I really like hearing everyone's MWL meal ideas. Here is what I have been up to in our kitchen this week:
I love pasta. Happily I recently found an Italian brand (RUMMO) of wholewheat semolina pasta that is great. It has a single ingredient: organic wholewheat semolina. I have pasta for at least one meal every couple of days. I like all sorts of other starches, too. I find I eat a much broader range of foods now than before starting to cook the MWL way. I used to think about what I was making for meals based on a recipe - now I just ask myself "Which starch do I want today?" or "Which precooked starch (batch cooking) do I want to reheat with some veggies for dinner tonight?" then I build a meal around the starch by choosing a couple veggies: carrots, kale, broccoli, etc. I make up mixtures of spices to add flavours to the starch. Italian- basil parsley, thyme, red chili flakes, marjoram, garlic, and balsamic vinegar, Mexican - Green chilis, Onion Powder, Garlic, Chili Powder, Red pepper flakes, Oregano, Paprika, Cumin, Black pepper, and lime juice/zest; Greek - Oregano, Garlic Powder, Onion Flakes, Basil, Dill Weed, Dried Parsley, Black Pepper, Marjoram, Thyme, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and lemon juice and/or zest); Indian coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, ground black pepper, fresh garlic and ginger.
Tonight we had a plain dinner. No spice. I sometime like these the most. so tonight's dinner was roasted delicata squash. That was the starch. We had a huge salad of mixed greens, chopped tomatoes, minced green onion, corn and baked black beans to start. Then delicata squash and steamed lacinato kale for the main dish.
For the last couple day's dinners and lunches, I made similar dishes but switched out the starch: one day roasted potatoes, the next, pasta, but both starches were topped with the same exact assortment of chopped veggies. I sometimes remember to give our meals a special name that sounds delicious...like pasta prima vera Doesn't that sound sound much more appetizing than saying here is your no-salt/no-oil added wholegrain pasta and vegetables. I also like to set the table attractively and garnish the plates of food.
To make Pasta Prima Vera (not a real recipe, although it sounds like it., right? haha); just what I made up; something quick and easy when we got home after travelling to be with my daughter for a few days.,I heated some frozen green peas (quite a lot of green peas, as I really like them), then once the green peas were boiling, I turned off the heat and added some precooked pasta (spaghetti), then, when the pasta was heated through (2 minutes) I topped it with chopped green onions, green bell pepper and tomatoes. It was quick, simple and absolutely delicious. It was so delicious I made the exact same thing again for lunch today simply switching the pasta for roasted potatoes as the starch.
Moonlight-- I enjoyed reading about your gardening ideas. We will have snow for another month. so we aren't thinking about gardening quite yet. We can grow cold crops here though so we will be growing some kale. My daughter was able to grow kale through the whole winter and she had more than she could eat.
I want to try making the roasted root vegetable soup that mentioned! It sounds really lovely. My husband loves cheese and salt too and he adds oil based salad dressings, parmesan cheese and chipotle mayonnaise sauce to almost everything he eats. ( I never ever liked those things so it doesn't entice me in the least)
Stephanie-- I like your finger food ideas for salads. That's an idea that will work for salads, or preloads, for me, too. Your pea soup every day sounds perfect! I have been craving split pea soup. I love it! I make an old favourite recipe (without any added oil) and it is amazingly delicious. I want to grow a 'salsa' garden, too! What a great idea! We have just started a the 'phase one' of our bee and butterfly garden last year. I really like the idea of adding some plants and bushes for the birds. We have bears that immediately destroy any bird feeders we have ever put up, but there might be a bush that bird , bees and butterflies like that won't attract bears. Nothing worse than having a big old bear sleeping outside our front door....happily our wonderfully observant neighbour noticed and phoned us to warn us "DONOT to open your front door! haha! True story! A beautiful young oak tree was near our front door and the bear must of eaten All of the acorns, then decided to take a nap. We had to cut that oak tree down because it attracted the bears to get acorns every fall.
Marilyn -- Stephanie mentioned it, but I want to repeat it...I really enjoyed reading about how your sense of taste has changed. Mine hase too. Yes, who would of thought that we would love asomething as simple as a roasted potatoes with a bit of mustard. I like horseradish on my roasted potatoes every now and then.
Daydream--I didn't know about roasting mushrooms. You made them sound very tasty. do you marinate them?
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Noella
Seriously, thank you for sharing your prep routine!!! I eat similar, but probably more Yukon Gold and less sweet potatoes... You have made me hungry for roasted mushrooms and I am going to make some today!!! 
Makes me feel better only having to deal with squirrels and rabbits!!! 
. However, my granddaughter came over today and we baked vegan chocolate chip cookies together and had a lot of laughs. She is 9 and did all the measuring herself and pouring the vanilla turned into OVER pouring so we just renamed the cookies vanilla cookies with chocolate chips 
(I don't think it is as bad as they usually are so maybe will be gone tomorrow ). 
), and I'm looking forward to taking my daughter to a show on Broadway - her very first! Also, I have Hawaiian sweet potatoes on the way that should arrive soon; I expect I'll be bringing some of those along (steamed), with broccoli and apples for our day in NYC. 
