Meal Prep : 10/29/18

Pasta & Meatballs

The Meatballs : 1 lb ground pork, 1 lb 93/7 ground beef, 1 lb 85/15 ground beef. 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic powder.  Makes 33 meatballs.  I cooked them in approximately 72 ounces of sauce for 60-90 minutes.  The sauce was a mix of tomato-mushroom, tomato-roasted garlic, tomato-basil, and alfredo.

The Pasta : approximately 1.5 lbs of bowtie noodles.  Cook, drain, mix in sauce left in meatball pot after meatballs are removed.

The Veggies : Sauteed onion, 5 carrots, mushrooms, and 2 packages of frozen cauliflower.

The veggies were split evenly 10 ways, each lunch got 3 meatballs and 1 cup of pasta.   There was still pasta left over, so Coby's lunches each got some more pasta.  There was then about 1 serving of pasta left, so that went with the 2 last meatballs.  (The 33rd got eaten as a taste-test)

Meal Prep : 10/22/18

4 lbs boneless chicken thighs

1 lb arborio rice

24 oz frozen peas

12 oz frozen corn

3 carrots

onion

mushrooms

Chicken : Preheat the oven to 425.  Lay the chicken in a large glass baking dish, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with a generous amount of garlic powder.  Bake for 30 minutes. (Use a thermometer to check that they have reached an internal temperature of 160-165 before removing from the oven.)  

Risotto : Chop about 2/3 of a sweet onion and brown in olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add the rice, stir to coat with oil, then add enough chicken broth to cover.  Simmer gently.  When most of the liquid is soaked up, add the drippings from the baking dish you used for the chicken.  Add minced garlic if desired.  Continue adding chicken broth as needed.  Grate the carrots and them to the pot.  Remove from heat when rice is creamy and tender.  

Veggies : Cook frozen veggies in a large skillet with some olive oil, garlic powder, and a bit of water.  Add chopped mushrooms, cook til done. 

Cider-Pumpkin Bagels

Cider-Pumpkin Bagels

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/4 c apple cider

1/4 c butter (melted)

1/4 c pumpkin (canned)

2 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

2+ c white flour

oven 400

Heat apple cider in the microwave.  Use a thermometer to make sure temperature is between 100 and 110 degrees before adding yeast.  Combine cider, yeast, and sugar in a stand mixer.  Melt the butter and add it to the mixer along with the egg yolk, pumpkin, and salt.  Combine, then add whole wheat flour.  Mix well, add white flour until dough is no longer sticky.  

(I think I initially used about 2 1/2 c white flour, but after rising the dough was still extremely sticky, and I ended up adding another 1/2 - 1 c.  

Let dough rise for 1 hr, then divide into 8 pieces and shape into bagels.  Drop each bagel into boiling water until it floats, then bake for 20-25 minutes.  I checked these ones after 12, un-stuck them from the pan, then baked them for 8 more minutes. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not sure I can identify the taste of either pumpkin or cider in these bagels...but I don't actually have the best sense of taste, so I'll have to wait for Coby to come home and taste them to find out exactly how flavor-full they are.  They do taste good though!  Breakfast this week is going to be great!

Meal Prep : 10/15/18

I was not impressed with any of the meat prices this week, so I ended up with a package of 10 for $10 boneless pork chops.  Not the best deal, but not the worst either.  I had already decided on sweet potatoes for the carb, and then I picked up a 2 lb bag of fresh broccoli and 2 bags of frozen cauliflower. 

I chopped up the pork and put it in a large skillet, covered, on medium heat.  I removed the lid occasionally to stir.  When most of the pink was gone, I removed the lid and added seasonings : garlic powder, ginger powder, mustard powder, a dash of pink salt, and some soy sauce.  After a few more minutes of cooking, there was still a lot of liquid in the pan from the meat, so I mixed 1 tsp of corn starch with about 1/2 c chicken broth, and added that to the pan.  I let it cook til the liquid thickened into a light gravy. 

The sweet potatoes were chopped and cooked in a bit of olive oil with some garlic powder and salt. 

The broccoli was steamed in a bit of water, and then seasoned with garlic powder. The cauliflower was sauteed with a bit of olive oil and then seasoned with...garlic powder of course.

Everything was divided equally between 10 lunches. 
Total time spent on this meal was 1 hour, with my husband and I working together. 

Workout Wednesday

I started my after school workout class on September 11 and here I am a month later finally posting a Workout Wednesday post...life is so busy!  I didn't even get a workout up on Instagram until the 3rd week of the class and usually Instagram is something I don't have trouble keeping up with.  Unfortunately we missed week 4 because everyone was too busy, and we missed week 5 this week because we all had parent-teacher conferences after school.  But hopefully we'll be back next week! 

I got ambitious this year and printed out the first two workouts on a double sided sheet and then laminated them and put them on binder rings.  I somehow found the time to do the same thing with workouts 3 and 4.  Hopefully I will be able to keep up this trend all year...  It has been super helpful so far, because now each participant can have their own exercise list right next to them instead of trying to read the little iPad screen as we go along. Also, they can take home the workout list if they'd like to do the workout again later in the week. 

For weeks 1 and 2 we started out easy with 30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, 3 rounds, 2 minutes between rounds.  On week 3, we increased the work to 40 seconds.  

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This week, since I had no school on Monday and knew we wouldn't be able to work out on Tuesday, I did my own workout at home on Monday.  I designed an 80 countdown circuit for myself, and somehow managed to complete 5 rounds.  I was a puddle on the floor by the end of the 5th round, but I was able to complete all the exercises without failure until the push-ups in round 5, so I felt pretty good about it! 

10 seconds of rest between exercises, 1 minute of rest between rounds. 

I turned one of my mirrors sideways and leaned it against the wall so I could see my form on the plank.  This really helped me to make sure I was holding proper form during the duration of each plank, as I was able to see when I started falling, and then could correct myself.  I have two mirrors in my  workout room, and they have been super helpful in helping me identify and correct problems in my form with various exercises!

Meal Prep : 10/8/18

White Bean Mac n Cheese

1 lb shell pasta

2 cups navy beans

2 bags frozen peas

1 head of cabbage

1/4 sweet onion

butter, cream cheese, milk, shredded cheese, sliced cheese, flour

I didn't intend for this meal to be vegetarian, but a) I forgot to add the tuna, and b) the mac and cheese is so full of beans it probably doesn't need any more protein.  

Cook pasta and beans each according to the directions on their packaging.  Saute onion until beginning to brown, then add peas and cook until done.  Add garlic powder if desired.  Chop cabbage and saute in olive oil on high heat until cooked through and beginning to crisp.  Add garlic powder if desired.  

For the cheese sauce, heat a few tablespoons each of butter and cream cheese in a saucepan with about 1 cup of milk.  Add 1/4 c flour and 1-2 cups of shredded cheese.  Stir frequently, cook until everything is melted.  Combine with beans and pasta, transfer to a baking dish, cover with slices of cheese, and bake at 375 for 35 minutes.  

Each meal was 1/2 c each of peas and cabbage, and a large spoonful of mac n cheese.  

Meal Prep 10/1/18

Meatballs : 1 lb ground turkey, 1 lb ground pork, 1 egg, 2 tbsp ranch dressing, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp oregano, 2 tsp ground mustard.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  (Makes 27)

Sweet Potatoes : (5 medium-large) chop into bite sized pieces, toss with olive oil, garlic powder, and sea salt.  Bake at 400 for 40 minutes, stirring half way. 

Green Beans : (2 lbs) Toss with olive oil, garlic powder, and sea salt.  Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes, stirring half way. 

I was pretty excited when I realized this whole meal could be baked in the oven, at the same time.  Oven means no pots and pans to wash (just foil-line some baking sheets!) and since I could use the same temperature, I was able to cook the potatoes and beans at the same time, which saved time!

These lunches looked pretty small after last week's super full containers, so we will be supplementing with triscuits... Also I realized after I got in bed last night that I forgot to cook the cabbage I bought to go in these meals...oops.  I was too busy trying to get the cooking done so I could hang out with the girls before they left!  We do have it down to a pretty good system at least...while I am cooking, the girls help Coby with cleaning the house.