Monday Menu Planning – December Week 2

Phew, it’s been a busy day. This is much later than I normally post our weekly, plant-based menu, but better late than never, right? It seems like the days are flying by with preparing for Christmas, homeschooling and just normal household chores. Anybody else feeling that? I’m not (currently) stressed out, but my days are definitely full. And I’m not done with Christmas shopping/gift making either … please tell me I’m not the only one!

So without further ado, here’s this week’s menu!

• Roasted Garlic White Bean Lasagna Soup (from Pinch of Yum) – We first tried this soup a few weeks ago. To make a long story short, it was delicious. To make a long story long, I was trying to cook it with the impending threat of tornadoes. Yes, tornadoes. It was so strange for this time of year. We were in the basement for a short while, but it all worked out okay for us. However, a neighboring town had a tornado touch down and do some damage. We were happy to come out of our cold, gloomy basement to eat some nice, warm soup! The only substitution I made was using macaroni noodles. We also left off the ricotta topping, but I’m sure that’s delicious as well.
• Thai Curry Vegetable Soup (from Budget Bytes) – I love, love, love this soup! It’s one of my all time favorites. I’m cheating a little bit with it this week, because the last time I made it, it was a double batch and I froze a ton of it. So, this week it’ll be a quick, brainless dinner. I think I need that in December 😜
• Crispy Sheet Pan Gnocchi and Veggies (from The Kitchn) – Speaking of quick and brainless dinners, this is our new favorite! It tastes like it’s a lot of work, but it’s so simple and fast. It is surprisingly delicious. All of us were blown away when I made it. If you’ve been following me for long, you know that I am constantly trying new recipes and I don’t repeat them more than once a month (or longer!). This recipe is from less than two weeks ago and we loved it so much that I would’ve made it the following night if I had the ingredients. Plant based or not, you gotta try this one!
• Vegan Meatballs with Spaghetti (from Vegan Haven) – I’m fairly certain I have shared this recipe before. This is our “meatball” recipe we use quite a bit. It’s fast, easy and delicious (can you sense a theme in this week’s menu?). I like to double the recipe to have leftovers throughout the week. I typically buy Aldi’s jarred organic marinara sauce, so I can’t vouch for the sauce recipe on this page, but you can give it a shot. If it’s as good as the “meatballs,” it’s probably very tasty!
• Easy Veggie Pizza with 20 Minute Crust (from Vegan Richa) – If you read my Christmas post last week, you might remember that I mentioned we make Christmas pizzas every year. I usually shape the dough into the shape of snowmen or candy canes. Claire wants me to try a Christmas tree this year, but I’m a little leery of that. Anyway, this is our favorite pizza dough recipe. It’s homemade, healthy, quick and very simple. I typically double the batch, so I can make one pizza with mozzarella cheese for Peter and Claire and one with vegan cheese for myself. Aldi has started carrying shredded vegan mozzarella cheese and it’s pretty decent. I’m not going to lie to you and say you couldn’t tell the difference or that it’s just as good as real cheese, but it’s a decent substitution for those of us who can’t have dairy.

That’s all for this week! I tried to stick to simple, easy dinners that all of us enjoy, so we would feel less rushed. The one exception (in regards to simplicity and speed), is the Roasted Garlic and White Bean Lasagna Soup, but we’re having company over that night, so it’s worth the extra work 😊 

I hope you found some delicious, simple new recipes to try this week. What kind of food do you cook around the holidays? Do you tend to order take out more, because you’re busy or tired?