http://preview.tinyurl.com/2nbygz
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Sunday, March 2, 2008
Another week, another meal plan
I did pretty well with my last meal plan, but then I got sick and we've somehow managed to scrape by without a plan for a week, but I need to get back and track (AGAIN!) so I made another plan. This time I decided to copy Amber and also plan out breakfasts and lunches to see how that goes. I used Google Docs so let's see if I can get it to show up here nicely. I put in an extra column named "prep" that lists what preparation I have to do for the next day's food. I am hoping that will keep me on the plan. HMM. I can't get it to show up all pretty like Amber did, but here's the link and then below a cut and paste which will hopefully keep the right formatting.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2nbygz
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2nbygz
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Sweet and Sour Tofu
Lest you all think I am perfect, I am here today to dispel that myth completely. :-P I had chipotle tofu on my menu for dinner the other night, and when I got ready to make it, I was missing a few key ingredients. UGH! So I had to plan something on the fly. I did have the tofu, so I knew it had to be something with that. I went to my cookbooks for some inspiration and they didn't disappoint.
I pulled out this book. I really like this one (you can tell because the dust jacket got destroyed to the point where I threw it away) because it's divided into sections that make it really easy to use.
For example, since I wanted to use tofu, I turned to the tofu section and found all kinds of ideas. The one that I was drolling over was thai style tofu that had a coconut milk marinade, but I didn't have time to marinate because it was 5 pm and people were starting to get hungry. So I went to my second choice which was Sweet and Sour Tofu and I actually had most of the ingredients for it. The ones I didn't have I figured I could sub something else or leave them out or something. The first step was to saute up the tofu I decided to be a bit creative and make triangles which wasn't my best decision ever because it took longer to cook the tofu, but I did like how it turned out so perhaps it was worth it.
I really like this high protein tofu from Trader Joe's because it is super firm, doesn't need to be drained and it's texture holds up to almost any kind of cooking I do with it.
To cut the tofu into triangles, I set the block of tofu on the long thin side and cut a slice about 1/2" thick.
Then I layed the slice flat on the board and cut it in half vertically.
Next I took each small slice and cut it in half diagonally into two triangles.
After I took the demo pictures, I sliced 3 or 4 slices together, so it's not really that time consuming.
The next step was to cook the tofu. I heated a bit of olive oil in a big pan and layered the tofu in a single layer. My pan was big enough to hold about 1 pound of tofu at a time. Since I was using three pounds (wanted to be sure I had leftovers for at least one or two lunches for myself) of tofu it took me three turns in the pan. In between the second and third batches, I had to add a bit more oil.
Meanwhile, I put some basmati rice to cook in my pressure cooker. It's so great! It takes 3 minutes once it gets up to pressure then another 5 or 7 minutes of pressure releasing and the rice is totally piping hot, ready and perfectly cooked. I really love the benign neglect method of cooking - actually it's sort of my philosophy on parenting too, at least sometimes, but that might be another blog post. :-)
Once the tofu was done on one side, I flipped and cooked for another couple minutes. Here's what it looked like when it was done.
Yumm, right? My little helper thought so too and kept stealing pieces of the plate and blowing on them until they were cool enough to eat. This is the face she made when I caught her.
Here are the ingredients I used in the sauce which I made in the same pan I was sauteeing the tofu in (less dishes ya know! That's always a plus).
I stopped taking pictures during this because it was sort of rushed to get it done, but here's the finished product.
And served up on a plate with rice for one of the kids. I didn't have rice because I would rather eat more tofu. ;-)
We also had salad and I ended up making three different types of salads (there goes my savings on dishes, right?) because I made the mistake of asking the kids what they wanted in their salad and the girls wanted crunchy lettuce (romaine hearts) and my boy wanted baby greens. Then I decided to make my own because they started to put cheese in theirs that I didn't want. So here are the salads we had. Mine is in the metal bowl.
I know the salads aren't very "Asian" to go with the tofu, but oh well. The dinner worked! It was healthy, delicious, enjoyed by the whole family, and there were leftovers. Just what the mama ordered.
I pulled out this book. I really like this one (you can tell because the dust jacket got destroyed to the point where I threw it away) because it's divided into sections that make it really easy to use.
For example, since I wanted to use tofu, I turned to the tofu section and found all kinds of ideas. The one that I was drolling over was thai style tofu that had a coconut milk marinade, but I didn't have time to marinate because it was 5 pm and people were starting to get hungry. So I went to my second choice which was Sweet and Sour Tofu and I actually had most of the ingredients for it. The ones I didn't have I figured I could sub something else or leave them out or something. The first step was to saute up the tofu I decided to be a bit creative and make triangles which wasn't my best decision ever because it took longer to cook the tofu, but I did like how it turned out so perhaps it was worth it.
I really like this high protein tofu from Trader Joe's because it is super firm, doesn't need to be drained and it's texture holds up to almost any kind of cooking I do with it.
To cut the tofu into triangles, I set the block of tofu on the long thin side and cut a slice about 1/2" thick.
Then I layed the slice flat on the board and cut it in half vertically.
Next I took each small slice and cut it in half diagonally into two triangles.
After I took the demo pictures, I sliced 3 or 4 slices together, so it's not really that time consuming.
The next step was to cook the tofu. I heated a bit of olive oil in a big pan and layered the tofu in a single layer. My pan was big enough to hold about 1 pound of tofu at a time. Since I was using three pounds (wanted to be sure I had leftovers for at least one or two lunches for myself) of tofu it took me three turns in the pan. In between the second and third batches, I had to add a bit more oil.
Meanwhile, I put some basmati rice to cook in my pressure cooker. It's so great! It takes 3 minutes once it gets up to pressure then another 5 or 7 minutes of pressure releasing and the rice is totally piping hot, ready and perfectly cooked. I really love the benign neglect method of cooking - actually it's sort of my philosophy on parenting too, at least sometimes, but that might be another blog post. :-)
Once the tofu was done on one side, I flipped and cooked for another couple minutes. Here's what it looked like when it was done.
Yumm, right? My little helper thought so too and kept stealing pieces of the plate and blowing on them until they were cool enough to eat. This is the face she made when I caught her.
Here are the ingredients I used in the sauce which I made in the same pan I was sauteeing the tofu in (less dishes ya know! That's always a plus).
I stopped taking pictures during this because it was sort of rushed to get it done, but here's the finished product.
And served up on a plate with rice for one of the kids. I didn't have rice because I would rather eat more tofu. ;-)
We also had salad and I ended up making three different types of salads (there goes my savings on dishes, right?) because I made the mistake of asking the kids what they wanted in their salad and the girls wanted crunchy lettuce (romaine hearts) and my boy wanted baby greens. Then I decided to make my own because they started to put cheese in theirs that I didn't want. So here are the salads we had. Mine is in the metal bowl.
I know the salads aren't very "Asian" to go with the tofu, but oh well. The dinner worked! It was healthy, delicious, enjoyed by the whole family, and there were leftovers. Just what the mama ordered.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Quinoa Black Bean Salad
2 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled
2 cups of cooked black beans (either from scratch or from a can)
1 cup of thawed frozen corn (organic is delish because it's so sweet!)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup or so chopped cilantro (I always add more because I love cilantro)
1 Tablespoons of olive oil
3 Tablespoons of lime juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients well in a big bowl. Taste for flavor, I usually don't measure the "dressing" ingredients, so I just taste until it is right. You may need to add less or more salt depending on the beans you use. You could also add some diced cucumber too.
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As you can see from the picture, I didn't put black beans in. I forgot until I sat down to eat and then decided to just forget it, it tasted just as yummy without them. The rest of the family had quesadillas with the salad, but I just had seconds. YUM! And lucky for me there are leftovers for lunch today.
I'm a slacker!
It's been a crazy busy week here (like most of them are), and I haven't taken any pictures of our food, but I have been following my meal plan! YAAAAAY! Plus I have been to the gym 3 times already and only have to go one more time- which will be tomorrow- before my weigh-in and meeting on Saturday. The gym that I go to is not just a regular old gym. It's actually an Olympic style weightlifting gym which made me not want to go at first, but now I am in love! Part of my monthly membership fee pays for me to have a trainer design a program specifically for me and then run through it once with me so that I know what I am doing. I just got a new program from my trainer last week, and it is HARD!! Man! I am sore, but it feels so good. I have so much more energy, patience and feel so much better when I exercise regularly. Not to mention the mental health benefits of doing something just for myself. That hour or so a few times a week when no one talks and talks and talks to me, or asks for food, or fights with their siblings while thundering through the house, or yells to me that they need their butt wiped is heaven! When you are a stay-at-home homeschooling mom you have to catch your sanity where you can. :-)
Later I will post a couple of recipes for things that I have been eating this week.
Later I will post a couple of recipes for things that I have been eating this week.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Packing lunches
As a homeschooler, packing lunches for my kids isn't something that I do very often thank goodness!! But once a week we drive an hour to go to some really neat science classes at a children's museum and need to bring lunch. So once a week I have the kids pull out their lunchboxes and I fill them with something that is hopefully at least a little bit balanced and nutritious. Here are two weeks worth of lunches.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, homecanned peaches with yogurt, carrot sticks, tomatoes and olives and a mini pumpkin muffin.
And of course there are three kids, and they all need lunch so here they all are in a line.
This is my lunch. There's leftover tamale pie from our dinner the night before in the thermos, an apple, a bit of low fat cheese and carrot sticks.
The next week, this is our lunch, most of the kids stuff was made by Har Simran. YAAAAY! Quesadillas with salsa in the tiny containers, tomato mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing, organic cheese filled crackers and frozen peas and corn which will be somewhat thawed by the time we eat, but if not my strange kids actually don't mind eating them frozen.
Sorry for the weird angle on this one, I was trying to be artistic. :-P
My lunch is a piece of a crustless quiche I made the other day, some steamed brocolli tossed with tamari and chile sauce, an apple and a bar.
Thankfully I don't have to do this everyday!
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, homecanned peaches with yogurt, carrot sticks, tomatoes and olives and a mini pumpkin muffin.
And of course there are three kids, and they all need lunch so here they all are in a line.
This is my lunch. There's leftover tamale pie from our dinner the night before in the thermos, an apple, a bit of low fat cheese and carrot sticks.
The next week, this is our lunch, most of the kids stuff was made by Har Simran. YAAAAY! Quesadillas with salsa in the tiny containers, tomato mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing, organic cheese filled crackers and frozen peas and corn which will be somewhat thawed by the time we eat, but if not my strange kids actually don't mind eating them frozen.
Sorry for the weird angle on this one, I was trying to be artistic. :-P
My lunch is a piece of a crustless quiche I made the other day, some steamed brocolli tossed with tamari and chile sauce, an apple and a bar.
Thankfully I don't have to do this everyday!
Another menu
I joined some friends in a menu challenge this week to help keep us on track with our health and weight loss goals. I still hadn't used all the meals from my last menu that I posted, but in keeping with the challenge I am posting my menu again for this week (starting yesterday). To comply with the challenge I will also have to share some recipes and pictures of at least 5 of our meals, so it will be a busy week. Here's my plan -
- Monday - baked potatoes with sauteed mushrooms and onions and steamed broccoli
- Tuesday - Split pea soup in the crock pot
- Wednesday - Chipotle tofu and salad
- Thursday - Quinoa and black bean salad with quesadillas
- Friday - Veggie burgers with sweet potato fries and cucumber salad
- Saturday or Sunday - Calabacitas (the other night we will most likely go out somewhere)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Menu Planning
Planning a list of meals for the week is that main tool that keeps me sane in trying to feed my family fresh, healthy, wholesome, home cooked meals day in and day out. It really is a big job and can feel really overwhelming. I mean, they always need to eat again just a few hours after I fed them and often before I even have the previous meal cleaned up. EEEK! So once a week I sit and plan out our menu. Sometimes I just use ideas out of my head (scary, huh?), but usually I will use websites or blogs or cookbooks to get inspiration. I also have a ton of Word documents (that are not very well organizes) with recipes that I have cut and pasted from various places over the years. When I am feeling in a rut food wise, I will either buy or borrow from the library a new cookbook and that always helps.
My method is to sit with the computer or whichever cookbook I chose, my calendar, a pen (I like to buy a fancy one that I hide from the rest of my family) and two pieces of paper. One piece is used for writing down each meal idea, and the other is divided in half for the shopping lists. I do almost all of my shopping at two stores - Trader Joe's and Wild Oats and have a pretty good idea of what I can get where and what's cheaper where so each store gets its own list. I also look at my calendar to see what we have coming up in the week that I might need food for like potlucks or bake sales, or this week, my daughter's birthday. She will be 8 on Thursday and as is our family custom, she gets to pick the menu. Her choice for her birthday dinner is black bean burritos with green chile, salad and chocolate cake. Sweet, huh? I even offered to take her to a restaurant because we've all been sick and I wasn't sure how much we were up for, but she wanted Mama's burritos. She's smart that girl. Since there won't be any food pictures in this post, here's a picture of her.
I don't actually put a specific meal with a specific day, though I do try to choose some meals that are easier for days we get home late, but just make a simple list of meals that then gets stuck on the side of my fridge (I wish stainless steel appliances worked with magnets) so that I can look at it in the morning and decide what we will have for dinner and start on it if I need to, but at least just have the idea in my head so that I don't have to panic at 4pm when the hungry masses start circling for food. I also don't tend to plan breakfasts and lunches unless they are a special occasion, though I will usually plan 8 meals for the week and one or two will end up being cooked for lunch. Since we homeschool and my husband has a home office, we are home quite a bit and often all eat lunch together. Most days though, breakfast is usually cereal or oatmeal or toast with peanut butter and lunch is something simple like sandwiches, wraps or leftovers. Dinner is the meal that I usually "cook" for and what most of my planning is centered around.
So this week I had a new cookbook from the library that I first saw at my friend Kirsten's house and was madly copying recipes from. Then I realized that I could probably find it at the library and went back to actually socialize with my friends. OOPS! It's called Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. I have quite a few Moosewood cookbooks in my collection and remember my mom cooking from the first one when I was growing up. This was one I hadn't seen before and it really looks great. It's divided up into whole menus designed for many different holidays throughout the year. Not just your regular old holidays like Thanskgiving (though they have some great vegetarian and vegan ideas for that) or Easter, but some holidays I hadn't ever heard of like Juneteenth (which looks like a holiday worth celebrating), and then other more generic things like picnics, etc. Lots of great looking meals and I love that it's a whole menu planned out. I don't tend to cook more than one or two dishes when just cooking for my family, but for fancier dinners I love having it already figured out for me or at least some ideas to send me in the right direction for side dishes.
Using that book as inspiration, here's my menu for this week -
My method is to sit with the computer or whichever cookbook I chose, my calendar, a pen (I like to buy a fancy one that I hide from the rest of my family) and two pieces of paper. One piece is used for writing down each meal idea, and the other is divided in half for the shopping lists. I do almost all of my shopping at two stores - Trader Joe's and Wild Oats and have a pretty good idea of what I can get where and what's cheaper where so each store gets its own list. I also look at my calendar to see what we have coming up in the week that I might need food for like potlucks or bake sales, or this week, my daughter's birthday. She will be 8 on Thursday and as is our family custom, she gets to pick the menu. Her choice for her birthday dinner is black bean burritos with green chile, salad and chocolate cake. Sweet, huh? I even offered to take her to a restaurant because we've all been sick and I wasn't sure how much we were up for, but she wanted Mama's burritos. She's smart that girl. Since there won't be any food pictures in this post, here's a picture of her.
I don't actually put a specific meal with a specific day, though I do try to choose some meals that are easier for days we get home late, but just make a simple list of meals that then gets stuck on the side of my fridge (I wish stainless steel appliances worked with magnets) so that I can look at it in the morning and decide what we will have for dinner and start on it if I need to, but at least just have the idea in my head so that I don't have to panic at 4pm when the hungry masses start circling for food. I also don't tend to plan breakfasts and lunches unless they are a special occasion, though I will usually plan 8 meals for the week and one or two will end up being cooked for lunch. Since we homeschool and my husband has a home office, we are home quite a bit and often all eat lunch together. Most days though, breakfast is usually cereal or oatmeal or toast with peanut butter and lunch is something simple like sandwiches, wraps or leftovers. Dinner is the meal that I usually "cook" for and what most of my planning is centered around.
So this week I had a new cookbook from the library that I first saw at my friend Kirsten's house and was madly copying recipes from. Then I realized that I could probably find it at the library and went back to actually socialize with my friends. OOPS! It's called Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. I have quite a few Moosewood cookbooks in my collection and remember my mom cooking from the first one when I was growing up. This was one I hadn't seen before and it really looks great. It's divided up into whole menus designed for many different holidays throughout the year. Not just your regular old holidays like Thanskgiving (though they have some great vegetarian and vegan ideas for that) or Easter, but some holidays I hadn't ever heard of like Juneteenth (which looks like a holiday worth celebrating), and then other more generic things like picnics, etc. Lots of great looking meals and I love that it's a whole menu planned out. I don't tend to cook more than one or two dishes when just cooking for my family, but for fancier dinners I love having it already figured out for me or at least some ideas to send me in the right direction for side dishes.
Using that book as inspiration, here's my menu for this week -
- Tamale pie (not from the book - it's a recipe I originally found on weightwatchers.com and have modified to work for me. I took pictures as I went along and will be posting it this week.
- Chipotle Tofu (p. 66), rice and steamed broccoli
- Sweet Potato Zucchini hash and sauteed tempeh
- Calabacitas (my own recipe - it's best in summer with squash, tomatoes and corn from the garden, but it's been so cold and I wanted a taste of summer. I can make a still yummy version from store bought produce)
- Tibetan Seitan Burritos with Tibetan hot sauce (P. 288) and cucumber salad
- Southwestern Split pea soup (from fatfreevegan.com), kale and corn bread
- Black bean burritos with green chile, salad and chocolate cake
- Boston Bean Salad with quinoa (p. 84) and quesadillas
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