Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oops, Wednesday already! Well, we had a lovely cabbage vegetable soup with lots of white wine in it, and a vegan Irish soda bread with currants and millet. Still eating the bread, actually (and happily). It is great toasted with jam.

I'm trying to really use my CSA veggies up each week, both to minimize waste (40% of food waste is at the consumer end, I blame the kiddos) and to minimize grocery bills. And because I don't play enough games and need an optimization problem to play with. :-)

Plans for this week:

• it's Halloween tonight, so a quick and easy dinner of pasta for the kids, and red wine braised kale on baguette rafts (perhaps with an egg on top for me). Also roasted cauliflower for everyone.
• butternut squash with sage, with cajun hoppin' jean on the side, and some sauteed greens. The cajun hoppin jean will be with pinto beans, for a change.
• a corn chowder soup with sweet potatoes and kale. I am sure bread will be served alongside.
• if I still have chard (quite likely, since I have a lot growing outside), some garlic sauteed chard over polenta with toasted pumpkin seeds, and roasted brussels sprouts.

On the extra food front, I need to make more granola, my sauerkraut is probably done and should be harvested and stored in the fridge, and dear friend Dea gave me a couple of pounds of raw green olives to cure. I may have the kids hit them with hammers to start the process (you break the skin with a knife or a hammer, and soak them for a couple of weeks in water until they aren't bitter anymore, then put them in brine with herbs. I wonder if I should get more olives? We go through them so very quickly... I also need to pickle some fennel that I will never eat otherwise.

The King Arthur Flour catalog came today, and goodness but they have a lovely chocolate section. I ordered the Guittard dark chocolate wafers last year when I was making peppermint bark, and I used the leftovers in my dark chocolate cherry mini loaves... so very good. They also sell chunks, which might be even better?

Tiffanie: this week's menu

The rainy season starts this week, so I'm going for stews and pot pies.

My plans:

• mushroom taco night
• tofu potato mushroom stew with miso gravy. Roasted delicata squash.
• cauliflower pot pie with olive biscuit crust. Roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes.
• Field Roast Italian sausages fried with onions and peppers, in sandwich rolls. Potato salad of some variety.

I've got two built in sets of leftovers, with the stew and pot pie. I may also make a soup, perhaps a carrot soup? I need to use up a bunch of green beans somehow this week. I've got kale; I found a lovely red wine braised kale recipe -- you put it on toasted baguette rubbed with garlic, with an egg on top. That will be a lunch for me! 

I still have four little roasted beets which will get eaten in a salad, too. And two older fennel bulbs I think I will pickle, as they taste pretty good that way. 

I am fermenting about three pounds of cabbage, starting today, so perhaps it will be ready for some sampling by the time we get to the sausages.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Lots of leftovers from last week in the mix! I am really tired of chili; I froze a good portion of it finally. It was good, however -- Cooks Illustrated wins again! The pumpkin soup never happened last week, so it pushed into this week.

My plans this week:

• pumpkin ginger soup, sourdough baguettes rubbed with garlic
• leftover chili and rice, roasted zucchini and sweet potatoes. Grilled cheese for the kids.
• leftover pumpkin soup, date and almond rice pilaf, roasted brussels sprouts. 
• bok choy chickpea saute with cashews, onion pancakes.
• lal dal (red lentil curry). Sauteed swiss chard with garlic. Pita bread.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

It's a busy week, with me and the kids going solo at least three evenings and over the weekend. So, easy food!

My plans:

• taco night (our usual Sunday)
• vegetable and tofu curry (Japanese brown curry), rice, roasted seaweed, onion pancakes
• butternut squash ravioli, beet salad
• pumpkin ginger soup, possibly with potato frittata. 
• vegetarian chili, from the recipe in the latest Cooks Illustrated. Uses bulgur wheat, and some dried shiitake mushrooms (ground up) for umami. This should be a multi day dish. Cornbread will be made! And maybe a pilaf. 

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I did plan my meals over the weekend, but then I forgot to share them with you. :-)

Here it is:

• taco night
• peanut noodles, sesame crusted tofu on a bed of spinach, roasted seaweed, ice cream.
• pasta with broccoli and edamame and walnuts, fruit smoothies, banana splits.
• cajun hoppin' jean (a spicy bean/rice/tomato dish), with chips and roasted sweet potatoes, strawberries.
• red bean, potato, and arugula soup. 

I am going to make a ricotta chocolate pudding, mostly for the kids. Trying to get some fat on them before winter. :-D

Of the meals above, the kids ate the tacos, the peanut noodles wrapped in seaweed and some tofu, pasta with olive oil and cheese (did not like the broccoli!), the fruit smoothies (made with tofu). They don't like spicy yet, so they ate sweet potatoes and chips with beans and cheese on them instead of the cajun hoppin' jean. Tonight is the soup night, and I imagine they'll eat a cheese omelet or a potato frittata. 

this week's meal plan

I'm back in the kitchen after having been away so long. I didn't make a formal meal plan this week and am winging it, but this is what I decided to make while food shopping:

• Ginger Teriyaki Chicken, Roasted Asparagus, and Steamed Rice (the toddler was served dumplings)
• Steak (not sure yet what seasonings), Roasted Squash and Assorted Veggies
• Spaghetti with Meatballs
• Leftover Veggie Lasagna from last week and taco fixings to go into a taco salad
• Sandwiches, Pumpkin Bolani, Orzo salad, and assorted fruit for lunch and snacks

Friday, the husband and I dine out (hurray for babysitters!) so the toddler may get mac and cheese that night.