Vegetarian Locavore Menu Plan � September 16 � 22
Meal-planning is an important part of our week. �It allows us to be more prepared and relaxed with regards to our nightly meals and reduces stress. �As locavores it makes eating locally much easier because we take the time to figure out what seasonal foods are available and how we can use them. �If you live in a similar climate (we�re in Southern Ontario, which is a pretty classic upper-midwest climate) then you should sign up for email updates or check out the�facebook�page or�twitter�feed and compare what you�re eating with us!
For me, meal planning is easiest when I look at old meal plans.� This is why it�s so helpful to make a meal plan and keep the plan�I can go back to one year ago and look at what we ate (or planned to eat).� That gives me ideas and soon the creative juices are flowing and I�m getting excited about what great things we�ll be cooking in the week to come.� When I worked as a teacher this would give me something to look forward to on Monday mornings when I might otherwise be a little less than excited about the weekend being over.
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We�ve been busy with lots of apples from a friend with a tree! �Here the assistants are working on sauce.
Since food is such a routine part of the day it seems quite important to take the opportunity to make it not feel routine.� A meal should be anticipated not just because of hunger and necessity but also because it�s a new experience waiting at the end of the day (or in a lunch!).� This is one of the big reasons that we don�t repeat too many meals (although this week includes two classics, Eggplant Parmawesome and Beet Black Beans!).� In any given week there are probably only one or two meals that we will eat that we�ve made before.� It is a bit more work to cook new meals from scratch but it makes the process more of a challenge and more interesting.� Yes, a few of the meals are sort of fails, but most are successes, and a few are amazing!� So now I will stop writing and starting flipping through old meal plans (that are all in this same Word document I�m typing in now) and figure out what we�ll eat this week�.
The plan for September 16-22.� Linking up at Menu Plan Monday.
New Ferment to try making this week to enjoy the following week: Kimchi!
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(Both recipes from The New Moosewood Cookbook) |
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September 16, 2013 @ 8:00 am
Yum, yum, yum! Who needs meat If you eat the way you do, although I�d probably be calling for a liii�ttle bit of crispy bacon by the end of the week. Just saying, just being honest. But I�ve been trying to eat less meat, honest. You should see what I put my family through recently, vegetarian meal with mostly onions. And nobody complained! 🙂
September 16, 2013 @ 8:49 am
Thanks, and I should point out that we do sometimes eat meat. We just try to plan meals without it! And when we do buy it we get local and try to find out as much as we can about how it was raised.
That�s pretty funny about your vegetarian onion meal, I�m glad to hear no one complained, must have been good!
September 16, 2013 @ 9:00 am
You didn�t read my onion post, did you? Shame on you, Jon! 🙂 And shame on me for such blatant self-promotion. Ok, can we just agree that I�ve invited you to check out my onion post and tell me what you think about it? 🙂
September 16, 2013 @ 9:13 am
Haha, well, yes, shame on me. I�m really kind of a bad wordpresser, I will go days without checking things and then try to check a bunch in a whirl�anyways, I�m on my way over your way 🙂
September 16, 2013 @ 11:27 am
Yum! Everything on this menu sounds delicious. Love the adapted names also�. Parm-awesome!!! 🙂 Your assistants� ah, I�d hire them for anything around my house. They look super efficient and fun-loving. I love the fact that they�re going to grow up with such a firm knowledge of food, its origins and nutritional content. Such an awesome job Jon. I�m going to try that beet black bean recipe tomorrow night.
September 16, 2013 @ 5:24 pm
Well, I�m not so sure about the super efficient part� in general things take longer with them, but I�m glad they like helping. And I�m glad you noticed my cheesy name for a delicious cheesy dish 🙂
September 16, 2013 @ 8:15 pm
Lovely blog. Love the vegetarian and local attitude. feel free to use recipes from my blog if you wish.
September 16, 2013 @ 11:16 pm
Thank you, Pratibha.