Let's Meal Plan Together for 11/2/09

Finally, Halloween is behind us and we can move on to the anticipation of my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving!

I will spend this month poring over my cookbooks and food blogs and buying every food magazine (still in print) to plan the perfect Thanksgiving meal.  The day of Thanksgiving we'll spend with J's family, but I always cook my own separate Thanksgiving dinner at some point during the weekend because, well, I like my Thanksgiving best.

In preparation for all the holiday eating, I'm doing a month-long (well, until Thanksgiving anyway) Almost-Vegan Challenge.  For the next several weeks I'll be planning meatless meals and sharing those recipes with you.  If you have any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes, I'd be delighted to know them!

Here's what I'm thinking for the week:

Monday: Lentil soup, salad, breadsticks, Earth Balance spread, and honey

Tuesday (from The Conscious Cook): Cajun portobello mushroom burgers with avocado and remoulade

Wednesday (from The Conscious Cook): Mediterranean chick pea wraps

Thursday (from the The Conscious Cook): Pasta with tomatoes, olives, and Swiss chard

Friday Family Movie night with friends if my girls are healthy

Saturday (date night)

Sunday (based on a recipe from the The Conscious Cook): Creamy polenta topped with grilled veggies and paprika creme (made from cashews)

One of things I have to do this week is prepare the cashew creme which can be used as a cheese or thick sour cream/yogurt/creme fraiche substitute.  Another thing I'd like to do is find a source for Gardein, a chicken- or meat-like protein product that Tal Ronnen mentions a lot.  My local Whole Foods carries prepared Gardein products (kebabs, and stuffed "cutlets," but I'd like to find unadorned Gardein.  It sounds fascinating.

What are cooking this week?  Anyone care to join my almost-vegan challenge? ;-)

Comments

[Jenny]

Well now that I am not doing vegan/veggie I feel bad posting my meat/fish rich menu :-). Oh and heavy rice week as most of the food I am making is in need of rice on the side

Sun: Baked Ziti with Ricotta and Arugala salad with shaved parmesan and lemon/olive oil dressing.

Mon: Flounder floured and pan sauteed with brown butter reduction with capers, parsley, lemon and white wine served with rice and green beans

Tues: Chicken Paprikash with rice and naan and left over green beans and squash

Wed: Seared sesame tuna with More rice and sauteed spinach

Thurs: sirlon stirfry with ginger terryaki sauce...EVEN More rice and use up the veggies in the fridge night

Fri: hot dogs and beans and fries (really want chili dogs so might make a quick batch of chili and freeze 1/2)

Sat: Take out/eat out mexican or Tastados made at home

[Kai]

M - Panko crusted chicken with peas
T - Trader Joes tomato soup and cheddar biscuits
W - Laundry night....anything goes
Th - Chicken parmesean
Fri - Veggie cous cous

[Mara]

Monday - bean burritos/chili burritos (the innards are from the chest freezer, which I need to defrost)

Tuesday - chicken and broccoli stirfry with lemongrass sauce (Love getting fresh lemongrass from the CSA box - anyone have favorite recipes that use it?)

Wednesday - music lessons, out

Thursday - Penne with creamy tomato sauce (Amazing recipe from Cooks Illustrated uses both canned and sun-dried tomatoes. Super yum).

Friday - out at a new restaurant in town!

Saturday - not sure, but I'll be baking like a fiend all day. We have an Apple Pie Party every fall and it's Sunday afternoon. I've got something in the neighborhood of 30 people showing up at my house to eat homemade pie. I usually make a variety of different styles, all apple though. Anyone have a favorite type of apple pie they'd like to share?

[beyond]

today i finished my cleansing fast, so raw fruit and veggies only.
tomorrow and the rest of the week, i'm not sure about yet, but taking things slowly and savoring every bite will probably be the way to go.
i think it's so great that you cook a second thanksgiving meal. makes me want to move in for a couple of days...

[Jill]

I'm already day dreaming about Thanksgiving. I love reading your blog for inspiration every year.

Uh, don't have a menu this week. Twins are sick and I'm goin crazy...

[Nicole]

I'll be excited to read this vegan/ vegetarian section, as I have just gone dairy-free in an effort to determine some of B's health issues. There's this new stuff on the market called Mimiccream (I got it at Rainbow) that is supposed to make delicious ice cream. I may give it a try. Also, coconut milk is my new bff.

[Sharon]

Tonight we had Cafe Borrone style turkey melts. SO good and nostalgic. Not to mention quick and easy.

I’m not sure what order we’ll be having the rest of these meals but none the less, here’s this week’s list. All the meals are warm, hearty, comfort foods to match the frigid Seattle weather. It’s always an adjustment at the start of fall/winter but once we’ve been at it for a month or so it doesn’t seem so bad.

~ Gordon Ramsay’s Shepherd’s Pie with turkey instead of lamb. I saw him make this on an old episode of “The F Word” and have been wanting to make it ever since.

~ Beef and Barley Soup

~ Carrie’s Chicken, casserole style

~ BBQ chicken baked potatoes

I made your amazing balsamic brussels sprouts last week and we LOVED them. they're definitely becoming part of the fall/winter veggie rotation!

[Karen]

I'm pretty sure I saw the plain Gardein at our local Safeway. I'll be interested to hear your take on the cashew creme.

I am inspired by your almost vegan challenge. I would like to incorporate more vegan meals into our diet but finding things the rest of my family will eat is tricky. I found a super easy coconut dahl recipe that I really like but no one in my family does. Now Heidi has a great recipe for chunky celery soup at 101 cookbooks that everyone here loves. It has been baby steps for us - beef is almost a thing of the past. Now I am trying to reduce our gluten and up our veggies.

Here's our menu.

Sun - pork roast w/herbs & pancetta, red skins, brussel sprouts
Mon - vegetarian lasagne, salad
Tue - leftovers
Wed - gnocchi: either crispy ala 101 cookbooks or with squash sauce ala Citymama, lots of steamed veggies
Thu - loubia polo w/gr turkey instead of beef, basmati
Fri - veggie/chix potstickers, steamed sugar snaps & steamy kitchen's shrimp w/peas & eggs
Sat - dunno...maybe grill
Sun - honey/orange glazed chicken, mashers or crashers, steamed veggies

[erin]

I am sick and not thinking about food very much...but I will say that I have gotten some fantastic vegan recipes from Madhur Jaffrey cookbooks. I ~must~ eat protein and she has tons of excellent legume recipes that feel that need. I also love the Voluptuous Vegan (they have a great cranberry, pear, currant sauce for Thanksgiving).