Sunday, January 16, 2011

Meal Plan #3

Still flying high from last night's beautiful Lebanese dinner, I've decided to throw in a few more vegetarian selections this week. Unlike most people, it actually costs more for us to go vegetarian than to eat meat, since our farming relatives tend to keep us in cheap, and often free, meat. But I do try to opt for vegetarian options about half the time (but some weeks are meat-heavy than others).

Tonight we enjoyed Three way garlic pasta with beans and peppers from epicurious.com. I'd made it before in the summer, with new garlic and fresh garden greens, but I discovered tonight that it is just as satisfying in the winter, with its rich garlic flavours and creamy white beans. It's a bit fussy to prepare, with the three preparations for the garlic, but if you do your meal prep before you cook the pasta, it all comes together really quickly. Be prepared for garlic breath, though.

The rest of the week will go something like this:

Monday
Salmon and broccoli chowder (Tin Fish Gourmet)
Biscuits (of some sort...haven't decided yet)

Tuesday
Roast beef (I didn't say meat-free...just less meat this week, and besides, there's a roast in my freezer that's been calling to me)
Roast potatoes, gravy, green peas, salad (I winced today as the grocery bagger at Safeway dumped peppers and sweet potatoes on top of my organic lettuce...best to use it sooner than later, I guess)

Wednesday
Moroccan chickpea stew and couscous

Thursday
Rice-nut loaf (subscribing to the philosophy that vegetarian food can taste as good as meatarian food as long as you add enough cheese or cream—how can a recipe that measures out 3c. of rice to 2 c. of cheddar cheese NOT taste good? By the way, this isn't necessarily my philosophy, but I don't mind enjoying recipes from that tradition every once in a while)
Salad

Friday
Family fun night—Parmesan chicken wings, yam fries, veggie and dip. I think I'm going to make yogurt cheese for the dip, if I can manage this week. There's a recipe for a dip that uses pickles and olives as well as other delicious additions in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian that I hope to make for veggie (and possibly chip) dip.

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