Friday, December 20, 2019

The First Step of Meal Prep

I got a text from my mom last night saying that she was going grocery shopping and asking if I wanted anything special when I visited next week. I don't mind running to the grocery store when I'm in Orange County -- it gives me a reason to step away from all the junk food and do something else. And then I offered to cook a meal or two (or however many anyone can stand of my cooking).

You know what that means -- now I have to figure out what to make.

So my guidelines are:
  • No cilantro
  • No avocado
  • Little or no rice
I don't eat meat, but I have no problem splitting up a dish and cooking one part with meat and another without, as long as the part without feels like a real meal and not "hey, here's a hamburger bun and some condiments".

I'm thinking something along the lines of these (along with salads):
  • pizza (let everyone pick their own toppings)
  • autumn pot pie
  • pita/falafel/hummus
  • lasagna
(I'll probably also be making my traditional stuffed peppers at some point as the vegetarian alternative to the roast at Christmas dinner.)

It turns out a lot of the meals I cook depend on cilantro, so I'm having a hard time coming up with tried and true recipes.

Anyone have any other suggestions? 

In other news, I got the little dog to stand on the treadmill today, but she didn't quite get the concept of walking forward, so she kept falling off the end when I turned it on. The big dog is still highly suspicious of the whole thing.

Green vine with small squash that turned out to be a pumpkin in the end
Random garden picture from earlier in the year. This plant was labeled as a Hubbard squash, but turned out to be a pumpkin.

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2 comments:

  1. SherckDecember 22, 2019 at 8:15 AM

    Good luck with the meal planning. I feel like the older I get, the harder it is for me to cook for anyone outside my immediate family, because of the way my tastes and dietary preferences have evolved.

    I'm not vegetarian, but I've flirted with it, and used to cook with the Moosewood Cookbooks--I bring them up because they seemed to have a lot of meatless entrees that even for a meat-eater they didn't seem like they were missing anything. Could be worth browsing in the bookstore to get some ideas. In any case, again, good luck!

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  2. Theresa B (of Nebulopathy)December 22, 2019 at 6:00 PM

    I have (or maybe had? I've been downsizing and haven't looked in a while) a couple of the Moosewood cookbooks. It's been at least 25 years since I used them, but I remember them being pretty tasty. I think I stopped using them because they made enough for 10 people, which was a little rough for a single person. That's a good suggestion, though -- thanks!

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