Week 9

I'm looking so forward to our Christmas plans that I'm having a hard time getting these past few weeks planned out. I seem to have it in my head that we don't need to buy anything because we'll be leaving soon. Well, after having to seriously scrounge for food last week, I'm hoping this one goes better. My plan is to have each dinner completely thought out, along with our other meals so that I can go to the store once (always a good thing) and not have too much food left here on Friday that will have to be thrown out. Wish me luck!!


Monday
Veg Enchaladas. Mix chosen veggies (we are using sweet potatoes, gold potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms) with southwest seasoning and olive oil and roast for an hour or until done. Assemble enchaladas with veg and cheese and black beans in tortillas and place in ovenproof dish. Pour a can of veg. green chili sauce over the enchaladas and then top with more cheese. Bake for 20-30 more minutes and enjoy!

Tuesday
Pizza. This is honestly Lincoln's favorite dinner. He's always asking for it and I'm happy to oblige. I make an easy pizza dough and we load it up with veggies, soy pepperoni, and cheese. I'll serve it with a salad or a soup for Scott and I.

Wednesday
Pasta. Scott bought tortalinni at Costco the other day. That with a red sauce, a side salad, and a warm whole wheat baguette should be a perfect, easy dinner.

Thursday
Crispy Gnocchi with Brussel Sprouts, Mushrooms, and toasted walnuts. Trader Joes makes the best frozen gnocchi, it's a regular in our freezer and I love this idea of turning a side dish into a whole meal.
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10843?section=

Shopping List
veggies for pizza
veg. pepperoni
tomato sauce
salad fixings
small baguette
tomato soup
frozen gnocchi
brussel sprouts
cremini mushrooms
southwest seasoning
sweet potatoe
yukon pototoe
carrots
green chili sauce
tortillas
jack cheese

Holiday Baking

Now that I'm not working full time, I have the joy of indulging in all of my holiday baking aspirations! Lucky for Scott and L but bad for our waistlines!!! Since I am also a sucker for the displays at Trader Joes and have been craving a warm, dense gingerbread, their gingerbread mix was the first thing I made in my December bake off.

It was prefect! Exactly what I was craving. Spicy, warm, dark and yummy. Just perfect. I suppose I really should find a recipe and make this from scratch, which I will, but not today!

Next on my to-do list a pistachio and cranberry biscotti. My mom and I used to make this at Christmas time when I was in high school. It's so delicious and colorful. I just need to find a good recipe because I can't remember where we got our old one from.

Week 7

Oh man, I have no plans for this week!! Help!! This might be a week that comes together one day at a time!

Monday

Leftover night! We still have some from Thanksgiving, as well as some other random things that I'm over, get them out of my fridge!!

Tuesday

Mac and Cheese! Scott makes the best with the horrible velveta, but it tastes soooooooooo good. I'm going to try to make my own version!

Wednesday

Who knows, maybe pasta. Maybe not, hopefully by the time Wednesday rolls around, I'll be a little more on top of it!!

Week 6

Yay! It's Thanksgiving week. I can't wait to celebrate with my dad and sister and her new husband. Doesn't get much better! It'll be an easy dinner week too, because of the holiday.
Monday
Pasta, something easy. Whole-wheat pasta with marinara sauce with crumbles added to it. I'll add a salad and maybe some garlic bread.
Tuesday
Grilled fish, or roasted, not sure. Then we'll get in the holiday spirit with some garlic-y mashed potatoes and sauteed kale.

Week 5

This week should be fun because it ends with my dear husbands birthday!

Monday

We are now the proud owners of a GIANT bag of green beans, so you might see them appear a couple of times this week. For tonight, I'm going to defrost and cook a yummy stuffed salmon dish. I'll serve it with a side of steamed green beans with a lemon-y vinaigrette.

Tuesday

Stuffed peppers. We have more to use up from last weeks farmers market, so I'll try something new to stuff them with. Not sure yet, whatev's in the pantry!

Wednesday

Burger night at our house. I'll have a veg and Scott'll have meat. Maybe a side of green bean fries?? Maybe just crisp steamed green beans with something yummy to dip them in.

Thursday

Chili with cornbread. We make it full of beans and tomatoes and chili seasoning from the store. Easy, easy. Then, we use a box of old-fashioned cornbread and make the yummiest combo ever. Just add chopped jalapeno and cheddar cheese to the mix.

Friday

Stuffed shells with veggie crumbles instead of the turkey. Should be good, I'll let you know. I'll just add a green veg, maybe broccoli

Saturday (Scott's birthday!)

I'm going to make these delish sounding Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls to start the day. Dinner will be out at Scott's fav mexican place in Encinitas and then I'm going to make him a yummy birthday cake for after! Maybe this cake.

Sunday

For football Sunday we like something easy. Maybe pizza with homemade tomato soup.

Week 4

This week I'm trying to use up somethings I have in the fridge. No it's not necessarily a left-over week, just trying to use things up before they go bad :).

Monday

Take out Indian from Trader Joe's. I started Lincoln in gym class that gets out at 5:30 on Mondays. That combined with the broncos game on MNF meant that we needed something quick and easy.

Tuesday

Leftovers. I know, not exciting, but it has to happen :)

Wednesday

Salmon with couscous and a green veg. Wednesday is my shopping day so I'll have to see what looks good at the store.

Thursday

Individual Huevos Rancheros that I'm making with corn tortillas that I need to use. I love the individual presentation and how healthy they are (despite the cheese). I'll use store bought salsa to make it even easier.

Friday

Pasta, pasta. Something easy with a homemade red sauce, salad and bread. The perfect dinner for a Friday night!

Saturday

Yummy stuffed peppers, I'll probably add some beans for extra protein. Hmm, with a salad, this will be great.

Sunday

It's supposed to be warm this weekend, so I'm thinking an early Sunday dinner at the beach. I'm going to follow this menu (sans chicken obviously).

Have a great week veg fed families!! What are you making this week?

Week 3

Last week really got away from me and I hardly did any of the dinners I'd planned on making, so...since we have all the ingredients, I'm going to do some of them this week. Sorry for the repetition :)

Monday

Eggplant Pasta - need to use those eggplants ASAP!! Served along with salad and warm, crusty french bread

Tuesday

Butternut Squash Risotto served with broccoli

Wednesday

Homemade pizza

Thursday

Salmon Puff Pastry with Pesto

Friday

Pasta with Red Peppers

Saturday

Roasted Potato and Leek Soup but with veg broth of course!

Sunday

Breakfast - homemade pumpkin bread muffins and a mushroom and spinach crustless quiche

Week 2

We've got a busy week this week, my mom is coming for her fall break and it's Halloween etc, so we're going to do some easy foodtv.com recipes and some even easier takeout!

Monday

Curried Veg Stew with Couscous - we love our curry!

Tuesday

Alton's delish take on eggplant parm. I made this a few weeks ago and Scott and I loved it, the only problem was that the eggplant was too small and the serving sizes were perfect for Lincoln, but way too small for us! Bigger eggplants this time. Served with a salad and fresh crusty bread.

Wednesday

Mango Salmon from food tv with veggies

Thursday

Some sort of fresh grilled fish and Artichoke Gratinata from Giada, yummy!!

Friday

Trader Joe's Frozen night, woohoo! I'll have to see what looks good when I'm doing this weeks shopping.

Saturday

Giada's Butternut Squash and Vanilla Risotto, add a side of something green and we've got dinner! Perfect for Halloween, right?

Sunday

Thali from Trader Joe's, take-out Indian, easy and delish.

That's our week, what's yours?

Week 1

Martha Stewart was signing her new cookbook yesterday at our local Costco, crazy right? Well, my mother-in-law was intown and wanted to see Ms. Stewart in person, so we headed over. Of course, the place was a madhouse! It took us 15 minutes to just find a parking spot, and the line for autographs was crazy. We opted instead for just picking up her new book "Dinners at Home" and taking a few photos of the star, a much less stressful endeavor! So...I'm inspired by my new cookbook and this week's dinners will show that!

Monday

Easy Green Curry with Tofu - SO easy! Just saute some veg (peppers, onions, and mushrooms work great), add a can of light coconut milk and green curry paste to taste (I use about 2 tsb). Add in your tofu and let the whole mixture simmer together to complete yummy-ness! Serve on top of brown rice.

Tuesday

Roasted Pumpkin Soup and Cheese Flautas (from MS D@H)

Wednesday

Grilled Fish and Black-Eyed Pea Salad (from MS D@H)

Thursday

Pesto with whole wheat pasta and cherry tomatoes - such an easy dish that our little guy just loves. This time I'm going to make it with spinach and walnuts (rather than basil and pine nuts), then I add parm cheese and olive oil to get the right consistency. Toss the mixture with hot pasta and add the tomatoes for color!

Friday

Homemade Grilled Pizza - this is a staple at our house. I made a homemade dough from a recipe I love from Sunset Magazine and we all do our own toppings. We usually cook it on the grill because it cooks fast and is yummy! This is something that's so easy for Scott to add his own protein on while I made mine veg!

Saturday

Gratineed Baked Squash Halves (from MS D@H) with a wild rice and bean dish side

Sunday

Watercress-Cauliflower Soup with Braised Fennel and White Beans (from MS D@H)

That's our week, what's yours?

Post 1!

I am part of a new American vegetarian family.  To me this means that while I'm mostly vegetarian (I do eat some fish) and the main cook in our family, my husband eats meat and our son will try just about anything.  Of course I wanted our son to be a veg like myself, but he's so open to trying new things now, that I suppose we should take advantage of it.

Logistically speaking, since I'm the one who cooks, I'm usually making vegetarian dinners.  On occasion, if it's easy, we'll have a 2nd protein for my husband.  If we're grilling, he can grill meat, etc.  

This is a place for me to share my ideas for dinner and for others to do the same.  Each week I'll post what I'll be making for dinner (mostly veg) and I hope that you will too.  Use the comment section to tell me and our followers what you're making, share recipes and we can all make this enormous task of nightly dinner easier for families like ours!