Red Odds and Ends

My grocery day and laundry day got switched this week so I had to come up with dinner from what was left in the refrigerator. I used the menu that I had developed from the Culinate website as a starting point but without any of the actual ingredients including olive oil I had to get creative.



I made a slaw of red cabbage, radishes, and raisins with a dressing of coconut milk, rice wine, lemon juice, and some spices. The coconut milk being leftover from last week.

I went back to one of our old standard recipes for rice and beans. I cooked up some red rice and when it was done stirred in a little bit of coconut milk. I cooked up two chopped onions, 1 chopped red pepper, 2 whole jalapenos chopped, and 3 minced cloves of garlic in two tablespoons of peanut oil. I then added some cumin and smoked paprika. Then in went a half a can of tomatoes (left over) and 2 cans of S&W black beans with the liquid. I cooked this down and served over the rice.

I say this made 2 dinner portions and 3 lunch portions. I really enjoyed the beans and the rice.

I also think it is impossible to get the color right on both of these dishes in the same picture. The cabbage is just not that attractive in this format.

Some Leftovers

I didn't get everything cooked up and eaten last week. Last night I roasted up the sweet potatoes as a snack. I was not much impressed with sticky mushy things. I probably would have preferred a regular old baked sweet potato. See last week's post for the recipe location.



I made a version of the winter salad for our lunches today. In this version I was missing some of the greens and I added a pear and some radishes. I thought this was pretty tasty. To make it a make-ahead take-along friendly salad, I mixed the walnut shallot dressing with the pear, radish, mushroom, and fennel. I boxed up the greens separately and tossed just before eating.

I also got some books from the library on photographing food. This picture and the one of the lentil soup from last week are part of my new learning adventure. It looks like warm light is good for cooked foods but that natural or cool light may work for some salads. Next I need to find the manual for the camera.

Menu Ideas Developed while reviewing culinate.com

Orzo and Asparagus Salad

Fresh Spring Rolls
with
Slow Cooked Broccoli with Soy Sauce

Pasta with Arugula Pesto

Red Beans and Rice
with
Sweet and Sour IPA Slaw

Ratatouille with Polenta

Millet, Corn, and Red Pepper Pilaf
over mixed greens

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.

Menu for the Week of February 22nd - With notes

Sunday

Pasta Puttanesca and a mixed baby greens salad with a dressing of olive oil and sherry vinegar.

The pasta is based on Bishop's Spagetti with Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers from Italian Vegetarian. Reduce the olive oil to 2 tablespoons. Reduce the pasta to 1/2 pound and use whole wheat pasta. I like Bella Terra. Do not drain the tomatoes and I suggest using Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes. Add a can of rinsed and drained white beans or chick peas. We find this makes 3 servings without a salad or 4 with one. This is one of our favorites.

Monday

Chinese Braised Mushrooms and Tofu served over brown jasmine rice.

I opted to double the recipe and serve two servings over one serving of rice. This comes to 530 calories for a total of 4 servings. I made my own vegetable stock and used a few dried porcini mushrooms in it. I didn't get much thickening with the cornstarch and may try something different next time. It was an easy and edible meal that had comfort food satisfaction.

Tuesday

Fresh Herb and Lemon Bulgur Pilaf

I ended up only having half the bulgar wheat I needed so I toasted up some millet in a dry pan and used that for the other half. I used some of the vegetable/mushroom broth from yesterday. We really loved this pilaf. I served it with a green salad with a ginger dressing and some fresh herbs to match the pilaf. We each had two servings of the pilaf along with the green salad for a total of about 550 calories.

Wednesday

Vietnamese Tofu and Noodle Lettuce Wraps
with
Asparagus and Radish Salad

Three stores were sold out of the tofu I needed so I have not yet tried these wraps. We did enjoy the salad with some tempeh in mole sauce.

Thursday

Savory Millet Cakes
with
Spicy Green Salad with Soy & Roasted Garlic Dressing

I made these cakes a vegan version by leaving out the Parmesan cheese. I substituted some flax seed meal, olive oil, and salt. They held together well and have a lot of potential but I need to experiment a bit with the oil flavor. The salad was excellent but the dressing was a bit of work. Actually this whole menu had some prep work issues but it comes together well at the end.

Friday

Couscous, Lentil and Arugula Salad with Garlic Dijon Dressing

This was quite easy and yummy. I left out the feta and added a bit of olive oil to the tomatoes and cucumber. We found that twice as much greens and veggies are good for the amount of lentil and arugula and dressing. Could easily make this stuff up ahead of time and build the salad each day for lunch.

The recipes for Monday to Friday are from the April 2009 Eating Well magazine. Thanks mom - this issue looks great.

Menu for Week of Feburary 8th

This would be a completely Peter Berley week.

Sunday
Lemon Tofu, Kale, and Mushroom Phyllo Pie
Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad with Red Onion Vinaigrette

Monday
Pan Seared Rosemary Tofu
Teriyaki Style Beets, Carrots, and Leeks
Soba Noodles with Garlicky Spinach ans Sesame Oil

It was suppose to be burdock but I didn't find it in time. I liked it but I want to try again with the real stuff.

Tuesday
Seitan Cholent
Shaved Winter Vegetable Salad with Apple and Raisins

Matt loved this salad. The Cholent was a lot of food. Probably should have precooked the wheat berries a little.

Wednesday
Whole Wheat Pasta with Ragout of Red Wine, Red Beans & Portobello
Sauteed Broccoli with Lemon and Garlic

Ended up not making Wednesday's meal and eating left overs from Tuesday.

Thursday
Tempeh in Mole Negro
Creamy Masa Harina
Pickled Vegetable Salad

Thursday we had a nice bottle of Champagne with the meal that paired quite well. Thanks Jan.

For the weekend we were at Matt's parents and took up our leftovers.

Friday
Served the leftover shaved winter vegetable salad with some mixed greens along side a smoked salmon and blueberry pasta that Mark made.

We ate the remaining leftovers for lunches.

This week we finished off the pickled vegetables by adding some chickpeas and serving over mixed greens for a great lunch.

Starting Again

With the holidays over I am going to try this again.

Here are my tentative recipes for the week on which the shopping list is based.

Linguine with Walnuts, Arugula, and Olives (Immer, 169)
Corn Salad with Avocados & Orzo (Immer, 79)
French Vegetable Bean Stew (Moosewood, 264)
Middle Eastern Tofu Stuffed Peppers on Rice with Tomato Sauce (Moosewood, 246)
Tempeh and Vegetables Braised in Spicy Lemon Coconut Broth on Rice (Berley , 282)
Braised Pinto Beans with Squash, Red Wine, and Potatoes (Berley FFF, 188)