Meal Planning

It's Fall Break from school, so this is meal planning through Thanksgiving.  Friday will inevitably be Thanksgiving leftovers, and I'll figure out next weekend after that.  I want to keep it reasonably quick and easy since Sim is at home and I don't want a stockpile of leftovers when we're coming up to Thanksgiving.  Here is what I have to use up:  about three cups of homemade vegetable broth, an avocado, some green lettuce, about a quarter of a red bell pepper sliced, about a cup of diced onion.  Here is what I'll make:

Curried Pumpkin Soup and Vegetarian Club Sandwiches
This will use up the broth on the soup, and the sandwiches will use up some of the lettuce as well as some of the vegetarian turkey slices in the fridge. This can be Sunday night so I use the broth before it goes bad.

Avocado Grilled Enchilada with Red Chile Pesto
I'll make this Monday night.  It'll use up the avocado and red bell pepper as well as the large flour tortillas in the fridge.

Curried Tofu Pot Pie
Because I have some cubed tofu in the freezer, as well as frozen vegetables I'd like to pare down.  Thinking I'll make this Wednesday.  I can finish off the leftovers within a day or two.  Not sure if it's a bad idea to make so close to Thanksgiving, but I want to make the grilled enchiladas before the ingredients already in the fridge can go bad.

Thanksgiving 2019
Thursday, obviously.

Thanksgiving 2019

This will be almost identical to last year.  I've honed Thanksgiving menu down to exclusively things I love to eat.  The only difference is this year I'm making the pumpkin pie exactly to the recipe.  I think there might've been something else Sameer wanted to add (since I'm the only one who likes the stuffed mushrooms) but if so, I can add it on later.

Crudites and Pumpernickel Bread with Homemade Ranch Dressing
For lunch and noshing on till dinner time.

Gardein Vegetarian Turk'y Cutlets

Boxed Mashed Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole 

Stuffed Mushrooms with Horseradish Cream Sauce 

Candied Pears 

Pumpkin Pie

Meal Planning

I'm aiming to clean out the fridge and freezer as much as possible before I start cooking for Thanksgiving next week.  Here is what I'm making:

Vegetable Tagine (The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 124)

This is healthy and vegan, and it'll use up some of the vegetables already in my fridge, including a container of sliced mushrooms from Friday night's veggie tacos.  I'm making this tonight.

Pinto Bean & Greens Enchilada Casserole (The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, pg. 97)
Also healthy and vegan.  I'm making this predominantly to use up the corn tortillas and at least one of the avocados currently in my fridge.  Planning this one for Thursday, when Sameer gets home from out of town.


Hearty Veggie Hoagies and leftover Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
I still have leftover cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper, and pesto in the fridge from the last time I made these sandwiches, so I'm making them again tomorrow.  It's an easy meal to have ready to go on Tuesday nights.

Vegan Pizza
Because I have some vegan cheese to use up and maybe I can use some of the basil leaves from our little basil plant too.  This will be Friday night. 

Wednesday night will just be a tostada for Sim (veg refried beans and cheese and olive slices on top of a corn tortilla that's been through the air fryer) and a veggie side, and I'll have whatever leftovers are on hand.  Alternately, a "taco bowl" of veg refried beans, chipotle salsa, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, etc.  It's healthy, vegan, and filling.

 

Meal Planning

Sameer is traveling again this week.  I'm mostly making the same things I made last week just to use up the remaining cucumber slices and brie.  Here is what I'm making:

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup and Brie/Arugula/Tomato Baguette Sandwiches


Hearty Veggie Hoagies and leftover Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Homemade Pizza
This is my plan for Friday night.

For Wednesday and Thursday, I'll make Sim a club sandwich or air-fried chimichanga.  I'm also getting more chik'n tenders, fresh broccoli florets, and we still have veggie dogs on hand.  So easy stuff plus veggie sides will be the focal point this week.

Hearty Veggie Hoagies

I love this sandwich recipe from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook so I'm copying it down here so I don't have to keep getting the cookbook out every time I make a grocery list.  I think my only change is that I don't salt or season any of the veggies in advance; I just put it all together.

Ingredients
One 12 oz. sourdough or whole grain baguette (I usually buy a whole wheat half baguette from the bakery at Whole Foods)
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
2 cup canned or frozen and thawed artichoke hearts, roughly chopped (I prefer the marinated artichoke heart quarters in little jars for this.  Drain but do not rinse.)
1 red bell pepper, sliced into rings
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs pesto (I usually buy a vegan pesto -- very oily but delicious -- from Whole Foods)
Balsamic vinegar

Directions

1) Slice the baguette in half horizontally (into two shorter segments), then slice off the top third from each half. Scoop out some of the insides of the bottom portion, reserving them for another use (such as bread crumbs).

2) Toast lightly

3) Layer tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, artichokes, and olives.  Spread pesto across the inside of the other side of the baguette.  Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the vegetables, and close baguette.

4) Wrap tightly in parchment paper, then aluminum foil.  For best flavor, let sit (I put it in the refrigerator) for at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours.  Slice and serve.

Meal Planning

We didn't end up having the penne alla vodka last week, so I'm moving that to this upcoming Saturday.  Sameer will be out of town most of the week, so we're doing easy dinners in the style of his fast days most of the week.  Here is what I have to use up:  five organic russet potatoes, two eggs, and a whole mess of apples and pears.  I have no idea how I'll eat that many apples and pears essentially on my own, but I also don't know any recipes I want to make from them.  Here's what I'm making this week:

Baked Potato Skins and Brussel Sprouts and some manner of Gardein frozen chik'n tenders or veg turkey cutlets
This will use up the potatoes, which are baking as I type this.  I'm going to make ranch dressing to go with them because it's tastier and slightly healthier than sour cream.  We also have a small amount of sour cream in the fridge that Sameer or Sim might finish off tonight.

Hearty Veggie Hoagies and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
This one is going to irritate Sim, but the sandwich can be made well in advance and it's good and it's healthy.  This way I'll be able to pick her up from her extracurricular at school and give her a shower without it interfering with my ability to have dinner ready at the right time. 

I determined last week -- the week of sambar and broccoli soup -- that I should only make one soup or stew-type dish per week since it yields such plentiful leftovers for both my lunches and vegetable sides for Sim at dinners.  So this will be our soup this week, as it is so many weeks of the year.

Brie/Arugula/Tomato Baguette Sandwiches and Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup and Macaroni and Cheese
Since it's just the two of us eating the veggie hoagies, we'll have bread leftover from the whole wheat half-baguette I'm buying for it, so we'll have these sandwiches the next day and hope it's still soft enough to eat.  We'll have leftover soup from Tuesday.  I'm making mac 'n cheese just to use up the two eggs before they go bad and because I don't want to deal with the repercussions of eating an entire batch of cookies or a cake, which are the other things I can think of to make from them.

Arugula-Feta Pita Pizzas and Yet More Leftover Soup 
Sim used to love these little pita pizzas, and maybe she'll be happy enough that it resembles pizza, but I have a feeling she'll feel cheated that there are vegetables on it.  I think it sounds really good though, and it's quick and easy and reasonably healthy, so I'm going with it.


Stuffed Pita Pockets and Random Leftover Sides
I figure we can use the last of the arugula or some green lettuce, tomatoes, veggie bacon, leftover feta from the day before, and whatever else we have on hand to stuff the pita pockets.

Penne alla Vodka
Saturday night.

Instant Pot Idli

I've amended my recipe now that I've made this successfully a few times.  The water and dry ingredient amounts and cook times seem reliable now.  I use more water than the recipes I've seen that involve a wet grinder, but it works.  I don't have a wet grinder, and when I tried to make a thick paste in my Vitamix, the blender always overheated and the fermentation never really came out right.  The amounts noted below are the amounts I always use now.

Ingredients
1/2 cup urad dal (the whitish colored skinned and split urad dal, not the whole black kind)
1 cup idli rice (parboiled short grain rice that says "idli" or "idly" on the bag)
1/2 tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
1/2 tsp non-iodized salt (I use fine sea salt)
cold water

Directions

1) Put urad dal and methi seeds in one bowl and cover with water.  Put idli rice in another bowl and cover with water.  Let soak at least 6 hours.

2) Rinse urad dal and methi seeds thoroughly.  Add 1/2 cup cold water to a high speed blender and top with urad dal and methi seeds.  Blend into a fine paste. Put dal paste into a bowl.

3) Rinse idli rice thoroughly.  Add 1.5 cups cold water to same high speed blender and top with the idli rice.  Blend.  It will be a lot thinner than the dal paste.  Don't worry about that.  Add to the same bowl as the dal and combine thoroughly.  It should now be about the thickness of a smoothie.

4) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit (this is important because it's usually too cold in my house to ferment things at room temperature).  When oven is preheated, turn it off.  Cover bowl of batter with an oven-safe plate and put it in the warm, off oven with only the oven light on and leave it to ferment over night.

5) Check on the batter the next day.  It won't be ready yet, but that's okay.  Heat the oven back up to 180, turn it off, cover the bowl and put it back in the off oven, and turn the oven light back on.  I end up leaving mine in the oven for about 18 hours total.  Basically I leave it until I'm ready to make dinner.  By then it's foamed up into nearly twice its previous size and smells like idli.  Now add 1/2 tsp of salt and stir it in.     

6) Put 1.5 cups water into Instant Pot and set to "saute" until you can see steam coming off the water.  While waiting for the water to heat (it happens quickly), lightly oil idli molds (I spray them lightly with Pam) and add batter.  I fill the molds so they are each about two-thirds to three-quarters full.

7) Place stack of idli molds into Instant Pot.  I only use four out of the five of my idli mold trays because when I stacked all five, the idli on the top layer clogged up the vent on my Instant Pot.  I just don't take that chance now.  Close lid leaving "venting" on.  Set to "steam" and let cook for 12 minutes (you'll have to set a separate timer for this because the Instant Pot one does not start counting until it reaches high pressure).  Turn off Instant Pot and leave sealed for 10 more minutes (my idli had been a little too wet and not quite done when I opened it as soon as the pressure went down).

8) Open Instant Pot and remove stack of idli molds.  Remove idli with a rubber spatula.  Serve warm with sambar and coconut chutney.  Simran and I also like yogurt with this.  If you use the unsweetened plain cashew yogurt by Forager, the entire meal remains vegan.