Meal Plan Monday: Very Rainy Week!

Looks like we have a dreary rainy week ahead of us, except for Tuesday :) (woo hoo?)
So this week looks like comfort food at it's best.

Monday: This Monday we'll be practicing Meatless Monday! I usually find vegetarian meals to be a bit bland, so I've found the best way to make vegetarian meals is Indian Style. Curry could add flavor to a shoe, so it's bound to add some taste to meatless meals. :) (Please no hate mail from Vegetarians, I am in no way comparing vegetarian cuisine to a shoe :)

Lunch: Leftover Pierogis with kielbasa and sour cream
Dinner: Rachel Rays Curried Winter Vegetable Stoup (one of our Favorites)
Here's the Recipe: (I couldn't find "Fire Roasted Tomatos, so I just used canned Diced Tomatos)

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium eggplant, peel half of each one and chop into bite-size pieces
• 1 small head cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced into about one-inch chunks
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2-3 cups vegetable or chicken stock plus 1 cup, divided
• 2 rounded tablespoons mild curry paste, more if desired
• 1/2 cup mango chutney
• 1 can chickpeas (15 ounces)
• 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes (28 ounces)
• 1 bag spinach (10 ounces), thinly sliced
• 1 bag pita chips

Preparation

Place a large pot over medium-high heat with three turns of the pan of vegetable oil, about three tablespoons. Add the eggplant and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. 
Add the cauliflower and potatoes, turn the heat down to medium and cook for five minutes. Turn the heat back up to medium-high and add the red bell pepper, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, adding a little more oil if necessary if the mixture seems dry. 
Continue to cook for five more minutes, stirring every now and then. Add stock and bring up to a simmer.

While the stoup is coming up to a simmer, combine one cup of the stock with the curry paste and the mango chutney in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Add the curry mixture to the pot along with the chickpeas and tomatoes. Season with some salt and pepper, bring the mixture up to a bubble and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes and veggies are nice and tender and the flavors have melded together. Fold spinach in at the end.

To serve, ladle up a good amount of the stoup into a serving bowls and top with some pita chips.

Tuesday:
Lunch: Leftover Curried Winter Vegetable Stoup
Dinner: Flattened Whole Chicken herb and garlic seasoning (on the BBQ, Today is suppose to be the only sunny day), Asparagus (on the BBQ), and Wild Rice

Wednesday:
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwiches (made with the extra bbq'd chicken)
Dinner: Homemade macaroni and cheese (try making your own with a little bread crumb topping and you'll never go back to the boxed version), with a side of broccoli (and a little for Carson, he LOVES broccoli)

Thursday:
Lunch: Leftover Macaroni and Cheese, and a ham sandwich (with Swiss, assuming Lee doesn't eat it all by Thursday)
Dinner: Salmon and tofu stir fry

Friday:
Lunch: Tuna Sandwich, Yogurt and Nuts, with Granola
Dinner: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Carrots and Peas, and Lee likes his with Dijon.

I recently found out that one of the highest markups in the grocery store is on Deli Meats. So we try to make Ham Sandwiches when we're having ham, Turkey Sandwiches when we've had Turkey, etc. . . . The quality of the meat is always way better, the sandwiches are way yummier and it tends to be way cheaper. We did make the decision to invest in a small, inexpensive deli slicer, but we found a cheap one at walmart and it works beautifully :)

So that's our Meal Plan Monday, anything you're planning on making this week??