Meal Planning

It's Friday morning and it's week #2 of meal planning to clear out the fridge. Here are the things I am aiming to get rid of next: roasted garlic (I roasted two bulbs to make last week's garlicky mac 'n cheese, but you can put roasted garlic in practically anything), fresh broccoli (I bought a bagful to eat with my homemade vegan ranch dip), baby carrots & hummus, a red bell pepper, vegan blue cheese (best by date of next week), 2 avocados, Kalamata olives, pesto, random vegan cheeses, random dairy cheeses, vegan meat crumbles that have been in the freezer for ages, a scant amount of 2% milk leftover from Sameer's mom's visit, and a bunch of frozen corn. Last week I was overly ambitious and ended up cooking too many meals since Sameer just restarted intermittent fasting, and I ended up with slightly more leftovers than we could finish. Here is what I'm planning to make this week:  

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Boxed Mashed Potatoes and Veggie Sides

This lentil loaf is good and easy and uses up a bunch of random stuff I keep on hand. I'm mostly making it to go with the mashed potatoes, which will use up the last of the 2% milk. Veggie sides might include the fresh broccoli, baby carrots, and potentially something from the frozen corn. I should probably make this tonight.

 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Simran and I have been planning a "cozy spooky movie night" for the last couple of weeks. The plan is to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, in addition to movie night snacks and possibly fresh baked cookies, and watch "Hocus Pocus 2" while snuggling under warm blankets. We're making a whole thing of it. The sandwiches will use up a bunch of the random dairy cheeses, and I could toss some of the roasted garlic into the soup. This will be Saturday night.

 

[We ended up making a cookie cake and vanilla buttercream frosting.]

 

 

Lasagna

This will use up some of the dairy cheese, the vegan meat crumbles, and some if not all of the spinach in the freezer. I can also stash any leftover lasagna in the freezer for future dinners.

Buffalo Tofu Salad

This is the only way I eat blue cheese, so I need to make this for some of my lunches / Sameer's fasting nights to use up the vegan blue cheese.

Alfredo Pesto Primavera

I can toss any random fresh veg into this, along with some of the pesto to make the sauce, and some of my frozen veg as well. I'll be opening a package of cream cheese currently in my cheese drawer to make the grilled cheese sandwiches tomorrow, and the alfredo sauce could potentially finish it off too, as well as the roasted garlic. I also have way too many boxes of dry pastas in the pantry at the moment. Clearing out the pantry isn't my focal point right now the way my fridge/freezer is, but it's always nice to clear it out enough to know at a glance what precisely is in there.

Corn Risotto

Sameer and I went to Althea in Chicago for lunch a week or two ago, and they served a really fantastic corn risotto (and I'm not usually that into risotto). It reminded me more of high end grits than risotto. I have no idea how to replicate it at present, but I'm bookmarking this link to use as a jumping off point. The Althea version had an herb-infused oil and maybe a smoked paprika flavor and featured grilled zucchini, tomatoes, and microgreens on top. It was a very summery vibe, but I mostly want to try this to use up the arborio rice in my pantry and the vast amount of corn in my freezer. I will NOT be adhering strictly to the recipe because I don't want to buy fresh corn or heavy cream (I expect to substitute a homemade cashew cream because that's easy), so it won't be truly representative of the recipe at all. It'll also be vegan. This might end up being a side to go with the lentil loaf, or I might just make it another week.

I ended up making spaghetti with vegan meat sauce, garlic bread, and steamed broccoli for dinner Sunday. It wasn't pre-planned, but it's easy, and I had less than an hour to work with when I finally started making dinner. It used up some of the aforementioned cache of dry pasta, a jar of marinara from my pantry, half of the vegan meat crumbles from the freezer, my last yellow onion, the tiniest slices of bread from the sourdough loaf I bought for making grilled cheese Saturday night, and the remainder of the fresh broccoli from the fridge.

Healthy Lunches

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup 

This is healthy and filling, and I just like having it ready to eat. 

 

[I made this for lunch today. My fresh broccoli florets and fresh red kale for salad weren't fresh enough anymore that I wanted to eat them uncooked, but they weren't unfresh enough to warrant tossing them either, so I made them into soup. I threw some julienned carrots in there too just to clear them out of the fridge. They were leftover from something. The kale added a lot of bulk and some texture but changes the flavor very little. I sprinkled nigella seeds on top. One bowl filled me up. It's good.]

Kale Salad with Avocado Goddess Dressing (from The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 72)

 

Buffalo Tofu Salad

This will use up the last of my homemade vegan ranch dressing, as well as the wedge of vegan blue cheese in the fridge with a best by date in October. Mostly I need to buy salad greens and make the buffalo tofu (which will also use up a lot of the hot sauce and some of the vegan butter in the fridge). 

Buddha Bowl

If I start broccoli seeds soaking today, I can have them sprouted for this in a week. It'll also use up some of my tofu, BROL, vegan kimchi, and some of the red miso currently taking up too much space in the fridge.

Curried Lentil & Kale Soup (from The How Not to Diet Cookbook, pg. 31)

I'm always looking for easy ways to consume more beans/lentils and dark leafy greens, so this is at the top of my "soups to try" list. The How Not to Diet Cookbook has multiple soups and salads I'd like to try in the coming weeks.

Meal Planning

Sameer's mom left yesterday, and Sameer plans to return to fasting three days per week at some point soon, so meal planning will change a little bit. I also ordered a new refrigerator that's on back order until November, so my goals with meal planning for the next six weeks will be 1) clear out the current fridge AND FREEZER, and 2) lots of healthy soups and salads so I can lose a bit of weight without having to think about it too much. If I have healthy soups and salads ready to eat -- especially on Sameer's fast days -- I will generally eat them out of laziness rather than make something more delicious and fattening for myself. They also make for good veggie sides for Simran. 

 

Here is what I am currently focused on using up: a couple cups of homemade vegan ranch dressing, fresh broccoli florets, baby carrots and roasted garlic hummus, red kale, green onions, a red bell pepper, about a quarter of a red cabbage, five avocados, and lots of cilantro. I have SO MUCH OTHER FOOD to use up, but those are the items that are going to spoil first. I'll be more focused on frozen food and refrigerated sauces/condiments next time. Here is what I'm making over the next few days: 

Classic Vegan Fish Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw 

This will use up the red cabbage, some of the corn tortillas in the fridge, and some of the Gardein vegan fish fillets in the freezer. Also most or all of the chipotle mayo or chipotle salsa currently in the fridge. I'll serve this on a day when Sameer is fasting because Sim and I like it but he does not.

 

Vegan Elote and Fresh Guacamole and Quesadillas or Tacos or Something

Maybe Friday night because it's a tasty but reasonably healthy junk food dinner. The guac will use up three avocados, and the elote will use up the corn in the freezer, some cilantro, and some red bell pepper. We still have Taco Bell-style spicy quesadilla sauce in the fridge leftover from making black bean quesaritos, so that could go on quesadillas or similar.

Thai Green Curry Noodle Stir Fry

To use up some of the cilantro in the fridge, as well as the green onions and red bell pepper.

 

Vegan Garlicky Korean Mac and Cheese 

I need to roast garlic for this, but I'd love to use up the last of the vegan cheddar shreds on this. 

If Sameer starts intermittent fasting this week, I really won't need more dinner plans for this week. I'm going to leave it here for now and just use up as much of my fresh produce as I can.

Meal Planning

 

Red Beans & Rice 

 

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta with Garlic Soy Curls 

Vegan Peanut Sesame Noodle Salad  

 

Vegan Mexican Corn Salad with Black Beans and Easy Enchiladas

 

Spiced Spinach Tofu Stir-Fry and Brown Basmati Rice

 

Korean BBQ Soy Curl Crunchwrap 

 

Meal Planning

Time to meal plan from today (Wednesday) through at least Sunday. Here is what I'm making:

Breakfast Burritos with Vegan Breakfast Sausage and Pancakes

Carry over from last week. Making this today.

 

Simran has surgery tomorrow, so we're doing an easy dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese and maybe steam in bag broccoli. Really basic stuff. The plan is to order in, maybe pizza, on Friday night.

Easy Microwave Enchiladas

Easy Saturday dinner.

 

Pav Bhaji 

Sunday to use up some more -- ideally all -- of the potatoes. And the sundry leftover burger buns.

 

Butter Soy Curls

Sameer said he'll make this Monday while Simran and I are at her follow up appointment with her surgeon. 

Meal Planning

My goal today is meal planning today (Friday) through Tuesday. That's five days. Here is what I have to use up: some sliced fresh white mushrooms, a red bell pepper, some ripe avocados, one cucumber, some baby carrots that froze on the excessively cold side of my fridge and now need to be cooked rather than eaten raw to taste right, celery, and a couple cups of plain cashew yogurt.

 

Five Guys-Style Veggie Sandwiches with Cheese and Air-Fried Cajun Fries

The sandwiches will use up the remaining white mushrooms in my fridge. 

 

Breakfast Burritos with Vegan Breakfast Sausage and Pancakes

The burritos will use up some of the potatoes I have to buy to make the Cajun fries. The pancakes will use up the remaining cashew yogurt in my fridge. 

Vegan Elote and Fresh Guacamole and Quesadillas or Tacos or Something

The elote will use up at least half the red bell pepper. The guac will use up three avocados.

 

Thai Green Curry Noodle Stir Fry

This will use up any remaining red bell pepper from the elote and I can include any green bell pepper leftover from the Five Guys-style sandwiches. I might be able to throw some celery in this too. It works well in the one pot peanut sauce noodles.

 

Dill Butter Carrots

This is just a side dish, but I think I'm going to make this some night to use up the baby carrots that froze in the fridge. 

 

Kale Salad with Avocado Goddess Dressing (from The How Not to Die Cookbook, pg. 72)

This would use up an avocado. Plus I had a couple really great kale salads this summer, and I'd like to find a recipe for one that's just as good. This might just be a lunch thing for me.

Frozen Pizzas and Green Salad 

I think I'm going to do this tonight because it's very easy and will make Simran so happy.