remaining spices, tomatoes, chickpeas, and 1.5c water 

7) Cancel Sautee. Stir. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the pot. 

8) Put lid on and pressure cook on high for 35 mins