The Food Formula

It's that time again! The beginning of another month marks the beginning of yet another cycle of food. I'm really enjoying my vegetarian trek, but for some reason I'm still struggling with meal ideas (even though I look them up all the time). Thus, I decided to create a food formula for the month of September, which essentially means that each day of the week has a pre-planned type of food I'm going to make. I know there are many people out there who do this, so I've decided to try it this month and see how it works for us. Here is what I figured out:

Monday: Soup!! It's September and that's good enough for me in terms of "colder weather" approaching. I like to make soup on Monday's because it's an easy meal that I can start early in the day and let it sit until dinner time. Also, no two soups are ever alike.

Tuesday: Rice and beans: the perfect protein. There are plenty of ways to prepare rice and beans, but my favorites are the bean sautee that I make and black bean soft tacos with Spanish rice. Mmm. (Please note that the black bean link actually goes to the homemade tortilla recipe, but you can see the other stuff in the background.)

Wednesday: Stir fry. Throw a bunch of veggies in a pot, add some soy sauce or other Asian things, toss in some noodles or serve over rice...done!

Thursday: Pasta. You can't go wrong with pasta, really. And now that I have a bread maker, I can make homemade garlic filled bread goodness to go with it. :)

Friday: Veggies Galore! I love roasting a couple trays of veggies and just chowing down on all of them. I also love steaming a whole bunch and sauteeing another bunch, throwing in some sort of grain and going for the gold.

Saturday: Wild card. I think Saturday is a good day for pizza, but I don't really like to have pizza every week. We can alternate between homemade and restaurant bought and therefore can change up our topping choices to make it even better. If we don't do pizza, we'll find something else equally as pleasurable.

Sunday: Homestyle. I like the tradition of a big Sunday dinner, but I don't always get to do it. I'm hoping to keep that tradition up this month by making things like lentil meatloaf and the occasional baked fish complete with all the trimmings.

Do you follow any sort of formula for your weekly or monthly meal plans? Do you think it will work? ;)

This Week's Menu

Ahh, August. A time of...new beginnings? Changes? Sure, why not.

I decided (for a number of reasons) to eat entirely vegetarian for the month of August. However, I'm currently struggling with an entire month's worth of vegetarian meals because, well, I don't have a huge vegetarian repertoire. Thus, you're getting a week of food right now and maybe I'll give you another week next Monday.

Monday, 8/1: Greens sauteed with garlic and olive oil, rice and salad.
Tuesday, 8/2: Grilled fish, potato salad and broccoli.
Wednesday, 8/3: Bean sautee over rice.
Thursday, 8/4: Stir fried veggies over rice noodles.
Friday, 8/5: Lentil and barley shepherd's pie (cause I didn't make it last week).
Saturday, 8/6: Polenta and salad.
Sunday, 8/7: Curried beans over rice.

What are you making this week? Any exciting ideas for me?

Monthly Meal Plan - July

Somehow, it feels like I just did this, yet here I am again writing the meals for an entire month. This time of year just goes by so quickly! I really enjoyed having my monthly meal plan last month because it helped me to only get the things I needed at the grocery store and also prevented me from having to think too much about what was for dinner. I might not always stick to it, but having it up on my fridge is a really big help!

July 1 - Naan pizza, salad.
July 3 - Baked Pasta (probably Quinoa pasta), salad, garlic bread. (because I'll have leftover cheese.)
July 4 - Hot dogs/hamburgers, potato salad?
July 5 - Lentil ragout, broccoli.

Heidi kept asking me to draw random things.

July 6 - Cilantro Lime Noodles with Shrimp.
July 7 - Big salad with chicken.
July 8 - Sauteed greens with beans and rice.
July 11 - Fish (probably flounder),  pilaf, salad
July 12 - Homemade wimpies, fries, cole slaw.
July 13 - Three bean chili (from freezer) over rice, salad.
July 14 - Stir fry with noodles.
July 15 - Oven puttanesca sauce over something...
July 18 - Curry over rice.
July 19 - Eggplant pizzas.
July 20 - Beef stir fry with bell pepper, carrots and snow peas over brown rice
July 21 - Pasta, salad, garlic bread.
July 22 - Fish, vegetable, potatoes
July 25 - Dim Sum (Going out on a limb!)
July 26 - Jambalaya
July 27 - Pad Thai (Another limb!)
July 28 - Fajitas, Spanish rice
July 29 - Vegetarian Shepard's Pie

Monthly Meal Plan

Inspired by Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama, I decided to take the plunge and make a meal plan for the entire month of June (with the exception of weekends because they're always weird). Thanks to this handy list, I can look at a week ahead of time and know what I need to shop for based on what I've already decided we're having. Yeah, well, we'll see how well this works out...

June 1: Oven fried cod, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli
June 2: Pasta and bean salad (I made that up.)
June 3: Chicken Pot Pie
June 4: Wings (I know this because we'll have company.)
June 6: Spanish Beef and Rice, salad
June 7: Koushari
June 8: Curry with rice (in some form)
June 9: Fish, baked potatoes, vegetable (Hey, it makes sense.)
June 10: Pasta, salad, garlic bread
June 13: Homemade veggie burgers (never made them before), homemade french fries, kale chips, salad
June 14: Stir fry over noodles
June 15: Spanish rice, Homemade tortillas, "Mexican" black bean mixture
June 16: Shrimp scampi
June 17: Hot dogs, Sauerkraut, Mashed Potatoes, Salad
June 20: Rotisserie Chicken, Rice Pilaf, Green Beans (On Monday's Whole Foods has a fantastic a.k.a. antibiotic/hormone free chicken for $7!)
June 21: Roasted Veggies, which may include potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions, brussel sprouts, asparagus
June 22: Bean sautee over rice
June 23: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, salad
June 24: Salmon, Barley Pilaf, Artichokes?
June 27: Pasta, salad
June 28: Steak, asparagus, homemade french fries
June 29: Oven rice and lentil pilaf, salad
June 30: Curry over rice (in another form.)

Of course this is subject to change, but it is a nice thought to think I won't have to think about dinner for a while, yes?