Meal Prep Monday : 2/6 - 2/10

Last school year, I had just about the exact same thing for lunch every day.  A tuna-egg salad sandwich, a golden delicious apple, and potato chips.  This was all well and good...relatively healthy, easy to make, and I somehow never completely got sick of it, though it did get old occasionally.

This school year however,  I am at a new school.  Where my commute is about 15 minutes longer.  And where I no longer have to wait in line for a microwave at lunch.  So I decided I was done with the sandwiches.  It saves me time in the morning if I can just grab a pre-packed container out of the fridge, and not have to make a sandwich and slice an apple (since I can't bite apples ever since my bike wreck in November 2015).

So now, I spend some time in the kitchen every Sunday afternoon, cooking up a meal to portion out into 5 containers to take to lunch each day during the school week.  I am loving this new routine.  I get to eat something slightly different each week, and it is so nice to just grab and go in the morning!


I've been keeping track of each week's meals for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to getting them on here.  I'm going to try to start posting them each Monday now.   And the one's I haven't posted yet will be saved for the random weeks when I don't get around to cooking and end up scrounging all week instead.

Lunch This Week

Pork roast

Risotto

Cabbage

Pork Roast : Pre-heat oven to 450.  Lightly coat a pork roast with olive oil, and then sprinkle the top with garlic powder (a lot of it, in my case) and oregano.  Bake for approximately 1 hour.  I use a meat thermometer to check temperature, and remove from the oven once it gets past 145 degrees.  A smaller roast will take less than an hour, a larger one takes more. 

Risotto : I'm not a huge fan of rice, I much prefer pasta.  However, I'm trying not to eat pasta every day...gotta change it up once in awhile.  And I do like risotto.  It's time consuming, so I don't make it too often, but occasionally I talk myself into it.  I have found that it does matter what kind of rice you use, I have had zero luck with brown rice, but arborio rice works great.  

First, I sauteed some chopped onion in olive oil.  While the onion was sauteeing, I grated a carrot and added that to the pot.  When the onions were translucent, I added about a cup of rice and some more olive oil, and stirred to coat the rice.  I then added about 1/2 cup of white wine.  I stirred occasionally to make sure nothing was sticking.  Then I warmed up about 4 cups of  chicken stock and vegetable stock in the microwave, and added it about 1 cup at a time, only adding more each time all liquid was absorbed.  When the risotto was almost done, I added a couple of chopped mushrooms and some garlic powder.  

Cabbage : I finely chopped some cabbage and sauteed it in olive oil with some garlic powder.  

The meal : A thin layer of cabbage, topped with a big spoonful of risotto, and 2 slices of pork. 

I usually cook more vegetables, but just wasn't enthused by any of my options this week.  I will supplement each lunch with some green grapes or sugar snap peas for extra fruit/veggie though.  I haven't had grapes in a while, but they were on sale this week and looked good so I couldn't resist!