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Menu Plan Monday (vegetarian/vegan)

This menu plan is vegetarian and vegan aside from the shrimp. Can’t stop eating my shrimpies! The last time I did a Menu Plan Monday was almost a year ago on April 26th, 2009.

Menu for the Week of April 18 – April 24

Sunday

Monday

  • Spring rolls and Vietnamese shrimp salad with vermicelli noodles

Tuesday

  • Maki sushi rolls and egg drop soup

Wednesday

  • Avocado shrimp cocktail with green apple and tabbouleh

Thursday

  • Miso sesame noodles and spring salad

Friday/Saturday

  • One night out; one night leftovers

Extra meal (if I don’t feel like doing one of the assigned meals)

  • Cold soba noodles with tofu and garlic mushrooms (new recipe)

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the great menus at Organizing Junkie.

And if you like these meal ideas, be sure to try out some of my older recipes…

I will be posting these recipes as I make them this week. Now I’m off to Chinatown to get all the groceries I need!

What is on your menu plan this week?

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Gourmet Park and Nutty Butter Fats

The other day I got a package from Maranatha – 2 jars of nut butter. They sent me one jar of no-stir peanut butter and one jar of no-stir almond butter.

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Let me tell you – I thought I didn’t really like almond butter… I was so wrong. This almond butter is great. Both the almond butter and the peanut butter are slightly sweetened with organic cane sugar.

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Thanks, Maranatha! I can’t wait to experiment with these. So far I’ve just had them plain, in oatmeal, and on rice cakes.

I work long hours so recently I have been going to Gourmet Park for dinner. My favorite thing to get is the unlimited topping salad for $6.95. You pick a base (I get romaine), one “meat’” (I get either bacon or shrimp, depending on my mood), and unlimited gourmet toppings.

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This one had (I think I’m forgetting some): roasted oily eggplant, roasted oily Brussels sprouts, broccoli, roasted peppers, corn, peas, water chestnuts, baby corn, mandarin oranges, artichoke hearts, sprouts, and probably some other things. I always get the honey mustard dressing on the side.

Gourmet Park also has a sale on their prepared food after 6:00pm – it’s all half off. So I get prepared food for $4/pound (normally $4/half pound).

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This one was some Asian-inspired cooked salad of broccoli, black sesame seeds (Coco likes these!), peppers, and some other unidentified veggies. Underneath (hiding) are a bunch of oily peppers. I’m really into oily veggies lately – they are so good. Fat is good.

Tonight I got a big dish of something with cauliflower. It was Indian-inspired, I think.

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I topped it with some beef, salmon, and crab (salmon and crab are in that left corner). I also got some oily eggplant and some mashed potatoes. Very filling. Gourmet Park is helping me eat a variety of foods without having to worry about planning my meals.

In terms of exercise I’ve been sticking with my walking routine. Today I actually walked 4 miles instead of 2 because I walked home from work while chatting with my parents.

How often do you talk to your parents? Sometimes I talk to them every day and then other times I will go a week or even more.

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Review: Macro Vegetarian (Macrobiotic Vegan Food – New York)

You guys might have noticed that I’m eating a lot more meat and being a lot more adventurous in general. But don’t think that I’ve forgotten my veggie roots! Being in NYC has been an amazing foodie experience so far and I’m excited to try new things… but I haven’t lost my love for yummy healthy foods – I’ve just been experimenting a little.

This weekend (Saturday I think?) I went back to my macrobiotic roots. Last week I found a cool natural foods store on the upper east side just a few blocks from my apartment. It’s called The Health Nuts, and it’s on 2nd Ave between 63rd and 64th streets. It’s awesome.

I picked up a bunch of prepared foods made by a company called Macro Vegetarian. I’ve uploaded pictures of the Sesame Noodles and Chicken Lo Mein (fake chicken) but I have actually tried a bunch more since I last uploaded pictures. Both of these were amazing, and Bobby agreed. This is my kind of vegan macro food! Of course I doused them liberally with nooch (nutritional yeast, for new readers).

My favorite (out of all the ones I’ve tried; more reviews to come) is definitely the Chicken Lo Mein. It’s awesome. I actually picked up more today. These are perfect for lunches at work and dinner at home when I’m too tired/busy to cook… which is every night. I am so thankful for these products.

A note on nooch – it’s an awesome source of vegan protein and vitamin B12 (which sometimes vegans or vegetarians are lacking). In 1.5 tablespoons (16 grams) there are: 70 calories, 1 gram of fat, 6 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fiber, and 8 grams of protein. 8 grams in 1.5 tablespoons! Want to hear the vitamins? In 1.5 tablespoons of nooch you get 670% Thiamin, 290% Niacin, 250% folate, 20% zinc, 4% iron, 590% riboflavin, 480% B6, and 130% B12. It’s so healthy and so delicious. I put it on everything.

Can’t forget dessert… Newman’s Own Newman-O’s (Oreo knockoffs).

Yum.

Any new food finds recently? I ask this question every few months, because I’m always looking for new buys, especially now that I’m embracing prepared foods.