Meal Planning

I can eat crunchy foods again. Here is what I need to use up: 3 tomatoes I bought yesterday, about a cup of canned coconut milk, a few eggs, and a bag of russet potatoes. Here is what I'm making:

Étouffée (Vegan Richa's Instant Pot Cookbook, pg. 220) and Veg Creole Crab Cakes with Remoulade

Tonight. Because it's Mardi Gras. Also I have to pick Sim up from basketball, so the Instant Pot will allow me to be cooking the etoufee while doing that. The crab cake recipe is NOT vegetarian, but I'm going to swap out the crab for a combination of shredded hearts of palm and grated zucchini. I figure I've made New England style veg crab cakes enough times that I should be able to get them to the right consistency for not falling completely apart.

[I really like how the "crab" cakes turned out especially. I skipped the pound of crab and replaced it with a 14 oz can of hearts of palm shredded with a fork and half a large zucchini grated on the big non-fancy side of the grater (the one you use for cheese that isn't Parmesan). Hearts of palm make it way more crab-like than just zucchini like I've done in the past. I used 1.5 tsp kid-friendly Creole seasoning and 1/2 tsp of Luzianne Cajun seasoning (less flavorful, more salty and spicy). For the etoufee I didn't want to find or deal with jackfruit (I had a bad experience once), so I used two portobello mushroom caps, a couple ounces of soy curls, and about a can worth of small red beans. I tried to make white rice with a little pot inside the etoufee pot, but I guess the etoufee boiled over the edge and got into the rice pot because it looks like dirty rice. It's cooked adequately and tastes good though, so I deem it good enough. I did take the little rice pot out as soon as the etoufee finished cooking and covered it so the rice could attempt to steam a bit. It went okay.]

Malai Kofta

Because I already bought all the ingredients to make it when I was restricted to soft foods.

 

Garlicky Korean Mac 'n Cheese with Gochujang

Because I have all the ingredients to make it, and it might use up the last of my roasted garlic.

 

Vegan Mushroom Bourguignon with Potato Cauliflower Mash 

I made this one pot-in-pot last time and it turned out really well. I have an Instant Pot steamer basket now, so I'm using that this time for the potato/cauliflower mixture. 

 

Espinacas con Garbanzos and Patatas con Alioli and Champiñones al Ajillo and Baked Goat Cheese with Garlic Bread

Tapas night. Maybe Friday night. Because I want to eat the garlicky potato salad. I'm also going to make sangria out of the red wine leftover from the bourguignon and make a sangria-inspired mocktail for Sim. It'll probably be some kind of cranberry or grape juice cocktail blend topped off with Sierra Mist and cut fruit.

 

Nashville Hot Cauliflower Bites

To use up the cauliflower leftover from the bourguignon. This and the garlicky mac 'n cheese will both  need supplemental dishes go with them, but I'll probably have ingredients leftover from the other dishes that will inform what those will be.

 

Patatas con Alioli

Local tapas restaurant Mesón Sabika posted this recipe to their Facebook.

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds small red potatoes
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
8 ounces mayonnaise (I'm using Vegannaise -- it makes no discernible difference except it doesn't give me a stomachache like egg-based mayo.)
1/2 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt to taste
garnish with bell peppers

 

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes with salted water and bay leaves.
2. After boiling, peel and cut the potatoes into four-six pieces each.
3. Whip together mayonnaise, garlic, salt, white pepper, and parsley.
4. Combine potatoes with the whipped mixture and chill.
5. Garnish with bell peppers and fresh parsley.

Champiñones al Ajillo

This is from the NY Times. I copied it here because I usually end up getting locked out of the recipes I'm making before I'm done with them.

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or minced

• 1 small dried red chili, crumbled, or ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 2 pounds mushrooms, wiped clean, stems trimmed, cut in half

• Salt to taste

• ½ cup dry white wine or fino sherry

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1) Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet. Add the garlic and chili or red pepper flakes. After about 30 seconds, when the garlic begins to sizzle, add the mushrooms and turn the heat to medium high. Cook, stirring, until they sear and begin to sweat, then sprinkle them with salt and add the white wine or sherry. 

2) Turn the heat down to medium, and continue to cook, stirring or tossing in the pan from time to time, until the mushrooms are tender, five to 10 minutes. 

3) Stir in the lemon juice and parsley, taste and adjust seasonings, and remove from the heat. Serve hot or warm in small ceramic dishes, or serve on a platter with toothpicks stuck into the mushrooms.

Meal Planning

I had gum graft surgery a week ago and just ate blended soups and smoothies and such for the last week while Sameer made Simran other things like boxed mac 'n cheese and chik'n tenders. I'm supposed to have exclusively "soft foods" for one more week (I took it to a bit of an extreme last week, but the stitches are out now and I'm allegedly healing well). Here is what I'm making this week (in addition to the batch of Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup I just made this morning):

Spaghetti & Plant-Based Meatballs (Delish Loves Disney, pg. 13)

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Whipped Sweet Potatoes and Mushy Peas

Omelettes

Tofu Paneer in Butter Chicken Sauce (Vegan Richa's Instant Pot Cookbook, pg. 66) with Basmati Rice

 

Other possibilities include Vegan Malai Kofta, some manner of polenta or grits, and lentil bolognese over pasta.