Bean Burritos and Salad

Date: 03/28/2011
Cook:  Jen C.
Menu:  Bean Burritos and Salad

Bean burritos and salad: simple and delightful.  My son chose not to eat the beans.  Or the rice.  He just wanted a salad burrito.  Which, you know...ok.  Last I knew, he didn't like tortillas so lets just say I know when to zip my lip.  I didn't just fall off the parenting turnip wheelbarrow.

Some of us had a salad burrito

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry and Green Salad

The week before last, I was really out of commission and emailed my meal groupers to let them know that I couldn't make my usual Thursday meal.  Flexible as ever, they responded, "no problem!!" and were content to let it go.  However, I wanted to do a make up because it is what felt right to me-- not a huge meal but something light that if they wanted to augment they easily could.  The meals that they delivered that week were really important- and delicious.

I'd thought of doing beans and rice, which I have kind of had a craving for lately, nothing fancy, just plain old black beans and white rice with salsa (a meal I ate almost daily in law school, along with many other of my fellow SALDFers).  I digress.  I ended up making Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry from Veganomicon.  Check out the link for some awesome photos not taken by me of the meal coming together.

I made a few changes (more veggies, different pepper, a bit of apple juice in with the pineapple juice while cooking the quinoa) and the few bites I had I thought were really nice albeit a touch bland.  I gave a bowl of it to my kid, who picked out the broccoli, and the rest went to my meal group, along with a simple green salad with vinaigrette.

Sloppy Lentils, SUPER Red Soup and Kale Chips

Date: 03/21/2011
Cook:  Jen C.
Menu:  Sloppy Lentils, Six-Shades-of-Red Soup and Kale Chips

Jen dropped this delicious meal by and we eagerly dished it up.  I'd been eying the Six-Shades-of-Red Soup from Color Me Vegan and it was really nice.  I also loved the lentil sloppy joes.......mmmmmm......but I must say-- the most surprising thing was the quantity of kale chips that my kid sucked down.  I've made kale chips before but they were roundly ignored.  Funny how that works.

Baked Spicy Orange Ginger Tofu, Mac & Shews and Avocado Salad

Date: 03/17/2011
Cook:  Jen G.
Menu: Baked Spicy Orange Ginger Tofu, Mac & Shews, Avocado Salad; Chocolate Cake with Mint Frosting

I was craving comfort food and had heard many good things about Mac and Shews, so I decided to try my hand at it.  Not familiar with it?  Its basically mac and cheese in which the creamy sauce is a fabulous combination of soaked cashews, lightly sauteed onions and garlic and a roux.  It was very very good.  It is definitively not sauerkrauty, though making this DID serve as a reminder to me that around minute 7 of making a roux, I generally begin thinking to myself that I might have something better to do with my time than push grease and flour around a pan for 15 minutes of my life.  But I persevered.  I saw later in the comments to the recipe that someone had added truffle oil to theirs and that sounds like it would be delicious.  I added boring old spinach to mine.

I wanted to make some tofu, too, and I chose Orange Ginger Baked Tofu.  The marinade made a lot of sauce and I ended up baking it for WAY more time than it called for--like maybe by an hour.  I also added some chili oil to make it spicier (which definitely occurred!).  I thought that it was really delicious.

I wanted a nice blob of green on everyone's plates -- it WAS St. Patrick's Day after all -- so I crafted an avocado salad very similar to the one found here.  My parents had generously brought us two boxes of gorgeous looking and tasting avocados recently so I was happy to make such a delicious salad.

For dessert, I baked a wacky cake and sent small containers of green mint frosting (the frost-yer-own situation was because the cake hadn't entirely cooled when it was time to deliver).

My son and I hopped on our bikes to deliver this meal and it was really pleasant as it was a very pretty and warm early spring evening.  It felt lovely to be pedaling dinner to people we appreciate.

Root Veggie Dal With Brown Rice, Butternut Squash Soup, Green and Fruit Salads

Stef leaves us a thoughtful, delightful note in our deliveries!

Date: 03/16/2011
Cook:  Stefanie
Menu: See note above!

Stefanie is becoming known in my household for some hardcore delicious and really healthy meals.  I loved her dal, and her salads are fabulous. 

I'm not the only one in my family who loves her food.

A young child eats salad voraciously, soon to move on to the rest of the meal.

Baked Beans, Cauliflower Millet Mash, Cabbage Rolls

Date: 03/14/2011
Cook:  Jen C.
Menu: Baked Beans, Cauliflower Millet Mash, Cabbage Rolls Stuffed with Kasha and Dried Cherries- topped with Asian Onion Sauce


Thank you Jen C. for such a filling, nourishing meal.  It was so delicious, and we had leftovers the next day that tasted even better!  I loved that the cabbage rolls were done with purple cabbage.

Nourishing Late Winter Meal

Date: 03/09/2011
Cook:  Stefanie
Menu: Mung beans, kasha with mushrooms and peas, sprouted lentil salad and fresh fruit salad

I sprouted mung beans and lentils! The mung beans were sauteed with bok choy, garlic and ginger.

Salad was mixed lettuces, sprouted lentils, chopped sweet red pepper and celery with seasoned asian vinegar and a touch of olive oil.

The grain was kasha with shitake mushrooms and peas and dessert was fresh tropical fruit: pinapple, orange and mango.