Meal Planning for June 5-12.
Another nice thing about the morning walks is that they're a good time to handle our meal planning. By the time we got home from this morning's walk, we had most of our meal plan set up; a few things were conditional on what looked good at the farmers market (everything, really). By the end of the farmers market we'd settled that, too. I did forget to pick up fresh basil for the soup, though... oops!
We're not tired of dal yet, surprisingly. Brad pointed out that it was nice with the idli and sambar, but he really missed having it the way I did last time, with hard boiled eggs tucked into it. So we're doing another batch which we'll have with eggs. I'm going to try to learn how to poach eggs for mine, since I don't like them hard-boiled but soft-boiled is kind of a pain to peel. My last attempt at poaching eggs was kind of inept, so we'll see how that works. They do at least store decently, poached. I'm still considering making a preserved sauce that tastes like the dal for sprinkling on eggs, since the tastes go so well together, but that's going to require a lot more energy than I've had lately. We also got some romanesco and summer squash, which will tuck nicely in with the dal. And quinoa, which I still love inordinately. I'm cutting down on grains a bit, since packing dinners ahead and waking up early means that I no longer skip one out of three meals due to being too out of whack to fix myself something to eat, so I want to cut down on calories -- grains both boost the meals and make me tend to want to snack in between meals. But I can still have some, and it also mixes well with yogurt for easy breakfasts.
Today I tried cooking toasted buckwheat groats with a little buttermilk and maple syrup, and that was nice, though I probably should have cooked it a little longer; it was a bit chewy. If I just want an easy fast porridge, rice or quinoa cereal is a lot faster. I should look into other ways to use the kasha as it's mostly been languishing.
I have most of a butternut squash and some leeks that didn't make it into a frittata last week, so that's going to turn into soup. And I have a bunch of lemon thyme for a vinaigrette that I can put on green salads. We just got a lot of ollallieberries and loganberries along with the Rainier cherries, strawberries, and blueberries, so the fruit isn't going to need any prep; it's good all on its own! There are also some lovely apriums; I hope there are more next week because I want to make a little time to freeze or preserve them. They are SO good.
After we're out of dal, I am going to poke through the freezer. There's some frozen spinach lasagna that's near the end of its optimum life, and some chicken giblets I've been meaning to do something with. I'm thinking they'd be good roasted or simmered and then made into a gravy or sauce with lots of mushrooms. Maybe over fresh pasta, vegetables, or a mix of the two? Hmm.
We're not tired of dal yet, surprisingly. Brad pointed out that it was nice with the idli and sambar, but he really missed having it the way I did last time, with hard boiled eggs tucked into it. So we're doing another batch which we'll have with eggs. I'm going to try to learn how to poach eggs for mine, since I don't like them hard-boiled but soft-boiled is kind of a pain to peel. My last attempt at poaching eggs was kind of inept, so we'll see how that works. They do at least store decently, poached. I'm still considering making a preserved sauce that tastes like the dal for sprinkling on eggs, since the tastes go so well together, but that's going to require a lot more energy than I've had lately. We also got some romanesco and summer squash, which will tuck nicely in with the dal. And quinoa, which I still love inordinately. I'm cutting down on grains a bit, since packing dinners ahead and waking up early means that I no longer skip one out of three meals due to being too out of whack to fix myself something to eat, so I want to cut down on calories -- grains both boost the meals and make me tend to want to snack in between meals. But I can still have some, and it also mixes well with yogurt for easy breakfasts.
Today I tried cooking toasted buckwheat groats with a little buttermilk and maple syrup, and that was nice, though I probably should have cooked it a little longer; it was a bit chewy. If I just want an easy fast porridge, rice or quinoa cereal is a lot faster. I should look into other ways to use the kasha as it's mostly been languishing.
I have most of a butternut squash and some leeks that didn't make it into a frittata last week, so that's going to turn into soup. And I have a bunch of lemon thyme for a vinaigrette that I can put on green salads. We just got a lot of ollallieberries and loganberries along with the Rainier cherries, strawberries, and blueberries, so the fruit isn't going to need any prep; it's good all on its own! There are also some lovely apriums; I hope there are more next week because I want to make a little time to freeze or preserve them. They are SO good.
After we're out of dal, I am going to poke through the freezer. There's some frozen spinach lasagna that's near the end of its optimum life, and some chicken giblets I've been meaning to do something with. I'm thinking they'd be good roasted or simmered and then made into a gravy or sauce with lots of mushrooms. Maybe over fresh pasta, vegetables, or a mix of the two? Hmm.