as of right now...

on the menu: March edition

I'm doing a 3 week cleanse (on day 9) so I don't really have any "on the menu" posts to make. What's on the menu is not much of anything:/

But....

before I started the cleanse I ate some really good food.  Seriously yummy eats. I thought I would share them here (mostly so I remember which dishes we really liked so I can go back to them):

 

Vegetarian Portobello and Poblano Fajitas + black beans

Roasted Brussel Sprout and Millet Gratin + protein (Quorn for Nate and chicken for me)

Sriracha Honey Roasted broccoli

Black Bean & Fire Roasted Corn Chili: this one is especially good if you have a Trader joe's near you as most of the ingredients are from there.

 

These will all be getting regular rotation into our menu planning. I also may just highlight my favorite recipes each month rather than a weekly post because really...I am one of the only people that visit this blog so it's really just a reference place for me to note my favorite recipes.  Often I plan out my menus during the week and it will be convenient to look up past recipes when i don't have access to my physical recipe binder.

-jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the menu this week 03/10-03/15/13 (+ last week's menu)

I started last week's post and then got distracted with work and otherwise so I have both weeks in this one post.

Sunday: Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and harissa salad with wilted spinach (from last week's menu...it was that good.)

Monday: Grilled Corn and quinoa + Quorn (or chicken in my case) + streamed broccoli

Tuesday: Loaded veggie nachos with portabella mushroom

Wednesday: Red lentils and spinach in Masala sauce + brown rice + roasted cauliflower

Thursday: Potato, pepper and pinto hash + poached egg

Friday : Vegetable Tamale Pie . This is a favorite at our house.

 

Last week:

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and harissa salad+ roasted asparagus. Holy crap this was good. Hands down one of my favorite dishes this week. I've already got it on the menu to make again next week.

Tempeh tacos: These were very good. I didn't cook it in a cast iron pan though so mine never got crispy edges but the flavor was really good and very taco like:) I used cruchy taco shells though and I think I will make my own next time with Mission brand extra thin corn tortillas. I've been using these in the morning and they crisp up nicely. I don't like pre-made shells since they fall apart so easily.

Chopped Salad with quinoa, sweet potato and apple I liked this a lot but I wanted more with it. It wasn't very filling on it's own. I will probably add some type of meat (fake meat) to it next time.

Braised white beans and leeks + farro +spinach (slightly wilted). This was the first recipe I made from The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook and it was absouletly amazing. You could eat it without the cheese and it would still be rich and creamy. This one will definitely be on repeat a lot:)

Red Quinoa Bowl with Swiss Chard and Poached egg Great dish. Perfect for an easy Friday night. It said it only serves two but I can see being able to stretch it out to serve four with the addition of some other vegetable side.

 two weeks ago : Both the Vegan Peanut Chili with corn + avocado salsa and the Chickpea Cobb Salad were hits. I think I like our regular chili recipe better than this one but the corn + avocado salsa with the spicy chili was perfection. I may add the salsa to the mix when I make our regular chili next time. And the Chickpea Salad was super good. I made it on a night when I was so low on energy from the gym though that I skipped the Smoky Coconut bacon he adds in favor of the convenience of Morning Star bacon strips. I will definitely be trying the coconut bacon recipe though. Just not at 8:00 on a week night;)

-jen

 

 

on the menu this week 05/29/12-06/02/12

I am super late with this. We were out of town for the Memorial Day weekend and I've been thrown off time-wise since then.

All my recipes this week are from Cooking Light. Not because I have a thing for Cooking Light it just worked out that way. I found one recipe from them and then another and then another. Before I knew it I had the whole week planned out from their website. Nate was actually skeptical of the menu this week because I used to have a subscription to Cooking Light magazine and it seemed like everything we made from there was bland and tasteless. And 8-9 years ago they didn't feature many vegetarian recipes so usually I only got one or two recipes from the magazine that we could use. I'm here to say that I am a convert to their recipes again. Everything we've made this week has been super good.

Tuesday: Roasted Cauliflower pasta + Oven Roasted Green Beans

Wednesday: Toasted Barley, Green Beans, and Shiitake Mushroom salad with tofu + steamed broccoli (I actually used Farro for this since I didn't have barley on hand. Worked perfectly.)

Thursday: Pinto, Black, and red bean salad with grilled corn and avocado+ chicken for me (I added some cheese to Nate's for extra protein)

Friday: leftovers or we're eating out with friends

Saturday: Indonesian Vegetable Salad with peanut dressing. Our friend Kate is from Thailand and she made us some peanut sauce that we are going to eat with this salad so I won't be able to tell you how this dressing is. her's will probably be extra good since it's more authentic:)

Sunday: Mango Rice Salad with grilled shrimp.

 

As I stated above: everything I've made so far this week was really good and I wouldn't hesitate to make them again.

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Standout from last week:

The Southwest "Chicken" wraps. Nate and I couldn't believe how delicious these were. We had them for lunch at the cabin this past weekend and then for dinner the night we got back. Both times we ate them we couldn't believe how good they tasted. These will definitely be making it on the menu often. They could be used as good hiking food too. Easy to make and carry with us:)

 

on the menu this week 05/14-05/19/12

this week in food:

Monday: Coconut Lime Tofu with Spinach, Tomatoes and Quinoa. Had this Monday night. Really good but I will probably tweek it some the next time I make it.

Tuesday: Quinoa Puttanesca + sauteed zucchini. This was amazing! Definitely going into rotation often. Easy and quick.

Wednesday:  Roasted Chickpea Fajitas.  

Thursday: Portland Porch lettuce wraps. 

Friday: Cilantro Shrimp + Baby Bok Choy with crispy garlic and orange sesame sauce (never got around to making this from last week's menu)

Saturday: Sweet potato veggie burgers + steamed artichokes

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Last week:

The standout- Quinoa with oven roasted tomatoes and asparagus. This was by far my favorite. It was such a simple recipe but so rich tasting. Definitely moved into the favorites folder.

 

jen

 

on the menu 05/06-05/12

I'm back from my juice cleanse! Well,  partial juice cleanse.

I've been looking forward to eating lunch again. Drinking juice all day and just having a small serving of protein with lightly sauteed veggies or steamed veggies in the evenings can get quite boring. I feel great though and that was the final result I was looking for. We've actually been continuing the juicing for part of our day since we both liked it so much. Our breakfast consists of juice as does one of our snacks. It's what works for us right now.

Menu:

Sunday : Roasted sweet potato and black bean tacos + red cabbage slaw to top tacos with. We already ate this obviously and it was really tasty. We didn't use any cheese opting instead to keep it vegan and they were really good. I gave a couple of tacos to a friend who also loved them and has requested I make them again in the near future. I topped it with some basic cabbage/carrot slaw for some crunch also. You won't even miss the cheese, trust me.

Monday: Garden Vegetable Soup. Changed out the potato in the recipe for 1/2 cup sweet potato and 1 cup of squash. Neither Nate or I like the starchiness of plain potatoes anymore (I still love mashed potatoes but am opting to only eat them at holidays) and I find myself replacing the potato in most recipes with other veggies. Delicious soup and easy to throw together.

Tuesday: Eating at the Farmer's Market!

Wednesday: Quinoa with oven roasted tomatoes and asparagus + roasted brussels sprouts

Thursday: Roasted Beet and Hass Avocado Salad with Orange Dressing + leftover soup

Friday: Indian Yellow Split Pea Soup with Spinach

Saturday: Spicy Cilantro Shrimp + Baby Bok Choy with cripsy garlic and orange-sesame sauce

You may have noticed that we are going largely vegan this week (the exception being the shrimp on Saturday) and we've made this decision for two reasons.

ONE: We like the way we feel without eating dairy. I LOVE cheese. LOVE it. L.O.V.E. it! I don't feel good eating it though. I am congested by even the smallest amout of dairy and my stomach doesn't like it that much either. Even Alex has removed it from most of her food choices because she believes she is lactose intolerant. This in no way means we aren't going to eat cheese sometimes (because I LOVE it) but we don't feel like we need it every week. It will just be making an appearance here and there. Like on pizza;)

and TWO: We watched Forks over Knives last week and even though we were already a largely plant-based diet household we are going to cut out even more of the animal-based food we do eat. The movie was hard to watch because honestly, it was not made very well. I felt like I was watching a movie in science class or nutrition class circa 1988. The information was really great though. It renewed our belief that we are doing the right thing by eating mostly a vegetarian diet for the past few years.

Our anniversary trip to Yosemite was AMAZING. I will be doing a post about it and posting pictures from our trip. I've been trying to get it all down in my Project Life book too and it's overwhelming to try to describe how good the trip was. I can't believe I haven't seen Yosemite until now! I only live 4 hours from it!

Also, I will be doing another Project Life post. I still haven't figured out how I want to take photos of it. I am still 3-4 weeks behind because I've just been too busy. With the anniversary trip and my birthday and things going on with Alex. Plus I was promoted to manager at work and I'm still trying to workout 4-5 times a week. Life gets overwhelming in general sometimes. I sometimes think it worked out well that I didn't have more children. I don't know how I would have the time for anything more on my plate...

anyway. Will be posting more often I hope. Crossing fingers:)

Jen

 

 

 

on the menu 04/15-04/24/12

This will be the last "on the menu" for a couple of weeks. I'll be picking it back up on May 7th again but for part of next week and the first week of May I'll be participating in a juice fast with my friends Kelly and Craig. Nate is also doing it. We all watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on Sunday night and were all inspired to try a short juice fast. We are, of course, doing a modified one ( juice for breakfast and lunch, healthy snacks, protein and steamed veggies for dinner). I have my doubts that I could do a full on "juice only" fast because I am cranky without real food each day! Nate and I were already juicing every morning up until last month when the time change happened. I let it fall off our agenda because I was already having trouble getting up on time in the morning without the additional stress of juicing (you have to clean the juicer right away or the veggies and fruit puld dries & cleaning it later a real pain in the ass). Anyway...I LOVED juicing. And felt 85% better when i was doing it so this will be a nice 7-10 days recharge for me.

We are also heading off in a couple of days to Yosemite and so the recipes this week are ones I did because they are either super easy, or they are recipes I am making for our trip. I also have a few "let's eat what we have so nothing goes bad while we are gone" nights planned.

Sunday: Spaghetti and "meatballs"

Monday: Migas

Tuesday: Pizza. (Nate had a coupon for a free pizza)

Wednesday: Spicy Mexican Lentil soup (one of our favorites) Half of this will be frozen for the camping trip.

Thursday: Hearty Minestrone Soup I leave out the cabbage (I didn't have it the first time I made this recipe and I've never added it in the other times we've had this soup) I do add a couple of small zucchini, 1 yellow squash and a cup of chopped green beans in exchange for the cabbage:) Half of this soup will also be coming with us on the trip.

Friday:  "fend for yourself" night:) At this point we'll be trying to eat whatever we have left in the fridge that doesn't involve food we're taking.I hate losing food to mold when we're gone on trips.

 The rest of the time we'll be camping and juicing. Some of the recipes we'll be having on our camping trip include: Almond Butter granola bars (can't find recipe I'm using online), BBQ Salmon, Pinnacles scramble (made into breakfast burritos).

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last week:

1.Kale and Egg bake: This was perfect. Easy. Delicious. Did I mention easy.

2.Baked Black Bean taquitos: These were really good. Even without all the salsa, guacamole and sour cream (or in our case- greek yogurt). They were a pain in the butt to make though because I used mini corn tortillas and they were too small. Also, dipping them in hot water needs perfect timing or else they literally fall apart as you take them out of the water or if not in water long enough, they do not roll up. This was an exercise in patience for me. Worth it in the end but tougher than I expected it to be...

3.The Bella Meatballs. The "meatballs" were great but I felt like they needed some kind of sauce with them. The "meatballs" themselves weren't dry , they were browned on the outside which made them kind of crunchy so I felt they needed some kind of sauce to go along with them. I crumbled some of the leftover ones into a salad the next day and they were delicious. So I would totally recommend trying the meatballs. I'm just glad I didn't serve them on toasted bread. The veggies were amazing though. The balsamic glaze really made the recipe.

Didn't get to the muffin tin pizza. Maybe in a few weeks.

 

jen

On the menu 04/08- 04/14/2012

Sunday: Vegan Cowboy Meatloaf + smashed cauliflower + steamed artichoke

Hated the name "cowboy meatloaf" but this was super good. With extra BBQ sauce on top and the cauliflower on the side. Perfect meatless Easter dinner:)

Monday: Stuffed Poblanos (from last week's menu- didn't get to it last week)

Tuesday: Kale and Egg Bake + roasted asparagus. Nate and I are trying to get a hike in before it gets dark so this will be the perfect quickie dinner post hike.

Wednesday: Muffin tin pizza + steamed broccoli. I have a variety of toppings for each one of us:) Making sure we each get the mini pizzas we want. Alex should really like these.

Thursday: Walnut Bella "Meatball" and veggies. These are made for "meatball" subs but we're doing just the "meatballs" and the veggies. No bread.

Friday: Baked Black Bean Taquitos + salsa +guacamole +sour cream . Will probably throw together a salad to go with it. I love easy Friday night dinners.

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Last week:

1. Spicy bean and Rice Bake. Delicious! Nathan loved it and has requested it again already.If you're interested in the actual recipe I can email it to you.

2. Spicy Kale soup. This was SO easy to make and it was pretty good. Nate made some beer bread that we ate along with it. Very quick recipe. And another one that Nate really liked. I thought it was good too but I have other soup recipes I would make again before this one.

3. Tostados + Fiesta Salad. This was the perfect weekend dinner. Super quick. The dressing was really good and I can see myself using it for other salads.

jen

 

change of plans/ On the menu 03/24-03/31/12

A big auto repair came up (on like Thursday) that didn't allow for a weekend trip like we had planned. Mostly because it took a large chunk of our money and until we fixed the problem the car wasn't safe to drive in the snow. Which they weren't able to do until Monday morning. So I didn't do any of the weekend recipes I had planned. I was just too down about the trip being canceled last minute so we just ate leftovers:). I did put together this week's recipes though:

 Salsa Verde Sour Cream Enchiladas.  One tray made with chicken. One made with tofu. Next time I will saute up the tofu and season it rather than just put it plain into the enchiladas. Nate said it was pretty bland compared to the other nice flavors in the rest of the dish

Veggie meatballs+ whole wheat spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce

Mexican Tomato Chickpea Soup

Blueberry waffles + scrambled eggs +veggie bacon.

Creamy Oven Stew with tofu, cauliflower and white beans

Spicy Bean and Rice Bake

The last two recipes are from the Not Your Mother's Casserole Cookbook. I tried to find online links for the recipes but I see they may be adapations of the original. We've made quite a few of the recipes from this book and 95% of them came out awesome. I would definitely recommend this cookbook.

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Last week:

the standouts: All three of the new recipes were delicious. Seriously.  Every single one of the meals was tasty and well recieved. They are all three going in the favorites binder.

my favorite: The chickpea salad. No cooking involved (if you have leftover rice or quinoa otherwise you do have to cook that) and so easy to make. And very tasty. This will be one I go back to during the hot temperature season (all 4 days of it...).

Nate's favorite: The Indian spiced scrambled eggs. The jalapeno sauce makes the dish even though it is good without it. He talked about this one for a few days afterwards:)

Alex's favorite: She was at her dad's last week so she didn't get any of this yumminess;)

jen

 

On the menu 03/18-03/26/12

This week we'll be heading out of town on Friday to the Hyde family cabin in Big Trees, Ca. so I've included an extra day  or two in my weekly menu as I will not have any internet access until next Tuesday:)

Sunday: Black Pepper tofu, steamed brown rice and Asparagus Salad with walnuts.

(Made last night and is was really good. I think I'll cut back on the sugar and add more peppercorns though. I wanted a little more spice. We'll see how it taste for lunch today:)

Monday: Suki's Spinach and Feta Pasta.  One of our favorite's! And super easy.

Tuesday: Chickpea Spinach Salad with leftover brown rice Another fast recipe because I'm taking a Zumba class that night:)

Wednesday: Indian Spiced Scrambled Eggs and soy sausage. One for the husband who likes anything Indian flavored. Also, breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things:)

Thursday: Zucchini and Corn Taco Seasoned Salad and tortilla chips. The first time I made this salad I had the thought to use it as a topping for nachos and it's been one of our favorite ways to eat nachos since:) I spread out chips on a cookie sheet with a small amount of cheddar cheese and heat until melted. Seperate out onto plates, add some of this salad and hot sauce. SO GOOD! Adds a little bit of healthiness to a dish that's not usually considered healthy;)

Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday: On the drive up to the cabin we stop somewhere and eat on the way. It's a four hour drive and we don't usually leave until after 5:00pm so there is no point in cooking dinner. The rest of the weekend we'll be enjoying a few different foods. Migas and bagels for breakfast. A veggie muffletta sandwich  and a recipe I found this past weekend in my Sunset magazine- grilled tofu, bacon and avocado sandwich (made with veggie bacon of course) for lunch. And for dinner both Saturday night and Sunday night we'll be enjoying this Chickpea Noodle Soup. I made it one other time and it is so good:) Perfect soup for the cold weather we'll be heading into. We're hoping to spend a day hiking (it just snowed so we'll see...) and the other day wine tasting in Murphy's. It's a much needed weekend for just the two of us and I'm really looking forward to it.

Monday: Arriving home (hopefully mid-afternoon) we'll want something quick and easy. I will probably not be cooking;)

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Last week: 

The standouts:

1.Erica's General Tso's Tofu. Delicious and the sauce was so yummy:)

2. Mediterranean Quinoa and Lentil Salad. This was a hit with our friends and ourselves. I ended up using a quinoa/bulgar mix because quinoa, we're finding, is sometimes hard on our stomach. Maybe it's the brand we are using right now (from Costco) but I usually half the amout of quinoa a recipe calls for because it's too much for us. It actually makes my stomach hurt. Using a mix though was perfect and we still got good grains and protein. 

The stuffed peppers and muffins of course were delicious. They are in our favorites binder though so no suprise there:)

**In case you were wondering, if I post a recipe that has any meat in it (other than fish)I've actually substituted a non-meat item in for the meat. Nate has been a vegetarian for 18 years and so we eat a 95% vegetarian diet. The stuffed peppers, for example,  I use lentils instead of ground meat. Trader Joe's has these great steamed lentils that I just use and prepare as if they are the the meat in the recipe. If you ever have any question about what I've substitued just ask me and I'll email or respond to your post:)

what I ended up eating for Saint Patrick's Day- this soup and this cider. Not very Irish at all!

jen

 

On the menu this week 03/11-03/17/12

Sunday - Egg Rolls, General Tso's Tofu and sauteed mushrooms, broccoli and baby kale

 This last night's dinner and it was so delicious. This tofu recipe is so good! And it was so nice with the sauteed veggies. Perfect end to a really nice weekend:)

Monday- Spicy Avocado Egg Stacks. I usually workout on Monday evenings with a friend so I definitely like something quick and easy.

Tuesday-  Stuffed Peppers. One of our favorites and one that was requested by my husband for this week. So easy and SO good!

Wednesday- Olive and Artichoke Muffins with a small green salad. Another favorite that Nathan requested. These are super easy and taste almost like pizza.

Thursday- Mediterranean Quinoa and Lentil Salad.  We have a weekly scheduled evening of dinner and television watching with friends and I always try to take something easy and healthy. This is the recipe of choice this week.

Friday- Snapper with Corn Salsa- My husband, just this year, has started eating fish again and I've been trying to incorporate it at least once a week. It can be costly though so we'll see how that goes. He only wants to eat sustainable, local fish and that can mean much higher prices than you will find at Trader Joe's.

Saturday- I haven't actually decided on what I'm making for Saturday night dinner . I wanted to make something Irish for  St. Patrick's Day since our days of partying at bars is over and dinner and drinks at home is as wild as we get these days;) I just haven't made a final decision. Any vegetarian suggestions??

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Last week:

The standouts:

1. Cauliflower Casserole. This was really, really good. I changed it up though and used only half the butter, whole wheat bread crumbs and only half the cheddar cheese the recipe called for. Even with these changes it was very good!

2. Black Bean Nachos. I liked cooking them in the cast iron pan. The jalapeno took on a roasted flavor that we really appreciated. And I liked that the prep and cleanup was super quick and easy. These will be on rotation often:)

The Mushroom Kale Rice bowl got bumped for dinner out with friends;) And General Tso's Tofu was bumped to this Sunday's meal (see above) but otherwise I kept to my schedule.

After a week of bronchitis followed by a trip to see family in Arizona it was nice to get back to cooking every night. I did so good with the weight loss in January but February was a tough month. I ate out a lot and I've been feeling the effects of it. Maybe with these weekly recipe check-ins I can keep focused on healthy eating again and continue towards my healthier lifestyle goal.

Jen