Everyday Systems

It's a new week and I'll go grocery shopping tonight (though I should have done it Saturday).

Inspire me with your fabulous, frugal, dElicious menu for the week. Or even you plain old not very exciting menu.

I'd tell you mine but it isn't planned yet.

Mine isn't planned yet, either. That's unusual for me!

Lots of leftover food from Rosh Hashanah.

Pretty standard fare planned for this week. Here's what I have planned for dinner:

M-- Salad (Grilled chicken over baby spinach w/ dried cherries, cubes of sharp cheddar, candied walnuts, apple slices & poppy seed dressing) & fresh baked bread

T -- Corndog casserole (a favorite of DH & kiddo) w/ fresh steamed broccoli

W -- Leftovers

Th -- Breakfast for dinner (Pancakes, maple turkey sauages, fresh fruit)

F -- Homemade pizza w/ cut-up veggies

S & S -- I'm making a big pot of chili with fresh baked bread. We have some daytrips planned so we'll likely eat out for our main meals and have chili as our smaller meal.

Well, this is my first *real* attempt at NoS, but I have not changed my menu, cause there's no reason to

• M - Chicken and Yellow Rice, mixed vegetables
  
  T - Hamburgers, fries, salad
  
  W - Pork Chops, au gratin potatoes, broccoli
  
  Th - Chicken Fajitas, spanish rice, roasted carrots
  
  F - Shrimp Creole, rice, zucchini
  
  S - Home-made Pizza, Salad

I'm looking forward to seeing what other exciting ideas are posted!

Well, I grocery shop on Thursday eveniings so this is what has been on our menu since then:

Friday -homemade steak fajitas, chips
Saturday - stuffed green peppers (very easy to make), mashed potatoes - leftovers on Sunday
Monday - lasagna, garlic bread, salad (I made it last night using the no-boil noodles for the first time and then baked it this evening). It was delicious! I'll never waste time boiling noodles again!
Tuesday - leftover lasagna
Wed. - sad to say, probably leftover lasagna - there's just two of us. I should make it and freeze half.
Thursday - chicken puffs

I cooked a turkey loin, so I'll be having that for a few meals. (I had it tonight.) I have some leftover pork chile verde and some sausages, plus frozen shrimp and frozen tofu with Indian sauce. I don't tend to plan specific meals for specific nights. I just make sure I have protein, starch (right now, I have cooked rye berries, high fiber flatbread, whole grain artisan bread, and high fiber tortillas in the fridge) and fresh and frozen veggies, plus fruit. I keep hot wing sauce, Indian sauces, spaghetti sauce, and creamy dressings around, too. Not quite as fresh and unprocessed as some No S-ers, but it keeps me on track and I love my meals. Plus, I rarely eat the same thing days in a row. I also have Fiber One cereal, cottage cheese, and fabulous European style yogurt from Trader Joe's. I might make pasta one night. Oh, my gosh, how I love my food!

I just finished making out our week's dinner menu so I'll play:

Chicken w/ white wine sauce and seedless grapes
Steamed greens
Sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, salt, slivered fresh basil
bread

Mongolian Beef Stir-fry (beef, green onions, spicy sauce)
Steamed white rice
Cucumber salad
Stir-fried mixed veggies

Chili Dogs (on homemade buns with leftover chili)
Veggies and homemade ranch dip
fruit of choice

Carnitas with flour/corn tortillas and various toppings
cabbage salad
sauteed summer squash
cookies (This is an S day meal)

Easy Pasta (Pasta with easy red sauce or pesto), fresh parmesan
Big leafy salad
fruit

Burgers with the works on homemade buns
Corn on the cob
Tabouli salad
Mississippi Mud Pie (Our second S day)

Huevos Rancheros (Eggs, salsa verde, cheese, corn tortillas)
Refried Beans
Salad
Fruit

Blackened Chicken
Bread
Homemade potato salad or oven fries (depends on if weather is hot or cold)
Sliced tomatoes
Steamed carrots

That's it. Yum. I can hardly wait. NoS is the best. I can't believe how much weight I've lost eating like this....40lbs and still losing....

Vicki,

Your menus have me salivating and I just ate breakfast!

mimi wrote:Well, I grocery shop on Thursday eveniings so this is what has been on our menu since then:

Friday -homemade steak fajitas, chips
Saturday - stuffed green peppers (very easy to make), mashed potatoes - leftovers on Sunday
Monday - lasagna, garlic bread, salad (I made it last night using the no-boil noodles for the first time and then baked it this evening). It was delicious! I'll never waste time boiling noodles again!
Tuesday - leftover lasagna
Wed. - sad to say, probably leftover lasagna - there's just two of us. I should make it and freeze half.
Thursday - chicken puffs

Mimi, this is so humiliating to admit but when I was a young new wife w/ no idea how to cook (thanks, Mom) I just put the noodles into my lasagna uncooked. It turned out great and I've been doing that since then. That was well b/f the no-boil noodles were invented. I just use regular lasagna noodles. Turns out great!

Eileen7316 wrote:Well, this is my first *real* attempt at NoS, but I have not changed my menu, cause there's no reason to

Where's that happy dance emoticon when you need it? Gotta love that about No S.

mimi wrote: Wed. - sad to say, probably leftover lasagna - there's just two of us. I should make it and freeze half.

Or cook smaller amounts. I usually cook for just myself and make small batches of many, many dishes.

I only know what I'm making for the next couple days, because I belong to a CSA and get my produce box every Thursday (usually after I get the box, I make a meal plan for the week to ensure all the veggies get used up).

Tonight, we're having buckwheat noodles with eggplant, peppers, bok choy, tofu, and miso-tahini sauce.

Tomorrow, we're having black bean burgers with avocado and sauteed peppers plus an arugula salad.

All week for lunch we've been having a cold barley salad with pesto, chopped tomatoes, and chopped olives.

Sounds like someone is following a macrobiotic program. That's where I learned to cook grains and veggies. Invaluable! Though I don't adhere to the plan.

oolala53 wrote:Sounds like someone is following a macrobiotic program. That's where I learned to cook grains and veggies. Invaluable! Though I don't adhere to the plan.

Who, me =) ? I'm a vegetarian and my husband is vegan, but we don't consciously follow a macrobiotic diet. Since I cook almost exclusively vegan at home (and the meals are based on whole foods rather than processed veg products), our food tends to naturally lean pretty macro. We're certainly not opposed to eating foods with refined flour or sugar, but usually only have it if we're dining out.

Last summer Mark Bittman did a segment on The Today Show called 5 ingredients, 10 meals. There was a companion piece on the Well blog called The 10 Ingredient Shopping Trip.

I tried that and spent less on groceries than usual, but I did have chicken, shrimp and bacon in the refrigerator or freezer. I came up with a second week's worth of meals.

I'm thinking of trying that again -- start with a couple of things I want to make and then see how many more meals I can make using the same basic ingredients.

I have his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook and use it often. I like his approach: down-to-earth, everyday cooking. Sometimes I want something more exciting but that's a great one for everyday and for learning to use unfamiliar foods.

I also like his idea . . . not original with him, I'm sure . . . of having a stocked pantry and then buying the spotlight or main foods by the week as he did in the vid you linked. I dont' really live that way, though. I tend to make a menu for the week and then buy what I need to cook it. Dreadfully, if I miss shopping day, there isnt' much to eat until I get to the store. This leads to eating out and meals out of whack.

I wonder what it would be like. I do think a well stocked a.n.d. o.g.a.n.i.z.e.d. pantry is attractive.

Do you do that?

I think my Bitman book has lists for a well stocked pantry. I'm going to give this some thought. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Urban Ranger wrote:I have his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook and use it often. I like his approach: down-to-earth, everyday cooking. Sometimes I want something more exciting but that's a great one for everyday and for learning to use unfamiliar foods.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks! A lot of the recipes are very basic, but I think that's really good, because he shows you how to do them right. I feel like a lot of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks don't talk much about basic cooking technique or know-how, just load you up with faux burgers and creamy sauces (minus the dairy) and whatever else. At the same time, though, Bittman's book does offer a lot of creative variations (I think, for instance, he's got a basic falafel recipe and then 3 or 4 different options). Also, I love his lists--like, 20 ways to top a baked potato or 15 grain salad ideas. He's just great!

Urban Ranger wrote:I have his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook and use it often. I like his approach: down-to-earth, everyday cooking. Sometimes I want something more exciting but that's a great one for everyday and for learning to use unfamiliar foods.

I also like his idea . . . not original with him, I'm sure . . . of having a stocked pantry and then buying the spotlight or main foods by the week as he did in the vid you linked. I dont' really live that way, though. I tend to make a menu for the week and then buy what I need to cook it. Dreadfully, if I miss shopping day, there isnt' much to eat until I get to the store. This leads to eating out and meals out of whack.

I wonder what it would be like. I do think a well stocked a.n.d. o.g.a.n.i.z.e.d. pantry is attractive.

Do you do that?

I think my Bitman book has lists for a well stocked pantry. I'm going to give this some thought. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Well, I can't say my pantry is well-organized, but it is well stocked -- for me.

I've been cutting out the things I use only infrequently. I think my pantry probably has about half of what it did six months ago, but I'm still eating very well. I realized that I cook mostly the foods I grew up eating (or wish I had -- but that's another story) and foods from the Mediterranean -- mostly Italian. So the basics for those are always on hand. I keep minimal ingredients for Tex-Mex/Mexican and Asian foods and I use them less frequently.

The thing I most liked about Bittman's idea is that it made me think about the "special" ingredients I might buy, especially those I can't buy in small quantities, so I have a plan for using them before they spoil.

marygrace wrote:[ At the same time, though, Bittman's book does offer a lot of creative variations (I think, for instance, he's got a basic falafel recipe and then 3 or 4 different options). Also, I love his lists--like, 20 ways to top a baked potato or 15 grain salad ideas. He's just great!

Indeed, this is my favorite aspect of his book. I like to make one main ingredient and then have it several different ways over the course of the week. For example, on Monday we might have Adzuki beans, kale and carmelized onions, cornbread. Wednesday, we could add it to zuppa de pasta e fagioli and on the weekend, enchiladas. That uses up the beans I cooked monday and cuts way down on my daily cooking time.

I really like those different use ideas or ways to use this recipe as a filling for that or that recipe a topping for this. I use a lot of his ideas for that kind of thing.

I'm making his Kale Pie (I know but it's my daughter's favorite veggie) tonight -- using my own all-purpose flour made with whole spelt, salt, and baking powder. Hope it's as good as my girl thinks it sounds!

For you Bittman fans -- here's a sneak preview of his new cookbook and here's more info about The Food Matters Cookbook, based on Food Matters.

Urban Ranger wrote:
Mimi, this is so humiliating to admit but when I was a young new wife w/ no idea how to cook (thanks, Mom) I just put the noodles into my lasagna uncooked. It turned out great and I've been doing that since then. That was well b/f the no-boil noodles were invented. I just use regular lasagna noodles. Turns out great!

Well, I'll be! I will try that next time! Those no-boil noodles are way more expensive than the regular ones! Thanks Urban Ranger. That's twice today you've come to my rescue! You can read about the other time on my thread!

Mimi

wosnes wrote:For you Bittman fans -- here's a sneak preview of his new cookbook and here's more info about The Food Matters Cookbook, based on Food Matters.

Woah, this recipe (minus the shrimp, for me) looks DELICIOUS. I'm going to try it this week. Thanks!

Also, I'm curious for others who like Mark Bittman: What do you think about his "vegan during the day" approach to food? I don't necessarily think it's the perfect answer to help people lose weight (though it may help), but I do like it from an environmental perspective. I think it helps reintroduce the idea to Americans that it's not sustainable to put meat at the center of the plate for most or all meals.

marygrace wrote:
Also, I'm curious for others who like Mark Bittman: What do you think about his "vegan during the day" approach to food? I don't necessarily think it's the perfect answer to help people lose weight (though it may help), but I do like it from an environmental perspective. I think it helps reintroduce the idea to Americans that it's not sustainable to put meat at the center of the plate for most or all meals.

I like it, but I've been doing it about 10 years, before it was a glimmer in Bittman's eye, mostly for reasons of health. I do concentrate more on vegetables, fruits and beans rather than grains, but only because I'm not a fan of whole grains. I just don't like them, but they don't seem to like me, either. I feel much better eating refined grains!

I think it would be a great help with weight loss (especially if one pays attention to portion control!) only because plant foods tend to be less calorie dense than animal foods. However I think when people eat vegan meals they tend to eat more than a serving of grains. So, even though it's less calorie dense, they may eat more of it. And they still often don't eat much in the way of vegetables.

I was doing great on No S until I went away for a 5-day meditation retreat where we ate mostly vegan meals, which I had done before, but I hadn't been on No S and was a raging sugar binger. I came back and had sugar cravings that wobbled on and off through the summer. I've tried vegetarianism at various times in my life, and even learned to cook macrobiotic, but nothing replaces the feeling of satisfaction I get from having about 3 oz. of animal protein (+ a whole grain or beans and a veggie + fruit) a couple of times a day, not just at the meal, but for the hours afterward. I do feel bad that it takes up so much energy to produce, but I don't see a way around it for now. And evolution certainly supports humans as omnivores notwithstanding a few inadvertant exceptions.

Didn't mean to abscond the thread. Had a simple dinner of bacon and lettuce sandwiches with a side of sauteed chard and onions last night. Scrumptious!

Saturday's dinner was BBQ ribs and sweet potato fries.

Sunday's dinner was soup. Started with stock from BBQ beef ribs, added some of the leftover sweet potato fries, kale, onions, mushrooms, a dab of apple cider vinegar and a dad of brown sugar.

Tonight will be grilled lamb chops with garlic butter, guacamole, and white rice.

Tuesday's Dinner: out to eat

Wednesday: Chili con carne, White Rice, big green salad

Thursday: Salmon with Cilantro Pesto, Sauteed kale with pine nuts and raisins

Joy

I'm glad I stumbled onto this thread! I am NOT the most creative at coming up with dinner ideas. I'll try out Mark Bittman's idea on using 10 ingredients to come up with 5 meals and see how that goes for me.
Tonight's dinner was leftover Chinese food. I'm not sure what tomorrow's dinner will be yet.

Here are my main dishes from last Thursday (shopping day) through tomorrow:

Thursday: Quick Enchilada Casserole (hominy, cheese, chili, cheese -- layered and baked)

Friday: ate out, at Famous Dave's

Saturday:ziti with olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh basil, grated Parmesan

Sunday: finished up several days' worth of leftovers in the fridge

Monday: omelet (eggs stirred with milk, chopped fresh tomato, chopped green onions, basil, feta cheese)

Tuesday: Chicken & Rice (Uncle Ben's Wild Rice mix, cream of mushroom soup, cooked diced chicken breast)

Wednesday: Southwest Corn (ground turkey, corn, taco sauce, chopped onion)

Jan, that Southwest Corn sounds good!

Here's more from Bittman's new book.

Mon: On the road to see my son's JV football game
Tues: Hamburgers/polish sausage
Wed: Stew
Thurs: Either tacos or baked mac n cheese. Depends.
Fri: Varsity Football. DH might be out of town. DS will be playing football. I might have spinach/mushroom pizza (frozen) and a salad.