Reflecting back on a menu

Last week I was bragging how great I was simply because I managed to jot down a menu.  I want to brag again a bit today, and mention that I stuck to said menu almost to the letter. You see, for me, menus work! They mean dinner gets done….and I don’t just mean *done* …. I mean *DONE.*  Hot food on the table.

Only problem is if the menu is not of high quality: not enough variety; too many trips to the grocery; recipes that are too involved; too bland; too boring….. you name it.

My problem last week was that two of my main dished were, well….. how to put this….. not very tasty.

I call this the big yellow blob meal. 

The red lentil dahl was very thick and weird somehow. I served it with brown rice, yellow and green beans from my garden (stashed away in the freezer) and roasted onions, which all ended up in a yellowish reddish blobby pile on our plates. Not overly proud of this meal. And a lesson learned, even for a weeknight meal: it is important to have a balance of textures and colors on the plate.

Looks good, I know....but it's NOT.

The broccoli rice casserole was also very strange: too much nutritional yeast in the  ‘no-cheese’ sauce. We  could barely eat it and that’s rare for us. I admit that I threw away all the leftovers the next day. Too stinky. Too strong. Too vegan. Thank goodness for the awesome and most delicious Gardein Chicken Nuggets! (LOVE those things!)  A huge side of sautéed mushrooms is always a good thing as well.

I never got around to making the cauliflower steaks: those have bumped up to this week’s menu. And I highly, highly recommend the LotsaVeg Soup which was the star of last week’s menu.

Another MAJOR distraction for me this past week: I entered the 21^st Century.