Menu Plan for week of August 8, 2010

This is part of the Gluten Free Menu Swap, hosted by Heather of Celiac Family this week. Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness has the details for the swap.

All of the sudden summer has become really busy, especially with Jon's birthday coming up.  We have lots of great meals out in the next 5 weeks, so I'm trying to plan more vegetarian meals at home.

Not related but I updated my blog to link to my food photo albums from the last three years.  We photograph a lot of meals that I never blog about.

SUNDAY
California-style okonomiyaki,  sauteed padron peppers and cherry tomatoes, peach crisp

Substitute grated zucchini for the leek and add a little bit of finely minced onion.

I used just a little bit of mayo mixed with sriracha as a dipping sauce.  It was wonderful.  I think it'd be great to mix the sriracha with sour cream instead and use that.  The okonomiyaki is a bit bland otherwise.

101 Cookbook's version is more like a potato cake than okonomiyaki but I still like it very much. Most any gluten free flour blend is fine.  I don't bother to add any xanthan gum.

MONDAY
Baingan bharta, rice, quick pickled cucumber

Freeze leftovers.

TUESDAY
out to dinner at Doña Maria

WEDNESDAY
macaroni and cheese, boiled broccoli

Halve the recipe for mac 'n' cheese.  Make in indvidual ramekins.

THURSDAY
tamale pie

Do it as leftovers remake: Use the Italian pork, rinsed and shredded and black bean from the black bean chili, drained.   Maybe add some frozen corn and/or cooked onion and garlic.  Top with skillet cornbread.

We weren't thrilled with the vague orange-y flavor of the pork or the soupy-ness of the black bean chili, so we haven't really wanted to eat the leftovers.  This will hopefully make them more appealing.

Menu Plan for the week of August 1, 2010

This is part of the Gluten Free Menu Swap, hosted by Wendy of Celiacs in the House this week. Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness has the details for the swap.

I'm very torn at the moment: The farmers markets are stuffed with the most gorgeous summer produce and I want to buy it all. At the same time I'm feeling really busy in the rest of my life and not wanting to do lots of cooking. So I'm trying not to be too ambitious in our menu plan, instead making more repeats and things that require little or no recipe.

We're off to a good start this week: we made Jon's dad's baked beans for the first time and they were so good and summery, especially with the coleslaw. It's been a relatively cool summer in the Bay Area this year, but at least we can still eat this and dream of hotter days.

SUNDAY
hot dogs, Jon's dad's baked beans, coleslaw (the mayo version)

MONDAY
Grilled summer veggie and chickpea salad
We made this two weeks ago and loved it!  Post coming later this week.

Make the okra nuggets for Thursday and freeze, uncooked.  I've been reading that okra only stores well for a couple days so this seems like a good way to simplify prep later in the week and have the best flavor.  I've only recently discovered that I like okra, but it is great!

Grill extra eggplant for the pesto.

WEDNESDAY
Pesto (make a large batch) with pasta, grilled chicken, thin zucchini slices (like noodles), and eggplant

We learned the hard way that pesto only works in our food processor if we make a large batch.  It's actually pretty awesome because we freeze the extra and it makes future dinners super simple. No recipe for this one--well, I think Jon might use a recipe from Saveur Cooks Authetic Italian for the pesto.

Use the eggplant grilled the night before.  Reheat so that it absorbs flavors better.

THURSDAY
Grilled steak, crash hot potatoes, baked okra nuggets

I didn't plan this so well since both the potatoes and okra need the oven. I may try making the okra in our toaster oven.  We'll see.

We're a huge fan of the crash hot potatoes: they get super crispy on the outside.

FRIDAY
tom yum soup with leftover vegetables (zucchini, Asian greens, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi)

We don't follow the recipe exactly. We make a much smaller amount, used chopped serrano chilis, substitute lime peel for the kaffir lime leaves, and end up using whatever vegetables we have on hand.  We try to make this only with homemade chicken stock.


We also have a bunch of strawberries and peaches that I couldn't resist.  Some we'll eat for dessert and the rest I'd love to turn into a cobbler.  I'll probably end up too lazy and instead just cut them up and freeze them for smoothies in the near future.

I also bought a bunch of zucchini with hopes of make zucchini bread.  That project will wait for Saturday morning.

And I just borrowed Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz from the library and am dying to make amaretti.  I think they'd be perfect with all this summer fruit.  But we'll see.  I guess I just can't resist cooking...

Menu Plan for week of July 18, 2010

We've been doing a lot of complicated cooking lately, so I'm keeping it pretty simple this week--mostly salads and leftovers.  It's also my birthday this week, so I want to leave plenty of time and energy to bake a cake.  I thought this year I'd try to bake an angel food cake as I am huge fan and it seems like it should convert fairly well to gluten free.  Last year I made tiramisu (pictured above), even making my own lady fingers.  There may have been a few tears involved. :)

This is part of Menu Plan Mondays, hosted by Beyond Rice and Tofu this week.  The theme this week is cucumbers which I love but we aren't really eating this week except in a salad.  Oddly enough my identical twin sister hates them--one of the few food tastes we don't share.  I especially love them stir-fried, in salads, and quick pickled as is often done in Japanese and other Asian cuisines like Thai and Vietnamese.  


Here's our plan for this week:

BAKE: angel food cake, sour cream coffee cake
We have a lot of Mexican crema and Pamela's baking mix to use up, so the sour cream coffee cake from A Year of Slow Cooking sounds intriguing.  I might just bake it in our oven, though.  I've borrowed her cookbook from the library and it has the full recipe.

Angel food cake: try Hey That Tastes Good or Gluten Free Mommy versions.

SUNDAY
grilled shrimp, Caprese salad, cornbread

MONDAY
grilled salad with chickpeas, cornbread?
salad:

1. Grill corn, eggplant, and summer squash (probably patty pan) and then cut into dice.
2. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas.
3. Halve some cherry tomatoes and cut up half an avocado.
4. Make a lemon or red wine vinaigrette.
5. Mix everything together.

TUESDAY
My birthday :)
Hawaiian gluten free pizza from Z pizza, homemade green salad, homemade angel food cake

green salad: baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell pepper with a red wine vinaigrette.

WEDNESDAY
chicken adobo, rice, green beans

THURSDAY
Doña Maria (out for our favorite Mexican food)

FRIDAY

leftovers OR black beans and rice OR quesadillas, leftover veg

I'll end up with leftover cakes and whole milk mozzarella cheese to use up.

Menu Plan for week of July 11, 2010

This is part of Menu Plan Mondays, hosted by Celiac Family this week. Here's what we're cooking this week:

To bake: granola bars from Smitten Kitchen, substituting ground flax for the wheat germ and using certified gluten-free oats.  I use dried cranberries for the fruit and a mix of almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds for the nuts.

SUNDAY
Jon's pork loin, grilled corn and arugula salad, brown rice pilaf, cut up perfectly ripe Santa Rosa plums

salad: How to Pick a Peach p. 137

pilaf:  How to Cook Everything's Brown rice and cashew pilaf, substituting almonds for the cashews, using bouillon with the water and skipping any herbs. 

MONDAY
Sichuan style eggplant, rice
Eggplant doesn't last long in the fridge so we want to make this early in the week.  I found some gluten free Chinese bean sauce that we'll use in lieu of the bean paste.

TUESDAY Yesmir wat (lentil stew), gujerati green beans, rice

We have leftover infused ghee from making doro wat a couple weeks ago.   

green beans: Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking p. 87.  It's a quick, tasty way to cook green beans.

WEDNESDAYout

THURSDAY

pasta with meat sauce, broccoli
We use leftover jarred sauce with some cooked ground meat added to it and my favorite gluten free corn pasta by Le Veneziane.  It's fast and really easy.


FRIDAY
out or leftover frozen black bean soup with cornbread