Lost without a meal plan
A couple of Thursdays ago, we opened our app to see what we were cooking for dinner but got an application error page instead. We could not load our meal plan for the week. We didn’t know what the plan for that night’s dinner was! We restarted the app but it did not help. While we tried to fix the problem, time passed, it was almost dinner time, and we didn’t have dinner sorted yet. I remembered one the things I wanted to have that night, and we adjusted it a bit to include the zucchini that needed to be used (see recipe below).
The problem with our meal planning application was related to a change in our hosting environment. We needed technical support to reinstate the database. Once that was done, we worked on getting the application live again but ended up in software libraries dependencies hell. And with actual work taking priority, it took us more than a week to get the application working again. During that week, we did not have a meal plan.
It was the first time in four years that we were without one. And we were lost. It was interesting (and entertaining, and not fun) to see how reliant we’ve become on having a meal plan. How we don’t have to scramble every day to decide what to cook for dinner. How having a weekly meal plan helps us prep food ahead of time, or use up perishable ingredients that need to be used up. Having a meal plan ensures we don’t eat just pasta every day. It helps us diversify our food groups, cuisines, and styles. Having a meal plan takes one thing off our mental plate for the day so we can focus on other things.
With the changes to the hosting environment, running this application now costs us $31 a month. We are currently the only ones we know of that use it. So is it worth this money? Considering the experience of our week without it, our answer is “Yes!”
Here are this week’s recipe suggestions for you to try:
- Raph Rashid’s Flexible, 25-Minute Nasi Goreng — a favourite that we cooked again this week
- Simply Zucchini Muffins — easy recipe that takes 30 minutes from start to finish that we had with breakfast the next morning
- Vegetarian carbonara with mushrooms, miso and parmesan — I’m a big fan of mushroom carbonara, and coupled with miso, we get double the umami flavours in this 30 minute meal
- BBQ Tempeh Sandwiches — an alternative to pulled pork sandwiches with colourful purple coleslaw
-
Whole lettuce and grains salad with chargrilled zucchini
- 1 large zucchini (or two small ones)
- 1 whole lettuce
- 200g cooked quinoa
- 50g pine nuts or pistachios (or other nuts you have in your pantry)
- 30g fresh parsley, chopped
- 100g Hot Sauce
- Vinaigrette with 50g olive oil, 20g apple cider vinegar, a touch of garlic, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp honey, a touch of salt, chopped parsley stems
- Tahini with lemon, turmeric, and dried chilli flakes
How to?
- Toast the nuts in a pan for a few minutes until fragrant.
- Wash the lettuce by submerging it in water with a dash of apple cider vinegar, and making sure it is thoroughly cleaned. Remove it from the water, cut off the base, and leave to dry.
- Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and lightly toast the already-cooked quinoa for 10 minutes, until golden and crisp. After that time, turn off the heat and add the parsley with a little extra salt and pepper.
- Slice the zucchini and chargrill it in a lightly oiled pan.
- Place a circle of lemon tahini on the plate followed by the sizzling quinoa and then the lettuce. Add the nuts and zucchini, then lightly drizzle the lettuce with the Hot Sauce and vinaigrette. Serve and enjoy!
Our meal plan from last week can be found at: https://foodfamily.app/public/meal_plans/24f2de92-2794-4b14-a316-ba50b375d443
Once again, please let us know if you make any of these recipes, how you found them, what you changed, or just drop us an email to say hi.
Thanks and see you next time,
Elle, Lachlan, M, Ginger, and Edward