Menu - Week of March 30

Monday
Lunch: spaghetti with diced tomatoes and TVP
Dinner: lentils on rice with sateed cauliflower

Tuesday
Lunch: baked garlic shrimp on rice with peas
Dinner: spring rolls (watercress, sauteed portabella, sliced tofu) and carrot/apple slaw

Wednesday
Lunch: baked tofu and broccoli on rice
Dinner: veggie broth with rice noodles, dumplings, and sliced carrots

Thursday
Lunch: barley, carrot soup with diced scallions served with fruit and crackers
Dinner: stewed fish on rice (carrots, eggplant, mushroom tomato sauce)

Friday
Lunch: avocado, tomato, and onion sandwich with chips
Dinner: tuna noodle casserole with peas and corn

Saturday
Lunch: spinach, avocado, tomato salad with tator tots
Dinner: vegan mac & cheese

Sunday
Lunch: baked potato with broccoli, scallions, and butter
Dinner: sauteed cauliflower, sauteed shredded cabbage on barley

Mushroom and chick pea burgers (vegan)

One of us is the sort of cook who looks into the pantry or at ingredients in the fridge to combine them to discover new dishes. This leads to interesting new combinations. Interestingly enough these combinations, while new to us, have very rarely not been tried at least hundreds of times by others.

Some things that I recently wanted to combine were chickpeas and mushrooms. I had some other ingredients that I wanted to eat alongside it (pita, fresh spinach, yogurt). I wanted something a little more substantial than a cold sandwich. I decided to combine the first two ingredients into a burger and make a sandwich by inserting it into the pita with the spinach and adding yogurt as a dressing.

After having assembled this dish in my mind I started brainstorming on a recipe. I googled and not really surprisingly found lots of results for "chickpea mushroom burger". I read a few of them and began to tweak them in my own mind making a note to keep certain ingredients and crossing a few of them off. I assembled the recipe below and after a few tries have decided that it's good enough to share.

Mushroom and chick pea burgers (vegan)
2 cups cooked chick peas
2 8 oz package of mushrooms
Medium yellow onion
1 cup corn meal
Cumin or curry powder mix
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
And pita, spinach and yogurt

Prep:

1. Finely dice onion.

2. Chop mushrooms roughly. You'll want to leave bigger pieces for texture in the burger.

3. In separate bowl roughly mash chickpeas. I used a pastry blade but a fork would have been just as good.

Cook:

1. Saute onions for 3 minutes on medium in good olive oil.
2. Add chopped mushrooms and continue on medium for 5 minutes.
3. Combine mushrooms and onions with chick peas and season to taste.
4. Add 3/4 cup corn meal and mix thoroughly. Moisture is important but too much or too little will make the burger fall apart. If mixture is still wet, add remaining corn meal. Some will want to add egg here but we kept our vegan with great results.
5. Use 1/2 cup measuring cup and press mixture into cup squeezing out any excess liquid. It's important to have a firm burger here and I just couldn't get it consistent without using a mold.
6. Allow to sit at least 15 minutes.
7. To prepare, gently heat in medium pan with olive oil turning as little as possible and cooking 5 min per side.
8. Place in pita with fresh spinach to eat right away or cover for use within 3 days. We've used yogurt and nayonnaise-based dressings.

Makes 6-8 burgers. Serve with pretzels or fruit.

Menu - Week of March 23

Monday

Lunch - Black beans, corn & pickled banana peppers on rice

Dinner - Lentils & fresh spinach over rice

(prep: make 6 cups stock, soak chick peas)

Tuesday

Lunch - Mushroom chickpea burger and fresh spinach in pita with horseradish nayonnaise dressing with pretzels and fruit

Dinner - Curried carrot soup with side of spinach and onion saute

(prep: bake eggplant, start bread, cook chick peas)

Wednesday

Lunch - Baked eggplant, fresh spinach and rice burrito with side of fruit

Dinner - Vegan mac and cheese with dilled carrot discs

(prep: bake bread, make hummus)

Thursday

Lunch - Hummus with sliced carrots and celery, bread, raisins and fruit

Dinner - Corn soup with shrimp and side of guacamole with chips

(prep: bake tofu)

Friday

Lunch - Baked tofu slices and peas on sesame soy rice with side of sugar snap peas

Dinner - Roasted veggies (mushroom, onion, yellow squash, carrots) on spaghetti with tomatoes

(prep: soak beans)

Saturday

Lunch - Avocado, onion, tomato sandwich with chips and fruit

Dinner - Poached salmon in stock with white wine served with cauliflower puree and cabbage-apple slaw

(prep: cook beans)

Sunday

Lunch - Bean, barley and carrot soup with toast

Dinner - Baked and breaded eggplant with tomato sauce served with baked potato topped with scallions

Shopping list

MENU - week of March 16

Monday
Dinner: carrot risotto with fresh asparagus

Tuesday
Lunch: five bean salad with toast
Dinner: white bean and spinach salad (with scallions and oil and vinegar dressing). Served with tator tots

Wednesday
Lunch: black beans with corn served over rice
Dinner: asparagus and pink grapefruit salad on arugula with toast

Thursday
Lunch: tomato, onion, and avocado sandwich with yogurt and fruit
Dinner: mushroom risotto

Friday
Lunch: hummus with carrots, celery, asparagus, and pita bread served with pretzels and a vegan brownie
Dinner: curried butternut squash soup with shrimps

Saturday
Lunch: mushroom and chickpea burgers with sweet potato fries
Dinner: empanadas with mushrooms, ions, spinach, and nutritional yeast