July Menu

I thought I would share my menu plans for this week.  I ran out of greens this morning.  So, I need to make a shopping trip.  I figured I might as well make a menu.  I have been terrible about menu making lately which leaves a bunch of cranky kids and a tired mama around 4pm. I tend to leave our weekends open.  It is a good chance to try something new or just eat up all the leftovers in the fridge and freezer.  During the winter I often toss leftovers in the crockpot on Sunday and pray for soup!

I have been faithfully drinking green smoothies daily and I feel wonderful.  Plus, I am actually meeting my nutrient goals.  They are usually two kinds of fruit, Kale and water.  I sometimes throw a couple of dates in there.  Not exciting. But, it tastes good and keeps me full.  The dates have way more calories than I thought, so I have been laying off those. 

And, don't forget to sign up for The 30 Day Vegan Challenge. I don't get anything for letting you know about it.  Well, I get the satisfaction :) Early Birds pay only $20 dollars for a whole month of support from a really great speaker.

7/23 Monday (recalling this one from my perfect memory)

B: hashbrown patties, cold cereal

L: Green Smoothies and nut butter sandwiches

D: Black Bean Burgers, homemade fries, tarter sauce

Snacks were fruit, half a sandwich, or leftovers from Sunday's Dinner

7/24 Tuesday (Happening as I type.)

B: Cold cereal, Veggie Sausage patties, toast and someone may have had leftover banana cake.

L: nut butter sandwiches, leftovers from the last two nights which include baked squash, pasta, Trader Joes veggie meatballs and homemade fries

D: Curry red lentils, rice, potato samosas

7/25 Wednesday

B:Oatmeal, green smoothies

L: Salads with Goddess Dressing

D: Canned or frozen soup and Grilled Cheese with Follow Your Heart Cheese

 

7/26 Thursday

B: Pancakes, green smoothies

L: nut butter sandwiches or left overs

D: Tacos and Rice

 

7/27 Friday

B: Leftover pancakes or toast, green smoothies

L: nut butter sandwiches or leftover tacos

D: Homemade Pizza, Bunny Love Carrot Chips, Soda

Cornbread with jalapeño, cilantro & daiya cheddar

Cornbread with jalapeño, cilantro & daiya cheddar, a photo by OakBlossoms on Flickr.

Yummy! Yesterday was a cold and rainy day in Washington State. I know you are thinking, well that sounds normal. But, it hasn't been. We have had a lovely winter. And, our weather has been summery and short loving for the last month.

So, a few days of rain (albeit not too cold rain) left us yearning for chili and cornbread.

This version was made from the recipe on the Bob's Red Mill Cornbread bag. I made it vegan by using egg replacer and melted Earth Balance. I added some Daiya cheddar and chopped jalapeno because my kids love jalapenos. We buy huge jars from Costco and they can eat 1 a month. My favorite tip for making cornbread in a cast iron pan is to put a glob of coconut oil in the pan.  Then put it in the oven while the oven preheats.  you get a good rise on your cornbread and a yummy crust.

November Meal Planning

 I always find things I want to make.  But, then I look in my pantry and I am missing stuff.  Sometimes, when I work on my weekly plan there just isn't room for a few ingredients.  In September, I started planning for October. I made a folder to save the new recipes for October.  When it started looking a bit too much, I think around 20, I started November.  This worked so well for me.  I looked through them all and added those staples to my first shopping list.  I was able to do most of them for October.  It really helped to mix up my normal go to recipes like chili, enchiladas, tacos, homemade pizza, pasta and sauce.  So, here are my picks for November. 

 Breakfast

If I can actually get up in the morning and make something for breakfast.  SURPRISE!  My crew will wake up early, too.  They are so much happier with something to eat.  If I remember I will set out stuff the night before. I can mix up dry stuff and put them in the mixing bowl.  The bright green one that has it's own lid.  The one that used to seem so big before I had a teenager. 

Mocha Coconut Banana Bread

Orange Glow Muffins

Protein Porridge

Soup
It is starting to get cold.  I love soup. It is cheap.  I can usually make it in the crockpot.  When put in the crockpot at breakfast time, it is usually read for lunch.  Hot lunch makes homeschooling just a little bit better.  Already prepared hot lunch makes me feel like I almost have a maid or cook or mother's helper.  
 
Gluten Free Goddess's Mulligatawny soup with Jasmine Rice

Humboldt Soup

Dinner

For some reason dinner is the hardest meal of the day for me.  I don't really like dinner.  Everyone in my house likes something different for dinner.  My husband and the 14 year old man er boy...whatever he feels like that day...think they need meat and man food.  My 11 year old is a staunch vegetarian. My 8 year old wants to eat and run.  My toddler wants to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The baby wants to slap my spoon and nurse at the same time.  I could eat chili and rice or stir fry and rice EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.  If I was feeling warm I might eat a smoothie. Oh, and the budget. Our budget is tight.  My compromise?  They don't get to complain unless they help. I buy meat maybe once a month and it is usually I really good sale.  Our local store often has B1G1F.  I can usually get nice chicken or roasts in a family pack.  So, I can get a lot of meals out of those.  I am totally digging on the lentils, too.  

Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers.

Crockpot Pizza Potatoes

Eggplant Veggie Burgers

Spaghetti and Red Lentil Balls

I made the lentil balls and they were awesome.  No one complained.  Well, at least not the annoying kind. But, everyone ate.  No one said they had a stomach ache.  I even made some Vegan Parm.  I used half raw almond and half nutritional yeast. I whizzed that up in my vitamix very carefully.  I was afraid of making nut butter.  I ended up adding salt to taste. I felt like it needed some saltyness.  I feel like such a dummy mummy for waiting so long to make Vegan Parm.  It is so expensive and the jar is so little.  I think I spent maybe 2 or 3 bucks and the jar is huge.  It is so yummy and full of protein and B12.  What isn't to like about that?

From the Joy of Vegan Baking

From the Joy of Vegan Baking, a photo by OakBlossoms on Flickr.

These were delicious bars. I doubled the recipe, used canola oil instead of Earth Balance, and Marionberry preserves instead of raspberry. These would be a great breakfast bar for on the go mornings. The jam gets a bit gooey, but it sets up nice by the next morning. Of course, I only had one bar left to enjoy by the next morning. So, you might consider making them after the kids go to bed.

Halloween and Mummy Dogs

I thought I would share the mummy dogs the kids made for Halloween.  We don't usually do anything regular for Halloween.  Depending on where we live, we Trick or Treat.  A few years ago we did a big festival with our church and that was crazy. Smack dab in the middle of our towns Halloween Trick or Treating event.  This year one of the boys and Dad went out for last minute Trick or Treating.  I'm sorry I have no pictures of their makeshift costumes.  But, I told everyone that I'm too pregnant and tired to go out.

We did manage some fun dinner though.  We made some vegetarian and some with meaty dogs.



Threw in some broccoli for good measure.  All the kids like broccoli and it comes in very big bags at Costco.

An Autumn meal...

I checked out some books from the library. One of them was....


I am making Sage, White bean, and Sausage soup from it. I am going to use Tofurkey Italian Sausages to make it vegetarian so everyone can eat it. Plus, greasy foods aren't sitting well with my stomach lately. Did I forget to mention it uses dry beans and my crockpot. I love the crockpot. I am planning on making some rice because we have a bunch of limes leftover from yesterdays dinner. a squeeze of lime is really good on rice. I am going to make pumpkin muffins, too. I am going to double up so we have enough for tomorrow's breakfast. I love muffins for breakfast.

The start of some gluten-free vegetarian meatballs.

The start of some gluten-free vegetarian meatballs.
Originally uploaded by OakBlossoms

I've been working back towards GF. There are definitely some health issues around this house. I don't know if they are all deemed mysterious. But, they can all be symptoms of Celiac disease. I know I can do it. I know I can do it.

I know I can do it and not end up eating meat again.

My kids love pickles. So, we always have the pickle jars from Costco.  I'm hoping they are GF.  They seem like it, but I would be bummed if they aren't.  Really bummed.  Also, I do know that cast iron is porous.  Right now I'm doing my best.  Getting rid of Grandma's cast iron pan is not on the list.  I'll think about though.  I'll consider it.  But, first let us see if this GF thing lasts.  

Here is the brown rice cooking.

Veggies cooking a bit in the cast iron pan.

All of the goodies after I Vitamixed them.

It was a bit runny still. So, I did add some brown rice flour to get it to hold together better. I need to remember how well the vitamix works. It created a lot of juice from the veggies. I probably should have drained my beans more.  

Frying them up.

Eating in June

This month I decided to start freezing foods.  I really wanted to do it before our last baby was born.  But, I never got down and did it.  I wish I had.  

This month my plan is to at least double all our meals.  I made up a plan and I'm trying to add to my grocery list as I go along.  I'm hoping I might at some point get enough energy to do it all at once.  But, don't hold your breath.  But, maybe one of my readers will get all excited and give it a go.  I have been getting really frustrated at the end of the night.  I do not like having a dirty kitchen.  We just all get tired and no one wants to clean up.  It feels good to have a clean kitchen in the morning.  There are other dinner snafus that are driving us crazy.  So, I took all of it into account.  I realized I need to be able to throw something in the oven or have things my husband can heat up when he is hungry.  

We are not casserole eaters.  We hardly ever have meat and some of us are vegetarians.  I never wanted to do this because I hate using plastic.  But, my husband will spend 25 bucks at Papa Murphy's and get a cheese loaded, greasy pizza covered in plastic wrap.  I can make a whole lot of cheese light and cheese less pizza and put them in plastic bags for a lot less.  A good freezer bag can be rewashed and reused.  I'm not planning on doing any meaty items. 

So far I made frozen pizzas and a batch of white chili.  It wasn't any harder than making my usual dinner or pizza or chili.  Next time I'll just have to heat those up when we need them. 

I figure on days I'm busy I'll have frozen food.  On the days when I feel like baking or cooking I can stock the freezer with foods or baked goods.  I asked my husband what he thought.  He said he didn't care what it tasted like. He just wanted food he could cook.  My husband was a baker in a rustic bakery.  He used to cook when we were first married.  But, somewhere along the line he got tired.  I started to teach myself how to bake and cook.  But, somewhere along the line I got burnt out on being an excellent cook.  I hope the things I make don't taste too bad.  I figure they will taste better than mac and cheese.