Meal Plan Monday: Operation clear out the fridge!

This week will be full of eating, traveling, packing, unpacking, family and fun. What it will not be full of is cooking. I'm actually very excited. This will be my second year traveling up to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. I'm going to bring some pumpkin pie filling that I have already made and frozen (I'll make the crust and bake the pie up there), and some cookie dough truffles. I'll also be bringing a bunch of our favorite pantry foods and snacks. So most of this week I'll be trying to clear out the fridge, that's about as exciting as it gets I'm afraid.

What are you making this week? Are you hosting or traveling? Do you have a meal plan up on your blog?

As always I'd like to extend an invitation to the other meal planners out there. If you do a vegetarian meal plan Monday and would like my blog to link back to yours please let me know! The more the merrier! I'd love to have a long list here of vegetarian meal plans for people to peruse....I just love that word...don't you? Peeeeruuuuse....In addition, I also really love to peruse things...It's a word, and an action that I genuinely like.

ok...

I'll stop now.

Sorry for wasting your time.

More meal plans from blog land

Lilac Barries

Meal Plan....Tuesday

It's Tuesday, but it totally feels like a Monday so that is how I'm justifying this being late. :) This morning I didn't have my baby carrier so I had to hobble a long carrying a baby, pushing a stroller and managing a five year old who likes to play hide and seek on walks. It made me really appreciate my baby carrier, especially when my two year old decided he wanted to get out of the stroller and fell into a large pile of duck poop. When we got home my potty trained though poor at aiming two year old managed to pee on almost every surface of the bathroom, including himself. We also got some super bad news today. Definitely feels more like a Monday than a Tuesday. However, there is one way that this is incredibly, fantastically, above and beyond better than a Monday....Tuesday means Mexican food night, and that pretty much cures all manner of minor aggravations.

Monday: We had spicy eggplant unmeatballs. They were fabulous.

Tuesday: Taquitos

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Tortilla soup

Friday: Indian spiced sweet potatoes and peas, pitas, curries broccoli and basil, and lentil dip

Saturday: Leftovers/pumpkin pie

Sunday: Cornbread and sourdough stuffing, and a field roast of some sort

Other vegetarian meal plans

Lilac Barries

Meal Plan Monday

Last week didn't go exactly as planned. I ended up getting sick, and not having lentils...those two things really have nothing much to do with each other. However, when I was supposed to be making lentil croquettes I ended up making curried pea patties instead, and when I was supposed to make stuffed jumbo shells I ended up whining and groaning like a pathetic little wimp on the couch until my husband picked up takeaway. That in mind I'm still not at my best, let's all just pretend like I wrote something witty and informative here ------------->

aaaand pause for laughter/critical thinking

Monday: Leftovers, if I have time I'll work on taquitos

Tuesday: Taquitos

Wednesday: Chickpea pot pie

Thursday: Pasta bake

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Soup and rolls

Sunday: I don't know.......honestly.....my head hurts /whimper *aaaachooo*

Other Meal Plan Mondays

Lilac Barries

Meal plan Monday

Well last week was a success, I stuck to the meal plan and everything went pretty well. The froggie face pizzas were a hit! My son insisted on giving his pizza a mask so that he could be a super frog (not pictured), and it looked not unlike a certain group of martial art using young adult turtles that I remember fondly from my youth. Perhaps when they are old enough to watch said show I'll make these again. Along with the food listed in last weeks meal plan I also made time to make a caramel apple spice cake, and two batches of empanadas which are now in my freezer....minus the one I had to test.....to make sure they would be suitable to eat. ;)

Alright...so on to this weeks vegetarian meal plan. I had some super fancy stuff planned out for this week, but then I realized that the holidays are fast approaching and I'd rather put money into our holiday meal, also there's all sorts of fun goodies to be baked around this time of year and I know that if I have a simple meal plan it will enable me to have time for that.

Monday- Leftovers!!! Leftover chili, cornbread casserole and broccoli. I might make some rice too.

Tuesday- Empanadas or tacos, I haven't decided yet, and succotash on the side.

Wednesday- Lentil croquettes and a spicy tomato dipping sauce. Maybe some roasted root veggies if I have time.

Thursday- leftovers if we have a bunch....oooor...kids eat free night at Earth Fare (I'm not so secretly secretly hoping we run out of leftovers and get to go to Earth Fare, I know the kids are too). Make chickpeas

Friday- Falafel Friday! Falafel in a pita pocket with leafy greens chopped cucumber and a spicy sauce.

Saturday- Pumpkin stuffed jumbo shells with a creamy sun dried tomato sauce. I'm making a double batch to freeze. (Soak black beans)

Sunday- For lunch white bean sandwiches with sun dried tomato aioli, and for dinner black bean taquitos with a creamy tamatillo dipping sauce.

Other vegetarian meal plans in blog land

Lilac Barries

Meal Plan Monday

Are you the type of person who falls off of a horse and gets back up again? I'm the type of person who falls off of a horse, and realizes I've lost my keys. I will go look for my keys and on the way maybe notice some flowers. The flowers may be purple, this will remind me of a friend who I would love to have coffee with...mmmm....coffee....must go make some coffee.....

wait....

what horse?

By this point it is eleven o' clock at night and I have neither the time nor the energy to ride horses. So I shall leave it to another day.

In this scenario the horse represents being organized, the friend is Lilac Barries, and the coffee is coffee. We are in the process of (trying to) selling our house and in the midst of projects, and decluttering I've forgotten my meal planning and list making. It's been kind of disastrous. Well that's where you come in Blogland*. I'm going to start putting my vegetarian meal plans on the web for the world to see. I'm hoping this will keep me accountable to start actually making weekly meal plans again. I also truly hope this will inspire others to make their own meal plans. Or supposing you are just starting out down the vegetarian road, I hope this helps you to get an idea of what I eat on a weekly basis (hint...it's rarely salad!)

If you have your own vegetarian meal plan up at your blog feel free to leave a link in the comment section. If I have time I'll start putting links in the actual blog itself. I'd love for people to be able to come to this site and look over lots of ideas for a typical week in the life of a vegetarian or vegan. If you don't have a blog you could also leave your meal plan in the comments section, or maybe just one or two ideas you have for the week. I'm excited about this....so let's get started!

Monday

Chickpeas and veggies in a spicy tomato and onion gravy served with rice and pitas

Tuesday

Fajitas in the crock pot? I don't know how this one will work out, but I've got a class that night so I need a crock pot recipe to keep me from going loco.

Wednesday

Beans, apple wasabi slaw, and rice

Thursday

Leftovers...yay

Friday

Froggie face pita pizzas (if these work I'll post pictures) and pumpkin rice balls

Saturday

Soup, pumpkin pull apart rolls, and roasted potatoes

Sunday

Chili and cornbread casserole

Other vegetarian meal plans:

Lilac Barries

*Yes we are still in the midst of one of my delusions......errr...scenarios, in it I am the Empress of Blogland and I get to wear a pretty pretty dress.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pretzel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mmmmhhhmmmm.....That's what I said.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was eating pretzels outside of my cookies like an idiot. What was I thinking? Now I'm eating pretzels in my cookies and it has literaly been life changing. They add just the right amount of crunch, salt, and solve the ever difficult problem of trying to decide between a sweet or a salty snack.

Now......I have to make a confession, the title is a lie. I made these with sun butter not peanut butter. I did use a peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe for reference, but being a nut free household I substituted with sun butter. The chocolate chunks were from Enjoy Life, and I must say it was nice to have a chunk of chocolate that I didn't have to chop off of a candy bar. It made the process much easier.

All I did was take the peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe from "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" and add one cup of chocolate chunks, and two cups of broken pretzel pieces. Please don't spend another day restricting your pretzel eating to a sometimes snack. Pretzels want to be loved, they want to be liberated, they want to be in cookies.....ok, perhaps that's a bit overboard.....but you really have no idea how seriously I take cookies. It's one of my things that I do a lot...eat cookies, and take them seriously that is. And if you want to be a cookie serious taker person too (blarg with the English language and the writing bad and such) I highly suggest you check out this book. We all know how incredibly bad I can be at baking when left to my own devices, but Isa and Terry's books have given me confidence and the ability to troubleshoot when I'm baking. And people aren't scared anymore when I say, "I've made cookies!". I leave them wondering not what I left out of my baked goods, but what I've put into them.

Slow Cooker Sweetpeatato Chipotle Soup

I'm kind of shocked I haven't posted this yet, it's a super easy vegetarian crockpot recipe that I've made 3 or 4 times since baby sparkles made her grand entrance. Not only is it easy to make but it freezes well too and contains some of my favorite things sweet potatoes, chipotle chilis, and cilantro.

What you need

1 1lb bag of dried peas

2 onions peeled and diced

2-3 sweet potatoes peeled and diced

2 bay leaves

1 tsp turmeric

1 1/2-2tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1/2-1 cup cilantro washed well

1/2-1 chipotle chili in adobo with seeds removed

6 cups of water

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp sugar or honey

1 can of coconut milk

What to do

Rinse and drain the peas and add them to the crockpot along with everything EXCEPT the tsp of lemon juice and the tsp of sugar. Cook on low for 4-6 hours until everything is mushy. Add the lemon juice, sugar, coconut milk and more salt to taste. Remove the bay leaves. If desired, let cool and puree in a food processor. My kids would not eat this lumpy, but happily gobbled it up after it had been pureed and served alongside rice.