Post Punk Kitchen Forum

i spent the week going through cookbooks and planning meals.

here is what i am planning on cooking this week and where the recipes are from.

ultimate patty melt (hearty vegan meals for monster appetites) and thai slaw (vegan table)


irish nachoes (hvmfma)

tempeh shawarmas (VT) and quinoa tabbouleh (VT)


polenta hearts with roasted red pepper coulis (both from vt)
garlic glazed green beans (vt)

and right now im boiling some beets to make the beet bundt cake from vt.
cause baking when it's hot and humid out is wicked smaht kid

We're making cornmeal waffles (from Vegan Brunch), curry mango and roti (from relatives in Trinidad), curried udon stir-fry or udon soup (from Vcon), and some kind of spinach salad.

by the way, Irish nachos sound amazing!

Yeah, I love this thread. I'm always looking for inspiration :)

This week we're having

Sunday (well, we had this already!) Yellow Lentil & Coconut Dahl, Cheater Biryani Rice, Steamed purple cauliflower, and a quick cabbage, lemon cucumber, and red bell pepper salad.

I'm currently baking a strawberry-rhubarb crumble for a friend's birthday tomorrow.

Monday night we're making Pho with mushrooms, tofu, and bok choy

Tuesday or Wednesday will be rice pasta with nettles and asparagus and a walnut and basil "cream" sauce

Thursday or Friday we'll be making tempeh burgers

And in between we'll be gorging on leftovers and endless salads because the market was full of irresistible greens and heirloom tomatoes :)

I try to come up with a menu plan each week so that the veggies from our CSA don't take up residence in our fridge ;) This week's menu can be found on Graasland but I'll share it here as well. Love seeing your plans!

WED
'Hokkaido soup': kombu dashi & Japanse pumpkin from freezer stash. 
Rice with Teresa's garlic shoot stir-fry (La Dolce Vegan! p.138), using pak choi & mizuna instead of chard and marrowfat beans for sweet peas. 

THURS
Escarole boemboe Bali, nasi goreng, tempeh asem manis (p116 Vegetarisch Indonesisch), emping.

FRI
Tomato soup, lentil salad, baguette & faux tuna salad.

SAT
Tip top tofu loaf (La Dolce Vegan! p.154), cajun potatoes (Groot Vegetarisch Kookboek), broad beans. Cherries & red berries for dessert. 

SUN
Fennel beans (Puur plantaardig), pasta marinara with fresh basil. 

MON / TUE
Thai carrot soup, pak choi stir-fry (Groentegerechten) with spring onions & marrowfat peas, spring rolls & noodles. 

MON / TUE
Tomato soup, pasta zucchini-cream-wine-sauce, salad.

Also: rhubarb-strawberry muffins & courgette soup

so yesterday's cooking adventures were total fail most of the way around.

i was doing the beet bundt cake from Vegan Table and also polenta hearts with roasted red pepper coulis, and the thai slaw, all also from vegan table.

the first thing i f'ed up in a major way was the polenta hearts. ive never made polenta before, dont really know what it is, i dont even think ive eaten it before.

the only time ive ever even seen polenta at the grocery store it comes in tube form so i assumeed that is what it was.
so when the recipe called for "1.5 cups coarse corn meal or polenta" i assumed the tube stuff was ok.
the tube stuff is apparently pre-cooked and ready to use so obviusly i didnt need to bowl it in 4 cups of water.
i figured that out pretty fast and salvaged it and instead of making the recipe version i just panfried up slices of the tube polenta and covered that with the roasted red pepper coulis. the sauce was pretty good and i think the tube polenta was ok but the homemade stuff will be better.

i dont know what happened with my beet bundt cake. i dont know if it being 1000 degrees in my house was a factor but i feel like it didnt rise all the way so it was sort of squat, and then the inside was a tad doughy but the outside was heading towards burnt.

the thai slaw came out good though.

This week I'll be making the Chipotle lentil burgers from AFR, the Tempeh & Greens stew from AFR using chickpeas instead of tempeh (as per a suggestion by Isa Chandra in the book, since I'm on a fairly strict budget), and burritos to take care of my pepper/onion mix from last week. Om nom. I have tomatoes and a hot pepper to make salsa as well!! :)

I don't have awesome meal plans - but I did come into a whole bunch of berries (various types) on Saturday. It's actually cool enough to bake today, so I'm making blueberry muffins. Also strawberry ice cream. Maybe a raspberry /chipotle glaze for tofu.

I seriously need to get back into meal planning to help me get out of my cooking rut.
This is what I’ve got planned for the rest of the week:

- AFR Corn Chowder with AFR Everyday chickpea & quinoa salad and spelt rolls

- World Vegan Feast Fresh pineapple noodle stir fry

- Vegan Diner tomato soup with Great Gluten Free Eats chickpea salad sandwiches

- Orange rhubarb glazed tempeh with coconut lime rice and orange broccoli

It’s been freakin’ hot out, so I’m trying to avoid using the oven at all costs.

Here is my weekly plan. Everything cooks in about 1/2 an hour or less. I get home late from the gym every night starving and ready to chew off my own arm.

Curry Laska (from AFR)

Garlic mashed potatos (made in the pressure cooker!) Chickpea Cutlets w/ white wine garlic sauce, Seared green beans with garlic and lemon. YES. i love garlic.

"Orange Chicken"-trader joe's mandirin chickenless nuggets, broccoli, carrots and brown rice

Pasta de Los Angeles (AFR-with tomatos and jalepenos from my garden)

New Mexico Pinto Bean Soup (from Vegetarian cooking under pressure-soup in 1/2 hour tastes like 4 hours)

Then we get paid on Friday so we will either go out, or I will go to the store. I actually got invited to a dinner for work, but am declining. I was recently informed (by other people) that my eating habits make other diners uncomfortable. I guess salad with no dressing is scary. Don't wanna do that at a work dinner.

this is one of my most favoritest recipes ever. i have made it a bunch of times and i always want to just drink the broth it's so good.


yesterday's cooking adventures went much smoother than the day befores.

i made the ultimate patty melt from HVMFMA complete with the garlic/onion/dijon mayo and smoky pub cheese.
at first i was a little meh on the cheese while i was making it but then i found myself repeatedly sneaking more and more samples.

we grilled the patties and they came out great but MAN ARE THEY FILLING.

we also made the garlic glazed green beans from vegan table and they were SO GOOD. they tasted like the kind you get at a chinese restaurant.

This sounds so good!

I need to plan out some meals. The catch right now is that my partner will be doing a bit more of the cooking, since we just had a baby, and I can't spend as much time in the kitchen. So things that are easy for him to cook. Lots of bowls.

Chipotle Chopped Salad (from Chloe's Kitchen)

A chickpea salad sammich recipe (I think it's originally from the blog Vegan Musings? - I actually got it from a *TVA e-mailing, though) that has capers in it (I have to try it for the capers--I love all things capery).

A test recipe from Isa's new cookbook with a side of mashed potatoes and greens.

*TVA=Toronto Vegetarian Association

So this week-
Chipotle Chop with Agave-Lime Vinaigrette - actually made this last night for dinner and leftovers for lunch today. Super delicious. My salad-hating omni partner mostly approved, but wanted more avocados in it, so it's a keeper for sure, with extra avocado next time.
Mango-Ginger Tofu from VWAV- Marinating right now! Probably with have it with rice and some kind of green.
Kimchi Ramyeon Bowl - Might actually use somen instead of ramen to be just a wee bit healthier (and use up my massive stash). Lots of kimchi, some fried tofu, and whatever veggies I can find in the fridge that day.
Mac and Nooch of some sort, with salsa, black beans, and cilantro and/or green onions on top. Mexi-Mac!

I'm sorry but that made me laugh (mainly because it's the kind of thing I do).

I repeatedly fail at meal planning so am getting some good ideas from this thread.

I'll have Chipotle Chop this week too. A new fave to my repertoire of filling, complete meal lunch salads!

I really have to make the Mango Ginger Tofu soon. I think next weekend!!! I love it over a nice fluffy rice and then, yeah, a green.

I also made a big batch of the Cranberry Ginger Granola from Get It Ripe last night for quick breakfasts in the morning.

It turns out my fridge is too full from other stuff to cook anything new today (i.e., other leftovers from recipes I did late last week that I still have to eat) so I'll make the Chipotle Chop tomorrow and then the sandwich filling Tuesday and then the Beans & Greens meal Wednesday later in the week. For the last two Saturdays in a row, my community/grid has lost power pretty much the entire day and this has seriously curtailed my cooking plans the past two weekends. Hopefully, I can get through next weekend blackout-free!

on deck this week:

i made the sanctuary chef salad from AFR today with accompanying salad dressing. i thought the dressing was a tad bland but i thought the cauliflower and tofu was really great.
i also made the "beach cookies" from Chef Chloe's website. i thought maybe i should have used less graham crackers on the bottom and less salt.

the other things i am planning on making this week:

beefy cheesy mac: HVMFMA

southwestern tofu burgers with kale & cauliflower salad: both from VT

curry laska: AFR (YUM!)


i also found regular polenta so i can retry the polenta hearts at some point and i have some leftover soy creamer to make another round of irish nachoes

Ok, so we ended up having a lot more leftovers then we thought and we ended up making a lentil loaf instead of them tempeh, so this week we’re having:

- Vegan Diner tomato soup with Great Gluten Free Eats chickpea salad sandwiches

- Orange rhubarb glazed tempeh with coconut lime rice and orange broccoli

- Vcon kale & potato enchiladas

- Tester frittata recipe for Allyson’s new book

I made two of the three recipes I'm making this week yesterday-Corn Chowder from Color Me Vegan with a sweet potato instead of a yukon gold & pasta with pesto, tomatoes & spinach. Tomorrow I'll probably make a stir fry with the gardein teriyaki strips I bought myself at the end of last week for staying well below my food budget. So yayyy splurgey nice food. :)

I don't really plan each night. I just shop for 5-7 recipes and make whichever I feel like making until they're all gone. Sometimes I'll choose a more complicated meal for the weekend, sometimes not. I'm also pretty bad about choosing similar stuff, depending on what I'm craving at the time. I chose like 3 soupy things this time, oops. This week:

eggplant parm from Urban Vegan with the brussels sprouts from AFR (Sunday night meal!)

curry laksa from AFR

tortilla soup from AFR

mighty miso soup from American Vegan Kitchen

southwest griddle from American Vegan Kitchen

baked falafel (AFR) with steamed kale and store-bought stuffed grape leaves

Also making a tester BLT sometime this week for lunch.

Chickpea Paprikash from Urban Vegan, Potato-Spinach Curry from AFR either of which will be served with basmati rice so I'll have an excuse to make leftovers for World Vegan Feast's Fragrant Basmati Rice Pudding with Rose Water and Nectarines. I also plan on making the Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu from AFR, but my grocer was out of mint today.

Today I was intending on making pupusas, but accidentally grabbed the wrong bag so it became arepas with leftover yellow garlic rice and ropa vieja style seitan (both from Viva Vegan) and of course the obligatory summer side salad. I also made carrot bread from the peasoupeats blog this morning (nice and chewy) and AFR Pizza Hummus (my least favourite hummus version I've made from this book yet, it was just too pesto-y for me. It was also the first time I actually used oil and no tahini, usually I include tahini but skip the oil since I'd rather have oil free hummus than a tahiniless one).

I just got some Soy Curls for the first time, excited to try them out!!

This week's menu:

Soy curl Fajittas (going to try and use my favorite fajita marinade that I adapted from Viva Vegan) and mexican millet

Chickpea tomato curry with broccoli

Baked Potatos, baked tofu & some kind of tomato-basil veggie mix to go on my potato

Red Lentil and Swiss chard soup (from quick-fix vegan), bread with a roasted garlic spread

Hottie black eye peas and greens, buffalo tempeh (from AFR)

Everything is pretty leftover friendly, except for the baked potatos, so I will be good on lunches too

We're trying to use up all the leftover fruits and veggies and stuff from my wedding, so we're making

-pepper & corn bisque from V'con
-broccoli-potato-herb soup from V'con
-baked chickpea cutlets with puttanesca sauce
-salad topped with roasted veggies and tahini dressing
-banana bread
-strawberry muffins
-something with veggie hot dogs...I don't know what yet!

It's gonna be a busy kitchen!

i didnt end up making some of what was on my list last week but i had the ingredients so it's carrying over into this week.

today i made the polenta hearts with roasted red pepper coulis (this time i did the polenta correctly :-P )

tomorrow Southwestern Tofu Burgers and kale and cauliflower salad (both from Vegan Table)

also this week is the middle eastern shawarmas from Vegan Table. i made them once before and i really liked them. i dont like tempeh so that is saying ALOT

i have a quinoa paella recipe that i want to make this week. i have no idea where i got the recipe from other than the internet.

and then i told my husband we could try the buffalo macaroni salad from Chef Chloe's blog. i think it doesnt sound all that appetizing but he likes anything buffalo flavor so we'll see

This weekend I made tofu scramble, red lentil soup, roasted potatoes, and chocolate beet cake. I will be eating leftovers for most of the week.

Mine was a tasty buttered banana cinnamon treat. I fried it using coconut oil, put some butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon. It definitely tastes great. My kids loved it and they were even asking for more! :)