Menu Plan for Week Starting March 1st - Adding Cooking Notes as I go

I had some success with the Eating Well magazine last week so I dug out a few older issues from Winter 2003, Winter 2004, and April 2007 to build this week's menu. If you don't have these magazines some of the recipes are on the website and contain some pictures.

Dinners:
SUNDAY
Vegetarian Hot Pot ( Win 2004)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/vegetarian_hot_pot.html
This was one of the early standards that we made when we first started eating our herbivore diet. We thought it was pretty good then but find it really falls a bit flat now. I double the soy sauce and the sesame oil. I also minced two of the ginger slices in the garlic press and added to the soup.

MONDAY
Whole Wheat Pizza with Broccoli, Red Onion, and Olives (Win 2003)
with
Bib Lettuce Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing

Made one thin pizza on a cookie sheet. Didn't use any cheese. Added some capers. Not bad for a whole wheat crust. Stayed together and came out of pan well. Finished off some leftover salad stuffs from last week.

TUESDAY
Spicy Mandarin and Mushroom Soup with Rice (Win 2003)
with
Roasted Savoy Cabbage with Black Bean Garlic Sauce (April 2007)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/roasted_cabbage.html

This was a very easy meal and pretty impressive. I did all the prep and then we ate the salad hot out of the oven for the first course. The soup cooked up while we ate the salad. The soup was a success although served over the rice it was not all that soupy. We were both totally sold on the Cabbage and each ate 2 servings. We ate the left over soup on Wednesday and I felt it held up really well. Will definitely make again and would serve to anyone. I used soy sauce instead of fish sauce and doubled the soy sauce.

WEDNESDAY
Left Overs

THURSDAY
Chickpea and Pasta Soup (Win 2003)
with
Spinach with Chickpeas (April 2007)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/spinach_with_chickpeas.html

These dishes both worked but it was way too many chickpeas for one meal. The soup turned out to be the color of chickpeas and not the color of tomatoes as in the magazine picture. I tried wholewheat pasta which did not work so well in this mild flavored soup. I made the chickpeas myself which makes for a bit more work. I also made some wholewheat bread to go with everything. The spinach held up well as leftovers.


YET TO ASSIGN
Soy Glazed Sweet Potatoes (Win 2004)
with
Winter Salad with Walnut Dressing (Win 2004)

Warm Red Cabbage Salad (April 2007)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/warm_cabbage_salad.html


Lunches (for days without leftovers):

Wheat Berry Salad with Red Fruit, served over greens (April 2007)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wheat_berry_salad.html
Made this salad up on Monday and sent some with Matt for lunch today to go on top of some mixed baby greens. The first time I made this I didn't have raspberry vinegar and made some mixture of pomegranate nectar and vinegar. This time I used the raspberry vinegar but I think I might prefer the pomegranate. Matt ended up sick after eating this. It was probably the lettuce that the salad was served on but we are not going to be testing that theory any further.

Cumin Scented Wheat Berry and Lentil Soup (April 2007)
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wheat_berry_lentil_soup.html
I made this soup up while Matt was getting ready for work as he had finished off the soup that I was going to send for lunch. If the wheat berries are already cooked this really does come together easily. It is a satisfying soup with a strong flavor of garlic. I am thinking of adding a bit more lemon juice as I worked through the leftovers.