Seriously, what do you REALLY eat? - Dinner

Moving on to dinner:

Nothing super fancy, as a reminder I only spent $80 for the week at the grocery store and was trying to use what I had in the pantry.

Monday:

Garbanzo Marinara with Polenta or Noodles

Sauce:

• A can of drained garbanzo beans
• 1/2 of a chopped onion
• 1 cup of your favorite pasta sauce - I use Muir Glens Portbello Mushroom

And:

• Organic Polenta
• And or Rice Noodles

 Saute onion in a hot pan with a little water, until onion turns translucent.  Add in beans and sauce.  Let mixture simmer until beans become tender.

 Meanwhile, slice polenta and heat on grill or you can heat in a saute pan.  

I knew the girls did not like polenta, so I also boiled rice pasta as I was heating the polenta and the sauce.  Multi- tasking. Although several things going on at once, I made this meal in less than 15 minutes and with 5 ingredients!

Tuesday:

 Lentils, Rice and Tomatoes with Taco Shells

(You have seen this one before!)

I used a different Trader Joe rice this time, put that in pan with Pomi tomatoes, and added half of a package of Trader Joe steamed lentils.  I did not add spices because the girls like it without.  But you could add cumin, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, etc!

 

Roasted cabbage and zucchini slicesI lightly sprayed the baking sheet with olive oil spray, placed shredded cabbage (Trader Joes has this in a bag) and zucchini slices on sheet.  Lightly sprayed oil and sprinkled salt.  I baked these at 325 for about 20 minutes.  Keep you eye on these, check every 10 minutes.  

Salad

Nothing fancy here! 

Wednesday:
This night I made a couple of things that would last a few days, soup and tofu:

I made a Butternut Squash Soup from a Whole Food recipe:
Classic Butternut Squash Soup 
SERVES 6
4 to 6 cups vegetable broth, divided
2/3 cup diced carrot (about 1 (8-inch) large carrot)
1/2 cup diced celery (about 1 (11-inch) large stalk)
2/3 cup diced onion (about 1 medium onion)
4 cups cubed butternut squash (about 1 medium squash)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Heat 2 tablespoons of the veggie broth in a large soup pot. Add carrot, celery and onion. Cook until vegetables have begun to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add butternut squash and thyme. Stir to combine with vegetables. Stir in broth and season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree soup. Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and carefully puree in batches in a traditional blender.
Optional southwestern spin
Add a tablespoon chopped chipotles in adobo and 1 teaspoon ground cumin to carrot, celery and onion mixture. When serving, garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds and chopped fresh cilantro.

I enjoyed the soup and a salad for dinner.  Chad and the girls did not like the soup.  So fortunately I had already heated up frozen lima beans, left over cabbage and these Trader Joe mash potatoes hidden way back in our freezer.  The mash potatoes were not vegan or gluten free, so of course all three of them absolutely LOVED the potatoes.    The tofu recipe was nothing special, I pressed it, put a sauce of GF tamari, and tahini on the tofu and sprinkled nutritional yeast.  I baked the cubes in the toaster at 325 for 25 minutes. 

This is what I call a bland dinner!

Tofu 

 

 

 

 

Thursday:
Trader Joe stir fry to the rescue.  Nope not organic, I let it slide for convenience.  I sauteed the veggies with a little water and a gluten free teriyaki sauce I found at Whole Foods.  I also made rice noodles to go with the veggies.
For some reason I really wanted a veggie burger too.  I made one that I have made a thousand times before, but I did something wrong.  They were terrible, dry, and fell apart.  So, of course I ate them, but I served the girls and Chad left over lentils and rice.

My Dinner

Girls Dinner