Menu Plan: August 8-14

Saturday - Chickpea cutlets, smashed potatoes with goat cheese and chives, and ginger ale and honey braised carrots.

Sunday - Black beans in chipotle-adobo sauce, grilled zucchini with corn-radish relish

Monday - Zucchini-tomato gratin (the Italian version) with pasta

Tuesday - Garbanzo gorma, cauliflower with curry sauce

Wednesday - Havana black beans, cilantro-lime rice

Thursday - Stuffed shells

Friday - Coconut-curry soup

Extras:
*Moroccan oranges
*Bananas with Mexican chocolate sauce
*Mayan-spiced chocolate pudding
*Bananas in sweet coconut milk
*Coconut rice pudding
*Orange-cranberry-ginger muffins
*Orange-ginger muffins
*Vegan chocolate cupcakes with avocado

Been a while...

My schedule went a bit nuts (and to be quite honest, I got a bit burned out on the blogging) so I quit for a while. Now that I'm on summer break (and have a bit more time on my hands), I can blog again. :)

I'm pretty excited about this week's menu so hopefully I'll have plenty to write about in the next week or so.

June 26-July 2
Friday: Samosa-Stuffed Potato (lunch). Summer veggie stacks with salad and quinoa for dinner.

Saturday: I have a CPR/first aid class all day so I have no idea what I'll be eating...

Sunday: Spicy chickpea patties and salad for lunch. Carrot-ginger soup with a wild rice, walnut, and cranberry salad for dinner.

Monday: Tropical gazpacho for lunch. Quinoa, black bean, and citrus salad for dinner.

Tuesday: Egg salad sandwich with a Waldorf salad (supposed to be with wheat berries but I'll sub in barley or something). Vegetarian (actually may be vegan) French onion and a salad for dinner (maybe leftover Waldorf!)

Wednesday: Farm stand veggie skewers with homemade buttermilk biscuits and veggie couscous.

Thursday: Tomato-bulgar soup and (I'm going to give polenta one more shot!) savoury tomato-pesto polenta.

I'm also planning on making chocolate-raspberry cookies and carrot-pineapple muffins.

As usual, the order may change around a bit... :)

Menu - February 15-

Sunday - Bow-tie pasta with kasha and veggies.

Monday - Balsamic lentils with beans and mushrooms. Based on this recipe; I'm using beans and mushrooms in place of the sausage.

Tuesday - Cheese-stuffed chickpea burgers with lavender-rosemary potatoes. Chickpea burgers will be based on this recipe but I'm using pepper-jack cheese since we already have that in the fridge!

Wednesday - Three-cheese penne florentine (made with either homemade cream of broccoli or homemade cream of spinach). Based on this recipe.

Thursday - Pineapple-Peanut Stew.

Friday - Pasta alla puttanesca.

Saturday - Cumin lentil soup with a side of quinoa fritters.

Lots of pasta ;)

Menu - February 8-14

Here's the menu for this week... a couple days late but that's sort of normal for me (if I post one at all!)

Sunday - DH had oven-fried chicken; I had stuffed tomatoes with quinoa, black beans, and corn

Monday - DH had Cajun-spiced pork chops; I had Crumb-Topped Mushroom-Bean stew (post coming soon - it was fabulous!)

Tuesday - Lentil-Cauliflower Curry for me; salmon with Jack Daniels BBQ sauce (homemade) for DH.

Wednesday - I have a really crazy evening with a meeting until 6 and then tai chi class at 7:15 so I'll just heat up split pea and lentil soup for myself (homemade/in the freezer) and will throw together a burger with blue cheese for M.

Thursday - Beef burrito for DH; I'm having Garlic-Spinach Stellini pasta (Whole Foods cookbook recipe) with sun-dried tomatoes and portobello mushroom thrown in.

Friday - Ancient Grain Pilaf for me (provided I can find spelt...); Cheese-stuffed chicken for DH

Saturday - I boycott Valentine's Day but I still love my hubby so I'm grilling a steak for him :) I'll have pineapple-cashew quinoa stir-fry.
I'm also making brownies with some cute little Valentine's Day sprinkly things I found... (this set of sprinklies has lip-shaped ones! How fun is that? I'll have to post pictures!)
OK, so I'm just not that much of a heartless, Hallmark Holiday-hating hard-ass! ;) I just figure that if my husband doesn't know by now how I feel about him, a card and a box of chocolates isn't going to convince him!

Menu - January 17-23

I fell off the blogging wagon for a while there but I am back and all excited about my menu for this week :) DH's stuff is boring so I won't even bother putting that on here.

Saturday - Stuffed Shells (I'm going to try to add some zing to my veggie version.. last time they were a bit blah); huge salad; yummy dessert thingy DH brought me from DZ Akins :) He doesn't know what it is (lol) but it looks fantastic!

Sunday - Pasta e fagioli from Veganomicon

Monday - Quinoa, black bean, and corn stuffed tomatoes; probably a big salad on the side

Tuesday - Pasta with 3-herb pesto and mushrooms (another pesto to add to the collection!)

Wednesday - Herb-roasted winter veggies and rice

Thursday - "Tofu au Vin" (based on a Tempeh au Vin recipe) with some amazing walnut-cranberry Brussels sprouts concoction (can't wait!) Oh, and quinoa on the side

Friday - We'll probably go out for Italian (it's sort of a tradition)

Other things I'm going to try out soon (I may try one on Monday since I have the day off!)
*Banana Split Muffins (vegan)
*Fruit Cake Muffins (vegan)
*Cherry Garcia ice-cream (absolutely not vegan - heh - but I "need" an excuse to use the leftover dried cherries from the two muffin recipes and I have some absolutely fabulous organic super-dark chocolate that I can throw in there... yum!)

I actually have a couple recipes to post but I'll get to those at some point soon! :)

Menu - December 15-19

Nothing new this week - I need to focus on getting Christmas shopping done! lol
I do have a couple baking recipes that I'd like to try when I can find time during the week.

Monday - Lentil curry for me; Lemon-mustard chicken for M with Pioneer Woman's Whiskey-Glazed Carrots (we have a bottle of Jack Daniels and neither of us likes that - all I do with it is make BBQ sauce! lol. Hopefully these will be another yummy way to use it up!) Yes, I am going to have the carrots alongside my curry... I know, doesn't go at all but oh well! :)

Tuesday - We have plans with a friend to go shopping so we'll probably just eat out.

Wednesday - Wednesdays are always a bit of a rush so we'll just have soup from the freezer (heated up, of course!) Beef stew for M and either black bean chili or split pea for me.

Thursday - Either Chickpea tagine or black bean and quinoa pilaf for me; either fish sticks or marinated pork chops for M (it will probably be the chops since I already have those and, knowing me, I will completely forget to stop and get fish on Thursday! lol)

Friday - Crispy chicken strips for M and black beans and rice for me.

Baking recipes I'm looking forward to trying this week:
*Cardamom sugar stars
*Tiramisu walnut cookies (how flipping amazing do those sound?! I hope they live up to the name!)
*Vegan double-chocolate mint cookies (trial run for some I'd like to bake for my sister and brother-in-law. I've never made vegan cookies so wish me luck!)

Menu - November 22-28

Ah... a blissful week off :) I am on Thanksgiving break from work and I'm done with school (talk about something to be thankful for) so I'll be enjoying a week off - hopefully spending lots of time in the kitchen discovering some new things and dusting off old favourites.

We won't be having Thanksgiving until Saturday, Nov. 29 since my dad will be on a plane coming home from Italy (must be nice, eh?!) on Thanksgiving day. My in-laws are hosting but I've volunteered to do most of the cooking so I'll post my T-day menu in a minute.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to brave the crowds (and insane car parks) and go shopping on "Black Friday".... maybe if people get me their wish lists before then!

Saturday (11/22) - Grilled veggie pitas with lemon saffron rice and a salad for me; fish sticks with cauliflower (shocks me that my picky husband loves cauliflower!) and salad for DH.

Sunday - Tuna melt/caprese panini for lunch; homemade ravioli for dinner (Italian sausage for H, sundried tomato and olive for me)

Monday - Split pea and lentil soup with salad for me; Parmesan pork chops for DH

Tuesday - Stuffed baked potatoes (I'll add some BBQ chicken with homemade BBQ sauce for DH)

Wednesday - Quinoa and black bean stuffed tomatoes (I could eat these every day!) for me; beef stew for DH (he always jokes that he doesn't understand how his veggie wife can make such great beef stew)

Thursday - Spaghetti with homemade marinara/marinara with homemade meatballs

Friday - Pineapple-cashew quinoa stir-fry (mmmm); margarita salmon for DH

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Menu - September 28-October 4

Sunday - I made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce (don't ask where I found the energy after spending 15+ hours at Disneyland on Saturday!) so we had spaghetti with homemade sauce. I was nice and made hubby some meatballs for his.

Monday - Double-Coriander Eggplant Tagine (because that last one was so fantastic!) with couscous; hubby is having this sweet and spicy tilapia that I'll probably add to the blog since I see a lot of tilapia recipe requests. We'll see how he likes it!

Tuesday - Middle-Eastern Lentils and Rice; Canadian Bacon Cheeseburgers for DH

Wednesday - It's World Vegetarian Day! I'm going vegan all day :)
Quinoa and black bean stuffed tomato for me.
DH is having some very un-vegan BBQ chicken.

Thursday - Vegetarian Split Pea and Lentil Soup (a little different from that recipe); Cajun Style Pork Chops for hubby.

Friday - Feijoada (mmmm) with some Brazilian rice; Oven-Roasted Ribs marinated in Beer and Honey for my honey :)

Saturday - Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie (I saw an article in Veg. Times with a recipe "Unemployed Shepherd's Pie" lol... I may just steal the name)
Tacos for hubby.

Menu - September 22-27

Well, so much for my Sam=the dog theory on that True Blood (why the hell do I keep calling it True Love?!) show... sigh... he did bark, though! So maybe there is something to it after all... I'll have to keep watching and find out :) And now I'm noticing something odd about that gray cat - maybe it's Sookie's great uncle or grandpa or whoever had the same telepathic thing as she does. Hmmmm...
Oh, and Entourage was just too funny last night! I heart Ari :) and Lloyd - lol :)

Anyway, on to the menu.

Tonight - Middle-Eastern Chickpeas with Spinach for me; Zesty Jalapeno fish filet for DH

Tomorrow - I have to go to a school board meeting at work but hopefully I'll have time to make sloppy Joes for DH and *snobby Joes* (lol) for myself.

Wednesday - Marinated pork chops (all I remember is that lime was involved...) for DH; chickpea tagine for me

Thursday - I think we are going out with my parents for my birthday. If not, it will be spaghetti with home-made marinara and home-made meatballs for DH and spaghetti with home-made marinara for me.

Friday - DH told me to take the day off work so I think he has something birthday-related up his sleeve :) I hope so - I didn't plan any dinner! heh

Saturday - It's my BIRTHDAY! I'd better not be cooking ;)

Menu - July 6-11

Haven't posted one of these in a while ;)

Here's my *trying to use up all the stuff we have in the house before we leave the country* menu for this week:

Sunday - Pasta della California; Hubby had leftovers (don't pity him! It was what he wanted...)

Monday - Black Bean and Quinoa Pilaf; Margarita Salmon for DH.

Tuesday - Vegetarian *Gumbo* (well, not really gumbo since I don't have okra...); Hubby will have either a burger, roasted potatoes and a salad or spicy Tex-Mex chicken.

Wednesday - Lemon Pasta for me (yum!); Some sort of pork chop for hubby. Any ideas? I've only ever made Giada's Parmesan pork chops for him! I'm extremely pork-illiterate since I never really ate it even before I went veg...

Thursday - Lentil-Cauliflower Curry; Chicken with Jack Daniel's (home-made!) BBQ sauce.

Friday - Spaghetti! I'll have home-made marinara; hubby will have the marinara with some seasoned ground beef and Italian sausage mixed in.

Saturday - um, haven't gotten this far yet ;) We have a birthday party at the beach to go to in the morning (lunchtime-ish) so we'll take some stuff to grill. No idea what's for dinner yet... I'll figure that out as the week goes on.

Have a delicious week!

Menu - June 1-7

I have only planned meals for myself this week... hubby had his wisdom teeth extracted on Friday and is having a way tougher time with it than I did. :( He is extremely hungry but can't really eat yet. I have plenty of stuff in the freezer/pantry for when he's feeling up to it so I'll have no trouble fixing something up for him as needed.

Confession: it is really nice only having to make one meal at a time, though! ;) I could get used to that! heh..

Sunday - Lentil-rhubarb soup (recipe coming soon!)

Monday - Summer pesto pasta with rosemary-cheese focaccia

Tuesday - Samfaina and couscous

Wednesday - Orzo and feta salad with lemon-caper dressing and kalamata olives (jealous?! I can't wait to try this!)

Thursday - Curried couscous pilaf with broiled Thai-style eggplant. If I remember to make it ahead (it needs to freeze for 8 hours), I'll also have a lime-coconut granita for dessert (it is the last day of the school year - work - after all! Have to celebrate!)

Friday - Havana black beans with orange-cashew pilaf

Saturday - Italian eggplant ragout with orzo

Yes, it is the week of orzo, couscous, and eggplant. ;)

Weekly Menu - May 11-17

Sunday - Vegetarian feijoada, Brazilian rice. DH is having chicken stuffed with olives and cheese; he will probably have broccoli as a side dish.

Monday - Quinoa pine nut pilaf with roasted veggies; DH is having a burger.

Tuesday - Pasta primavera from a Moosewood cookbook. DH will have Jamie Oliver's Jools' Favourite Saturday Afternoon Pasta.

Wednesday - African pineapple-peanut stew and grown-up fish sticks with dill remoulade for DH.

Thursday - Roasted eggplant with orzo and ricotta pillows and crispy chicken strips, rice, carrots, and celery for DH.

Friday - Taco night! I am having Indian dal tacos, DH is having ground beef.

Saturday - I have no idea yet! DH has a bachelor party to go to so it will just be me.

Menu - Week of May 4-10

My goodness, is it really May already?! Phew... where does the time go? :)

This has some repeats from last week - just stuff I never got around to!

Sunday - Manicotti (I'll have spinach and cheese, DH will have Italian sausage). I am also going to make a rosemary and Parmesan focacia since I have some great fresh rosemary I need to use up!

Monday - Ratatouille with tofu for me; DH will have ribs with home-made Jack Daniels BBQ sauce. We'll both have roasted potatoes (I can use more of that fresh rosemary to make the rosemary-lavender ones!)

Tuesday - Lemon pasta for me. I'm doing it a little differently since I want it as a main dish, not a side. I'm planning on fresh basil, Parmesan, tomato, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, capers, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. Yum!
DH is having Buffalo chicken bites. I know, they sound so crummy after that pasta description but he loves 'em! :) Salad on the side for both of us.

Wednesday - Garden-stuffed baked potatoes with salads. I might make a taboulleh salad for myself so I can use some of the mint from my "garden" (hee hee, I love how that sounds!)

Thursday - Parmesan tilapia, rice, broccoli or some other veggie.

Friday - Stuffed tomato with quinoa, black beans, and corn for myself and cheese-stuffed chicken breast for DH. Not sure on sides yet... It won't be salad ;)

Saturday - I have stuffed shells down but I think I'll probably change that since we're having manicotti earlier in the week!

Menu for week of April 27-May 3

Sunday, April 27 - Fajitas :) I'm making mine with portobello mushroom and a bunch of other veggies; DH is having chicken fajitas. It's really hot here today (ugh..) so I'm not sure what else we'll have with them. It's just one of those "too hot to eat much" days... I'll probably just make a little rice or black beans.

Monday, April 28 - Beef stew for DH; vegetarian split pea and lentil soup for me. We'll both have salads on the side and some crusty bread (have to remember to get crusty bread!)
Hopefully it will cool down a bit! lol

Tuesday, April 29 - Chicken Parmesan for DH; Portobello Parmesan for me with spaghetti and home-made marinara for both of us.

Wednesday, April 30 - I have a late staff meeting at work... guess it's fend-for-yourself night!

Thursday, May 1 - Buffalo chicken bites for DH; Ratatouille with tofu for me. No idea on sides yet!

Friday, May 2 - Manicotti and salad (meat for DH; veggie for me)

Saturday, May 3 - Enchiladas (chicken for DH; avocado for me - yum!)

This might actually change around a bit. I have some great local avocados (that I got for free! yeay!) so I'm just waiting for those to ripen up. I'll make the enchiladas whenever that happens!

Menu - Week of March 30-April 5

This is my 200th post :) Pretty sad that it's only being used for a menu but whatever! I don't have anything else to post about at the moment!

Sunday - Summer pesto pasta with a Goddess salad for myself; chicken Parmesan with spaghetti and home-made marinara for DH.

Monday - Black bean soup with sherry; Chicken enchiladas for hubby. I might actually have the soup for lunch and then have veggie enchiladas for dinner... still deciding!

Tuesday - Baked tofu with peanut sauce. I'll also have some type of green veggie on the side; hubby will have a burger with blue cheese and all his favourite toppings.

Wednesday - Quinoa tabouli salad (I'm so excited to finally be trying quinoa!); lemon-mustard chicken with rice and broccoli for hubby.

Thursday - Spring vegetable stew with soft polenta; Parmesan pork chop (going to try the Giada recipe) for DH.

Friday - More quinoa! :) Peruvian baked quinoa and cheese (sort of a better for you version of mac and cheese I guess...); DH will have tacos.

Saturday - So far I have kung pao tempeh triangles for myself for lunch... not sure what hubby will have. Dinner will be lemon-dill salmon croquettes with horseradish sauce and a salad.

I'm worried I'm not getting enough protein so I've decided to add fish (and maybe a little chicken here and there) back into my diet once or twice a week. Besides, I miss fish! I'll still be eating veg. most of the time since I've loved all the new recipes I've found! I'm not a calorie or anything else counter so trying to make sure I'm getting adequate protein is just too much of a pain - I know, such a quitter! There are just too many health benefits of fish that I feel I can't give it up completely...

Menu - March 22-28

Saturday - DH had Parmesan tilapia and broccoli; I had vegetable couscous with steeped paprika and raita with mixed vegetables. It never ceases to amaze me how much more interesting vegetarian recipes sound! ;)

Sunday - Steak for DH (since I'm so nice, I put bleu cheese on the top for him); cannelini with salsa verde and a stuffed tomato for myself.

Monday - Radiatore with pizziola sauce. I'll add some meat (either seasoned ground beef or Italian sausage) for DH. I don't radiatore pasta so it will be just whatever I have on hand..

Tuesday - Chili! I'm having a yummy-sounding 3-bean chili since I lost the vegan chili from Vegan Planet that was saved on my computer (damn motherboard!); DH will have beef chili. I'll also make either cornbread or biscuits to go with it. Yum!

Wednesday - Rice and peas for myself; Buffalo chicken bites for hubby.

Thursday - Stuffed chicken breast for DH; black bean and salsa soup for me.

Friday - Sicilian spaghettini for me; spaghetti bolognaise (can't spell that all of a sudden!) for DH.

Menu - Week of March 2-8

**This may actually have some repeats from last week since I ended up changing some stuff around ;)

Sunday - Mixed vegetables al forno for me; DH had a couple tuna melts (this was not a "make something interesting for DH night...lol;)

Monday - Burgers with blue cheese! DH will have beef; I'll have a veggie burger. Whole wheat buns, lots of other toppings - tomato, red onion, lettuce, spicy mustard, whatever else I can dig up!

Tuesday - Anthos lentil soup; chicken fajitas for hubby.

Wednesday - I'll be out of town for a work thing... fend for yourself night :)

Thursday - Kheema with rice; chicken adobo with rice

Friday - Sweet and sour tofu; chicken Parmesan bundles

Saturday - Mulligatawny soup; margarita salmon

Weekly Menu - February 24-March 1

Oops... forgot to post the menu for this week :)

Sunday: Ravioli with home-made red wine marinara

Tuesday: Polenta with tomato-braised beans for me! A side of sauteed zucchini. DH is having a pork chop and a baked potato; probably some broccoli as well.

Wednesday: It's fend-for-yourself night since I have a late staff meeting at work.

Thursday: Minestrone for me; DH is having beef stew.

Friday: I think we are going out... if not, it will be fajitas for DH and Anthos lentil soup for me.

Saturday: I think a burger with blue cheese for DH and Middle-Eastern rice and lentils for me; salad on the side for both of us.

Menu - February 16-22

Saturday - Curried couscous with vegetables and chickpeas
Tacos for hubby

Sunday - Stuffed grilled eggplant rolls
Stuffed chicken for hubby
Brown sugar glazed carrots

Monday - Stuffed tomatoes
I'm going to be nice and get a steak for DH! :)
Oven roasted potatoes
Broccoli

Tuesday - Mixed vegetables al forno, couscous
Tuna melts and salad for hubby

Wednesday - Tofu stir-fry, rice
Burger, chips, salad for DH

Thursday - Italian pasta with beans
Pasta with marinara and Italian sausage

Friday - Rajmah and rice
Oven-fried chicken, green beans for DH

Weekly Menu

Here's my all-vegetarian menu for the week of February 10-15 - I'll also post what I'll make for the meat-eater ;)

Sunday - Chunky Vegetable-Bean Soup; Hubby will have chili with beef. I have some cornbread in the freezer which I think will go great with my soup so I'll warm that up, too.

Monday - Tomato and Parmesan Strata, salad, cooked baby carrots. Margarita salmon, salad, carrots for hubby (actually, carrots do not go with that salmon at all! I'll have to come up with plan B).

Tuesday - Cheese enchiladas for me (I'll probably add bell peppers, tomato, etc to fill up with something other than cheese); chicken enchiladas for hubby. Probably a salad with those.

Wednesday - Calzones made with Trader Joe's pizza dough. This will be my first attempt at calzones so I'm excited :) I'm going to make home-made sauce and fill mine with cheese, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Hubby will have pepperoni, cheese, and turkey (shhh! He doesn't have to know it's turkey!) Italian sausage.

Thursday - I'm stealing someone's idea for Valentine's Day dinner :) I'm afraid I didn't write down the name but it was a woman on the Nest. I thought this had to be about the cutest thing ever... Living Room Picnic :) We will have crusty breads, cheeses, some nice deli meats for hubby, grapes, strawberries (I may make some chocolate-covered ones if I'm feeling adventurous), crunchy veggies, and some champagne. I'm also planning a key-lime pie for dessert.

Friday - Cannelloni with salsa verde for me. No clue what hubby will have :) Maybe tacos...