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

[pameladean]

I am not sure we have anything like that hereabouts, but then, I haven't looked. Whatever works, is my motto.

Prepared foods as a rule have things I can't eat, generally unnecessary ones, though not always. That is, there is random whey in all sorts of things for no particular reason other than, I guess, the dairy industry wants to get rid of it.

P.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

The only things I have to look out for are mushrooms and hot peppers. Alas, the cooks sometimes change the recipes, inexplicably and without notice, to include these things. Mushrooms in Chicken Cordon Bleu! Jalapeños in corned beef hash! Hot peppers in sweet-and-sour chicken!

Call me cynical, but I think the reason for the whey (and high-fructose corn syrup) in prepared foods is that it increases profit for the food manufacturer (by bulking out the food) and for the dairy and corn industries. Pfui, I say!

[pameladean]

That is just bizarre -- the hot peppers in the sweet and sour chicken is particularly weird to me. My mother has similar complaints about modern food. She loves potatoes in anything, but the last time we went to the nice coffee shop that grows its vegetables in back of its building and has lots of vegan options, I had to eat her potato soup because they had put Tabasco in it. Really a lot of Tabasco. It's okay to do that, but it's really not okay to then advertise it as creamy potato and chive soup. Calling it creamy when it has no cream is also dicey, but at least that warns one to check. It didn't say spicy or piquant or anything.

I am sure profit is well entangled in the adding of these ingredients to everything in sight. At least whey is probably harmless to people who aren't allergic to dairy, and it does increase protein content -- which is a matter of adding verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and non-nutritious narrative much of the time, admittedly. But HFCS is horrible all around.

P.