Meal Planning

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Vegan Irish Sausages and Colcannon (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 164)
This was really good the last time I made it, both the sausages and the colcannon.  

Leftover Soup and DIY Sandwiches
Standard Thursday night fare.

Chilli-Garlic Noodles

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls and Super Salad with Garlic Caesar Dressing & Hemp Hearts (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 83)

Taco Night

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning and grocery shopping.  I don't have a lot of leftover ingredients anymore, so I'm just doing some easy, tasty stuff.  Two of the days this week have to be really quick and easy or premade, so I'm doing burgers (premade) and sandwiches with soup.

Black Bean Burgers (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 88) and Vegan Cream of Broccoli 

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls and Leftover Soup/Vegetable Side

Leftover Soup and Vegetarian Reuben Sandwiches

Homemade Pizza and Chopped Vegetable Salad (HNTD, pg. 79)

Homemade Taco Bell Night
This is our newest incarnation of "junk food dinner."  I basically make vegetarian versions of the Taco Bell chicken and cheese quesadilla for Sameer and me and a bean/cheese/black olive quesadilla on corn tortillas for Sim.  It isn't healthy per se, but I'm pretty sure it's healthier than actual Taco Bell and it's better tasting.

Meal Planning

Nut-Crusted Tofu (No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg 111) and Garlicky Rosemary Potato Soup (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 114) and Broiled Asparagus & Artichokes in Vermouth Brown Butter

Black Bean Burgers (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 88) and Vegan Cream of Broccoli

Spaghetti & Meatless Balls and Leftover Soup/Vegetable Side

Leftover Soup and Vegetarian Reuben Sandwiches

Sameer also said he wants to make Blueberry Muffins with Sim while I'm out of town.

Meal Planning

Time for weekly meal planning.  I ran across a recipe for Soba Noodles with Chinese Vegetables that contains part of a head of cabbage, which has informed a lot of the rest of the week's dinners since I'll have cabbage to spare.  Here is what I'm making:

Soba Noodles with Chinese Vegetables (The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook by Neal Barnard, pg. 110)
I bought soba noodles at Whole Foods last week, and I ran across this recipe when I was looking for a new stir-fry.  I think I'll add some tempeh or tofu to make this more filling.  There isn't anything protein-heavy in it as far as I can see, and I tend to end up hungry afterward when this is the case.  I found a small container of cubed tofu in my freezer, and I'll also add the amount that comes in the package of tofu that is beyond what the vegan chorizo calls for.

Vegan Irish Sausages and Colcannon (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 164)
The vegan Irish sausage recipe is at the end of the linked page.  I've made some recipes from that blog before and they were very good.  The colcannon will use up some of my remaining cabbage.

Chilli-Garlic Noodles
I'll finish off the head of cabbage on chilli-garlic noodles, one of my favorite cold weather comfort foods.  I use about half a head of it on this recipe anyway.  I'll need to make a fresh batch of milder chile-garlic paste.

Black Bean Burgers (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 88) and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I made a double batch of the black bean burgers last week, so I already have them in the freeze ready to go.  They are really good.  Slightly better than the best black bean burger recipe I've come up with I think, plus slightly easier to make.

Taco Night
I need to make a fresh batch of vegan chorizo, which is labor intensive but 100% worth it.

Garlicky Rosemary Potato Soup (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 114)
I'm going to have some Yukon gold potatoes leftover after making the colcannon, so I'm also going to make this very appealing looking soup.  I figure I'll throw in any leeks leftover from the soba noodles with Chinese vegetables too.  I'm not sure when I'll make this or what I'll serve with it.  It would be fine with DIY sandwiches.  I just want to take this recipe into account when I'm grocery shopping and making white beans in the InstantPot for inclusion in other recipes.

Meal Planning

I have a bunch of shredded purple cabbage in my fridge leftover from the slaw last week (which wasn't great, nor was the Sloppy Jacks recipe, though Sameer managed to finish it off and even claimed to like it), so I need to use that up.  I also have a giant mason jar full of homemade broth from the recipe in The How Not to Die Cookbook in my fridge.  It'll only last a couple more days, so I need to make a recipe that calls for several cups of the broth.

Black Bean Burgers (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 88) and Purple Cabbage Saute (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 173)

Miso Soup with Spinach & Dulse (HNTD, pg. 51) and Veggie Sushi
I already have most or all of the ingredients to make this soup, I love miso, and it should use up most of the homemade broth in my fridge.  Veggie sushi is just something to go with it.  I think I'm the only person in the house who likes veggie sushi.  Or any sushi.

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
This is easy and filling and I like it.  It's an easy meal to have pretty much ready to serve after Sim's afternoon activities.

Leftover Soup and DIY Sandwiches
The sandwiches will be a good opportunity to use up the veggie turkey slices in the fridge on club sandwiches or maybe the tempeh bacon on a vegan BLT.

Homemade Pizza and Chopped Vegetable Salad (HNTD, pg. 79)
This will be a nice Saturday night dinner.  I was going to say Friday, but Sameer and Simran have tickets to a Daddy-Daughter dance Friday where dinner will be served.  I'll eat whatever I want at home, and that will under no circumstances involve cooking.  The chopped vegetable salad won't be dramatically different from my usual green salad, but it calls for the vegan ranch dressing I already have made in the fridge, so I figured why not make a salad by the entire recipe.

Something else I from The How Not to Die Cookbook that I want to try making is the Smoky Roasted Chickpeas on page 44.  If they're good, they'll make a good travel snack to have on hand.  It's often hard to find good vegetarian, protein-rich foods on the go.

Meal Planning

I didn't end up making the new recipes last week, so I'm doing them this week.  I have to plan more strategically than before though because Sim now has after school activities that go right up until 5pm two nights per week, so I have to make really quick or fully prepared in advance meals those days, which typically means leftover soup and an easy sandwich (e.g., Garden Pretzel, Vegetarian Reubens).  I also have to pick up ingredients for Sameer's cherry chip birthday cake from the store.  Here is what I'm making this week:

Sloppy Jacks (from Michael Greger's How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 91) and Sesame Purple Cabbage & Carrot Slaw (from the same cookbook, pg. 76)

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I made the vegan cheese sauce yesterday (I have enough small changes in my recipe from the original that I ought to post it), so this will be one of my quick and easy meals.
Yellow Rice & Black Beans with Broccoli (from the How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 152)

Leftover Soup and DIY Sandwiches

Homemade Pizza and Green Salad
Sim and Sameer still eat cheese on their individual homemade pizzas, but I made a really fantastic vegan one for myself last time.  I used the whole wheat pizza crust recipe, cooked down 8 oz. of sliced cremini mushrooms and a thinly sliced shallot in a couple tablespoons of Bragg's liquid aminos, and made the roasted garlic from The How Not to Die Cookbook for the base and the nutty parmesan from the same cookbook for the topping.  I used raw almonds and pine nuts as the nuts because that's what I had on hand, and that topping was fantastic.  I built the pizza this way:  roll out crust as thin as possible without tearing it (I use my hands as a rolling pin doesn't work as well with pizza dough), spread a few cloves of the roasted garlic on it in place of a sauce (I wanted to do a "white pizza" style without all the oil and cheese, and while I can't say this was remotely the same thing, it turned out delicious), cover with all the cooked mushrooms and sliced shallot, then cover with a couple fistfuls of fresh baby arugula.  Sprinkle nutty parmesan evenly across the top.  I had expected it to be somewhat bland from lack of salt, but the liquid aminos apparently contributed plenty of saltiness.  Next time I might use less.  This pizza would also be good with halved grape tomatoes or thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes and maybe even a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  I made the ranch dressing from The How Not to Die Cookbook too for the salad, and it was fantastic.  It's very vinegary, so I end up using less than I would otherwise, which is also a good thing health-wise.  I'm just going to do a repeat of that whole meal.  

Cherry Chip Cake with Frosting

Meal Planning

Here is what I'm making this week:

Lasagna and Green Salad

Sloppy Jacks (from Michael Greger's How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 91) and Sesame Purple Cabbage & Carrot Slaw (from the same cookbook, pg. 76)
I'm going to use up the final frozen Ezekiel 4:9 rolls in my freezer on these sandwiches.  The slaw will probably create enough excess shredded cabbage that I can also make the fried rice or the other purple cabbage and mushroom recipe from the same cookbook.

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Yellow Rice & Black Beans with Broccoli (from the How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 152)

Nut-Crusted Tofu (No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg 111) and Forbidden Rice and Lemon-Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Carrots with Pecans (How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 167)

Leftover Soup and DIY Sandwiches

Homemade Pizza and Green Salad
I'd like to try the vegan ranch dressing from the How Not to Die Cookbook for this salad.