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New meals goal progress over the past month

September 8th, 2017 at 10:29 pm

Wow, I realized I didn't record any progress on this goal since August 3, when I cooked my 36th new meal! It's been a hectic month, but I did manage to try some new recipes, so I'm going through my revision history on my menu Google sheet to remember them all.

Meal #37: spaghetti with tomato sauce and breaded, fried eggplant. We got some of those long, skinny eggplants from our CSA. None of us are huge fans of eggplant so I always try to transform/disguise it. This time I sliced them thin and rolled in soy buttermilk and panko breadcrumbs, and we had them with pasta and red sauce. It was pretty good, considering it was eggplant! Smile

Meal #38: coriander chutney & eggplant sandwich. I had some cilantro from the CSA and hot peppers in our garden, so I made a chutney. Then I ate it in a sandwich for lunch with the rest of the breaded eggplant from dinner. I really liked this, actually!

Meal #39: TVP taco salad. In our attempts to use up the pantry to avoid waste & save money, I played with a bag of TVP (textured vegetable protein). I made taco salad where I usually buy a $4 bag of vegetarian burger crumbles, but instead I spiced up the TVP with fake-beef buillion & Mexican seasonings. I thought the kids would hate so I only gave them about a tablespoon each and put the rest in the grownups' bowls. AA requested more and was disappointed that I didn't have any. I may do this again and make sure there's enough for seconds, now that I know she likes it!

Meal #40: TVP burgers w/frozen corn on the cob. I made another recipe using the rest of the TVP. It also had minced veggies and some vital wheat gluten, as well as Worcestershire sauce & other spices. The flavor was great but I was disappointed they didn't hold together better. We had the burgers with potato salad and corn on the cob. I'd accidentally bought frozen corn on the cob from Instacart a few weeks back, so this was my first attempt using it. Yuck! I couldn't eat more than a couple bites; it was a soggy mess. We have several more packs of it in the freezer, unfortunately. I'm not sure what to do with it. maybe cut it off the cob and puree for a chowder? Any ideas?

Meal #41: Eggplant parmesan sandwiches. We got a large eggplant from the CSA, so I sliced it thin, salted to remove the bitterness, dipped in vegan buttermilk and panko breadcrumbs with Italian seasonings, and pan-fried until the coating was lightly brown and crispy. Then placed the slices on a baking sheet, topped with Italian cheeses (vegan for me), and served on a bun with fresh tomato, sauteed onion and spaghetti sauce. I put it on burger buns because we had a lot to use up. We also had a side of spaghetti aglio olio, which is essentially olive oil, sauteed sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Our neighbors and their friend had dinner with us; no one at the table was a fan of eggplant, but we all finished the sandwich no problem. A pretty good way to use an unpleasant vegetable and not let it go to waste!

Meal #42: Grits & oatmeal bar. One thing I found while eating through the pantry was a container of grits we'd only cooked from once. So it was mostly full. Our downstairs neighbor had once done an oatmeal bar where you could add whatever sweet or savory ingredients to your oatmeal, so I tried that. I cooked a big pot of plain grits, and AS a pot of slightly sweetened oatmeal. Then I put out lots of plates and bottles: sauteed onions, sauteed peppers, chopped-up vegetarian sausage patties, vegetarian bacon, shredded cheese, hot sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, margarine, chocolate syrup. I ended up eating two big bowls of grits with all the savory ingredients; it was delicious but I was stuffed! I loved it but the kids really didn't, so I don't know if I'd go out of my way to do it again.

That's it for now, but I've put three new dishes on this coming week's menu, so I'll make some good progress again soon! But for now it's 42 new meals tried, 8 to go!

1 Responses to “New meals goal progress over the past month”

  1. CB in the City Says:
    1504913434

    I've always loved grits with butter! But it has little nutritional value, so I rarely buy it.

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