Tag Archives: chickpeas

Mar26

Sunday Menu Planning

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I am feeling completely uninspired on the cooking front these past couple days.  I think this whole week has been uninspired.  I spent my whole vacation waiting for my vacation to happen–and now, here I am: Saturday afternoon.  I need to do chores, cook for the week, and do some lesson planning before school starts on Monday.  Break is, effectively, over.

The recipes I’ve decided to make this week come from, easily, one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. This trio of Indian recipes looks really good.  The first recipe is a sour cabbage salad that highlights lemon juice and whole mustard seeds.  I’ve never bought or used mustard in its seed form, but it was cheap at my local supermarket, so I definitely won’t shy from it if it comes up again in recipes.  The next is a simple, yellow daal–and if you recall, I need to use up my grains and legumes, so this recipe looks perfect for that purpose.  Finally, I’ll make a black-eyed pea curry.  I’m looking forward to moving towards a more vegetarian diet again, and I think these three recipes will be a good transition back into meat free meals.

I also plan to make this bean salad, which is used as a sandwich filling.  I think I’ll use a different type of beans instead of garbanzo beans, though, in this recipe.  Garbanzo beans tend to taste like wet dog to me.

P.S. I bought some kimchi from a local Asian foods market in Eugene.  I think they make it on-site. I’ve never had it before.  I’m pretty excited.

Jan16

Sunday Menu

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Tonight, Jeff and I are making:

Chard and White Bean Stew, Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad, and Rice and Chicken Pilaf with Toasted Almonds and Dried Currants.

I also might make Smashed Chickpea Salad, a slight departure from the hummus kick I am on.

I have been so stressed out lately–eating out too much and eating all of the wrong foods.  I cook each weekend, so that we can have healthy food during the week, but when the week’s stress knocks the wind out of me, I call Papa John’s.  Or Kowloon’s.  Or go to sushi.  Or Quiznos. Or Wendy’s. (What an embarrassingly long list!) But this habit, as comforting as it is in the moment, is expensive–and is rather conducive to weight gain.  Fatty-ness. Eating may make a person feel good momentarily, but tight jeans the next day (and not tight in the sexy way) make me regret the takeout from the night before.

I chose these recipes for their Mediterranean flavors–light, simple, wholesome.  All of them will reheat nicely when we take them to work for lunch.  I really look forward to the rice and chicken pilaf–the combination of cinnamon, garlic, dried fruit, and chicken sounds amazing.  When I went grocery shopping for the ingredients, the Market of Choice as out of dried currants, so I bought dried cherries instead.

If I find the energy and inspiration, I’ll take some pictures of tonight’s cooking marathon.