Tiffanie: this week's menu

I aim to eat all the winter squash my CSA throws at me, which means not letting a week go by without eating some. Otherwise I end up with too many and then avoid them... The green kabocha squash were very good this week, with a chickpea rice pilaf. I tried a new method of cooking them; instead of halving them, I just washed them and poked them a few times, then baked in a pan of water (1/2 inch) at 400F until done. I was suspicious of what the seeds would do, but it was the easiest way to cook squash! I cut them in half and scooped out the soft innards, and used them as bowls for the pilaf on the first meal (I had two kabocha). The second meal, I peeled them (also very easy once cooked) and cut them into crescents next to the pilaf.

My plans this week include:

• potato leek soup, bread, salad
• taco night with chile-beer marinated tempeh, yellow rice
• lentils-rice-caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps, roasted delicata squash, edamame or green salad
• sloppy joes (lentil based), fennel-orange salad, roasted brussels sprouts
• eggplant and bread crumb fettuccine, salad

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I was out of town for a few weeks, making slow cooker meals on the beach and eating out a lot. But now it is really autumn and we all have to eat. 

My plans this week include:

• kabocha squash stuffed with brown rice and chickpea pilaf, roasted brussels sprouts. This recipe is from Clean Food; I've made it a few times and it is really satisfying and pretty easy to make. I have two small green kabocha to consume; they should be perfect for this.
• savory black bean soup, corn bread, guacamole. Trying out a recipe in Clean Food; it's a standard sort of black bean soup, with carrots and celery. I may add a few more ingredients, and it's going into the slow cooker, since I'm starting with dried beans.
• curried peanut sauce with tofu and kale, over brown rice. One of my favorites, even if I have to make a new batch of sauce (it makes enough for two dinners, so I freeze half for the next time).
• edamame salad. Dori posted this... it's edamame, black beans, corn, peppers, with your favorite dressing. Seems like a nice way to eat more beans. Going to try Vegan Lunch Box's Miracle Asian dressing on it, to see if I can get the kids to eat it.
• herbed white bean dip. A new recipe from Clean Food. It can also be a sandwich filling with greens and tomato. I'm imagining it hanging around as a snack or lunch item for a few days.
• sweet potato hash for my solo night.
• popcorn! 

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I borrowed a cookbook from the library and am trying out a few recipes. It's Vegan Eats World; the author co-wrote Veganomicon, one of my favorites.

Plans this week include:

• spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce and tempeh meatballs. Green salad.
• pumpkin soup, bread (honey oat?), and white rice & black beans.
• veggie couscous. It will include green beans, zucchini, cauliflower, carrots.
• pumpkin black bean posole stew, cornbread, salad. Using a red kabocha here.
• an apple tart. The crust is based on olive oil, which sounds yummy to me.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Still burning through all my CSA veggies, so this week's menu is more fall-like. Despite the heat.

My plans include:

• golden curry with tofu and veggies (carrots, celery, onions, potatoes). Roasted seaweed, rice, corn on the cob.
• red wine braised red cabbage with apples and sausage. A nice easy one-pot meal. Green salad.
• lentil soup (uses up lots of celery!)
• white beans with escarole, some sort of marinated and fried tempeh, green salad.
• taco night
• snack plate night + leftovers
• if necessary, we can always do a spaghetti night.
• no-bake energy balls for snacking

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, the heat continues... I've got to get ahead of my CSA box somehow this week! I pickled all the beans last week, so that was new. I still haven't tasted them, but I'm hopeful they are edible. Canned pickled dilly beans, and romano beans with rosemary and lemon.

The plans this week include:

• cauliflower mushroom pot pie, fennel orange salad. Uses up the rest of the HUGE head of cauliflower that arrived last week, and one head of fennel.
• polenta with sauteed chard and toasted pumpkin seeds, spicy tortilla soup. Uses up a big bunch of chard, and the spicy tortilla soup was a big hit with the adults last week so I'm making it again.
• BBQ tempeh and peppers, green salad. Another winner from last week, and it uses up more peppers from the box. And lettuce and tomatoes!
• pasta night: more of the delicious spaghetti with garlic and pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes, salad. I am in love with this simple pasta dish. And I will use up more lettuce.
• baked potatoes and snack plate night. I want to try this recipe for English jacket potatoes. And the kids love snack plates. Probably will add broccoli to the mix somehow...
• baked oatmeal (forgot to do this last week).
• make more muesli. I love muesli these days. It is perfect for life with children: it gets better the longer it sits in milk on the table while I deal with child emergencies.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Still in summer mode, trying to get through the CSA box...

The plans include:

• white bean and tomato salad, potato frittata and nachos (depending on one's opinion of eggs)
• golden spanish rice, tortilla soup, tacos with fried mushrooms
• spaghetti with garlic, pine nuts, and sun dried tomatoes. Green salad.
• cozy hummus bowl (i.e. rice, lettuce, sprouts, hummus, etc.)
• BBQ tempeh and peppers in pita, for lunch
• possibly a breakfast dinner of pancakes, hash browns, etc.
• a steel cut baked oatmeal recipe, veganized.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Mostly tried-and-true recipes, plus one new stew. And lots of salad. I have too much lettuce, thank you CSA.

The plans are:

• lentil sloppy joes on brioche buns. Salad.
• Millet spinach polenta with sun dried tomato pesto. Roasted sweet potatoes, braised romano beans.
• tempeh meatballs and tomato sauce with spaghetti. Salad or roasted cauliflower.
• Dilly stew with rosemary dumplings. It is a vegan take on chicken stew with dumplings. Lots of carrots, celery, potatoes, and navy beans, plus steamed dumplings and dill. Salad on the side.
• dilly green beans; dill came in the CSA box and a friend gave me green beans, so I'd better try out dilly green beans. I hear so much about them...

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I rediscovered the joys of homemade focaccia with caramelized onions on top, so it's all about the soup this week.

Plans include:

• golden curry to use up veggies and tofu
• white bean and escarole soup, with focaccia
• minestrone soup (to use up veggies), with focaccia
• curried peanut sauce bowl of tofu and rice and kale
• summer squash with baked eggs (for my solo night)
• going out for ramen at Orenchi!

I'm hosting some kids for lunch this week, so we'll make pizza together, too.

If I have enough zucchini, I'll make chocolate and zucchini bread. So decadent and delicious!

Tiffanie: this week's menu

The hot continues, but we persevere...

My plans include:

• creole hoppin' jean, with chips and guac, plus braised romano beans with chard and leeks and garlic.
• mushroom and cauliflower pot pie with olive biscuit crust. Salad?
• vegan ramen attempt #1. Trying out a grilled ramen recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen. It looks very edible.
• posole verde (vegan) with mushrooms. An old favorite, and spur of the moment, as I saw both tomatillos and the poblano peppers at the grocery store this week. I'll probably use the slow cooker, despite using canned hominy and beans; the flavor is just so good with the slow cooking.
• breakfast for dinner, as the kids love pancakes and I love home fries.
• snack plate! Such a big hit with the kids.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Last week was apparently too boring to write about? I made lentil-rice-caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps, broccoli tofu stir fry, bok choy and chickpea saute with cashews, and spaghetti with tempeh meat balls. Also a snack plate night, which included leftover fried spaghetti and a cold green bean salad.

But this week! I made plans!

• millet spinach polenta with sun dried tomato pesto. Roasted sweet potatoes.
• chili (the kind with zucchini and mole sauce) and cornbread. Smoothies?
• lal dal with basmati rice, greens.
• pasta night. Maybe the garlic-sun dried tomato-pine nut variety, I miss that one.
• sweet potato hash
• snack plate/leftover night

This might be the week I finally try out a vegan pineapple upside down cake. I suspect the sweetness will make it good for kids.

I still like the muesli I made, it's almost gone, so I'll try a cherry-hazelnut recipe next.

Discovered the boy loves dry roasted almonds, hooray! He was not a fan of raw almonds, and I'm coming around; the raw ones make my mouth a little itchy. And we both love ones covered in dark chocolate and salt and sugar.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

Oh, it is hot and I am lazy. And trying to get the kids to eat what I eat at dinner. I did have good luck last night with brown curry (from the box) with tofu and veggies over jasmine rice. The girl actually ate the rice and the tofu!

I'm fascinated with snack plates after seeing this post. So Fridays will be snack plate day all summer. The kids are excited! I'm going to try some goat cheese; I think it should bypass my milk issues.

I am also going to try muesli after reading this. And I will probably try to make almond milk.

My plans this week include:

• another curried peanut sauce tofu bowl, for tonight, cause I have leftover sauce on hand and some chard to use up.
• nacho night
• pasta night -- homemade tomato sauce, maybe some greens and olives and capers. Salad.
• roasted cauliflower soba bowl. The kids like this one a bit, cause of the soba and cauliflower. I think this carrot salad.
• sweet potato hash night with eggs
• snack plate night: various crackers, hummus, dried fruits and nuts, pickles, olives, goat cheese, honey, chocolate, jams, etc.
• lentils, rice, and caramelized onions with spiced pita crisps. Surprisingly good for summer (except for the long oven time) since you can eat it lukewarm.

Tiffanie: recap of last three week's meals

I've been sick for about two weeks, and I guess I missed a week before that... so here's what I wrote down on scraps of paper about my meal plans!

The plans were:

• pineapple tofu fried rice
• taco night
• pasta night of sun dried tomato pine nut garlic deliciousness
• homemade pizza
• curried peanut sauce tofu kale bowl

Then:

• pasta with tempeh meatballs and sauce
• burrito night with tortilla soup
• lentils with spinach and Field Roast sausages, slaw salad
• chana masala
• I'm pretty sure we ordered in pizza this week

Then:

• snobby joes (lentil based), salad
• spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes/garlic/pine nuts, salad
• homemade pizza
• curried peanut tofu bowl
• lots of zucchini-banana muffins
• tabbouleh and hummus for me (no one else likes parsley)

bernadette: what we ate

I haven't posted in forever because I haven't been meal planning very well. We've had more pasta than I care to admit so I'm trying to get on track.

• teriyaki chicken with steamed rice and roasted cauliflower
• longinisa (a type of Filipino sausage), gyoza, steamed rice, roasted caulifower, and edamame
• shrimp tacos with mango cole slaw and roasted corn on the cob, mango for dessert
• chicken cilantro burgers and sweet potato fries
• chicken tinola (chicken and ginger soup with papaya) with steamed rice
• slow cooker black bean and beef chili 

Tomorrow is a leftover night. Friday is a picnic dinner. And I'll hopefully have the next few meals planned by Saturday. 

Also, I made a huge batch of iced coffee. It was easy. I'm addicted. Bye, bye Starbucks.

Tiffanie: this week's menu

It's hot! And the husband is sick, so I'm making him some garlic tomato soup to kill all the germs.

My plans include:

• cajun hoppin' jean, cause it's yummy and easy and we both love it. We eat it with chips and guac and hot sauce and roasted sweet potatoes and maybe something green.
• curried peanut sauce tofu and kale bowl. Cause we're vegan. And it is really really good. Also I have a bunch of kale to use up.
• tempeh meatballs and spaghetti. New recipe, I usually make beanballs, but this sounds interesting. It includes pasta, so the kids are happy.
• mushroom potato tofu stew with miso gravy. An old favorite from Isa, so very good as leftovers. Brussels sprouts on the side.
• no-bake energy balls (peanut butter, oats, honey, coconut, chia, etc)
• quick pickled beets for salads
• vegan blondies cause I need more temptation
• fermented mustard, if I can find some seeds... maybe a trip to Penzeys is in order
• smoothies all over the place, and popcorn. The kids like both, and popcorn is a whole grain. :-)

Tiffanie: this week's menu

I didn't get around to writing this up, but this was the plan, and it was all tasty. :-)

• spaghetti with garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and pine nuts. A delicious and easy dish! Toasted pine nuts; about a head of garlic, pressed and toasted in 3 Tbsp olive oil; 1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes, soaked and chopped; some pepper and salt and parsley, all tossed and gobbled up. Well, not by the kids, they don't love such intense flavors yet.
• snobby joes: lentil based sloppy joes. Love this recipe from Veganomicon. Fennel and orange salad.
• broccoli tofu stir fry, rice, roasted seaweed. One kid ate the broccoli, the other one ate the tofu... I ate it all.
• curried split pea soup, spiced indian basmati rice, fennel and orange salad. The salad is a repeat whenever I have fennel on hand, as it is my favorite way to eat fennel. And the CSA keeps giving it to me... The rice is a new recipe, and it was quite good. Lots of spices in it, plus onions and raisins and grated carrot. It starts with sautéing chopped almonds in oil, so those are especially delicious.