So I had the week all planned out, then...BG got sick. The kind of sick where the thought of food is triggering gag reflexes. Also, the kind of sick where she spends most of her time in arms nursing, trying to replace lost fluids. Also found out that the vegetarian inlaws were coming over for dinner on Saturday, the day I had planned to have chicken and rice bake so...
amended menu plan
Tuesday, store bought rotisserie chicken with squash, broccoli and biscuits (veggies prepared at home)
Wednesday, chili (not the cabbage roll casserole)
Saturday, cabbage roll casserole, the veg'n kind with TVP, barley and lentils. It sounds odd but it is just as yummy as can be. First time I made it this way, DH didn't even realize there was no meat!
Oh, and to clear up... once the cards have been chosen for the week, I get to decide which meal gets eaten when, it's not a first card=Monday kind of thing. Gives me better control over when to shop and when to plan for leftovers.
OH yeah, there were actually 30 meal cards that we came up with. I may make up a few to cue me to go to a recipe book and get something new. I also included breakfast for dinner cards like pancakes and quiche, and things like sandwiches that can be part of a healthy diet.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
menu planning
I sometimes have a hard time coming up with something yummy for dinner. I know menu planning can make it easier. I have read this many times, in many different places. I have come up with a plan. I'm not sure how well it is going to work, but I'm willing to try.
step 1) get out the blank recipe cards. I have many of them in many different colours because I am a pack rat.
step 2) write out the names of all mains on the top of the card, not bothering with ingredients. Include two "get out of the kitchen free" cards so dinner out is planned and I have something to look forward to. Maybe use different colour for things like main salads for summer months.
step 3) get DH to go through the cards to see if I've missed any favourites or if there are any doubles.
step 4) shuffle cards and put them away until Sunday when I turn the page in my calendar/planner book
step 5) randomly pull out 7 cards to write them into the book, organize them as they match up with planned events-quick meals on busy days, favourite meals on special days.
step 6) verify that I have the ingredients. These are my favourite, regular meals, so I usually have the things I need at hand. Put the ones I don't have on the grocery list. Move the meals that need something to later in the week so I will have a chance to get to the store.
We'll see how this works. Luckily, I have two other tools to fall back on. One is a calendar from http://nicelynourished.com/ and the other is a cook book with complete recipes for the evening meal (includes desserts!) by Penny E. Stone called 365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus.
This week's menu...
Monday Chicken Noodle casserole (lots of veggies hiding in there)
Tuesday Chili (still ruminating on its depth and tones-TexMex? Curried?) biscuits
Wednesday Cabbage Roll Casserole mmmm cabbage. with meat or without?
Thursday (DD's #4 Bday!!!) Chick Pea Curry. It's her birthday. She gets meat. and kale
Friday Burritos. This is a tradition in our house. crudites
Saturday Baked Chicken and Barley in mushroom soup. a lazy day kind of meal. corn? broccoli?
Sunday Lasagna. eggplant or noodles? cottage cheese or ricotta? meat or veg'?
Let me know if there is a recipe you would like and I'll make sure it gets on here.
step 1) get out the blank recipe cards. I have many of them in many different colours because I am a pack rat.
step 2) write out the names of all mains on the top of the card, not bothering with ingredients. Include two "get out of the kitchen free" cards so dinner out is planned and I have something to look forward to. Maybe use different colour for things like main salads for summer months.
step 3) get DH to go through the cards to see if I've missed any favourites or if there are any doubles.
step 4) shuffle cards and put them away until Sunday when I turn the page in my calendar/planner book
step 5) randomly pull out 7 cards to write them into the book, organize them as they match up with planned events-quick meals on busy days, favourite meals on special days.
step 6) verify that I have the ingredients. These are my favourite, regular meals, so I usually have the things I need at hand. Put the ones I don't have on the grocery list. Move the meals that need something to later in the week so I will have a chance to get to the store.
We'll see how this works. Luckily, I have two other tools to fall back on. One is a calendar from http://nicelynourished.com/ and the other is a cook book with complete recipes for the evening meal (includes desserts!) by Penny E. Stone called 365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus.
This week's menu...
Monday Chicken Noodle casserole (lots of veggies hiding in there)
Tuesday Chili (still ruminating on its depth and tones-TexMex? Curried?) biscuits
Wednesday Cabbage Roll Casserole mmmm cabbage. with meat or without?
Thursday (DD's #4 Bday!!!) Chick Pea Curry. It's her birthday. She gets meat. and kale
Friday Burritos. This is a tradition in our house. crudites
Saturday Baked Chicken and Barley in mushroom soup. a lazy day kind of meal. corn? broccoli?
Sunday Lasagna. eggplant or noodles? cottage cheese or ricotta? meat or veg'?
Let me know if there is a recipe you would like and I'll make sure it gets on here.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
lasagna
We had friends over for dinner the other night. I thought I'd make pasta. I like pasta. Almost as much as I like cabbage, but I generally won't sunject friends to that! I had lots of time and it was a nice day, so got a bit creative...
1 eggplant, cubed
2 onions, sliced
6 small beets, diced
5 small carrots, chopped
2 T olive oil
350 g tub of quark
2 t pesto
1/2 c shredded marble cheese
1/4 c romano
2 eggs
tin of sauce (I was feeling lazy)
box of lasagna noodles
1/2 c grated cheese
I combined the first 5 ingredients in my big roasting pan, covered it and put it in the oven at 400*F for 50 minutes.
Boil the water for the pasta. I use the kind that needs to be boiled as I find the ready to use stuff gets pasty if the consistency of your sauce isn't perfect. I get annoyed when that happens. The boil yourself noodles are a lot more forgiving. slightly more work but worth it.
Combine the next group of ingredients. Usually I use cottage cheese, but I made the mistake of looking on the ingredients list and couldn't make myself buy it this time. The quark had ingredients I could pronounce and find in my kitchen.
In my beautiful 9x13 red ceramic casserole dish I layered
sauce
noodles
cheese mixture
noodles
vegetables
noodles
cheese mixture
noodles
sauce
noodles
vegetables
noodles
sauce
grated cheese
I put a few toothpicks through the centre line to hold up the tin foil, put tin foil on to cover it and put it in the oven for 1/5 hours at 350*F. Took the foil off for the last 10 minutes to brown the cheese.
If I make this again, I would probably mix the veg in the sauce and use more cheese as a binding agent.
It was delicious nonetheless!
1 eggplant, cubed
2 onions, sliced
6 small beets, diced
5 small carrots, chopped
2 T olive oil
350 g tub of quark
2 t pesto
1/2 c shredded marble cheese
1/4 c romano
2 eggs
tin of sauce (I was feeling lazy)
box of lasagna noodles
1/2 c grated cheese
I combined the first 5 ingredients in my big roasting pan, covered it and put it in the oven at 400*F for 50 minutes.
Boil the water for the pasta. I use the kind that needs to be boiled as I find the ready to use stuff gets pasty if the consistency of your sauce isn't perfect. I get annoyed when that happens. The boil yourself noodles are a lot more forgiving. slightly more work but worth it.
Combine the next group of ingredients. Usually I use cottage cheese, but I made the mistake of looking on the ingredients list and couldn't make myself buy it this time. The quark had ingredients I could pronounce and find in my kitchen.
In my beautiful 9x13 red ceramic casserole dish I layered
sauce
noodles
cheese mixture
noodles
vegetables
noodles
cheese mixture
noodles
sauce
noodles
vegetables
noodles
sauce
grated cheese
I put a few toothpicks through the centre line to hold up the tin foil, put tin foil on to cover it and put it in the oven for 1/5 hours at 350*F. Took the foil off for the last 10 minutes to brown the cheese.
If I make this again, I would probably mix the veg in the sauce and use more cheese as a binding agent.
It was delicious nonetheless!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
burritos
We have declared that Friday night is taco/burrito night. We tried sandwiches for a while, but for some reason, the cost of that went throught the roof. Everyone wanted their own fillings and well, there was just too much detail. This is a home, not a restaurant! We have a standard recipe that gets used for both tacos and burritos. When I'm feeling cheap or running behind, it is meat free. And well, Friday is supposed to be meat free anyway.
1-2 T vegetable oil
1 lb of lean ground meat, if using
1/2 c TVP with 1 cup veg broth if not using meat and your dinner companions like to think they are eating meat.
1 can kidney beans, drained andvrinsed
1 can lentils, drained and rinsed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 chopped onions
1-2 cloves garlic minced/chopped whatever your preference, really
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t chili powder
1/2 t basil
1 cup salsa
In large frying pan, heat oil, brown onions, garlic and meat if using. If using TVP, wait until onions are browned, then add in TVP.
Add spices, cook till you can actually smell the spices in the steam.
Add beans and salsa. If it is not moist and looks kind of dry and in danger of burning, add more salsa/veg broth/v8/tomato juice, whatever you have handy.
Because your spices have cooked into the base, you can actually adjust your spices at this point. Me, I usually add more cumin, as I LOVE cumin.
Cover and simmer while you set the table, heat your shells or wraps, put out the grated chees, guacamole, sprouts, lettuce, a favourite hot sauce, yogurt....
We usually scoop the filling into a nice bowl and bring it to the table to serve out.
This usually makes 2 for me, 5 for B, 3 for DS, 2 for DD and one for BG, with some left over for a lunch in the next week.
1-2 T vegetable oil
1 lb of lean ground meat, if using
1/2 c TVP with 1 cup veg broth if not using meat and your dinner companions like to think they are eating meat.
1 can kidney beans, drained andvrinsed
1 can lentils, drained and rinsed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 chopped onions
1-2 cloves garlic minced/chopped whatever your preference, really
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t chili powder
1/2 t basil
1 cup salsa
In large frying pan, heat oil, brown onions, garlic and meat if using. If using TVP, wait until onions are browned, then add in TVP.
Add spices, cook till you can actually smell the spices in the steam.
Add beans and salsa. If it is not moist and looks kind of dry and in danger of burning, add more salsa/veg broth/v8/tomato juice, whatever you have handy.
Because your spices have cooked into the base, you can actually adjust your spices at this point. Me, I usually add more cumin, as I LOVE cumin.
Cover and simmer while you set the table, heat your shells or wraps, put out the grated chees, guacamole, sprouts, lettuce, a favourite hot sauce, yogurt....
We usually scoop the filling into a nice bowl and bring it to the table to serve out.
This usually makes 2 for me, 5 for B, 3 for DS, 2 for DD and one for BG, with some left over for a lunch in the next week.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
chick pea curry
Tonight, B and I are going to donate blood and we're leaving the kids with my BIL, a vegetarian. My two BIL's come over fairly frequently, at least every two weeks and neither one eats animal flesh. As a matter of course, I serve meatless meals every few days anyway, but their visits really force me to think about a balanced meal.
Tonight, it is chick pea curry with barley/rice pilaf. Thanks to the wonders of
http://www.brysonfarms.com/ I get all this awesome produce I have to throw in it. Tonight's curry
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t curry
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t dried basil
4 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots diced
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1 bok choi chopped
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
1 small bag fresh mushrooms, chopped
4 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 can mushroom soup
1/3 can left over spaghetti sauce
in large pot on med heat, pour oil and add spices. let cook a minute or two, till really fragrant
add onions. cook till half way soft
add carrots. cook until med soft
add sweet potato. let cook three minutes
add rest of ingredients, stir somewhat vigorously-not so hard you mush the vegetables.
cover and simmer till veg are soft.
delicious
Tonight, it is chick pea curry with barley/rice pilaf. Thanks to the wonders of
http://www.brysonfarms.com/ I get all this awesome produce I have to throw in it. Tonight's curry
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t curry
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t dried basil
4 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots diced
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1 bok choi chopped
1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
1 small bag fresh mushrooms, chopped
4 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 can mushroom soup
1/3 can left over spaghetti sauce
in large pot on med heat, pour oil and add spices. let cook a minute or two, till really fragrant
add onions. cook till half way soft
add carrots. cook until med soft
add sweet potato. let cook three minutes
add rest of ingredients, stir somewhat vigorously-not so hard you mush the vegetables.
cover and simmer till veg are soft.
delicious
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
morning oatmeal
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. B makes fun of my morning ritual of oatmeal making, but I really like it.
My Oatmeal in the morning
100ml of oatmeal -I have a measuring cup in the oatmeal tub, it's the only way I can be somewhat consistant with my portion sizes. It's the takes ten minutes to cook style.
1 T pumpkin seeds
1/2 t flaxseeds
1 t sunflower seeds
1 T dried cranberries
1/2 t cinnamon
2-3 T organic Meadows 2% yogurt
Boil water in kettle,
Combine oatmeal, cranberries and seeds in microwaveable cereal bowl.
Add enough water to cover.
Stir and nuke for 3.33min at 60% power. I know odd level and timing, but it's the only one that'll cook it just right without overflowing the bowl and spewing all over the microwave. That annoys me to no end.
Remove from microwave.
Add cinnamon and yogurt.
Stir and eat.
It's a party in your mouth-crunchy, chewy and smooth all at the same time.
My Oatmeal in the morning
100ml of oatmeal -I have a measuring cup in the oatmeal tub, it's the only way I can be somewhat consistant with my portion sizes. It's the takes ten minutes to cook style.
1 T pumpkin seeds
1/2 t flaxseeds
1 t sunflower seeds
1 T dried cranberries
1/2 t cinnamon
2-3 T organic Meadows 2% yogurt
Boil water in kettle,
Combine oatmeal, cranberries and seeds in microwaveable cereal bowl.
Add enough water to cover.
Stir and nuke for 3.33min at 60% power. I know odd level and timing, but it's the only one that'll cook it just right without overflowing the bowl and spewing all over the microwave. That annoys me to no end.
Remove from microwave.
Add cinnamon and yogurt.
Stir and eat.
It's a party in your mouth-crunchy, chewy and smooth all at the same time.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
un-cream of caulifower
When I go to the grocery store, I like to check out the remaindered vegetables. If there is something there that's a bit spotty or less than perfect, and discounted by 50%, and I can use it in a soup, I'll usually talk myself into buying it. I like the cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli and cauliflower for this. For whatever reason, I won't spend full price to make a soup out of a vegetable, even though I won't have to work as hard for it.
Anyway, cauliflower was in the stack at the RCSS. Two for the price of one! A few brown spots, but otherwaise in fair condition. Not too wilted or slimy. I bought them both. I brought them home and promptly forgot about them for a week. They were still good a few days after that. Whew.
It was lunchtime on a schoolday, which means there was only me, H and K. H wanted noodles. I can do that. In the time it took the noodles to cook I made soup(ish).
1 head of cauliflower, sliced thinly
2-3 cups of water
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 T dried onions
2 T bulk Barn dried veg medley
1 T Vegeta ( I know, it has lots of salt, but if this is all I put in, that's not bad)
2 T whole wheat flour
In a big pot, covered, bring water and cauliflower to a boil on med-high
Add everything else but the flour. cover and let boil for about two minutes, maybe three.
Remove from heat.
Use handy dandy immersion blender and blend the soup to a fine puree. It will be kind of thick-thin, a thick layer of veg, a thin layer of water.
Add the flour and blend again.
Return to burner on med-low. Give it a minute or two to thicken and serve.
Really. That's all it was. I started the water for the noodles and the soup at the same time. The soup was done before the noodles were. OK the noodles were whole wheat alphabets, but still. H and K each had a bowl of veg before they got their noodles and sauce(more soup).
Anyway, cauliflower was in the stack at the RCSS. Two for the price of one! A few brown spots, but otherwaise in fair condition. Not too wilted or slimy. I bought them both. I brought them home and promptly forgot about them for a week. They were still good a few days after that. Whew.
It was lunchtime on a schoolday, which means there was only me, H and K. H wanted noodles. I can do that. In the time it took the noodles to cook I made soup(ish).
1 head of cauliflower, sliced thinly
2-3 cups of water
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 T dried onions
2 T bulk Barn dried veg medley
1 T Vegeta ( I know, it has lots of salt, but if this is all I put in, that's not bad)
2 T whole wheat flour
In a big pot, covered, bring water and cauliflower to a boil on med-high
Add everything else but the flour. cover and let boil for about two minutes, maybe three.
Remove from heat.
Use handy dandy immersion blender and blend the soup to a fine puree. It will be kind of thick-thin, a thick layer of veg, a thin layer of water.
Add the flour and blend again.
Return to burner on med-low. Give it a minute or two to thicken and serve.
Really. That's all it was. I started the water for the noodles and the soup at the same time. The soup was done before the noodles were. OK the noodles were whole wheat alphabets, but still. H and K each had a bowl of veg before they got their noodles and sauce(more soup).
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