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Back from vacation; menu planning

February 22nd, 2014 at 11:07 pm

We're back! Overall we had a wonderful time. Puerto Rico is really nice. I tried to track expenses the whole time so we knew when to pull back on spending. It worked -- looks like we only went over budget by $8! I'll pay that in with my spending money, no problem.

The one thing that wasn't great is that it's not a very vegetarian-friendly culture. They tend to put a bit of pork in everything, even the plantains, beans and rice. We did find one vegetarian-friendly restaurant, a nice smoothie cafe and a few other places to eat. But I think if we go back, we'll try to rent a condo or some kind of accommodation that includes a kitchen. I would've liked to make my own vegan spin on the yummy Puerto Rican dishes I couldn't try! (You'll notice we're attempting a vegan PR feast this week.)

Needless to say, I'm glad to get back to home-cooked meals. We would've been a bit over budget on groceries, but we had money left from last week since we didn't do a full shopping trip before our trip!

Saturday lunch: creamy sun-dried tomato pasta

Saturday dinner: sesame tofu with rice & broc

Sunday lunch: mashed potatoes, carrots, corn, veg burgers/chix nuggets

Sunday dinner: mamposteao, lemon achiote tofu, mofongo

Monday: mushroom lentil bourgignon w/roasted potatoes & carrots

Tuesday: BLATs (veggie BLTs plus avocado) & roasted cauliflower

Wednesday: parsley breadcrumb pasta & salad

Thursday: Southern fried tofu, waffles & broccoli

Friday: franks & beans & salad

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Back from vacation; menu planning”

  1. Buendia Says:
    February 22nd, 2014 at 11:15 pm 1393110928
    1393110928

    I'm coming to your house for dinner! What do you put in the sundried tomato pasta? The mushroom lentil bourignon sounds so good, too! Your mention of achiote reminds me of a dish I used to make... might put that back in rotation...

    Mostly I'm commenting to ask you to please post photos of Puerto Rico - that's somewhere I've always wanted to go!

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    February 23rd, 2014 at 12:00 am 1393113623
    1393113623

    I had to ask NT about the pasta -- he said no recipe, he blends about 1/4 of sun-dried tomatoes and 1/2 cup almonds, and adds various Italian spices. It was super good!

    We just found the bourgignon recipe, so this will be our first time to try it: treehugger .com/easy-vegetarian-recipes/mushroom-lentil-bourguignon.html

    Good idea! We didn't get a ton of photos, too busy relaxing or playing with the kids, but I'll post a few. I stayed close to the resort most of the time, but NT visited Old San Juan and a couple of forts from when Spain controlled the island.

  3. NJDebbie Says:
    February 23rd, 2014 at 02:42 am 1393123362
    1393123362

    CeeJay, I happened to grow up in Puerto Rico and you are absolutely correct that pork is one of the main meat staple in the island. You can actually prepare beans, "mofongo" (mashed plantains) and yellow rice without using pork. I can tell you how to make the "sofrito", the base for most Puerto Rican food. Sofrito is what gives Puerto Rican food a very distinct flavor. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay there.

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    February 23rd, 2014 at 05:21 am 1393132883
    1393132883

    I'd love to hear your preparation of sofrito! I did try mofongo that I suspected had meat in it, and it was really good. Then we had mamposteao and mashed yautia at the veg-friendly restaurant and loved those.

  5. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    February 24th, 2014 at 02:02 am 1393207345
    1393207345

    Glad you all had a good time!

  6. PNW Mom Says:
    February 25th, 2014 at 02:40 pm 1393339215
    1393339215

    We stopped there once on a cruise back in 1994 and toured an old fort....we will be spending the night there in April as our cruise goes out of San Juan. Unfortunately, we will not have time for any exploring....we get in at 9:30pm and have to check out of our hotel the next day by noon....glad you enjoyed your vacation!

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