Menu Plan Monday

Today is the start of my last week off before classes start up again, so in preparation I made a menu of a couple weeks worth of meals/lunches. I also made up a "storage" menu of things I want to get made and put away for quick meals before I'm bogged down with homework, essays, research projects, and deadlines.

To Store:
-Backyard BBQ Sauce from Veganomicon. I'm going to try doubling the recipe and canning it. I expect to get about 4 pints worth.
-Bran Muffins with Raisins from Joy of Vegan Baking.
-Pumpkinberry Muffins from VegNews.
-Carrot Ginger Muffins from Garden of Vegan.
-Lemon projects from this post

Meals:
From Better than Peanut Butter and Jelly (BPBJ)
-Taco soup
-Sloppy Joes and sweet potato fries
-Southwestern Pasta Casserole
-Tacoless taco salad
-Beans and franks
From Garden of Vegan
-Veggie Rice Balls
-Zucchini and Broccoli Toss
-Chimichangas
-Veggie Jumble

Lunches/snacks:
-Tofu spread from BPBJ
-Roundup Rice Cakes from BPBJ
-good ol' leftovers

Remember to check out Organizing Junkie's Menu Monday for more recipe ideas, and GeekyPoet for all veggie menu ideas. Geez...I think I better get started!

Menu Plan Monday (well, Sunday really)

This next week is a little less stressful than last week, but it's the week before finals, so it's not entirely stress free. There's a lot of crock pot meals this week, and lots of yummy comfort food. Be sure to check out Menu Plan Mondays and Veg*n Menu Plan Mondays for more ideas!

Sunday: A big pot of Apple Cinnamon Amaranth Grits for breakfast/brunch and Cheesy Bean and "Cheese" enchiladas and Spanish rice for dinner. Making snickerdoodle cookie dough, freezing some and baking some for Wednesday. Also baking Hannah's garlic bread for tomorrow night.

Monday: Leftover Amaranth grits for breakfast, leftover enchiladas and rice for lunch. A slight variation on my usual baked penne, salad and garlic bread for dinner. Putting 5 Grain Cereal into the crockpot for breakfast tomorrow.

Tuesday: 5 Grain Cereal for breakfast, leftovers for lunch. Making Almond Tofu for dinner again (I can't get enough!!!)

Wednesday: Leftover 5 Grain Cereal for breakfast, leftovers for lunch (I may actually take 2 small "lunches" since I'm at school from 8am-8pm). Taking snickerdoodles and maybe popcorn to Oceanography club after class. If David and I are hungry when we get home, we'll have nachos.

Thursday: Leftover 5 Grain Cereal for breakfast, leftovers for lunch. Bringing snickerdoodles or some other snack to share to class. White Bean Soup in the crockpot with leftover garlic bread. I used to love my grandpa's white/navy bean soup in my pre-vegetarian ham eating days, so hopefully this will taste just as good. I may add a little liquid smoke to the soup.

Friday: Early morning class today, so probably nothing or just a granola bar for breakfast, same old leftovers for lunch. If we don't have mass amounts of leftovers still in the fridge, I'll make myself some rice salad (cutting that recipe at least in half) and baked tofu for dinner.

Saturday: Lots of chemistry studying happening today, so just leftovers for breakfast and lunch. Mashed potatoes, squash, and Smothered Tofu Steak and Onions for dinner.

Because I'm a stressed out college student going into finals, I don't have a lot of time to do a bunch of baking for Christmas parties and gifts, so I'm planning on making up a batch or two of cookie dough on the weekends and freezing them to bake up real quick throughout the week.

Getting Down to Business

The last couple of weeks I haven't made a menu or done any real grocery shopping. Which meant that we were running to the store nearly every night, and not eating very well. There were many nights of take out, pizza, chips and dip, or a scrounged up meal.

Last week was a "Hell Week" (sorry Grammy, but it really was!) for me, with several exams, quizzes, and presentations due. And a trip out in Humboldt Bay on the pontoon boat (which means getting very wet, since you're on a flat piece of metal on two pontoon floats with a motor! Rain gear and muckboots are a must!). The highlight of the week was a class on making vegan doughnuts. David came with me and even he said they were yummy. I'll post more on it later.

But this week should be better, and I have Tuesday off (yay!!), so I'm planning on making some real meals again and preparing for the next round of tests.

Sunday: David's having a poker night again with friends, so we're having snack foods for dinner
Monday: "Chicken" Parmesan made with breaded tofu
Tuesday: Leftover baked tofu with roasted veggies
Wednesday: Soba noodles with sesame sauce
Thursday: Almond Tofu
Friday: Lemon Dijon Tofu and Potatoes
Saturday: Any leftovers that weren't eaten for lunch during the week.

For lunches I'll take leftovers and harvest salad. I'm thinking about adding some roasted beets to the salad as well, or I may use them all in the roasted veggies on Tuesday night. I've also really been craving spinach dip, so I'll make up a batch and eat it as a snack with crackers throughout the week.

I'm off now to clean off and paint a couple of boards I picked up at the recycling center to make shelves with. My shot glass collection is feeling very sad all packed up with no place to be displayed. Be sure to check out Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plan Mondays and Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe for all veggie menu plans!

Menu Plan Monday

Fall is by far my favorite time of the year and now that the first round of midterms are over, I can focus on cooking yummy fall foods. Almost everything this week will be local from the farmers market or homemade.

Sunday: David requested chili dogs. I'll be using veggie dogs and some leftover frozen chili from Vegan Lunch Box.
Monday: Lasagna rolls. They were so good David wanted them again right away.
Tuesday: Stuffed acorn squash, sliced vegan sausages with a quick tomato sauce
Wednesday: Something quick like pasta and sauce or leftovers
Thursday: Soba noodles with roasted broccoli and either a peanut sauce or a soy sauce based sauce. (idea from Vegetarian Times)
Friday: Seitan porkchops with apples and ginger, roasted beet salad, butternut squash
Saturday:Leftovers

Head over to Organizing Junkie for more menu plan mondays. Remember, this month is Vegetarian Awareness Month, so add a couple of extra veggie meals to your plans!

Menu Plan Monday

The ribs and bubble and squeak recipes from last week were amazing. The ribs tasted a little funny, but I think that's due to the BBQ sauce I was using and will definitely be making them again after I make up a big batch of my homemade BBQ sauce. This week the meals will be quick, easy, and mostly comfort food since I have a Chemistry II exam on Friday that I am completely not ready for.

Breakfasts this week: will be oatmeal with apples and walnuts (a favorite), blueberry muffins from the freezer, smoothies, or soy yogurt with berries and nuts (I've also tried the company's coconut milk yogurt, which is very good, but just doesn't have the protein that soy yogurt does).

Lunches: No-tuna melt (another favorite)/salad or dinner leftovers

Monday: Taco Casserole (a new recipe but a dish that we both like), spanish rice and salad
Tuesday:Vegan Mac n cheese - study food (not sure if I'll use my quick and easy recipe or try a new one)
Wednesday: Leftovers or something simple, I won't be home until 7:30
Thursday: Cuban Style Black beans and Papas Chorreadas (potatoes with tomato-cheese sauce)-- crock pot recipes

Friday: Lasagna Rolls, bread, and salad
Saturday: Curry with tofu, cauliflower and random veggie scraps over rice

Menu Plan Monday

Most of the meals this week are quick and easy ones that David and I both enjoy. Be sure to head back over to Menu Plan Monday to see what everyone else is cooking up.

Monday: Pasta and Spicy Sausage, salad, whole wheat bread.
Tuesday: Ribs with bubble and squeak
Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Thursday: Baked tofu and left over bubble and squeak
Friday: Leftover veggie/tofu/whatever stir fry
Saturday: Leftovers/take out/whatever didn't get made during the week

After watching Fast Food Nation, David's given up red meat (I'm hoping he'll give meat up all together, but I'm just going to wait and see what happens), and is more open to vegetarian dishes, so meal planning has become easier. That and he works four nights a week, so I can save meals he won't like for those nights.

Menu Plan Monday

With last week being so stress filled, and this one not looking much better, I went with mostly comfort food this week.

Monday: Baked penne with zucchini, mushrooms, and olives with some Teese vegan cheese on top.
Tuesday: Orange Tofu, brown rice (making extra to freeze and use as quiche crust next week), steamed veggies.
Wednesday: Late school night, so probably leftovers or something quick and easy like spaghetti
Thursday: Seitan Stroganoff over brown rice
Friday: Almond Tofu (yes, two Asian tofu dishes in one week, but what can I say, it really is my comfort food!)
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Leftovers or simple throw-together dinner. Baking muffins and making one or two quiches for breakfasts over the week.

Head over to Menu Plan Monday and see what other people are making this week. There's so many tasty looking ideas out there, I'm bummed that there aren't more days in the week (weekend days of course, so I wouldn't have more school....)

Much Needed Rest

I'm so thankful today in Labor day and I don't have classes or work. Saturday and yesterday were spent climbing over rocks and getting drenched by incoming waves, and crawling through stinky Humboldt Bay mud. But everything is taken care of now (except some paperwork, which shouldn't take too long and I'll probably do tonight), so with the exception of two lab write-ups (mostly finished) and physics homework, I have the day to take care of housework and to just relax and possibly start some knitting.

Menu for this week:
Today: Make chili con "carne" (from Vegan Lunch Box) in crock pot, make a loaf of bread, and bake potatoes for tomorrow. I'll be freezing most of the chili and using some for dinner tonight and lunches throughout the week.
Tuesday: Baked Potato Soup (from Veganomicon) with homemade bread
Wednesday: Leftovers since I won't be home until almost 7pm
Thursday: The Oceanography Mixer is tonight so I'll be eating there or eating leftovers when I get home.
Friday: Pasta Primavera with Miso Dressing
Saturday: South of the Border Couscous salad
Sunday: Homemade pizza/calzones

Lunches (and snacks) from last week:
Monday: 4 "ham" roll-ups (veggie ham spread with vegan cream cheese and rolled), 1 plout, 1/2 nectarine, sweet potato fries, peanut butter oatmeal cookie, and one rice cake with peanut butter.
Tuesday: Slice of veggie meatloaf, colcannon (kale and mashed potatoes), mushroom gravy, granola bar, 1 lemon drop, an apple, and some carrots.
Wednesday: 7 pieces veggie sushi, 1 cup edamame in shell, soy sauce, apple, carrots with peanut butter, 1 lemon drop
Thursday: Slice of veggie meatloaf, colcannon (kale and mashed potatoes), mushroom gravy, 1 C blueberries (picked locally), granola bar
Friday: Didn't eat lunch (bad!), had a granola bar and an apple.

Menu...Tuesday

I meant to get this up yesterday, but remarkably, I didn't get on the computer at all yesterday until almost nine, and then I only checked my e-mail.

We ended up not sticking to the menu exactly last week, but we made everything but the spicy sausage and peppers. That's showing up again this week. Fortunately, I use those green bags and my produce really seems to be lasting longer. Now I don't feel so guilty about not making meals on the day I plan them. We also threw in the mac and cheese from the cooking class on Wednesday.

Monday: Veggie sloppy joes, local potato salad (potatoes, thyme, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper).

Tuesday: Leftovers. David will be gone until 9 or so, and I'm swamped with finals.

Wednesday: Spicy sausages and peppers, salad, local swiss chard

Thursday: David requested breakfast, so we'll have biscuits and gravy, scrambled tofu/eggs, hash browns

Friday: Teriyaki Tofu, rice, broccoli. I'm using the recipe posted last week by Laura. May just do leftovers though, since I'll be doing PG&E sampling in the evening and David won't be home.

Saturday: More PG&E sampling, so most likely leftovers.

I'm really starting to feel the end of semester crunch now. The next couple of weeks will probably be real simple and quick dinners, but after that I can start experimenting again.

Another week, another menu

It's the plan anyway. Life seems to have other ideas most weeks. Head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.

Monday: Vegan Dad's sausage and pasta. We will also make a couple of quiches for David and I to grab for a quick breakfast during the week. I'm planning on using this recipe from the Fat Free Vegan for myself, David's will be a traditional quiche with broccoli.
Tuesday: Mushroom Risotto, asparagus or spinach, salad (David's not home until 10)
Wednesday: South Western Spaghetti, salad (I'm making a separate dish with soy crumbles for myself)
Thursday: Mexican Taco Casserole, Spanish rice, steamed kale or spinach for me.
Friday: Left overs. Possibly baking bread and/or cookies. (David gone until 10:30)
Saturday: Left overs or refrigerator casserole (dump odds and ends in a pan and see what happens). (David gone until 10:30)

Last week was a jumble of leftovers and quick meals like nachos (chips, refried beans, avocado, tomato, olives, sour cream), Connie's Barf Chicken (see last post), baked penne with zucchini, and caramelized onions and tofu with apricot teriyaki sauce over sushi rice, with a couple of veggie egg rolls on the side. Between David's and my end of semester crunch and catching a cold, neither of us really felt like cooking anything complicated.

There's good news though; I seem to be mostly over my cold and avoided having it settle in my lungs and developing pneumonia like I always do (knock on wood), and there's only two more weeks until finals. After that I will be preparing things for my summer road trip, and getting the house ready for David to live without me for a month or so (the horror!). There is a light at the end of the tunnel.