Menu Plan Monday: The Week of Quinoa

menu_plan_monday

The start of a new year is usually a time in which I like to experiment with new recipes. Not necessary anything fancy, just fresh options to fold into my usual routine. I’ve had some fun and successful recipe experimentation recently, but the week ahead will also include a lot of my favorites from 2015. Apparently, all of them include quinoa, which is something I realized only after I had planned and shopped (hence the title of this post). Oh well–there are worse things than week full of quinoa!

While it won’t exactly be a theme, per se, the overarching emphasis in my kitchen this month (and consequently, of the blog) will be “back to basics.” I’m getting back into my batch cooking and weekly menu planning routine, and I’ll be focusing on simple, versatile recipes that have the potential to become household regulars. The cabbage soup that Steven and I enjoyed over New Year’s is definitely a contender for this category. And I have a new quinoa dish planned for Tuesday that might hopefully be a keeper, too.

Menu Plan Monday

Here’s what’s on the roster for this week:

Batch cooked staples:

●Quinoa (lots and lots of it)
●Chickpeas
Mustardy lentil and sweet potato salad
Delightfully green tahini dressing (I need to branch out, but I can’t stop making it!)

Recipes:

●Rustic cabbage, chickpea, and wild rice soup (a new recipe, which I’ll be sharing tomorrow!
●Creamy curried quinoa (another new one)
●Red lentil and quinoa cakes with harissa
Cream of broccoli and quinoa soup
Quinoa, carrot, and spinach salad with spicy chili vinaigrette

Cream-of-broccoli-and-quinoa-soup-4

The Menu Plan

Sunday: Leftover cabbage, chickpea, and wild rice soup | Toast | Simple salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Monday: Curried quinoa dish (new recipe–we’ll see how it goes!)

Tuesday: Red lentil and quinoa cakes with harissa | Sauteed green beans

Wednesday: Cream of broccoli and quinoa soup | Big salad with delightfully green tahini dressing

 Thursday: Dinner with my cousin in D.C.

Friday: Cream of broccoli and quinoa soup leftovers | Big salad with delightfully green tahini dressing

SaturdayQuinoa, carrot, and spinach salad with spicy chili vinaigrette (and any remaining leftovers of soup)

Quinoa-Carrot-and-Chili-Salad-5

Our lunches will be a combination of all the leftovers and plenty of my mustardy lentil and sweet potato salad (which was a favorite of 2015, for sure).

And that’s that. Looking forward to cooking and eating it all. And I can’t wait to share the new soup recipe with you tomorrow–it’s so simple and delicious, and it’ll give you leftovers for days. Till soon!

xo

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    11 Comments
  1. Looks like a great line-up Gena–I agree, there are certainly WAY worse things than a week full of quinoa. Sounds like an awfully delicious week to me. 🙂 xo

  2. Looking forward to the soup recipe! I make a lot more rice than quinoa, since quinoa is so expensive. I had leftover soupy red lentils from a recipe fail last week (from the Vedge cookbook of all places, can you believe it?!) and I used your red lentil and quinoa cakes recipe as a template to morph them into patties- they came out great! Next time I’ll try the recipe as written.

  3. I love your rough meal plans, being a student as well this is something that seems doable to me. I’m looking forward to the new soup recipe since I’m looking for new ways to cook with cabbage!

    I was also wondering what’s your favorite way to batch cook your dried beans? I tried searching the blog but couldn’t find anything, thanks!

  4. OoOo I can’t wait to see this recipe for rustic cabbage, chickpea, and wild rice soup! I’m always looking for fresh options to fold into my routine and will definitely be trying a few of these out. Cheers to a happy, healthy 2016 dear!