I don't know what it is about the $43 bucks, but today's grocery bill was exactly the same as last week's. It's superbowl Sunday tonight, so I'm going to want to plant myself in front of the game, and try to decide whether I like the game or the commercials better.
This week's menu began with a trip through the produce section to find some inspiration. The spaghetti squash looked nice and big and yellow, and I thought it'd be a nice change from pasta. I found some nice leeks, and thought of the onions and potatoes in my cupboard - a soup? Found some Canadian carrots, and an eggplant.
We had a busy weekend, and I am NOT in the mood for doing much, so I wanted to get the week's meals done in an hour.
Cut up the leeks (dark green tops and fuzzy bearded white bottoms discarded) and cut them lengthwise to wash, and then into a pot of boiling water. Had exactly four white potatoes, and after peeling them and cubing them, they joined the leeks. One yellow onion, one peeled carrot and some salt later and the broth smells completely delicious. Once everything is mushy, I'll run it through a food processor and then strain it. To finish it, I may add a tiny bit of lemon zest over top.
I forgot to grab chickpeas, so the indian korma is being bubbled away with baby potatoes instead. I added a jar of sauce, a cup of dried red lentils, and the last of the coconut curry soup from last week. Truth be told, I had some leftover hummus from Bill's birthday party too, and since it was a beautiful creamy, chickpea-y consistency, it joined the casserole dish for thickening.
Finally, the spaghetti squash was cut into eighths, two yellow onions were sliced into rings, drizzled with olive oil and salt, and are now in the oven roasting at 375 until everything is soft.
I could just serve some delicious tomato marinara sauce over the squash and onions instead of even making a pasta. Since the spaghetti squash is so stringy, it looks like pasta, but offers much more nutrition and flavour. If I do some eggplant in some breadcrumbs, it could be like an eggplant parmesan.
So - the week's menu is:
Citrus Leek and Potato Soup
Coconut Curried New Potatoes
Roasted Spaghetti Squash MarinaraFunny vegan story of the week? Had dinner at a club this week for mom's birthday. I have NEVER been impressed with the service there, or the food - despite incredibly steep prices. So - menu is MEAT, MEAT, Young MEAT, FISH, and more meat. Our usual quest is to find some sidedish under a meaty dish and ask the kitchen to turn it into a main for us. So we read about the lamb served over "
mushroom and leek risotto" we asked the server if we could have the risotto as our main course since we didn't eat meat or fish.
As everyone was served Fred Flintstonian plates, we waited for our plates. 10 minutes into everyone else's meal two tiny ramekins of lumpy, virtually cold, mushy risotto were put in front of us. No bigger than 3 inches in diameter! They tasted OK (albeit cold) and since they were finished with some truffle oil, they smelled pretty good, but it was incredibly disappointing and I barely touched it. Every other main course was between 27 - 34 bucks. The charges on the bill were "
$4 for "2 open food"
The family already thinks we're both "out there" with this vegan thing, and the only thing that makes it a bit easier in a meaty restaurant is food. When we're fed, it's really OK and I don't long for any of the off-limits food. But a tuna-fish canned size portion of cold risotto was just ridiculous. Even though we saved the payor of the dinner almost $100 (my sister in law ordered the risotto, too), it was still the dumbest exhibition of poor hosting of our 99 days of veganism.
We actually didn't leave hungry. My spinach salad, with grape tomatoes, avocado, papaya, walnuts and a caribbean dressing was good, and the fresh bread was really nice, too. Everyone else's massive portions either ended up in their arteries, so I'm not complaining.
So - kudos to Foia (and their super-talented chef Vanessa) for exceptional service, and shame on the chef who dared to serve us cold rejectamenta risotto.
Superbowl is on...time for soup!
