Welcome to the Better Dinner Institute

Weeks 47-48 – Late-November

Do you realize that the Holidays are *really* coming now?

Take a deep breath: this meal plan will help you survive the beginning of the Season.

NOTES

• This meal plan covers Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it in November. (In Canada we do Thanksgiving in October.) On the Thursday of week 47, and on the mini plan, I have fitted in a big autumnal salad. It makes a great contribution to any Thanksgiving spread or potluck. On the Friday, and also on the mini plan, I suggest a “leftovers stir-fry” using batch-cooked brown rice as a base. If you have the remnants of a vegan roast, it will work great there, but you can make it work with almost anything, really. I recommend black beans as an alternative, but tofu would work great too (stir-fry it first). If you are not celebrating Thanksgiving, plan to have lots of leftovers in the fridge (for once).
• Have you made seitan before? It’s not as scary as it sounds, and you’ll feel totally empowered once you know how it’s done. If you can get your hands on some “Better than Bouillon” no-beef vegetarian broth, it has the perfect flavor for this recipe. If you don’t have it in you to experiment with gluten this weekend, I totally get it. Buying a ready-made vegan beef-style meat is perfectly fine.
• Family plan only: Breakfast for dinner, guys! Sometimes, my kids ask for pancakes at 5:30 pm… and just once in a while I am delighted to say “why not?” If you have a good blender, you can add a few sneaky ingredients to the recipe. For example, you can substitute cooked white beans for part of the oat flour, sneak in a few pieces of cooked yam or leftover roasted squash if you have some, and so forth. The important is to keep the ratio of baking powder and baking soda to “everything else” about the same, and adjust the quantity of liquid to keep the batter thick but pourable. Those pancakes cook to be quite thick (about 3/4 inch thick / 1.5 cm), they won’t spread like a galette. But if you got the ratio wrong and you find yourself with crepes… Just roll’em up and enjoy!
• Too much roasted squash? Add it to the lemony split pea soup for extra creaminess and B vitamins!
• Speaking of the split pea soup, it’s fine to make it with red lentils, too.

And with no further a-do, here’s the menu for late-November! See you in December – aye.