Friday, April 09, 2010

sticking with the VCON

I went through a period this winter where I found meal-planning a little overwhelming -- I found myself bombarded with ideas, but having a hard time narrowing down what we were going to eat each week. Ugh!

Lately, though, I've found a solution to my self-imposed problem -- choose one cookbook off my shelf, and stick with it for a week or two. I spent a couple of weeks getting to know Vegan Planet, which I'm happy to report was a good thing (tofu quiche!), and now, I've been sticking with VCON for a little bit. Not only does this new system allow me more focus in my recipe-selection, it "forces" me to try new recipes from cookbooks I've owned for ages!

First, something not from VCON:

Since we had leftovers from the giant Greek salad we took to Easter dinner, we did have giant salads one night this week. The salads were fabulous, and the biscuits made them even better! I love biscuits.

Now, time for VCON:

"Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans" was really simple and really delicious! If you roast the garlic ahead of time, this comes together in the blink of an eye, and is hearty and comforting! Yum.

"Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits:"

More yum! I was worried, after our recent Shepherd's Pie disaster, that this dish would fall short into the "hearty, but bland" category as well. Not so! Rich and flavorful, this is definitely a dish I will make again. I also found this relatively simple to prepare -- the directions in the cookbook for having everything ready ahead of time were smart!

Happy weekend, everyone!

3 comments:

Victoria said...

That sounds like a good solution to me, and I loved that cassoulet from Vcon!

Emily said...

Anything with roasted garlic and navy beans is bound to be good!

Judy said...

I had a similar experience with meal planning, and recently discovered the one-cookbook-at-a-time deal. It's been working well for me too :)

I have made a lot from vcon, but neither of those recipes. I will try the soup soon enough.