Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, it feels cold this week! California-cold, you know. :-)

My plans this week include:

• breakfast-for-dinner of pancakes, hash browns, eggs
• cajun hoppin' jean with chips and guac and salad
• soup, probably minestrone, and bread. Tempted to have split pea...
• taco night
• olive-lentil burgers, roasted sweet potato fries, greens
• maybe a turnip/potato/carrot curry stew? Sounds good to me right now.

Going out tonight for some birthday dinner with the family, yay! And I have two chocolate cake rounds in the oven right now for a big cake later.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

The Isa Does It journey continues!

My plans this week include:

• eggplant and bread crumb fettuccine, green salad. 
• spinach and black bean burrito bowl, corn chips
• white beans in sherry-bread crumb gravy, sauteed greens, mashed potatoes
• lentils and rice with caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps
• sweet potato hash with veggies

I've been exploring the sweets section in the cookbook. The chai snickerdoodles are a huge hit, and I was happy to see the chocolate chunk cherry mini loaves in there. They are fantastic reheated, sort of a molten chocolate cake. The maple bran blueberry muffin is good, but I need to use a different maple flavoring, mine was too strong. Today I tried the giant oatmeal raisin cookies; they are the chewy sweet variety. Nice with tea!

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I'm still trying out my new Isa cookbook!

This week's plans include;

• taco night
• sushi night (just avocado/fried sweet potatoes, plus some miso soup)
• Harira soup, plus olive oil bread and salad. The soup is Moroccan, I think, and has eggplant and tomatoes and chickpeas and angel hair pasta... it seems very hearty and tasty.
• Mapo tofu, brown rice, cabbage slaw, onion pancakes (possibly home made)
• pesto cauliflower linguine with breaded tofu, salad
• mustard tempeh wraps (more of a lunch thing)

Lots of tofu this week, guess I'm just in the mood for it. Or lazy...

Oh, and I found frozen cherries, so I'm going to make the delicious chocolate cherry mini loaves!

Deadra: Cooking for 5!

Okay it's still for 4, kinda, but now with the added help of a really small person!
It's really a good thing that I like to cook, or it would be really daunting to get back in the kitchen after having had a baby!
So far I've found that it's best to make things that can simmer and have no particular end point time wise, something that doesn't need to be babysat, or have finicky timings.  I've found this includes:
stew, soup, chili, long simmering sauces and bread.  Yeah I've made bread!  I tried my hand at no knead bread and it's so forgiving!  And it's delicious!
I've also made a bunch of miso soups, kimchi soup and mac and cheese.  These aren't long simmering, but they're quick and easy, which works well too.
I managed to make the bulk of Christmas dinner too, which just required  a little preplanning, and spatchcocking the bird, which allowed it to cook super fast.  I had some help with baby holding, so that make cooking easy.  We had our standard Christmas dinner of a bird, a lot of stuffing, gravy, yorkshires and cranberry sauce.  I also made apple pie and Christmas pudding with a creme anglais.  (We set the pudding on fire, intentionally, it was fun and delicious!  Also if you care, vodka will not ignite unless you heat it up first.)
Right after Christmas we had some house guests, so I made a few meals for 8, but that worked out because there were lots of baby holders, so I was able to indulge my inner Martha Stewart and cook it up.
On the weekends I indulge my inner Betty Crocker when Adam can hold a baby so I can bake it up.  I've kept us stocked in muffins, cakes and cookies.  It's been nice to indulge my kitchen goddess, even post baby.  The kitchen is my happy place and even though I might leave it a disaster (I have to baby-hold too!) it does soothe my soul and leave me feeling like I can do this parenting 3 small children thing.
Now to figure out laundry....  I propose throw it all out and start over.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I've got a new cookbook, Isa Does It! So I'm trying out recipes this week.

My plans include:

• taco night, with some roasted butternut squash and kale and mushrooms.
• sushi night with yakisoba (with shiitake and broccoli)
• a soba bowl, with roasted cauliflower and sprouts and miso tahini sauce
• soup and bread... probably a simple vegetable soup with tiny pasta, possibly a cabbage potato soup. Or both. Olive oil bread recipe to try out...
• tofu wrap with edamame hummus and sprouts
• sweet potato hash with random veggies and eggs
• pasta + Field Roast sausages + tomato pasta sauce
• a bran blueberry muffin

The kids and I are discussing having three regular food nights each week: taco, sushi, and pizza. They like building their own food, and each food type is welcomed by the kids. The prep time is pretty minimal for me (mostly cooking rice and making pizza dough), and we can do different toppings/fillings as the seasons change. Seems like a good way to get them more involved with prepping dinner and eating more veggies.

Do any of you have regular scheduled themed dinners each week?

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I missed a few weeks of recording my weekly menu, but I'm still on task for actually doing the planning. It really removes a layer of stress from cooking daily.

This week I'm not entirely sure of the entire menu yet... I'm getting a new cookbook in the mail on Tuesday, so I want to reserve some time to try out new ideas.

I do know that we'll be having:

• bok choy and chickpea saute with cashews, rice, baked tofu, smoothies.
• pineapple fried rice with tofu

I have some excellent mushroom barley soup leftovers, a bit of chili leftovers, and a large cabbage that may become colcannon...

Tiffanie: this week's menu

It's going to be cold this week!

Here's what I've got planned:

• curry with veggies and tofu, rice, roasted seaweed
• dried mushroom soup with barley (Moosewood! So yummy), plus fresh bread
• lentil and rice and caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps, cabbage salad
• spaghetti with onions or puttanesca, plus more bread
• stuffed baked potatoes (Mexican! with pinto beans and corn and salsa), plus broccoli
• some species of apple crisp, perhaps with cherry

Most of these are easy and warming, perfect for cold December.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, Thanksgiving week! I'm doing meals in honor of the season, but eating Chinese takeout on the day of. Mama needs a vacation on the holidays. :-)

My plans this week include:

• pasta with Field Roast sausages and garlic bread and green salad. Last butter lettuce and last tomatoes of the season!
• cauliflower mushroom pot pie with olive biscuit crust. Roasted brussels sprouts.
• roasted kabocha with brown rice and chickpea pilaf
• potato latkes and applesauce, pumpkin soup.
• chickpea cutlets with mustard sauce, mashed veggies
• pumpkin pie from scratch, as I have this winter luxury pumpkin staring at me. Gotta try it once...
• no-bake energy balls, for the bottomless pit that is my son.
• popcorn! Since the kids are sick, I foresee lots of movies this week.
• maple-mustard tempeh -- baked into strips, so yummy as a wrap.
• apple crisp, since I have a bunch of lovely granny smith apples. Vanilla ice cream is a must...

This is a bit more meal planning than usual, even with the day off for Chinese food, but we're eating up leftovers fast these days as lunches. 

Tiffanie: this week's menu

It might rain this week! The autumn weather is finally settling into foggy and cold, so I'm looking forward to soup...

Plans this week include:

• tofu slabs with sesame and wilted spinach, over noodles.
• potato leek soup with homemade bread
• smoky chipotle black beans, over rice, with cornbread and greens.
• sweet potato hash

I'm baking granola right now, and plan to bake some maple mustard tempeh for lunch wraps. I have a cookbook about pretzels out from the library... I may have to try it out. 

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, it is getting cold! I caught a head cold this weekend, so I'm going to slack off a bit this week and make easy meals.

The plans are:

• broccoli tofu stir fry (uses up 2/3 of my CSA broccoli this week), rice, roasted seaweed, apples.
• enchilada casserole, pushed to this week from last week. Making this one today. It's complicated -- roasted potatoes, a tomato sauce, a bunch of sauteed onions and mushrooms, and a blender cashew-cream, all layered with the corn tortillas. I think it sounds yummy! I have guac on hand, and maybe my little CSA avocados will ripen enough for the leftovers...
• pasta with Field Roast sausages and greens.
• chickpea and bok choy saute with toasted cashews. Last minute addition, for the night with the least amount of free time, since this is a super fast meal.
• sweet potato hash with eggs for my solo dinner. Someday I'll return to rafts with baked eggs or spicy tomato sauce, but right now this is my go-to.
• oatmeal raisin cookies. I ran out of brown rice syrup! Shocking! :-) But I restocked, so I can make these awesome cookies again.

What are you making with your fall veggies?

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Quiet around here. Too quiet... surely other people are planning meals?

My plans for the week include:

• my trusty tofu potato mushroom stew with miso gravy. Over pasta or brown rice. With something on the side... kale? brussels sprouts?
• pumpkin soup (really, kabocha) with homemade bread, and chives. Maybe grilled cheese on the side? Kids love that. 
• lal dal over jasmine rice, spiced pita crisps (love these!), something green on the side.
• sweet potato hash with red pepper (yay, farmer's market!) and eggs.
• tacos with butternut squash and kale and mushrooms (had something similar at the farmer's market yesterday, it was awesome). And guac!
• really tempted to make this enchilada casserole: http://www.theppk.com/2013/10/nirvana-enchilada-casserole-video/. Looks tasty! A bit more work than I have been doing these days, but it'll make at least two dinners and a lunch or three, so it's likely worth it.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, the cold weather has arrived! And the late autumn veggies!

My plans include:

• lentil soup (Barefoot Contessa recipe); I have a lot of celery on  hand from my CSA box. I think one entire bunch with leaves will go into this. Homemade bread on the side.
• posole verde. Found beautiful poblano peppers at the farmer's market this week, so it's a must. My veggie version has lots of hominy, beans, roasted poblanos, tomatillos, and mushrooms in it.
• creole hoppin' jean. Comfort food: beans, tomatoes, rice, spices. Great with guac and chips. Roasted sweet potato side.
• chickpea cutlets, by request. Roasted cauliflower. Maybe mashed potatoes?

I never made any of the extra things in last week's post, so hopefully this week we'll make pretzels and lentil pate and popcorn balls. And granola, since someone keeps eating it all.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

My CSA box is guiding the meals this week, as it should. :-)

The plans include:

• tofu scramble with greens and roasted potatoes, wrapped up in tortillas. Smoothies.
• cauliflower mushroom pot pie with olive biscuit crust. Green salad.
• roasted squash (kabocha or butternut) with rice and chickpea pilaf, roasted beets. Leftovers with sauteed kale and shallots.
• massur dal and carrot soup. Spiced pita crisps. Green salad.
• Kids and mama night: potato frittata or sweet potato hash.
• backup plan: peanut noodles and baked tofu and cabbage slaw
• extras: maple mustard tempeh (for my lunch wraps), lentil walnut pate (for crackers), easy potato salad (something to try with the kids), pretzels (baking lesson), and rosemary chocolate chip cookies (new recipe to try)

The girl told me today that all my soups are yucky. HOWEVER! Her brother really liked the simple ginger pumpkin soup I made this week. As did I; it was superb with chopped chives.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, it feels like autumn! Though the forecast for this coming week is back to hot. I never made the pumpkin soup last week, plus I got a surprise pumpkin in the CSA box, so now I have TWO pumpkins (ok, a kabucha and a pumpkin). Ended up making broccoli and tofu stirfy, which everyone LOVED. Even the kids! I remembered to press the tofu, which really aided in giving the fried cubes of tofu a great crust. And it turns out that naming each floret of broccoli makes eating them fun. Kids just like to torture their food, they really are like cats.

This week's plans include:

• pumpkin soup! With either homemade bread or fresh bagels. And green salad.
• spaghetti and beanballs, green salad.
• Field Roast sausages in buns, with fried onions and peppers, and roasted sweet potato wedges. Strangely, the kids love the Italian sausages, despite their "spiciness". Gateway to spice?
• sweet potato hash, as always. It is especially good with peppers.
• for snacks, popcorn balls (still haven't made them this month!), no-bake energy balls (boy is in a growth spurt), and cookies (boy is asking for the chocolate-chip recipe without the chips, I'm angling to try out a snickerdoodle recipe).

I'm a bit short for the week on meals, but something will suggest itself, either with the new CSA box or when I peek at a cookbook...

Tiffanie: this week's menu

It's still pretty hot on some days, but the nights and mornings are so cool that my menu planning is wandering into winter territory.

Plans for this week include:

• popcorn balls, since we never did it last week
• broccoli with cheddar cheese. The kids love this, but I prefer it on toast with mustard. To each her own.
• pumpkin soup, with homemade walnut-cherry bread, and salad. I bought a lovely Kabocha squash for this from a harvest festival.
• lal dal (lentil curry) over rice, with beet salad and pita crisps.
• tempeh shepherd's pie, green salad.
• garlic tomato soup, perhaps with some ravioli in it.
• sweet potato and veggie hash with eggs.
• spaghetti and beanballs, as a backup meal.

What do you feel like eating these days?