Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I didn't get through all the meals I planned for last week, so there is some carry over this week.  Here is what I'm making:

Stir-fried Veggie Pork with Rice
I've been buying Gardein brand frozen vegetarian meats lately since I got bored with homemade seitan and tofu.  I'm going to cook this one with red bell pepper, green onion, and broccoli.

Cheese Ravioli with Arugula
I actually did make this last week, but I have half the ravioli leftover, as well as tons of shallots and Romano cheese, so I'll just buy another batch of arugula and make it again.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup and Vegetarian Club Sandwiches   

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice and Naan

Pasta Salad

BBQ Vegetarian Ribs and Dill Potato Salad and Crudites with Ranch Dressing

Meal Planning

Chilli-Garlic Noodles

Seitan & Veggie Stirfry with Brown Rice

Cheese Ravioli with Arugula & Pecorino Romano

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup and Vegetarian Club Sandwiches   

Saag Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice and Garlic Naan

Tandoori Tofu and Vegan Green Goddess Dressing with Grilled Veggie Kabobs and Cilantro-Lime Brown Basmati Rice

  

Meal Planning

It's another week of meeting at the intersection of "tasty enough I'll bother" and "easy enough I'll bother."  Here is what I'm making:

Gnocchi with Spinach & White Beans

Penne alla Vodka

Veggie Fajitas with Fresh Guacamole
I hadn't planned to make these, but Sameer wants the penne, and it creates a surplus of the right sliced vegetables, so I figured I might as well use them up here.

Nachos with Fresh Guacamole

Tofu & Veggie Stirfry with Brown Rice

Enchiladas and Red Cabbage Slaw

Meal Planning

This week I'm aiming for the intersection of "tasty enough I'll bother" and "easy enough I'll bother."  Here is what I'm making:

Pav Bhaji

Chilli-Garlic Noodles

Soy Burgers and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I already have the burgers premade and stashed in the freezer, so this meal mostly involves slicing the burger fixins and chopping things for the soup.

Tofu & Veggie Stirfry with Brown Rice

Gardein Burgers with Crudites and Leftover Sides
Because I'll have extra whole wheat hamburger buns after making pav bhaji, and this is really basic for when it's the weekend and I'm too lazy to do anything else.  I might use my leftover veggies from the chilli-garlic noodles to make some Vegetable Manchurian too, now that I know how to fry properly.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  It's supposed to be rainy and increasingly warm this week.  Here is what I'm making:

Pita Pockets and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I'm going to make vegetarian seafood salad for the pitas and have other fixings available for Sim and Sameer, such as Tofurky slices and cheese.  I'll make this today since it's rainy and cool.

Veggie Tacos and Refried Beans

No-Huevos Rancheros
I'll make enough refried beans for both veggie taco night and huevos rancheros night.

Black Bean Nacho Pizza

Falafel
The recipe says burgers, but this time I'm making it in the traditional falafel style.  It tastes good either way.  This should use up the rest of the pita pockets.

Cheese Fries and Chik'n Tenders and Green Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing
This is basically a healthier version of what we used to order from Outback Steakhouse.  It's a variation on what I call Junk Food Dinner.

Meal Planning

This week is Simran's birthday.  I haven't been cooking to plan much recently, so I have quite a few non-perishable ingredients getting backed up.  I've spent the last four hours making macarons for Sim's birthday party.  A lot of it is wait time, but it's still the most temperamental recipe I've ever worked with.  God willing they will freeze nicely and thaw well as the internet claims they do.  I plan to thaw them Friday, ice the cupcakes, and then fill the macarons with the same vanilla buttercream and keep them in the fridge until the party Saturday.  They aren't the prettiest -- I still can't get them uniformly flat and shiny, and I think I whipped the egg whites longer than I was supposed to -- but they taste really good.  Dinner time is in 45 minutes and I really don't feel like cooking anymore.  Here is what I'm hoping to make and get rid of this week:

Cheese Ravioli with Arugula & Pecorino Romano
I noticed a wedge of Romano in the fridge and decided to make this.  Unfortunately it required me to buy a pound of arugula -- the only size package available at the store -- and might have been a terrible idea what with my already full refrigerator.

Tofu & Veggie Stirfry with Brown Rice

No Huevos Rancheros with Pea Guacamole

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup and Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Chik'n Tenders

Gardein Cheeseburgers and Crudites
Planning to save this one for Thursday, the night before Sameer's parents arrive, just to keep it simple and keep the kitchen relatively clean.  It's Sim's birthday, so I guess I'll make her a veggie dog in the hopes she'll actually eat something. 

Simran's 4th Birthday Party

Simran decided on an Octonauts themed birthday party this year.  That means lots of fun under-the-sea themed foods and decor for me.  She was also adamant she wanted a chocolate cake.  I've ultimately decided on the following menu, with input and approval from Simran:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, topped with Orange Molded Chocolate Sea Creatures:  I've used this chocolate cake recipe for years now.  I'm sure one of the top reviews mentions how much to adjust the cooking time for making cupcakes.  For topping I'm just making a basic vanilla buttercream with really good vanilla extract and adding a hint of gel food dye (I have both sky blue and leaf green, which I think I can make yield a nice aqua).  For the decorations, I found a sea creature chocolate mold on Amazon and orange colored meltable chocolates that you can by at grocery and craft stores (you can use white chocolate chips and a tablespoon of vegetable shortening and presumably a touch of gel food coloring, but the white chocolate came out so strong and overpoweringly sweet when I tried this that I am hopeful the meltables will be milder just by virtue of having a larger variety of ingredients listed on its packaging).

Oyster Sandwich Cookies:  I've seen about fifteen variations of this cookie on the internet, especially Pinterest.  It basically consists of two cookies positioned half open to look like an oyster shell, frosting inside, and a chocolate Sixlet that looks like a pearl positioned atop the bed of frosting.  The version I've decided to go with will be blue macarons with more of the same aqua dyed buttercream I'm using on the cupcakes.  Macarons are a pain to make, and I am going to experiment with freezing them so I can have them fresh without having to make them when I'm pressed for time, but they impress guests greatly because they're hard to make and expensive to buy, and it's nice to have a gluten-free treat option when you might have gluten-free guests.  I have white pearlescent Sixlets for the pearls.  If the macarons don't thaw well, I figure I can buy simple ginger snaps or something (the spice and buttercream flavors go well together) and assemble the whole lot in ten minutes or less, and gluten free guests will be relegated to the ice creams.  Regardless, I plan to assemble these cookies when I frost the cupcakes, right after making a large batch of frosting.

I plan to have ice cream, though I'm not sure if I'll make my own or buy some.  The thing that makes ice cream good is freshness.  How good it tastes is inversely proportional to how old it is, which is the only reason to make my own.  If I make my own, I will probably use this recipe because it's eggless and one person who might attend the party has an egg allergy, so I always try to include an eggless treat.  I will omit the preserves from the recipe though.  I've never gotten them to mix in properly when making this previously and they stuck out kind of oddly.  This chocolate ice cream recipe is Sim's favorite and uses up the exact amount of egg yolks left over from making two batches of macarons, so I might make this too.  Or maybe I'll freeze the egg yolks and make the chocolate one next week with any leftover half-and-half or cream from making the vanilla.

I have a drink dispenser I've used for fresh lemonade or punch in the past, but I think I might skip the punch this year.  So much of it is left over each year that it seems like a waste when I can just put out various sugared sodas and unsweetened fizzy waters that, unopened, can be saved for later.  Maybe I can find a limeade or something at Trader Joe's and put that in the punch dispenser.  I don't know.

For savory snacks, I'm going to put out good cheese (probably Cotswold with chives and some smoked Gouda -- they're my favorites and yielded good feedback from guests last time) pre-sliced and store-bought crackers, a vegetable platter with homemade ranch dressing featuring a half-submerged bell pepper cut to look like an octopus (thank you, Pinterest), and a fruit plate.  The fruit might be cut with my melon baller or star shaped cookie cutter, it might be inside a personal watermelon carved to look like the Gup-A from Octonauts (thank you, Pinterest), or I might just throw it all together on a plate because I've run out of energy.  Simran wants to make sure we have strawberries, blueberries, and mango slices, so those will be included.  Based on previous birthday parties, the thing that makes the biggest difference to guests is the inclusion of a ridiculous sweetened fruit dip made from cream cheese and marshmallow creme and Cool Whip, so I'll make a bowl of that.  I think I'll buy some little snack packs of Goldfish crackers and put them in a bowl too.  That way any that don't get opened can just go toward Sim's school lunches for the rest of the semester.