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| Tuesday Brunch: Pancakes and Lentil Curry (Dhal) |
I am not good about making and sticking to meal plans. I never have been. I often run out of ideas after the 2nd or 3rd day, when I have to write down a meal plan! For the most part, I tend to cook one or two things and eat them throughout the week before I make something new. For example, over the weekend, I pulled out a package of rice noodles and a package of smoked sausages with bell pepper from the freezer and ate that Saturday night and Sunday night, until the rice noodles were finished. On Monday night, I was going to have rice with the leftover sausages and took out a package of cooked lentils (dhal) from the freezer, to go with it, but, the lentils hadn't thawed by evening and, although I could have thawed them in the microwave, I decided not to. Instead, I cooked some pasta, and had that with the sausages. There is one serving of sausages left for another meal, later in the week.
Today, the lentils had thawed and I decided to make the pancakes I didn't make over the weekend and have them with the lentil curry. I used a "just add water" pancake mix, but I made the batter a little thinner because I didn't want very fluffy pancakes. I wanted something a little thinner. To me, this type of pancakes resembles dosa, which is a type of Indian pancake made with fermented urad (also known as black gram/lentil) flour and rice flour. It doesn't have the same taste, but, that's fine with me. I made four pancakes and had two for brunch. The other two are in the fridge, maybe for tomorrow's brunch.
In the meantime, I have a packet of chicken curry thawing in the fridge. My plan is to have that with one or two of the parathas (Indian flat bread) that friend R gave me. Provided the curry thaws in time. If not, I could go with my original plan for Monday night's dinner, which was rice, sausage, and lentils (except, now I want to wait until the first of May to open my new bag of rice and make milk rice with the first cup of rice). Or, I might have the other two pancakes with my lentil curry, again! Or, have an egg salad sandwich with the last of the egg salad. Or repeat last night's dinner and cook pasta to go with the sausage, again. This is why I can't meal plan! I am too "wishy-washy"!
But, in an attempt to make the best use of what I have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry cabinet, I am going to try! So, here's the tentative plan for meals, this week: subject to change, of course!
Monday:
Brunch - Egg salad sandwich (followed by a peanut butter - no jelly - sandwich at tea time)
Dinner -
Tuesday:
Brunch - Pancakes with lentil curry
Dinner - Parathas with chicken curry (if thawed), or leftover pancakes with lentil curry, again, or something! Maybe I'll make a cabbage salad to accompany it (need to eat some vegetables!)
Wednesday:
Brunch - Egg salad sandwich
Dinner - Parathas with chicken curry, if I didn't have it on Tuesday, or pasta with smoked sausage
Thursday:
Brunch - Leftover pancakes (if not eaten for dinner on Tuesday, or make more pancakes!) with caramelized apples (if feeling ambitious) or homemade strawberry jam and/or pancake syrup (one of my friends said she had pancakes with orange marmalade and sour cherry jam and maple syrup, the other day, and that sounded so delicious!)
Dinner - Um...depends on what leftovers I have in the fridge or what I feel like pulling out of the freezer! Maybe I'll make some coconut flat bread (roti) to eat with chicken curry (the package contains enough chicken curry for at least two servings, maybe three).
Friday:
Brunch - Milk rice with caramelized spicy onions (seeni sambol)
Dinner - Coconut flat bread with any leftover chicken curry and/or spicy onion sambol (katta sambol)
Saturday:
Brunch - Probably leftover milk rice as I usually make enough for two meals
Dinner - Probably leftover coconut flat bread
Sunday:
Brunch - French toast, maybe?
Dinner - Chicken pot pies, perhaps? I have half a roasted chicken breast in the freezer and puff pastry squares! Add some carrots, celery, and onions, and there'll be enough for a couple of meals for next week, as well!
There we are! A week's worth of meal plans! Subject to change, as I mentioned, earlier. Snacks will include fresh fruits, carrot sticks with or without peanut butter, spicy garbanzo beans, maybe cookies or granola bars or dry cereal, or one of the muffins from the freezer.
How about you? Do you do meal plans? Do you follow them for the most part? Or, do you prefer to cook and eat what you feel like having? If so, how are you managing during this time of staying home for the most part?
I get that though. I'm not a big meal planner myself. And I love to make a pasta dish and just eat it until it's gone. Or soup and the same thing, eat it until it's gone. And in the mornings, I like to make an Instant Pot soup with lentils and toss in whatever I have on hand. If there's extra, I'll eat it for lunch or the next morning.
ReplyDeleteYou asked how we are managing during this time of staying home and since I work from home anyway, there's been zero change in how I cook. I enjoy it and I LOVE soups and stews so that makes it easy.
PS: You mentioned spicy garbanzo beans. YUM!!!!!!
Sounds like you have simplified meal planning and adapted it to your liking. I go through phases when I crave soups and then, I won't make them for weeks if not months! But, I'm thinking some tomato soup would be good. I haven't made any in a long time.
DeleteOh my gosh, tomato is one we love to make a lot.
DeleteYeah, I got through phases too with foods.
I'll just want one thing for awhile. I get that!
:)
DeleteI don't meal plan - at least not beyond the next meal. I am very good at making meals from what's on hand and I keep a well stocked pantry & freezer so that's been helpful with all that's going on.
ReplyDeleteWe have always tried really hard not to waste food. We don't mind leftovers and I'm pretty goid at changing leftovers up a bit and making a "new" meal out of the same food which I know you do as well Bless.
What I'm not good at is freezing things for future use. I read how you do that with great success. But I find that I just don't use the things I tuck in the freezer and I end up throwing them away - a year later! So for the most part I have stopped freezing precooked items.
I am looking forward to see how your meal planning goes.
It sounds like you have found what works for you, Debra, and that's what matters, isn't it? A lot of the cooked things I have in the freezer happen to be leftovers from prayer gatherings and parties, etc. Periodic freezer inventories help to remind me of what I have.
DeleteHa, ha, my meal planning went a bit awry already, on just the second day, but, for the best possible reason - a friend brought me dinner and some extras, which I froze, right away! :D
I think if I lived with myself it would be a lot of hit and miss (still is in meals for me). I'm a little better with meals for husband and son, but I do get tired of cooking the same thing over and over. I try to just sort out what I'm going to do for the week and then as the week progresses the days switch depending on how much time I want to spend cooking!
ReplyDeleteCooking for one can be a bit of a challenge, depending on if one likes to experiment with new recipes or not. I think it is perfectly fine to switch days; having that flexibility is important, isn't it?
DeleteI think if you don't give yourself permission to change your meals, you aren't planning correctly. I am finding that now as I am trying to use every single bit of food, I am sticking to my meal plan a little better than I used to.
ReplyDeleteYes, flexibility is the key. I already changed my dinner plans today, ha, ha! But, only because a friend brought me dinner! I'm trying to plan my meals because I don't want to waste any food (I'm guilty of letting things languish in my fridge until they turn fuzzy).
DeleteI am not very good at meal planning either;but I'm going to give it another try for May as our grocery bill has been up the last two months with raised prices & stockpiling a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI, too, went over my grocery budget in March because I bought a few extra items to have in the pantry. But, I didn't spend all of my April budget, so, that worked out, well. I think rising grocery prices will be a big concern in the coming months, so, meal planning might be a good thing to do. :)
DeleteI've done menu plans for months at a time, especially when I've been feeding many people. Now that there are just 3 of us, plus extras (which are much less likely to show up since these shutdowns started), so we tend to cook somethings and then eat them for a few days like you do, then cook some more. We fill in with salads, sandwiches, and for our daughter, lots and lots of refried beans on tortillas. She could eat those every day, I think!
ReplyDeleteI like my pancakes a little thinner, as well, for whatever reason.
My mother said she used to meal plan for a month at a time, too, when my half-siblings were all at home. I like the cook once, eat several times approach to things. I am not organized enough to do bulk cooking, but, freezing a few extra portions at a time works out well for me. :)
DeleteI do meal plan now on two levels. I put more effort into planning for bulk cooking which I freeze in portions. The aim is to have a wide variety of choice as I don't really like eating the same meal on consecutive days. Part of this planning is to also have the components for meals I can cook 'on the day'. I also do a daily plan which is a rough idea of what the daily meals will be, alternating between 2 meal days and 3 meal days, and these are a combination of portions from the freezer or something I cook on the day.
ReplyDeleteI never really stick to the daily plan. If I have a migraine I wouldn't be eating at all and once I feel better will eat the mini portions I cook up specially for this until I can get back to normal eating. Also, invites to bring and share meals or to eat out are rarely refused, so it's another reason why the daily meal plan isn't followed.
You have it all nicely planned, Eileen. I should try more bulk cooking and freezing meals. I tried that, once or twice, where I made my own "frozen meals" with a serving of meat or chicken and vegetables, etc., but, didn't keep it up. Getting together to share a meal with friends is an excellent reason for not keeping to the daily meal plan, in my opinion. :)
DeleteSounds good! I used to meal plan a lot few years back, but now I just cook and improvise with whatever I have on hand, I love it that way. I freeze a lot, too. Have a lovely day, stay safe and healthy!
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of really delicious sounding meals, Natalia. I'm sure your family enjoys all the lovely dishes you make. :) Hope all is well with you and your family. Take care.
DeleteI have always been a major fan of using leftovers... if I like it on Monday, I like it equally well on Tuesday- and there are always ways to 'disguise' them too- regardless of how many people I am cooking for, I never manage to make the exact right amount-I wish you good luck in sticking with your meal plan ... but remember it is never bad to suddenly change your mind-
ReplyDeleteThe yards here are cut ... we can again see the contours of the ground and the edges have been trimmed too- how long will this last ... not long I'm afraid, as we have rain in the forecast this week- we better enjoy it today and hope the man we hired to do this weekly will keep us in his favor-
Kailyn's doll clothes are piling up- her 'babies' have a great stack of new things to wear (although I still have to add some buttons and snaps to a few)- this has been fun and reminded me that I enjoyed making doll things for my daughters when they were little ... my older g'daughters were never very interested in their dolls- wonder if Jamie will be ...so far Jamie prefers her dolls totally stripped bare!
Take care- know I send as always, fondest wishes-
Barb
I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the meal plan got changed, again, last night, but, it was for the best possible reason. :) I'll post about it, today. :)
DeleteI'm glad your yards were cut! Hopefully, the person you hired will continue to show up on a regular basis!
Kailyn's dolls will enjoy having a new wardrobe, I'm sure. I laughed when I read that Jamie prefers her dolls stripped bare! Too funny!
You take care of yourself, too, Barb, and your family. Sending prayers and best wishes.
I'm not a great planner but I have a general idea of what we will have over the next few days or so. Leftovers change plans anyway, and as I hate waste, I'm pretty good at using up the odds and ends
DeleteI think having a general idea is a good way to meal plan for some of us. Very often, with it being just me, I simply make what sounds good to me or, depending how much I feel like cooking, what seems easiest! But, I am trying to have things balanced out so that I don't run out of certain ingredients before I can replenish the stock and meal planning seems like a good way to do that!
DeleteYou did a good meal plan to suit you and to be flexible if you want. I do a backwards "meal plan" if you could call it that. I have a little two year planner with small squares for each day of each month. In them I write what we had for supper that day and when I don't know what to have I check and see what we haven't had for a while and if I have the supplies that is what we have! I probably should get a larger one so that I can add lunch to it. Usually if we have a meatless dish for supper we will have meat of some kind in sandwiches at lunch, and a hearty meat dish for supper often means that we have something like egg salad sandwiches or peanut butter/banana/carrot/lettuce sandwiches (Try it!) for lunch. Other possibilities might be soup with cheesy scones.
ReplyDeleteI like your way of keeping track of your meals over time! Most of the time, I can't remember what I ate the night before! LOL. Although, from time to time, I have written down what I had for dinner on the blog! Maybe I can do a search and see what pops up under "dinner"! Soup and scones sound good - I have never made scones - I think I should try making some!
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