Gluten free, vegan, menu planning

Gluten free, vegan menu planning is about as fun as it sounds, ha! Actually, it's not that different from other creative processes. When I start a new painting, I feel excited Yay! I love to paint! then depressed OMG this is awful, why did I ever think I could paint?, then excited again OK, this is looking good now! and finally a sense of accomplishment when I'm done. I go through the same process while meal planning: Oooh! What are we going to eat this week!? becomes This is so hard when I can't have 27 common ingredients! I want tomatoes and lemons and cheese! I'm so depressed! and then Oh, that sounds interesting! This looks pretty good! and behold I've managed to come up with seven appetizing dinners.

I keep a menu board in my kitchen. It is not written in stone. I switch days around based on how busy I am (or, for example, if someone misses his nap and needs to go to bed early, I'll make whatever is quickest). But as I plan, I try to incorporate a nice variety of grains, legumes, nuts, and vegetables. Let's all agree to not eat rice everyday, okay? And every week I try a couple new recipes. Very rarely I try a recipe that doesn't work (oh, the perils of Pinterest--I'm talking to you sweet potato quinoa patties). And those times, I'm grateful for a meal stashed in the freezer since takeout isn't an option anymore.

A couple weeks ago, I posted a picture of my menu to Facebook. Lots of people liked it, and some even suggested that I sell my weekly meal plans. Well, I'm totally fine with sharing! If it helps someone figure out a way to eat more healthfully or to deal with dietary restrictions, then I've made a positive contribution to the world. If you want to give me money, go buy some of my art ;)

Without further ado, here is this week's menu:

Black Bean Tacos: For my tacos, I used a legume-based crepe. The boys had theirs on wheat tortillas. Corn would work, too, if you can have it. We filled them with refried black beans, roasted carrot sticks, raw cabbage salad, red onions, and mango salsa. That sounds like a lot, and the minimalist in me hesitated, but this was really a case where more = more! I served them with roasted green beans.

Chickpea and Cabbage Soup with Chickpea Flatbread: These are new recipes! The soup is from Post Punk Kitchen, which has reliably good recipes. I have one of her vegan cookbooks. I bought cabbage to make sauerkraut, then realized it would take a month to ferment. Who knew? So, I'm cooking it up instead. The bread is a traditional Italian flatbread, which I've seen on several sites, but I'm going to try this recipe. Seems simple. My batter is resting right now! 

Vegan Mac & Cheese: This one I'm going to wing. I looked at several recipes, some with sweet potatoes, some with carrots. (It's gotta be orange, right?!) I had that great success with cauliflower/cashew cream sauce last week, so I'm going to try a carrot/cashew version. It might be a total bust. We shall see. Serving with asparagus, yum!

Burrito Bowls: This is one of my go-to quick meals. As long as you cook the rice ahead of time, it's pretty quick to throw together. I might soak some extra cashews to make a 'chipotle crema'. But it's a pretty simple formula: spanish style or cilantro lime rice (or quinoa), beans of choice (black or pinto are my preferred choice), lettuce, veggies, salsa. Fajita style veggies--peppers and onions--are excellent! 

Split Pea Soup: I usually only make soup once a week, but I'm alone with the kids all this week, so I figure by Friday the chances of dinner happening are going to be greatly diminished, haha! I'm making it easy on myself! 

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash: I thought I'd posted this recipe already, but I guess not. I will! It's just a basic quinoa pilaf heaped over roasted acorn squash. 

Mung Bean Dal, Curried Zucchini, and Basmati Rice: Like this, but with zucchini and no tomatoes because I can't eat those now (always with the tomatoes! mamma mia!)