Weekly Meal Themes!

I LOVE A THEME! I'm one of those people who gets super excited for holidays and chooses outfits to match certain national themed days. Yes, I have a shirt I wear on National Beer Day. And a shirt for National Donut Day. In short, I'm a dork.

On a recent No Meat Athlete podcast, co-host Doug Hay mentioned that he and his family had started weekly themed meals at the beginning of the pandemic, just to make meal planning easier since they were cooking more often at home. I loved the idea, so I stole it! I was already a Type A meal planner, but this has made me even nuttier. We've got Macaroni Monday, Taco Tuesday, Wok Wednesday, Takeout Thursday, Pizza Friday, Grill Out Saturday, and Wild Card Sunday. I'm sticking with Doug's themes for a few weeks, but I'll probably change up the themes eventually.

For my first Macaroni Monday (any kind of pasta is fair game) last week, I made Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Grilled Bell Pepper Marinara. I had some leftover grilled peppers from the weekend and some kale that was wilting, so I added that atop some marinara and pasta. Leftover grilled asparagus on the side.

On Taco Tuesday, I made a recipe from The Low Carb Vegetarian Cookbook (the new book by my friends at The Chubby Vegetarian!). These Chick'n & Cheese Stuffed Avocados were meant to be eaten on their own to make them low-carb, but I'm on a high-carb diet (for real!) so I stuffed these stuffed babies into corn/flour tortillas. So good!! The avos were stuffed with Soy Curls and vegan cheese and baked in the oven. 

For Wok Wednesday, I made a simple Teriyaki Tempeh Stir-fry with tempeh, broccoli, shrooms, and bell pepper over brown rice.

I had been getting my weekly takeout on Thursdays anyway, so Doug's Takeout Thursday was perfect! I went to Stick 'Em — the brick-and-mortar version of the food truck — which just opened on Madison in the Blue Nile location. Same owners, mostly same menu as Blue Nile, but they sadly no longer serve injera bread. But they still have the amazing Tofu Skewers &Veggie Platter! I'll be doing a full post on Stick 'Em soon. I want to try a few new menu items first!

For Pizza Friday, I picked up some mini pizza crusts at Sprouts. They're perfect for an easy personal-sized pizza. For this one, I used Be-Hive seitan pepperoni (made in Nashville) with Daiya mozz and veggies.

On Saturday, I drove to Nashville for Paul's socially distanced family grill-out and fireworks show. We stayed outside and didn't get too close to each other. I wore my mask when I wasn't eating. Paul's brother, Donnie, did the grilling, and he made Sweet Earth Sante Fe Veggie Burgers for Paul and I, plus some veggie skewers. These chips were some that I brought from Sprouts — Burger Fixing flavor (ketchup, mustard, pickle). Yay Grill Out Saturday!

Finally, on Sunday, it was Wild Card day! That means any meal goes! We stayed in a hotel in Nashville so we wouldn't be too close to his family because Covid. I had to drive home on Sunday, but before I left, we stopped by The Be-Hive for carryout and then enjoyed it at Eastland Park. I got the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich (with their house-made soy cheese and onions), and we shared an order of Vegan Bacon Tots with Ranch. Soooooooo good!!