Eating Out and This Week's Menu

I had two great vegan / gluten free meals this weekend.  Friday, Chad and I had a last minute opportunity for a date night.  We went to El Taco, they are extremely accommodating to dietary challenges.  I had a vegan / gluten free veggie pizza.  You can order it off the menu, just request no dairy.  It is one of my favorites.

Veggie Mexican Pizza El Taco - hold the dairy

 Saturday night, we went to a new restaurant, The Optimist.  I called ahead and asked them if they would be able to fix me an entree with my restrictions.  They said no problem.  I had an amazing arugula salad, hold the cheese.  The arugula tasted like it was straight from the garden, crunchy and spicy.  I asked my server to bring me anything the kitchen could prepare as an entree, as long as it was vegan, gluten free. They brought me a gorgeous plate filled with beets, heirloom tomatoes and okra.  Fabulous.  Best beets I have EVER had.  The atmosphere was really fun and I loved the way the restaurant was decorated.  Everyone at my table enjoyed their meal.  Unfortunately, I forgot my iphone so I dont have any pictures.

This week's menu - Chad requested no new recipes.    We have a lot going on after school this week, so we decided on a super easy menu.

Sunday - Heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers (with red wine vinegar), corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, baked tofu with BBQ sauce and Chad made a hamburger (gasp).  We wanted a super fresh, summer meal.

Look at those tomatoes!

Monday - Trader Joe's steamed lentils, brown rice and crushed tomatoes (throw all into one pot).  After I serve the girls, I will add in  a little lemon juice, cumin, chilli powder, and salt and let it simmer.  I will also serve a spinach salad.

Tuesday - Pasta night - boil a big pot of gluten free pasta and everyone choices their toppings

Wednesday - Roasted potatoes, broccoli, baked tofu and baked chicken (for Chad).

Thursday - Taco Night - black beans and rice - spiced up for me and Chad with Trader Joe's taco seasoning.

Friday - Pizza Night

I am still on my Sunday organization kick.  This will be week three of planning all breakfast, lunch and dinners.  And, I go to the grocery store to make sure I have everything on hand.  My new family calendars arrived.  Everyone enjoyed my new tool.  I wrote out all the girls activities, meals and mine and Chad's schedule on this new weekly calendar.  Now no questions on food or what we will be doing on each day!

Week Two of Menu Planning

Week one of menu planning was so successful that I made myself sit down and do it again.  

 First Dinner - McDougall Thai Green Curry

I LOVE spicy food, especially curries.  In the past few years I have learned that a lot of curries are not vegan (fish broth and / or cream is used).  And, with the oil and coconut milk typically called for, curry dishes can be very high in fat.  So, I was thrilled when I opened Dr. John McDougall's book The Starch Solution and saw a recipe for Thai Green Curry on page 284.  The key to this recipe is using a low fat plant based milk, like rice milk and adding a little (1 tsp) of coconut extract to it!  I used 1.5 TBS of green curry paste, along with one cup of rice milk. I wish I had used 2 TBS of the curry paste to give it a little more kick.  I did not follow the recipe exactly.  I cut up the veggies I had on hand, peppers, onions, broccoli and cabbage.   I sauteed these in a little tamari  and water.  I mixed the rice milk, coconut extract and green curry paste in a separate pan.  Then combined the sauce with the veggie and about 3 cups of brown rice.  Let this cook for 5 - 10 minutes The recipe also called for 1 TBS of chopped basil and 1 TBS of chopped cilantro. I wish I had doubled both of those.  Let everything simmer together for about 10 minutes.

 

Tonight I will be serving veggie burgers that I previously made with potatoes and a salad.

My two favorite veggie burger recipes are Jeff Novick's and Colleen's from fatfreevegan.com.

Tomorrow night will be fix your own pasta night.  I have 2 different jars of pasta sauce that Chad and Si like and Earth's Best for Ry.  I will steam veggies and boil the gluten free pasta and everyone can top with their preferred sauce.

My cooking will conclude with Enchiladas.  I will use corn tortillas instead of flour.  I plan to stuff them with black beans, potatoes, corn and spinach, and will top them with Mary McDougall's enchilada sauce.   (I will leave out the chipotle and garlic in the enchilada sauce).  Bake enchiladas at 350 degrees for 35 - 45 minutes.

This week is pretty easy - a veggie curry, veggie burgers, pasta, enchiladas.  The rest of the week will be left overs or we eat out!

BTW - I now have a "menu" for breakfast and lunch.  The girls order off the menu each evening for the next morning.  Our mornings our a little less chaotic.  I have set choices for breakfast of things I always have on hand.  Lunch we try to plan out for the week so I can buy accordingly.  They choose a "main" for lunch and a fruit, veggie, snack and "treat".

Quick Trader Joe's Dinner

One bag of Trader Joe's frozen fire roasted peppers, one bag of Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice, 1/2 bag of Trader Joe's frozen organic corn and as much as of your favorite salsa as you would like.  Saute all together and you have a delicious, healthy, filling meal in under 10 minutes.  I ate mine on top of a large bowl of lettuce, the girls put theirs in an organic hard shell taco and Chad put his in a flour tortilla.  Everyone was happy.

What's on the menu this week?

I have probably said this before, I struggle with planning a menu for the week.  I get it - it saves time, money and keeps the "what is for dinner?" questions and subsequent melt-downs at bay.  I love the idea of meal planning - I just do not like to do it. 

School started today so its a great time to start something new that will hopefully become a habit.  Instead of looking through all of my great cookbooks, I picked one cookbook to choose all the dinners from.  This week it is the Forks Over Knives companion book with recipes.  By the way, Forks Over Knives just released a second cookbook!  I am looking forward to purchasing it soon.

On to the menu.

Last night, we had The Quinoa Garden Salad on page 110 with corn on the cobb.  I made a few changes.  I did not use parsley, I only used 1/4 of a cup of lemon juice (which was PLENTY) and we salt and peppered the quinoa at the table.  I also sauteed the peppers, onions and garbanzo beans in a little tamari before adding them to the quinoa.  It was delicious, and great for lunch today.  Everyone enjoyed it, no one LOVED it.  But - at least they ate.

Tonight, I am making the Mango- Lime, Bean Salad on page 108. I will serve this on top of spinach and brown rice.

Tomorrow will be pasta night.  We have yet to find one sauce everyone likes.  Therefore, pasta night is a make your own dinner night.  I make a big pot of Tinkyada brown rice pasta.  Ry usually has Earths Best on her noodles.  And, I throw green peas in there as well.  Si usually likes the basic Trader Joe marinara sauce.  Chad is still experimenting with sauces. I have something "green" prepared, to go along with the pasta, usually green peas and a salad.   It is a pretty easy dinner.

Wednesday - Minty Lemon Lentils with Spinach page 147.  This has potatoes in it as well, so a complete meal!  I have been wanting to try this recipe.  It sounds delicious.

Thursday - Polenta with Rice and Beans page 143.  Served with Tomato and Cucumber Salad page 154.  I have made the polenta dish before.  Everyone really liked it, and it was fairly simple.

And that is it - I did it.  Now, lets see if I can do again next week.  The FOK book is worth getting, if not just for these recipes!

First day of school -time for a new routine: