A few years back Maggie and I started meal planning for the week ahead before venturing off to the grocery store each week. Before that we'd just show up at the store and pick things willy nilly that looked yummy without thinking too critically about what we were going to eat when or how much we needed to get. Meal planning was a game changer. Not only did it help us streamline our time in the grocery store, but it forced us to sit down together each week to discuss what our lives looked like in the week ahead. This is a nice thing.
Another reason I love meal planning is that I get to research recipes! I love finding new recipes to cook - it gets me jazzed Jazzed JAZZED! Sometimes I forget there's other things to look at on the internet aside from food blogs :)
Anyhoo, this post is coming a bit late seeing that it's already the end of the work week and the meal plan was made last Sunday. This week I was only in charge of two dinners and I planned Black-Eyed Pea Chili Verde, a recipe I found in the most recent Bon Appetit magazine, and Lindley Chicken (a friend's family recipe, to be featured in a future recipe!) with Lemon Cashew Rice from Joyful Belly.
Black-Eyed Pea Chili Verde (Bon Appetit)
Last minute I decided to make this meat based meal vegetarian because when I got to Whole Foods to get the ham hock I saw the hoof and couldn't bring myself to buy it. I did a bit of research on how to substitute for ham hock in veggie recipes and learned that you can use smoked sea salt. Lucky for me I was gifted delicious salts from Rainbow Harvest Farms, one of which was a chipotle smoked sea salt. I added a teaspoon of this to the broth and it totally gave it the smoky flavor I was trying to recreate. Another change I made to the recipe was that I omitted the cilantro. Maggie can't eat cilantro so what I did was I made a cilantro drizzle (a bunch of cilantro, olive oil, water and salt blended) and added this to my own personal bowl. Also to note, the recipe says it makes 4 servings, but it easily made at least 6.
This recipe came out yummy, but it was missing something that would push it over the edge to "oh my gosh, yummy!" I definitely want to keep playing with my vegetarian version of Bon Appetit's chili verde because I think I can get it to where I want it to be.
Lemon Cashew Rice (Joyful Belly)
I came across Joyful Belly while researching Ayurvedic recipes recently. I've been on a personal quest to make rice dishes more interestingly flavored and this recipe sounded fun! The recipe itself isn't super clear. For instance, if you take a look at it you'll notice that the instructions tell you to pan roast the cumin and mustard seeds separately but never indicate when to add them to the rice. Also, turmeric is included in the ingredients list but there isn't instructions to add it to the recipe. I added the roasted cumin and mustard seeds straight into the pot of rice once it was done roasting and added the turmeric at the same time. Additionally, I didn't use basmati rice, but 50/50 blend of Rice Select Royal Blend rice and Central Market brand farro. I liked the blend and felt good about the increase of fiber to the meal :)
Surprisingly this dish came out kind of bland. Considering the roasted spices I really thought this rice would pop with flavor, but it didn't. I did halve the amount of fresh lemon juice that was supposed to be added after the rice was finished, but honestly, more lemon would not have done the trick. I really liked the roasted mustard seed/cumin combo in addition to the nuttiness of the cashews. I think I can work on this recipe and make it the savory dish I imagined.
Do you meal plan for the week ahead?
You are awesome
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