Cooking

[pameladean]

At the beginning of this year I got tired of buying random vegetables and protein sources and hoping I could make them match up into dinners, so I started doing an abbreviated version of menu planning. I write the dinners I want to make down on a Post-It and then do the actual shopping. This week's Post-It says "Pad Thai (REMEMBER THE CABBAGE -- well, I did remember it but I didn't put it in), Grogan's Minestrone (frozen multigrain ciabatta rolls), ALL THE PIES."

I have saved, or more accurately, failed to recycle, a random assortment of these Post-Its, which I reproduce below for my own reference and possibly for your mild interest.

Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff
Carrot Cashew Curry
Sardine Pasta (GET GREEN VEGETABLE)

Fish Masala, Aloo Gobi
SOUP, bread
hoisin explosion tofu (Tropp)
chickpea and sweet potato curry

Mimi's Spaghetti (Grogan again)
fish masala, green bean and potato curry
beans and kale (check to see if enough canned black-eyed peas)

Tofu Tacos
Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff
Salmon, sweet potato, broccoli, frozen rolls

Carrot Cashew Curry
Sardine Pasta, green beans
MAKE BANANA BREAD
Curried red kidney beans with mustard greens

Vegan Lasagna (spinach mushroom Gimme Lean mock sausage)
Tofu vegetable quiche
Tofu fried rice

Very spicy delicious chickpeas (Jaffray), curried peas and mushrooms
macaroni and goat cheese, vegetable casserole (Grogan)
pasta with soy chorizo

Pasta with cauliflower, feta, and walnuts (add broccoli)
Tortilla casserole
lentil cassoulet (get mock sausage, price shallots)

Tuna curry, steamed broccoli
Lebanese/Canadian macaroni and bean casserole, add kale or else GET GREEN VEGETABLE
Vegan chili, ditto cornbread


That does look odd. Vegan food is always safe for me. I can't have cow's-milk products. I can have sheep or goat's-milk cheeses, but they are expensive, so we don't have them that often. I don't eat eggs or meat but I do eat fish and seafood, which are also expensive, except for sardines and canned tuna. Mock meat is fairly pricy too, except at Trader Joe's.

Cooking anecdotes welcome in the comments.

Pamela

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I made (little red) beans and (that weird Italian) kale for dinner tonight, along with mushroom risotto. Yesterday I made ginger-tahini-dressed broccoli, Lebanese chicken, and a squash, goat cheese, bacon combo stirred up with pasta. Some of those recipes I have been carrying around since the 1980s, and so I finally decided to make 'em.

After dinner tonight, I also made that gingerbread recipe you introduced me to, but it failed. I tried to mix the butter and molasses together with just a spoon, but because I have a tendon problem in my right elbow currently, I was imprecise at it. So I think that was part of the problem and the rest of the failure was caused by using a just-slightly-too-big pan. Pity.

K.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

[being That Person because this ought to have been a top-level comment, not a reply to minnehaha; I blame sleepy fingers]

I am particularly taken with ALL THE PIES as an annotation.

My only expected dinner guest this season will be getting roast beef and carrots because it's a change from turkey and they really don't like the texture of onions. (With perhaps one or two other things. :)

(I like doing roast pork, which is at least Yule-ish, in a dutch oven with onions sauteed in duck fat and dried cranberries and a dark fruit juice, like currant or blackberry, and a bit of maple syrup. But there are texture issues.)

I can't have dairy, gluten, or soy, so we have rather disjoint menus, alas. Though I did manage to come up with a no dairy, no gluten, no soy vegan pie so I had something to take to potlucks:

cup of quinoa flour
cup of amaranth flour
half cup of canola oil
~1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

water to correct consistency (between 1/2 and 3/4 cup)

[roll on one of those thin lexan cutting board sheets so you can get it into the pie plate]

bake at 350 for ~22 minutes.

1 cup maple syrup [250 mL]
1 l (almost) cranberry juice [weird American 983 mL bottle size]
2 packs "Mother Hen" organic raspberries [2 @ 300g/10oz individual packs; 600 grammes of frozen raspberries]
200 grammes tapioca starch

reserve 1 cup cranberry juice

remainder and maple syrup into a sufficient pot
keel the tapioca starch into the reserved cup of cranberry juice

Add, once the juice is medium warm; stir until thickening occurs, stir in the raspberries,
add to baked pie shell

chill

Pray the pie shell's strong enough to serve.

Which concludes the recipe notation. I find the pie shell is generally strong enough; the tapioca may help hold it all together. Not everyone likes the texture.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I confess that these days, I do much of my "cooking" by browsing the already-cooked dishes in my grocery store, which has a splendid selection. It's nice to get just enough for 2 or 3 meals of foods that can't be made in small amounts. I start with the "We Made Too Much" half-price section, where I might find meals for less per portion than it would take to cook them.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

No anecdotes, but curried kidney beans with mustard greens sounds good (and it's fun to say aloud...). If I were to start a vegan-type diet, menu plans would be a lifesaver. Hard enough to figure out dinnertime some days without the added degree of difficulty that a specialized diet brings (ahem) to the table.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

No anecdotes here, but these all sound extremely yum. I like the annotations in ALL CAPS.

[jiawen]

"hoisin explosion tofu" sounds both delicious and dangerous.

[sraun]

Did I ever give you the recipe for the Vegan BBQ Beans? If not, would you like it?

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

This list is oddly useful for inspiring cooking ideas. I can't have cow's milk, either, and am allergic to wheat and soy, but I eat some meat/fish/egg; much of this would suit if I readjusted some of the obvious substitutions. So, thanks. :)