I have many conversations with friends about the challenges of planning dinners, and after 4 years of marriage and 2 kids I am finally starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of it. So I thought I would try to start sharing what we’re eating in the hope of helping out others and maybe getting a few suggestions and recommendations from you.
I was recently inspired by this Ted Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html
The gist of it is that he understood all the benefits of being a vegetarian but could never convince himself that this would be his last hamburger. So he’s a vegetarian during the week and an omnivore on weekends. So all of the dinner recipes during the week will most likely be vegetarian. It’s not a hard and fast rule (Rori and I still eat Turkey sandwiches for lunch) but if nothing else it’s been a great boon to our grocery budget.
Without further ado:
Monday: A friend of ours shared some of Pioneer Woman’s delicious corn salsa with us. The recipe is from her cookbook, but she’s got a different corn salsa online here. The plan is to combine the salsa from the book with some iceburg, romaine, black beans, and avocado for one delicious salad. I’ll serve it with some cheese quesadillas. (you always need something to help you push your salad onto your fork)
Tuesday: Healty Sweet Potato Skins. This is a new recipe for us, but it looks good!
Wednesday: We’re hosting small group this week so I’m cooking for a lot of people. I looked and looked and couldn’t find the recipes I’ve used in the past for black bean soup. (I combined a couple of them last time I made it). So the plan is to get out the crockpot in the morning, put in 5 cans of rinsed black beans, add some celery, onion, carrots, garlic, green pepper, a couple de-seeded jalapenos, some chickenstock, and maybe a bit of ham that we’ve got left over in the freezer. I’ll let it cook all day, then add some seasoning (probably cumin) and blend it till it’s smooth. Then add 1/4 cup of sherry just before serving. (If anyone’s really interested let me know and I can write down exactly what I do on Wednesday and post it.)
Thursday: We’re having Indian food. (I made this a couple weeks ago and froze half) Vegetarian Tikka Masala I’ll make a fresh batch of rice and we picked up some naan from the grocery store.
Friday: Homemade vegetarian burritos. Cook spanish rice according to directions with a jar of salsa. Once cooked, add a can of refried beans , and a can of corn. As you make each burrito, top filling with shredded cheddar cheese.
Saturday: Mom’s spaghetti sauce. (This was also made previously and will be pulled from the freezer- I love doing that!) Saute onion and garlic, cook a pound of sausage in the same pot, add a giant can of crushed tomato, a regular can of tomato sauce and a small can of tomato paste, and a cup of red wine. Sprinkle italian seasoning on until it covers the top of the ingredients.
Sunday: no exact plans yet, but I’m thinking fish. Maybe this favorite recipe for panko crusted salmon from Annie’s Eats. I serve it with a bag of microwave green beans and microwave wild rice and call it a day.
Let me know if this is in any way helpful or interesting, because if it is, I’m far more likely to do it again.
Love and joy to all.
