Tiffanie: this week's menu

The Spring CSA season has started up, so I'm back to weekly veggie boxes and the challenges in keeping up with them. I definitely became lazy over the winter, with only biweekly deliveries.

My plans this week include:

• Red Wine Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Sausage... a nice recipe find from my CSA newsletter. The box had a gorgeous medium red cabbage, so it'll go in here. I put in practically every variation to make it a very hearty meal.
• millet and spinach polenta with sun dried tomato pesto and roasted sweet potatoes. This recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance. I love it; it is packed with flavor and is a great way to use up ugly spinach (got a big bunch from the box). The kids are on the fence about this one... they like the crispy polenta edges, don't like the pesto, and always love the sweet potatoes.
• Rice and lentils and caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps. This one comes from Veganomicon. It's a delicious unattractive dish. Since it'll be cooler and rainy this week, it'll be perfect. I have green cabbage from the box, so I'll make a cabbage slaw, or maybe a fennel and orange salad (I finally learned that if you chop up the fennel pretty finely, it tastes way better in salad).
• the usual sweet potato hash with eggs night.
• I'm making curried couscous salad today (Barefoot Contessa recipe) for a potluck, so I should have leftovers to enjoy this week, too.
• the boy would like to learn how to make madeleine cookies, so I bought some butter and we'll try out a couple of recipes. Should be tasty fun.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Plans this week include:

• mapo tofu, rice, roasted seaweed, scallion pancakes. I meant to make cabbage salad, but I forgot.
• cajun hoppin' jean (rice-tomato-rice-spices dish), corn chips, pepper sauce, guac.
• harira soup with chickpeas and angelhair pasta, no-knead bread.
• sweet potato veggie hash with eggs for no-daddy night.
• pizza night.

The spring season of the CSA is starting up this week, so we'll see what I get for later meals in the week. I still have many turnips, so I may make a curry stew with them.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Going for easy last minute meals, especially now that the weather is so warm.

This week's plans include:

• curried peanut sauce bowl (knocked over from last week). So yummy. Lots of rice, tofu, and kale.
• broccoli tofu stir fry. A big hit with the kids, they eat it all.
• pasta night: spicy slurpy sauce (an Isa recipe), beanballs, greens, some Field Roast sausage for the kids since they don't like beanballs, steamed artichokes.
• pizza night. Did this last week with homemade dough and lots of olives. Was easy and fun for everyone. Lots of leftovers to use up for this, plus I need to make some tofu ricotta.
• sweet potato hash and eggs (for the night without the strict vegan)
• taco night with mushrooms.
• sushi night -- mostly an excuse to eat lots of seaweed, rice, and avocados. So much cheaper than taking my rapacious children to a restaurant.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Early this week! Mostly because I'm going shopping today instead of tomorrow. Do you shop more than once a week? I used to, when the kids were in school, but now that we're all together all the time, I prefer to go alone on the weekend.

My plans this week include:

• taco night, with mushrooms and chard
• spaghetti and beanballs, raw kale salad
• massur dal and carrot soup, bread, white bean and escarole (kind of a side-stew). I just love escarole and white beans together.
• pizza night
• vegan beef stew. This is a new recipe from Isa; it has vegan sausages in it, so the kids might like it. They're very fond of the Field Roast Italian sausages. It's full of red wine, potatoes, carrots, etc., so I'm excited. I miss a good beef stew.
• curried peanut sauce bowl. One of my favorite new recipes from Isa -- lots of brown rice, fried tofu cubes, steamed kale, and scrumptious curried peanut sauce over it all. I know it sounds very healthy and vegan, but the flavors!

This meal plan seems to be inspired by the winter storms we've had this week, but next week will be warm and sunny. I expect I'll welcome my allergies, since all the trees are turning green very quickly.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

A bit late getting to this, but it was planned!

Meals this week:

• a weekend pasta night
• cajun hoppin' jean, with guac and chips and beer-chili marinated baked tempeh
• potato tofu mushroom stew with miso gravy, over rice. Greens on the side.
• cauliflower mushroom pot pie with olive biscuit top.
• angel hair pasta with seared brussel spouts, olives, and walnuts (had this last night, very tasty). From Isa's new cookbook.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Last week went mostly as planned, except for the fava bean dish being pushed to today (Sunday). I'm slow cooking the fava beans now, and marinating the tempeh in soy sauce, olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and an excessive amount of fresh thyme. It smells amazing.

Plans for this week include:

• the above lemon-thyme fava beans with mushrooms, plus garlicky thyme tempeh. And maybe mustard greens or wild rice.
• creamy potato leek soup. Venturing away from Julia Child's awesome recipe to try Isa's. It has cashews in it! Also making no-knead bread, I miss it.
• hearty beany chili (also from Isa). It looks solid, has lentils to make it extra hearty. Also cornbread muffins.
• taco night, with mushrooms and whatever else is on hand.
• chickpea cutlets with mustard caper gravy, mashed potatoes, greens or broccoli.

I have ever so many turnips from my CSA box to use... the winter session is over after next week, then a month off before the spring session starts, so I'll have time to use them. I'm thinking of trying some stews/curries.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

More Isa recipes! I tried the curried peanut sauce bowl with tofu, and it was soooo good. Brown rice, with steamed greens (kale or chard are good) and fried cubed tofu, drizzled all over with a curried peanut sauce that is amazing. The kids did not like it, but I am making it again this week for me.

My plans this week include:

• taco night
• split pea soup with bread
• spaghetti and beanballs, green salad
• lemon-garlic fava beans and mushrooms. Also garlicky thyme tempeh. I ended up buying dried fava beans (seemed cheaper than buying canned) so I'm going to use the slow cooker to make a double batch and freeze the rest.
• curried peanut sauce bowl, this time with kale (used chard last time).

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.