Meal Planning

Dumplings with Dipping Sauce and Peanut Sesame Noodle Salad

Indian Style Sandwiches

This refers to sandwiches with baked potato, cucumber, tomato, and chutney.

Dal Bhat Shak Rotli

With green beans and urad dal.

I think we're going to order pizza Saturday for my birthday.

Chole

Sameer wants to make this on Sunday. He presumably has the recipe he wants to use as I do not.

 

Pav Bhaji

 

Breakfast Burrito with sausage

 

Thai Green Curry Noodle Stir Fry

 

Vegan Elote and Fresh Guacamole and Quesadillas or Tacos or Something

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls  

Probably better if we have a rainy day, probably not this week.

Falafel

When it's not so hot since it involves baking, but I'm listing it here so I don't forget about it in future meal planning.

 

    

 

Taco Salad

Ingredients

2 corn tortillas

1/2 cup refried beans (or fat free refried beans from a can)

1/2 cup salsa of your choice (my favorites are chipotle salsa, pico de gallo, and La Victoria brand's cilantro salsa)

1/2 cup chopped tomato

2 tbs chopped red onion

2 cups salad greens (your choice of lettuces, arugula, and spinach)

1/4 cup cilantro (optional)

Directions

1) Toast the corn tortillas in a nonstick skillet until cooked. I like to cut them up so I don't have to try to cut them up once they're underneath beans. Add them to a plate.

2) Heat up the refried beans and put them atop the corn tortillas.

3) Top with salsa and all other ingredients. Eat.

Easy Refried Beans

This is the latest way Sameer and I make refried beans from dry beans in the InstantPot. It's the best I've found so far. The amounts of the seasonings to replace the salsa might need tweaking because I currently eyeball it, but it can be corrected by taste after cooking the beans.

Ingredients

2 cups dry beans (black or pinto)

1/2 cup Mrs. Renfro's green salsa (OR 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbs pickled jalapeno slices)

Directions

1) Put all ingredients plus 5 cups water into InstantPot and cook for 30 minutes with natural release. (If you soaked your beans ahead of time, that's great, but not necessary.)

2) Drain most of the water and blend the beans with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning as necessary. If you forgot to put in any seasoning at all (as I sometimes do), add it to taste now.

No Oil Tofu Veggie Stir-fry

This recipe varies for me based on what is currently in the refrigerator and freezer.  Anytime I have more vegetables than I can use in other meals, I chop them up and freeze them to use in this stir fry.  All of the ingredients in this stir fry freeze and reheat well, and you can swap out any vegetables you want.  Here is my favorite version of this recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup extra firm tofu, cubed (this recipe also works well with sliced seitan or a combination of the two)
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp fresh ginger root, minced (or ginger paste, if you're lazy like me)
1 clove garlic, minced (or about 1 tsp garlic paste, if you're lazy like me)
2 carrots, chopped
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 cup baby corn (or however much is in half a can)
1/4 cup water chestnuts, sliced (or however much is in half a small can)
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, sliced 
2-5 tbs Braggs' Liquid Aminos (Adjust to taste.  Low sodium tamari also works, but I find full-sodium soy sauce makes the dish too salty.)
1/2 cup water
1 tbs corn starch


Directions

1. First drain the tofu.  If it is already cubed, just drain as much liquid as possible.  If it's still in one big block, wrap it in a couple of paper towels, place it between two dinner plates, and put a few cans on top to weight it down.  After a couple of minutes, most of the water should be drained from the tofu block. Cut into cubes. Add two tablespoons of water to a nonstick skillet, heat over medium, and cook the tofu cubes for 5 minutes, adding more water if it starts to stick.

2. Add the sliced onions to the skillet.  Cook onions until slightly translucent, then add garlic and ginger. Continue to add water a tablespoon at a time as needed to prevent sticking.

3. Whisk together Bragg Liquid Aminos, corn starch, and water or vegetable broth, and add this sauce to the skillet. 

4. Add remaining vegetables.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  I usually cover the skillet and let it cook on low for up to 30 minutes while the rice finishes cooking.  If the vegetables cook to the point of getting mushy, it just makes them taste more like take-out to me, so I've never seen this overcook.

5. Serve over your choice of brown rice, brown rice noodles, or soba noodles.

Meal Planning

My MIL is arriving tomorrow. Here is what I currently have to use up: 2 bell peppers, a few cups of spinach, a few russet potatoes, and 12 oz of cremini mushrooms. I don't think I'm tailoring my meal plan to what I have particularly well, but this is what I'm making (I plan to use the potatoes in breakfast burritos, and I'll probably just steam the mushrooms and eat them plain). I'm only buying enough to make the first few meals, and I'll decide if/when to do the last three (new to me) recipes after that. Here is what I'm making:

Avocado Grilled Enchiladas with Red Chile Pesto

Red Chile Enchiladas and Red Cabbage Slaw

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls  

Creole Red Beans & Rice 

Dump & Done Spinach Rice & Chickpeas (from Vegan Richa's Instant Pot Cookbook, pg. 172)

Gochujang Tofu Stir-fry

Tex-Mex Rice Casserole

4th of July Weekend Meal Planning

This is meal planning for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday (Independence Day Extravaganza with Fireworks), and Tuesday (July 4th holiday). The Canadian wildfires have blown unhealthy air into our area for the past few days, and I'm not sure when it will clear out (meaning no opening the windows or spending time outside), but it's also going to be hot. This could potentially cancel any July 3rd/4th festivities, but it shouldn't change our need for dinners that don't heat up the entire house. Sameer has plans to make a couple of side dishes, including "potatoes fondant" and macaroni and cheese. Here is what we're making:

Black Bean Quesaritos

Because I still have some of the spicy quesadilla sauce leftover in the fridge, and I can make more from the sour cream in the fridge. Probably Saturday because I hate cooking on Saturday and I can prep all the components in advance.

Veggie Dogs and Corn on the Cob and Baked Beans and Various Veggie Sides

4th of July. This could be a dinner we do twice since the veggie dogs are prepared food and the sides are random. Sameer could make his sides either day.

Quesadillas and Vegan Elote with Fresh Guacamole 

Because it's easy and tasty and I can make taco bell style quesadillas from the leftover spicy sour cream sauce. I'm going to buy some veg chik'n strips and tomatoes too to go all out.

Vegan Fried Chicken with ranch dip and Various Veggie Sides

Because I have almost an entire container of cashew yogurt with an expiration date of 7/5, and the ranch dip will take care of some of that. Maybe I'll set aside half of the yogurt to make into Spiced Spinach Tofu Stir-Fry. Any leftover sides from Veggie Dog night or the elote can go with this meal. This is also another opportunity for Sameer to make one of his side dishes.

My goal after the long weekend will be clearing out the fridge and freezer. They are both pretty packed at the moment.

Meal Planning

Things I have to use up: spinach, lettuce, baby carrots, 4 eggs, 5 burger buns, and 1 burger. It is hot this week, so I don't want to use the oven too much. It heats up the house. Here is what I'm making:

Sandwiches and Veggie Sides
To use up the leftover burger buns and burger.

Tikka Masala Pasta Salad

Thai Green Curry Noodle Stir Fry

Veggie Summer Rolls

Pistachio Fruit Fluff Salad

I've been wanting this dessert that I haven't made in years.

Date Rolos

I've been eating too much sugar and having these in my fridge is a good way to reduce that.

As of Friday I have to avoid fresh veg and other fibrous foods to prep for my colonoscopy, so we'll probably have sandwiches and frozen pizza over the weekend.