Meal Planning Continues (subtitled, Problems in the Kitchen)

In the event you are keeping up with my meal planning via Happy Herbivore, here is the latest...

(These recipes are all from the website, so feel free to join in this week!)

Monday- Polenta Pizza
Tuesday- Chickpea Tacos
Wednesday- Oyster Mushroom Scampi
Thursday- Yam Falafels
Friday- Crispy Chickenless Nuggets w/ Baked Onion Rings

Yam Falafel w/ Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Now a quick little disclaimer. As I was getting started tonight I decided to veer away for the original plan. As I was looking at the recipe for the polenta pizza, I noticed the polenta part is supposed to be refrigerated for an hour before cooking. I decided this would take too long and we'd be eating too late. Plus I just got back from a Bikram Yoga class and I was starving. So I settled on making yam falafels instead (based on ingredients I had and didn't have at the moment, read: we forgot the dried chickpeas in this week's shopping, kind of a problem).

I was feeling good about this decision at first, and was really excited to try this recipe. As I went along I came across my first problem. My sweet potatoes were huge. Really, like 10 pounds each, and bulbous. They didn't even fit in the steamer/pot. Which bring me to the second problem, I was cooking 2 sweet potatoes instead of the 1 the recipe calls for. Why did I do this? I have no idea. Reading too quickly through the recipe, I suppose. 

So at this point, I'm trying to steam a couple of mammoth sweet potatoes, which is taking an hour instead of the usual, oh, 5 minutes it should take. I got so annoyed that the damn potatoes weren't cooking fast enough, so I just yanked them out of the pot and started trying to break them up to mash. Obviously this was impossible, because the insides were not cooked all the way. So here I am hacking away like a crazy person at the outsides of mutant sweet potatoes, making a mess everywhere and burning my hands in the process. Finally I got enough potato to mash and continued on. The falafel balls were made and ready for the oven. (Here comes problem # 3.) This is the first time in this entire process that I notice that these need to bake for 40 minutes. Ugh. I've been cooking for 2 hours and at this point I'm not even hungry anymore. But, into the oven they go.

My poor massacred sweet potatoes, it's like a vegetable murder scene.

In the end, they were delicious, so it was worth it. But let this be a lesson to all of you. Read a recipe before you embark on an unknown journey in the kitchen. And my lesson, stick to your gut feeling. We could have been eating polenta pizza about 2 1/2 hours ago.

After tonight I think I've realized not only should you meal plan around you are feeling like eating, or around what ingredients you may already have, but also around how much time you have.

Goodnight.

Meal Plan

I mentioned that I've been using Happy Herbivore to plan my dinners. Here's what we've had thus far, and what's to come...

Cheater Pad Thai

Tuesday (2/22): Roasted Veggie Frittata w/ Herbed Home Fries
Wednesday: Mexican Chorizo w/ brown rice and Spicy Greens
Thursday: Hippie Loaf w/ Rustic Yam Fries and kale chips (oops forgot to make the kale chips)
Friday: got lazy and ordered pizza, but planned on Creamy Carrot Soup w/ roasted broccoli
Saturday: dinner out
Sunday: pasta

Monday (2/28): Creamy Carrot Soup w/ roasted broccoli
Tuesday: Buddha's Delight w/ tofu and veggie lettuce wraps
Wednesday: Cheater Pad Thai w/ sesame salad
Thursday: Chickpea Noodle Soup w/ whole grain baguette
Friday: Fettucini Alfredo w/ spinach salad

Check out the Happy Herbivore website for some of these and other recipes. Might as well do yourself a favor and just pick up the book!

Weekly Wrap Up Type Thingy

Ok, so I know it's technically already a new week. But we are straggling along here with this three day weekend, which is not a bad thing. I've been quite sick the entire week (again) but managed to mostly stick to the menu. Let's review...

Sunday- Dinner out- two dear friends cooked us a delicious Indian inspired meal. I only wish I had taken some leftovers home.

Monday- Since T made sauce on Sunday (just for fun) I strayed away from the menu, the smell of tomatoey goodness just really got to me. We had "chicken cutlet parmesan" with linguine. I used Gardein's Tuscan Breasts, covered with homemade sauce, topped with mozzarella Daiya, and baked until the mozz was nice and melty, about 20 minutes. I rarely use fake meat type products, but we had these on hand and it made for an excellent use of the sauce.

Tuesday- Italian Wedding Soup- It was the perfect night for soup, and even though my homemade meatballs disintegrated when they were dropped in, it was still delicious. Highly recommended.

Wednesday-Teriyaki Stir Fry- Ok, the stir fry part of this is basically my signature dish, yet somehow it went terribly, terribly wrong. I used waaaaaaaay too much Bragg's and ginger when making the stir fry so we were left with an immediate feeling of intense heartburn after a few bites. Honestly, we tossed the leftovers, it was that bad. Luckily I know what I did wrong, and will fix it for next time. Stay tuned...

Thursday- Curried Potatoes- Quite successful. Quick, easy and really tasty. So good that we decided to eat the leftovers on Friday night.
Thus completing the "planned" week. I did manage to get my pasta with red onion and kale in on Saturday. In all, I think we did pretty well.

This week is much easier, being a 4 day work week. Sunday began with what else, but pasta. Tonight will be the famous Mac n' Cheese bites from Your Vegan Mom (see here) along with Gardein's Seven Grain Crispy Tenders. (I know, I know. I said I don't use this stuff and here it is again. Just bear with me.)
The remainder of the week consists of French Onion Soup, Chili and Lasagna Stoup (more on this later).

What I am really excited about this week is my brand new Crock Pot! I cannot wait to put it to good use.  I think I'll mostly be making the dog's food in it, but will certainly use it to make oats for the morning (with no rushing!) I'm still looking into other crock pot ideas, so if you have any pass them my way please!

Mac 'n Cheese & Weekly Meal Plan

Before I get into meal planning, I just want to say if you have not tried the Mac 'n Cheese Bites from Your Vegan Mom (note: I used Daiya cheddar for mine), you are seriously missing out. Words cannot even describe their deliciousness, you just have to try them to know what I mean. These are going to become a weekly (daily?!) staple in my kitchen now.

Mine doesn't look like much, but trust me on this one...

Now. Meal plans. I am not the most organized person. In fact, you could say I'm quite the opposite. However, when I actually do plan meals for the week life is 1,000 times easier. Not just avoiding the "What do you want for dinner?" conversation and physically preparing the food, but also weekly food shopping becomes quite efficient and cost effective. 

When thinking about the week, I plan for 5 nights. This way the work week is covered. You are sure to have leftovers in the fridge at some point for snacks/lunch/the weekend/the night you don't feel like cooking again. If I know we are planning to go out for dinner or get take out, I make that part of the plan. Plus, 90% of the time we make sauce for pasta on Sunday, so that's covered.

Here is my (somewhat ambitious) plan for this week: (as you can see I'm using my new cookbook, Vegetarian Times: Everything Vegan, quite a bit) 

-Italian Wedding Soup  

-Teriyaki stir-fry with seitan, mushrooms, broccolini and noodles

-Curried Potatoes w/ brown rice and spinach salad

-Pasta with red onion, kale, cauliflower, and white beans

-Quinoa and Spinach Soup with a multi grain baguette

Plus I have an acorn squash that's been sitting around for way too long that I'll roast up for one of those nights (pasta night?), even if only for a snack.

You may have noticed I didn't included the days of the week. I generally don't go so far to specify which day I'll make what, but will mentally note the specific days in the beginning of the week. Frankly I've found when I get *that* specific on paper, I often change my mind anyway. So why waste the ink?

Occasionally, (once), I try to also plan breakfast for myself, but I usually end up wanting to sleep in instead, so...

Anyone have any quick and easy (but warming, filling and delicious) breakfast ideas for me? My current fave is steel cut oats with cinnamon and agave. Although it freaks me out a little bit, "quick cooking" steel cut oats are a life saver!

What are you eating this week?

P.S. Really need help getting organized? Try a lobotome. I don't actually use these, but I do think they are pretty nifty.