Once again I have several recipes left from last week’s meal plan. Which is good because I’m pretty exhausted and this definitely saves me some effort in the planning department. Also, providentially, a lot of what is coming in this week’s CSA box fits perfectly into the remaining meals from last week!
Why do I have so many meals still unmade from last week? It was a busy week with both a lot of stuff going on and a pretty high level of fatigue. I did make the Nicoise salad (that was a pretty funny experience – the salad already lacked the tuna, of course, but, due to the tastes of the person I was making it for, his batch also did not include capers, Nicoise olives, or anchovy paste (which I still have in the fridge from the old days). So, pretty much a green bean and potato salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil! He liked it, though, so hey, whatever works.) as well as the pasta with caramelized fennel and zucchini. The pasta was pretty good, but whatever fantasy experience I had been expecting from “caramelized fennel” totally didn’t come through and I won’t be making that recipe again. I eat pasta so rarely that it might as well totally knock my socks off when I do. Now I need another way to use up fennel when it comes in my box, though, besides roasting it, which is awesome.
Edamame, Corn, and Tofu Succotash from last week's menu
I also ended up making the Edamame, Corn, and Tofu Succotash, which is one of my favorite easy go-to recipes. I went out to the store on a drizzly Sunday afternoon to buy stuff for the recipe and got so distracted by other shopping that I forgot to buy smoked tofu, which is one of the two ingredients I left the house in search of! So I ended up broiling my own tofu with Liquid Smoke. It turned out great, but it was pretty silly to turn a quick, simple recipe into a “make your own ingredients” one.
There was also a totally unexpected cooking adventure this week. One of my best friends (and fellow vegan) came over this weekend and we ended up talking all night and drinking rum-and-ginger-beers. This led to a desire to make rum cake, which ultimately seemed impossible to make both vegan and gluten-free, but that put us in a cooking mood and somehow at midnight we found ourselves standing in the kitchen making baked vegan mac and cheese and kale with kale sauce. Another friend showed up after midnight following her waitressing shift and we were able to say, “Dinner’s hot, want some?” which was a pretty awesome feat at 12:30 AM.
Creamy Chickpea Curry from this week's menu plan
So it was a good week for cooking and I’m left with a bunch of inspiration for this coming week. Best of both worlds! This week’s Gluten-Free Menu Swap is hosted by the GFMS organizer and nutritionist extraordinaire, Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness with the theme of cinnamon. After my tipsy rum cake conversation this weekend I am determined to make rum balls, which means I’ll need to either find or bake gluten-free vanilla cookies (sigh). I am very intrigued by this very West-Coast sounding recipe for Double Spiced Rum Balls, which uses Mayan cocoa (which is spiced up with cinnamon and allspice) and spiced rum. I also finally have chia seeds so it is well past time to make Cheryl’s amazing Chai Breakfast Cake that I’ve been drooling over for months. I’m making a couple of Indian-inspired dishes this week as well, so maybe I’ll see if there’s an opportunity to throw in a bit of garam masala.
For a huge collection of menu plans from all over the web, check out the giant Menu Plan Monday compendium over at OrgJunkie. And have a great week of cooking, everyone!
Monday (today is a day for comfort food)
Fresh corn polenta (cooked in rice cooker)
Steamed broccoli
Mashed potatoes and wasabi mashed potatoes
Smoked tofu
Baked beans
Tuesday
My friend is having his “vegiversary” – a celebration of ten years of not eating meat! I still need to ask him what he wants me to bring.
Wednesday
I’m giving a friend cooking lessons tonight, so I need to coordinate with him what the menu will be.
Thursday
Tofu aloo gobi
Green salad
Brown basmati rice
Friday
Stir-fried Sichuan green beans
Steamed savoy cabbage with pickled ginger
Chili-glazed tofu
Sweet brown rice
Saturday
Kale with kale sauce
Creamy chickpea curry
Quinoa
Sunday
Sloppy sushi with brown sushi rice, shitake mushrooms, avocado, and cucumber
In My Box 
Vegiversary! I love that term.
I have been vegetarian for almost 20 years, but for the life of me I could not tell you the day I stopped eating meat and seafood altogether. Oh well.
The Rum Balls sound decadent!
Have a happy week of cooking!
yay! you’ll have to let me know how the chai cake goes. Don’t know where the caramelized fennel went wrong, I love it. Love to hear more about the rum balls, and have a fantastic week!
[…] of In My Box has a great gluten-free vegan meal plan. She’s helping a friend celebrate his 10th […]
Glad you’re liking the Chickpea Curry! I made a yummy dish tonight that I thought you might like. Indian Stew from Vegetarian Planet – have you checked out this cookbook? I am loving it!
I want to try that Polenta recipe one of these days…my grandma always made corn pudding (with flour) and I always loved it but haven’t had it in quite a few years, since pre-CD!
And that Tofu Aloo Gobi…one of these days!
ooh a couple of those things sound so good to me. Your creamy chick pea curry looks awesome. And I will have to try Tofu Aloo Gobi as I’ve finally just mastered the cauliflower variety.
What fabulous friends you have! Kale with Kale Sauce makes me giggle and also very, very sad that my late summer planting of kale more or less bit the dust. Those spiced rum balls also look amazing! I wonder what you could coat them in other than confectioner’s sugar…
The Rum Balls sound decadent!
Have a happy week of cooking!
wonderful, I really liked it very much …
Sound like you have a great night of cooking with good company!
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wow interesting, thx!
Have a happy week of cooking!