Brett and I have decided that no matter what, we need to defrost the freezer next weekend. We will be finishing up the last of our food shopping for the month the week after, and need to have the freezer cleaned out and ready to go for that haul. I think by the end of this week we’ll have everything down to where what’s leftover can fit into the inside freezer or the cooler while the defrost takes place.
A big goal this coming month is to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables in our diet. I think we do a pretty good job already, but know we can kick it up a bit. YaYu consumes most of the fruit we buy, and eats a lot of vegetables, but we’ve stocked up on vegetables for snacking, and I am going to work at having at least two servings of fruit each day. Citrus season is starting here, and I’m looking forward to enjoying local mandarin oranges and tangelos, as well as making fresh orange juice.
Although this month I’m going to start eating meat again in small amounts, if desired, this week I’m still pretty much sticking to a vegetarian/vegan diet.
Appearing on this week’s menu:
- Tuesday (this evening): Spaghetti with greens; meatballs; garlic bread (vegan meatballs for me)
- Wednesday: Grilled chicken; vegetable lo mein (‘chickenless’ nuggets for me) – bumped from last week
- Thursday: Grilled monchong; steamed broccoli; whole grain bread
- Friday: Panzanella with beans (without cheese)
- Saturday: Leftovers
- Sunday: Yakisoba with chicken (no chicken for me)
- Monday: Potstickers; steamed rice; Asian coleslaw (vegetable potstickers for me)
We won’t need a whole lot from the farmers’ market this week as we’re going to be using up what we have on hand as well as the last of some frozen vegetables. We will need to get some tomatoes and cucumbers though for the panzanella salad, as well as some citrus fruits and bananas.
The Occasional Nomads 
I love mandarin oranges, especially at Christmas! They are so tiny and delicious, and no seeds or the weird pulpy stuff like on regular oranges.
I’ve been trying some “meat” substitutes recently and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I resisted eating them over the summer, but as it gets cooler and darker, I’ve felt the need for more sustenance than just a salad.
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The mandarins grown here unfortunately have seeds, but we deal with them. I prefer the seedless ones, especially the Satsumas, but the local ones from the market are cheaper. The naval oranges grown here are delicous too, and of course the tangelos. When you’re here next year there should still be plenty available at the farmers’ market.
The meat substitutes I’ve tried have all been good – I have tried vegan meatballs, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and sausages, and recently had some vegan barbecue ‘pork,’ which was better than I imagined it would be. Our family’s never eaten a lot of meat anyway though, so it should be OK to have it – I won’t be overdoing it.
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I started eating oatmeal for breakfast. (I’ve had an aversion to it all my life and suddenly can tolerate it. It’s healthy and frugal – yay!) I made a recipe that’s called “Carrot cake and zucchini bread oatmeal” It includes grated carrot and zucchini in the oatmeal so I’m getting in some veggies in for breakfast. I love the change!
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I would love the recipe! I’ve seen lots of recipes recently for baked oatmeal, but this one sound interesting and a good way to increase our vegetable intake. Brett eats oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast, but it’s not my favorite – this recipe sounds like something I would love (Brett too).
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