Cooking for 3-5 adults including one recuperating patient (my mom) whose appetite is spotty and finicky at the moment (vs. her usual eat-everything approach) in Mumbai vs. my usual NYC.
A meal plan is even more helpful to me at the moment than usual to organize my thoughts. At lunch, we follow the house approach of one-day-at-a-time, decided the night before, but it’s always an Indian vegetarian meal that follows the traditional pattern of vegetables+legumes+chapatis+yogurt/buttermilk so it’s not too hard to pick one from each column. Dinner is currently my domain (because everyone else is either exhausted or fed up or both by then), so that’s what I’m focused on planning with a view to variety and tastiness for the patient, who usually doesn’t want to eat anything by evening.
Last week actuals where they deviated from my plan, and some ideas for the coming week:
Tues - Steak dinner for us, burger with the same sides for mom. Miso butter mushrooms, garlic broccoli, scalloped potatoes.
(Thai curry was coopted as lunch menu so I had to come up with something else for dinner.)
Wed, Thurs - Soup, tomato salad, and sandwiches (I made too many sandwiches, so we ate them two days in a row). Soup varied, sandwiches were smoked salmon and corned beef. Mom had soup, fresh bread and butter, and cheese one day, Beyond italian sausage and salad the next.
Friday - Korean! Mixed mushroom Japchae (big hit with mom) including some wonderful oyster mushrooms, plus Beyond steak and Chicken lollipops (frenched wings) in a riff of the Buldak Bal glaze from prior COTM Koreatown. Whole meal was extremely successful and will be repeated!
Sat - Sushi bowls for sis and me (shrimp, smoked salmon, avocado, carrots, nori, mushrooms) with steamed broccoli on the side, mom has opted for leftover Japchae and steamed (from frozen) vegetable-paneer momos.
Sun - Baked ziti (except macaroni) with simplified Marcella sauce, side vegetable or salad. Or stuffed shells – we’ve got both jumbo shells and cannelloni at hand, stuffing mixture will be malai paneer instead of ricotta plus the rest
Mon - Indian Chinese: Vegetable Hakka noodles, Paneer Manchurian (freezer), Soya chilli chicken, one more vegetable (either garlic green beans or something I can’t think of yet)
Tues - Freezer leftovers for us (Ghee roast crab, Goan prawn curry), tbd leftovers for mom from whatever she liked from preceding days.
Wed - I’m thinking coconut curry noodle soup with lots of vegetables might be hit the spot for everyone, with some added chicken or shrimp for us.
Thurs - I’ve had Spanish tortilla on my mind so maybe a Spanish-leaning meal, but have to think of something good and vegetarian for mom to center it around. Maybe mushroom croquetas, I’ve also got spanish-stye grilled and marinated artichokes, or I could do veg paella if she’s up for it. Could also add some smoked paprika to veg hot dogs and sautée as mock-chorizo. Will keep thinking.
Fri - Pizza, which is always a favorite for everyone. Maybe I’ll make the crust instead of being lazy and getting the pre-baked one. Some sort of salad.
Sat - Baby lamb chops coated with potato for us, vegetarian kheema-stuffed potato chops for mom (maybe, otherwise leftover pizza), tbd vegetable soup.
Sun - Cheesetoast (the sandwiched kind) and tomato soup for everyone.
The fruit is great at the moment, so we’re enjoying grapes, watermelon, and chikoo (sapota) while the mangoes come into full swing.
Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, and a peaceful and delicious week ahead.
