Meal Prep Friday 3.20.15

In this weekly series, “Meal Prep Friday,” I want to show you how do-able it is to eat healthfully throughout the week with wholesome meals if you put a little effort into planning and prepping in advance. I will share with you my weekly “game plan,” my purchases at the store, and any helpful tricks and tips I’ve learned along the way. Let’s get cookin’! 

Get ready for a Tex-Mex extravaganza! As you can see from my grocery purchases, I had all the makings of one of the cuisines that both the Hungryman and I adore. In fact, Tex-Mex is what we had on our first date night. Nothing fancy, but you better believe it was downright good times.

 Total $67.80 (I purchased flank steak during the middle of the week)

However, I understand that this kind of a meal plan doesn't fly with everyone. Although I prepared a variety of dishes so that we didn't end up eating enchiladas every night, the flavors in all of them were similar. Obviously, that's unavoidable since I used the same ingredients. On the other hand, it is a way to save $$$, not to mention, it ensures that ALL of the ingredients will be consumed.

Of course, there are weeks when I'm drowning in my groceries because I have cravings for all kinds of things and want to cook anything and everything - Italian, Mexican, Korean all in one week. And you can imagine...no matter how hard I try, I always end up tossing some of the produce away. Cilantro and chipotle chiles in Italian dishes just don't sound appealing to me.

But you know what? That's ok too. Meal Prep should be anything but rigid and monotonous. It's all about experimenting with what works for you and your family and, more importantly, having fun doing it.

Back to this week's meal prep...

• Sweet potatoes - roasted with coconut oil and cinnamon
• Cucumbers and Red bell peppers - cleaned and sliced to be added to various dishes
• Corn - roasted half; the rest was used to make a fresh salsa for the enchiladas
• Mason jar salad - Asian Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
• Rotisserie chicken - The leftovers from the enchiladas were stored separately in a container and added to mason jar salads, snacks, nourish bowls, etc.
• Whole grains: Korean mixed grain rice with beans (You can find this in Asian groceries. This particular mix contains brown rice, barley, millet, red beans, mung beans). I cooked it in a rice cooker for nourish bowls.
• Hard boiled eggs

Garlic - I do NOT like mincing garlic every time I need it. To save time, I normally purchase about 2 bulbs and mince them in my hand-powered mini food chopper. Store it in an airtight container and it's good to go whenever I need it. I approximate: 1 tablespoon = 1 garlic clove.

 Weekly Meals

During the week, I did some recipe development for an upcoming e-cookbook!! I can't wait to share with you all the details ;). I cooked some black beans, scrambled eggs in a cast iron skillet (comes out light and fluffy every time!) and voila! A hearty breakfast taco for two.

// Vegetarian Black Bean Breakfast Tacos

// Enchiladas with corn salsa

At this point, I asked the Hungryman, have you had enough Tex-Mex? To which he replied..

 Haha! So I proceeded to make him a fajita nourish bowl

// Tex-Mex Beef Fajita Nourish Bowl

This week's mason jar salad was a crunchy Asian salad - a nice break from Tex-Mex.  The dressing is super easy to make, and I bet you have all the ingredients on hand.

Crunchy Asian Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Makes 4 jars

Ingredients:

Salad

• 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 (12 oz.) bag of broccoli slaw (5 cups) - I purchased from Trader Joe's
• 1 cup sliced cucumbers
• Protein of choice (I added rotisserie chicken and roasted peanuts)

Dressing:

• ⅓ cup smooth peanut butter
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon sriracha

First, add about 2 Tablespoons of the dressing to the bottom of the jars. Layer the salad mixture on top. Add your protein of choice the morning of. The dressing is a bit thick so you'll need to do some scraping to get it all out of the jar.

Remember, this is just a guideline. Feel free to swap out or add whatever produce you have on hand. I'm thinking about adding sliced Asian pears next time.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my meal prep for the week. Come back next week for more!

Oh, and don't forget to enter for my Cabot Cheese Cookbook + $25 cheesy-licious package giveaway !

Question:

What is the favorite thing you made this week?

 Past Posts:

• Meal Prep Friday 2.20.15
• Meal Prep Friday 2.27.15
• How to build the perfect mason jar salad
• Meal Prep Friday - National Nutrition Month Edition