weekly meals Archives - My Inner Shakti

Some of you may have noticed that I don’t share my own recipes all that frequently anymore. It’s not that I don’t cook at home. It’s just that I don’t have the energy or patience to measure out ingredients, write everything down, and type it all up. Not my forte I suppose!

With that being said, if I make something that’s too good not to share, I will (well…maybe!). And I definitely want to share more of the recipes I come across during my weekly meal planning process. There are some great dishes out there just waiting to be made!

This Week’s Meal Plan

I’m not exactly sure what day these meals will be made on, but I like to plan for four meals and then adjust as we go.

Lentil Tortilla Soup via Vegan Richa
Veggie Shepherd’s Pie via Life as Lauren
Black Bean Burgers via All Recipes
An Indian veggie stir-fry via my mom and homemade Indian flatbread via me

Recent Favs from Trader Joe’s

Cilantro salad dressing – This dressing is now a favorite in our household. Even for me, the cilantro hater! I love that you don’t need a ton to get a experience the strong flavor. While Vishnu often uses it as intended (and as a sandwich spread), I use it as more of sauce – on top of nachos, eggs, veggie bowls, etc. I don’t see us expiring this product any time soon!

Nutritional yeast – I think I mentioned that TJ’s now sells nutritional yeast in a previous post. What a fun discovery! I love using this stuff on top of everything, as it packs a big nutritional punch. More info here.

Lemongrass and sage hand soap – I absolutely love this hand soap and keep a bottle by my kitchen sink. I am a huge fan of herbal scents, and this hits the spot.

Well, I hope you had a great weekend. Other than meal planning and shopping at Trader Joe’s, mine included a fun brunch with friends, hanging out with Aekta and Adarsh, and odds and ends at home [Vishnu worked a Saturday 12p- Sunday 8a shift at the hospital].

Happy Monday!

Oh Monday, how is it that you always seem to sneak up on us so quickly?! And you brought cold-like symptoms with you this time. Thanks.

So while our weekend was fun and relaxing, I felt a little strange the whole time – stuffy nose, itchy eyes and ears, and sneezy. I am really really really hoping this has something to do with allergies (even though it’s never been a problem for me before) because I’m going to New York next week and colds are not welcome!

Anyways, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to best share some of our more notable weekly meals on the blog. I decided to take some inspiration from Brittany, who shares her weekly meal plan with links to recipes where available. I can’t make any promises that this will be a regular feature (I’m not the best with consistency), but I definitely want to share our quick and easy meals more often. And just for fun, I’ll also be sure to include restaurant meals that were particularly delicious and worth mentioning.

Ok, here we go…

Healthy Mexican Pizzas with Guacamole and Spicy Crema

I used my microwave method to make the tortillas crispy. Then I spread refried beans (seasoned with cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper) and salsa on top. Next, I topped with cheese and set under the broiler for two minutes. To make the guacamole, I mixed mashed avocado, garlic, tomato, cayenne, lime juice and salt together. The crema was made with equal parts mayo and Greek yogurt, garlic, lime juice, cayenne and salt. DELICIOUS!!!

Thai Green Curry

So while I liked this meal, Vishnu was not a fan. However, he did eat some of the leftovers the next day without complaining. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for this. It’s basically a combination of green curry paste, coconut oil, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, tofu and veggies. Not amazing but pretty good!

Pasta with Homemade Sauce and Roasted Eggplant

I could eat this everyday. For real. The pasta was the quinoa and brown rice kind from Trader Joe’s. I made the sauce using my spicy sauce recipe. And the eggplant was diced, coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted in the oven at 400* for 15 minutes. And there was a little cheese…obviously.

The Baklava Factory

On Saturday evening, after I was done napping, I asked Vishnu what he wanted to eat. When we couldn’t come up with anything that sounded appetizing to both of us, I suggested going to The Baklava Factory. I bought a Groupon a month or so ago and was waiting for Vishnu’s test to be done so we could try it out. Great choice on my part because the food was amazing! I got the veggie platter (falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, tahini sauce, grape leaves, Greek salad and pita bread), and Vishnu got a kabob platter (3 different kinds of kebabs, rice, baba ganoush, Greek salad and pita bread). YUM!

This week I plan to make a couple of Cook Smarts meals, as I signed up for an annual meal plan! You may remember that I was offered a 3 month membership to try out last year. I absolutely loved the service and decided to bring it back into our lives because I think it’ll help with our grocery budget. I’ve been going a little crazy with the food shopping lately. My goal is to create more cohesive weekly meals that build on each other with similar ingredients, and this is where Cook Smarts is perfect. Here’s to staying under budget AND delicious meals!

What was the best thing you made/ate last week?

*The Cook Smarts links above are referral links. Thank you for reading!