Despite the amazing weather and sunshine, I’m feeling the January “blahs”. I’m not sure if you experience these, but for me it happens shortly after the holiday decorations come down and the afterglow of December’s festivities is as dark as these winter mornings and evenings. I am, if you will, like a flower…I need long days of sunshine and gentle warm breezes to nourish me.
Ha!
What do you do when you get the winter blahs? This week The Fish Family will be having two “theme-nights” to break up the monotony of January. Yes, we are throwing caution to the wind and serving up some festivesauce with an Irish Night and an Indian Night. You’re jealous, aren’t you?
As many of you know, it really is the little things that matter, and though it might seem silly to tell Guppy, “Tonight, we’re travelling to India…” and spend our dinner talking about the animals, stories and people we could relate to the country of India, for the curious 5 year-old she is, it’s rather exciting. I recycled a few old lesson plans I’d used for children and found some “Animals of India” colouring pages for her to work on while I prepare dinner tonight, and we could even extend the experience by watching “The Jungle Book” later in the week…it only takes a few minutes of planning to create an event out of what would otherwise be a boring Monday night dinner.
Theme-Night meals for teens or adults are not necessarily more labour-intensive, on the contrary! Watching a film connected with your meal, or just the simple addition of pre-dinner cocktails, the apéro, if you will, can add sass and spark to a regular meal – even if your cocktails are non-alcoholic!
Smaller children will love making a game of something so ordinary, and it can help open up conversations with older kids, too.
Here’s our week :
Monday : Indian Night! Kale with raisins & Chana Dal* served with Paratas, and Kheer* for dessert.
Tuesday : Spirals with “Feta” & Spinach. – this one is from The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions by Celine Steen & Joni Marie Newman. Many of you I’m sure all the recipes I teased you with while I was testing for this one (even though the silly publishers forgot to credit my name, grr!). Now you can go get your own copy – you’ll be so happy you did!
Wednesday : Irish Night! Colcannon* with Irish Soda Bread and Seedcake* for dessert and Irish Coffee for the grown-ups!
Thursday : left-overs
Friday : Pizza Night! This is our favourite night of the week, and we never grow tired of it.
The starred (*) dishes mentioned above are test recipes for The Urban Vegan’s book-in-progress, and here are a few pictures of what I was testing last week :
hot crossed buns
sweet mint tea
Shirley Temple (for Guppy!)
I’m actually testing much more than you’re seeing here, but with the absolute lack of daylight (Winter Blahs!) there has been a significant decline in food photos around here…long live March 21st!
Do you blog your weekly meal plans? Let me know, I’d love to link to your plan to share the planning mojo with everyone. And don’t forget, if you’re looking for meal plan inspiration you can visit the MPM archives.
Musings From The Fishbowl 
You seem to have found the best way to fight the winter blahs! Can we join your theme-nights?
Oh yes! Come & we can wear funny hats!
I’m feeling the blahs for sure, even though the weather is slightly warmer these last few days in Berlin. But regardless, the sun goes down at 4 and every day feels too short! Like the cheerful meal plan though, that Irish night looks especially great!
I have no excuse, T, it’s really warm here – and mostly sunny – but those blahs…they are evil!
I’m sure those theme-night dinners will be lots of fun for Guppy! I love that you’ve even prepared related activities she can do while you’re prepping dinner.
(Tu n’es pas la seule à ne pas avoir été créditée dans Vegan Subs: je ne l’ai pas été non plus. La liste de testeurs qui a été publiée semble avoir souffert de mauvais copier-coller, ou quelque chose comme ça…)
Je m’étais pas rendue compte! Désolée ma belle. Comme j’avais été testeuse pour 500 aussi je ne m’étais pas trop posé la question…les rédacs devrait nous emboucher comme éditrices!
What a great idea to take an international “tour” during the week this way! Yes, I am intimately acquainted with those blahs. . . love your idea. I think I need to go to India tonight, too! 🙂
Did you come to India? We didn’t see you, but it *is* a rather large country…!
That sounds like such a fun idea…
And sadly in Alberta, spring doesn’t really start until mid May. The snow and cold don’t stop until then
May? Oh dear…sending you very warm thoughts!
Pingback: Tweets that mention Meal Plan Monday: Theme-Night Family Fun & More tester treats… | Musings From The Fishbowl -- Topsy.com
I love the idea of theme nights to beat the winter blahs! My favorite way to beat the blahs is to go to a warm island. Your idea is much more economical! I’m going to try it after I finish my detox/cleanse.
More economical, yes. But perhaps a little less exciting than snorkling in Australia!