In an uncharacteristic fit of organization, I made my menu plan earlier in the week. The menu plan kept me from musing at 5 pm, “how the heck am I going to turn 4 onions and a spaghetti squash into a decent dinner?”
I ended up not following the breakfast or lunch plans, with the exception of Asian Edamame Egg Salad – total yummilicious. I picked up a box of custom Lean & Mean mixed pork and beef cuts from a local farm this week. The freezer is stocked at least until Spring. Now I just need to learn to cook meat. Tofu is so much more forgiving…
In the most important news of the week, I am restocked in Lindt 85% chocolate bars! A square a day keeps the Prozac away.
Dinners:
Sunday – Beef Stroganoff over Spaghetti Squash and Potatoes, with Cream of Mushroom Soup and Arugula Salad. The beef was lean, local and grass-fed (which I also rinse with very hot water before adding the remaining ingredients). I grew the spaghetti squash and arugula myself – thank you very much! (high five!) . The soup recipe was Cooking Light's Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sherry (swapping out the half and half in the recipe for 1 TB cream and homemade cashew milk).
Arugula, where have you been all my life? I came across arugula through my CSA this summer and promptly planted it in a porch pot, since you can’t even get it in grocery stores here. It’s peppery and lemony and magnificent.
The soup wasn’t very interesting until the next day. The flavors had mingled overnight and it just got better and better. My stroganoff was decent. I think it really needed a pint of cream or at least the unrinsed beef for more flavor…but alas, I just couldn’t make myself do it.
Meatless Monday - Southwestern spaghetti squash frittata topped with a smoky chipotle lite sour cream. Tasty! I used about 4 eggs and 4 egg whites, spaghetti squash, multiple kinds of sweet peppers. Cooked it in my cast iron skillet, finishing it in the oven. Kid approved!
Tuesday - Crockpot BBQ Chicken with panfried Brussels Sprouts, apples and hazelnuts. And? Well of course a salad! The chicken was from a friend’s farm. It was lean and bursting with flavor. Handling whole chickens can be kind of a pain, but getting into the rhythm of pulling off the meat and then making stock is a meditative ritual, perfect for Autumn nights. The brussels sprouts with apples, nuts and a drizzling of maple syrup has got to be the most divine way to eat cruciferous vegetables.
I’ve made this tempeh marsala recipe twice now and decided that I’m not loving it… but am totally loving the hemp bread I made (adapted to be lower carb from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen). I’ll post the recipe once I tweak it some more. Plus, I need to restock on hemp protein. (At least, a tasty way to use hemp protein!)
Thursday - Chicken with Ginger Broccoli over Spaghetti Squash and the old standby… salad. (I still have about 40 billion spaghetti squash left – help!) The chicken was leftover from the crockpot chicken I made earlier in the week. The sweetness of the spaghetti squash didn’t work under the stirfry, but I was too lazy to make cauliflower ‘rice.’ Topped with Mark Bittman’s Nori Shake (toasted sesame seeds, dulse, kosher salt and toasted nori).
Friday - Vietnamese Chicken Pho with Shirataki Noodles. Using shirataki from asian markets or tofu shirataki (Hungry Girl infamous) instead of rice noodles saves about 400,000 grams of carbs and calories per serving. I use one of the Cooking Light recipes as a guideline, but the soup is so simple it’s become my go-to fast food. Used up the last of the crockpot chicken and topped it with a healthy dose of Sriracha. Holy Mouth Fire, Batman! Side of edamame and (drumroll please…) salad with avocado. We eat a lot of salad in this house.
Saturday (Halloween) – I scrapped the cabbage roll idea since I had 10 minutes to get a kid dressed, fed and out the door to a party. Instead, I whipped up Crockpot California Tamale Pie, with roasted pumpkin seeds and R.W. Garcia Spicy Flaxseed & Soy Chips. It’s about a pound of ground beef, mixed with 1/2 c. corn meal, 1/2 c. coconut flour, olives, peppers, corn, carrots, spices and salsa bound together with an egg. Carby home cookin’!
For dessert this week? Sugar free pavlova with warmed pumpkin ricotta, topped with TruWhip and dried cranberries. This meringue base has so many possibilities it’s mind boggling. At least to my simple non-pastry chef mind! The 4-year old calls it marshmallow cake. Rock on sugar free marshmallow meringue! Thank you for not giving me cottage cheese thighs!
I stuck to the meal plan fairly well, although I still had to deal with “Mommy, why do you keep taking pictures of our dinner?” Hmmm… that’s a good question. Fortunately, I am not alone in the strange affliction of snapping photos of food.
Whew, that was a lot of work for a week of dinners! Who’s up for some takeout?
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