Meal Plan for November 27-December 3
Hello!
We got back from visiting family for the holiday, so this newsletter is coming to you a day late. Sorry! Hope everyone is staying healthy and cozy. Here’s some meal ideas that will hopefully be good variety after Thanksgiving. Also after writing this up, I realized that everything I shared is vegetarian. So no substitutions needed!
Quick Links
pasta con ceci // tacos de papa //frittata // coconut dal, aloo gobi, raita // ginger cookies
Weeknight Meals
This is a frequent quick dinner for us. It’s so delicious and uses things we always have around. And the ingredients are dirt cheap. This is a good thing to have in your back pocket!
The four of us (and two of us are 5 years old) can polish off a pot of this, so if you are serving more, double it.
The garnishes really make it feel like a special meal instead of grown up Spaghetti-os. Drizzle on a little olive oil, cracked pepper or red pepper flakes, a scattering of fresh basil or parsley, parmesan cheese, you get it.
Fresh bread and a green thing (green salad, steamed broccoli, sauteed zucchini) will also complete the meal.
Mashed potato taquitos (Tacos dorados de papa)
If you still have mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving, here’s the best possible way to use the extras. You can google this and find some fun recipes, including some with Chorizo.
Without a recipe, this is super simple. First, microwave your corn tortillas for 30 seconds with a sprinkle of water so that they are soft and malleable. Throw your leftover mashed potatoes into the middle of the tortilla, add some good melty cheese and anything else you’d like to include (green onion, chiles, chorizo), and then either roll up the tortilla into a taquito shape, or fold in half. Then fry it up in a pan with a neutral oil like canola or vegetable.
Like many simple Mexican dishes, half of the excitement will be the salsa accompaniment. Our favorite salsa for tacos is… leftover salsa from takeout! If you don’t have any handy, whip out some hot sauce (our favorites are Valentina and local heros La Chicana) or make a salsa from scratch.
We have 7 chickens and in the warm months, we get waaaay too many eggs. This is a great way to eat eggs for dinner that everyone loves.
We like this best to substitute jarred artichoke hearts for the spinach and feta for the cheddar. It makes the frittata perfectly salty and briny.
We always have a little bread on the side with this meal. Sometimes a salad but that feels like extra credit some days.
Project meal
Coconut Dal, Turmeric Rice, Aloo Gobi and Raita
Yuuuuuum I wish I had this right now.
Honestly, no notes. Everytime we make this, it is confirmed that it’s our favorite food.
The raita I shared isn’t traditional, but a riff on the original and a way that I find to be really enjoyable.
Treat of the Week
I use an old family recipe when I make these, but this is pretty close to ours.
My great uncle mailed me some of these cookies one Christmas when I was living in Austria and they were still soft and comforting.
Something to Listen to: Home Cooking released their yearly episode! One of the rare pandemic joys was this podcast and it was so fun to hear from Samin and Hrishi again.
Have a lovely week!
Emily