Welcome to the Better Dinner Institute
Prepare to feed your family really good food.Weeks 49-50 – Early-December
December has arrived and we’ll have some warm, comforting food to take us through the Holidays.
It’s cold and many of us are snowed under already! Either way, comfort food would be timely. I have gathered simple – almost rustic – recipes in this meal plan.
NOTES
- If you have never had grilled slices of cabbage, expect to be charmed! (Family plan only) It works best with a heavy cast-iron skillet. If you don’t have one yet… maybe add one to your Christmas list? It’s a present that will last you a lifetime. (I have written a detailed post about cast-iron cooking on the blog.)
- Jackfruit is fun to eat, but not particularly filling. I combined it with black-eyed peas for a flavorful curry. A favorite of my husband! I also totally revamped the recipe to be much quicker to make – you’ll love it!
- You really need canned “young” (NOT “ripe”) jackfruit in water or brine for that recipe. With all due respect to the Upton kind, it’s expensive and… well, I don’t like it. Asian grocers carry it and it’s increasingly common in mainstream stores as well. If you can’t find any, I suggest using a second kind of beans, or chunks of extra-firm tofu, or your favorite commercial vegan chicken.
- Limited time to prep and cook this week? It’s OK to take some shortcuts. For example, when I was cooking from this meal plan myself, I ended up making burgers with portobello mushroom caps instead of my BBB recipe (which is awesome but does require advance prep), and serving them with frozen yam fries from the store. Because we are a hungry bunch, we use two portobello mushrooms per burger. The family plan includes other suggestions to save you time on page 1.
- Family plan: also skip home-made pickles and smoked tofu if you’re in a rush and just use plain veggies and store-bought smoked tofu (or plain tofu if you like that).
Questions? Worries? Get help.