Meal Prep 3/23/20

Potatoes, Pork, & Beans

Potatoes : 4-5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed with 4 tbsp butter, 2 oz cream cheese, milk (to desired consistency), garlic powder and salt to taste. 

Pork : 4-5 lb pork loin cooked in the crockpot with 1 can of beer, 1-2 cups of apple cider,  and about 1 cup of barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 6+ hours until internal temperature reaches at least 190.  Pork is safe to eat when internal temp reaches 145, but it will be more pull-able if the temp reaches closer to 200.  

Beans : 2 lbs green beans, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.  Roasted at 425 for 15 minutes. 

Meal Prep 3/1/20

Ground Turkey, Risotto, and Broccoli

3 lbs ground turkey ($9.99)

1+ lb arborio rice ($3.00)

2 lbs broccoli ($9.23)

I cooked the turkey in a wok with blueberry barbecue sauce and added some chopped mushrooms at the end.  I made the risotto with chopped onion and chicken broth (64 oz @ $3.98).  I roasted the broccoli at 400 for 30 minutes. 

Makes 12-15 meals, depending on size.  ($2.19-$1.75 per meal)

Meal Prep 2/17/20

Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole

1.3 lbs pasta shells
36 oz canned tuna
12 oz frozen peas
24 oz frozen cauliflower
1/2 c navy beans
minced garlic
2 (ish) cups milk
4 tbsp butter
1/3 c flour
shredded cheddar cheese
breadcrumbs

Cook pasta according to directions on box.  Cook the beans according to directions on package, then drain excess water. Drain the tuna.   Cook frozen cauliflower in a wok or large skillet.  Add minced garlic (to taste) and dijon mustard (to taste) when cauliflower is no longer frozen.  Add peas.  Cook til peas are no longer frozen.  Turn off heat, add tuna, mix well.  In a saucepan, combine butter and milk.  Stir on medium heat until butter is melted.  Add flour, stir til combined.  Add a few big handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese.  Stir until cheese melts.  In a large glass baking dish (or 2), combine pasta, tuna/vegetable mix, and cheese sauce.  I filled a 9x13 inch dish and a 7x11 inch dish.  Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and more shredded cheddar. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 25-30 minutes.  Makes 12 lunches.

Meal Prep 2/10/20

Venison Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans this week!  Hubs decided to spread the meatloaf out in the pan instead of making it into a loaf shape, so we ended up with something resembling a meat cake with ketchup icing!

Meatloaf 
3 lbs ground venison, 2 eggs, 1/4 c (ish) Italian breadcrumbs.  Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes (internal temp 160).  Ketchup sauce : a mix of brown sugar and ketchup.  I paid zero attention to the amounts this time...

Mashed Potatoes 
5 lbs yukon gold potatoes.  Boil til soft, then mash with 1/4 c butter, 2 oz cream cheese, milk, garlic powder, and salt to taste. 

Green Beans 
36 oz frozen french cut green beans.  Sauté with garlic and mustard to taste.

Meal Prep 1/27/20

3.75 cups brown rice ($1.69)
5.3 lbs pork tenderloin ($15.84)
2 lbs brussels sprouts ($7.98)
1 lb frozen green beans ($0.99)
15 meals @ $1.77 each


Brown Rice
In a dutch oven, combine 3.75 cups brown rice, 7.5 cups water and 1 tbsp salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until water is absorbed. 

Garlic-crusted Pork Tenderloin
Place pork tenderloin in a large glass baking dish.  Cover the top with garlic powder.  Bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees.

Brussels Sprouts
Chop the sprouts into bite sized pieces.  Spread out onto baking sheets and coat with olive oil and garlic powder.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. 

Green Beans
Place beans in a skillet with some olive oil.  Cover and cook on medium until beans are thawed. Remove lid, add garlic powder, cook stirring frequently until beans begin to brown. 

Divide all food evenly between 15 containers.   

Meal Prep 4/8/19

I used to want to be really creative with my meal prepping each week, partly because it was fun and partly because it's nice to eat really different meals every week.  Lately though, I just want to do whatever is quickest and easiest so that it doesn't take too much time out of my weekend.  This weekend, I was sick in bed with the stomach bug all day Saturday, so I found myself once again wanting something super quick to cook on Sunday.  Didn't want my whole weekend to be spent either in bed or doing chores!

Pesto pasta : 1 lb pasta, cooked according to box.  (I used Barilla Cellentani, whatever you choose make sure it has at least 8 servings).  Once pasta has been cooked and drained, return it to the pot and toss with 4-5 tbsp pesto.  Make sure you get 1-2 tbsp of oil out of the jar.  If your pesto is drier, add some olive oil to the pasta.  Sauté 1/2 yellow onion and about 8 mushrooms, then mix in with the pasta.  Divide into 10 portions.

Chicken : 2 packages b/s chicken thighs (about 14 thighs).  Layer in a large glass baking dish and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Bake in the oven at 425-450 until internal temperature in the largest thigh reaches 160 (25-40 minutes).  Chop and divide into 10 portions.

Brussels sprouts : 2 lbs fresh sprouts. Chop into bite-sized pieces, toss with olive oil and garlic powder, distribute evenly onto 2 baking sheets, bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.  Divide into 10 portions.

We are excited for another delicious meal!

Meal Prep 4/1/19

Last week's lunches were delicious, but there was something in those brats that tore us up!  I don't know if it was just the fact that they are full of preservatives and we are not used to eating such processed food, or if it was something else, but by Wednesday I was eating around the brats and throwing them out.  I hate wasting food, but my stomach thanked me for not eating them any more.  This is the downside to eating healthy, if you want to call it a downside... The further away I get from processed foods, the harder it is for my stomach to handle them on the rare occasions when I do eat them.

After last week, I felt like we needed something much lighter this week, so I decided to make tuna risotto.  With double the veggies.

Risotto : Chop 1 sweet onion and brown in olive oil in a large pot.  When onion is browned, add minced garlic to taste, and 1 pound of arborio rice. Stir to coat rice with oil, then add enough chicken broth to cover the rice.  Simmer, adding chicken broth as necessary.  If you run out of chicken broth, use water.  I used 32 oz of broth and about 2 cups of water. Chop 8 or 9 mushrooms and add them with the last 1/2 cup or so of water.  Rice is done when it is creamy and not crunchy.

Tuna : Open and drain 3 12oz cans of tuna.  Add to the risotto after it has been removed from the heat and mix well.

Veggies : Chop and roast 2 lbs of Brussels sprouts in the oven around 450 for 10 minutes.  Chop 10-11 medium carrots.  Sauté in a skillet with olive oil and garlic powder to taste.

Meal Prep 3/25/19

Leeky Mac n Cheese : 1 lb shell pasta, cooked according to directions on box.  2 large leeks, chopped, thoroughly washed, and steamed with olive oil.  Cheese sauce : 2 tbsp butter, 1.5 cups milk, 8 slices Swiss cheese, 2 large handfuls shredded monterey cheese, 1/4 c flour, garlic powder. Melt butter in saucepan, add milk and flour, stir til well combined.  Add garlic powder and cheese, stir til cheese is mostly melted.  Mix cooked pasta and leeks together in a large glass baking dish.  Stir in cheese sauce.  Cover top with a single layer of Swiss cheese slices.  (8 slices fit on mine).  Bake for about 30 minutes at 375-425.  Check after about 20 minutes, you are looking for the cheese on top to brown, but you don't want the pasta to burn.


Brussels Sprouts :  Halve 2 lbs of Brussels sprouts, layer onto 2 large baking trays, coat with olive oil and garlic, roast in the oven at 425-450 for about 10 minutes.

Chicken & Brats : 1 package boneless skinless chicken thighs (2.5-3 lbs), 2 packages Bratwursts.  I had one package of regular brats, and one of beer brats.  I reserved 2 beer brats for dinner Saturday, and cooked the remaining 8 brats in these lunches.  Chop the chicken and brats, cook in a large, lidded saucepan in their own juices.  Stir occasionally.  Add garlic powder to taste. Remove the lid when the pieces look cooked through.  When liquid is getting close to cooked off, add 6 ounces chopped mushrooms.  Cook til done.  Chop and brown a large sweet onion, add a spoonful on top of each serving of meat.

Extra :  We had some sauerkraut leftover from our St Patrick's Day Reubens, which is why we decided to buy brats.  We will have some sauerkraut with these lunches until it is gone.

Meal Prep 3/11/19

I usually try not to do the same carb two weeks in a row, but we went to Lewisburg to see friends and the Pony this weekend, so I wanted something quick and easy to cook when we got back on Sunday.  So here we are with pasta two weeks in a row.  I can't say I mind though...pasta is always my favorite! And just like pasta is our go-to carb, boneless skinless chicken thighs are our go-to meat!  So quick and easy in the oven, and they taste great even if you don't season them.

The Pasta :  2 lbs bowtie pasta, cook according to instructions on the box.  Tossed with 2 giant spoonfuls of pesto and about 14 oz of roasted garlic alfredo sauce.  

The Chicken :  2 packages of boneless skinless thighs (2+ lbs each). Sprinkle generously with garlic powder. The oven was set to 425 for 40 minutes, but knowing my oven it was probably closer to 475.  I had the thighs overcrowded in the baking dish, so that is probably why it took longer than the normal 30 minutes.

The Veggies : 7-8 carrots?  I don't think I ever remembered to count them.  The carrots were chopped and sauteed in olive oil and garlic powder with 3/4 medium sweet onion. I added about 6 oz of chopped mushrooms near the end.  We also chopped and roasted 2 lbs of brussels sprouts, about 1.5 lbs of which was added to the lunches.

I cooked the pasta in my stock pot so that I after I drained it, I could use it as a giant mixing bowl to mix the pasta and veggies together.  The chicken I chopped up in the baking dish after removing it from the oven, and then used a slotted spoon to lift the meat out of the ridiculous amount of fat it was swimming in.  I added about 2 spoonfuls of chicken to each meal.

We got 12 meals this week.

Meal Prep 3/4/19

Back to one of my favorites...pasta and meatballs!  

Meatballs :  3 lbs ground beef (I used 80/20 this time.  It's fattier than I normally buy, but it comes in a 3 lb package for convenience.) Mix ground beef with 2 eggs and about 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs (you know I didn't measure those breadcrumbs, I just poured them).  Shape into 25-30 balls.  Drop into a pot filled with sauce, cover and cook on medium for 90-120 minutes.  For sauce, I used a big 2 lb 13 oz jar of Prego Fresh Mushroom.  

Pasta :  1 lb of penne rigate, cooked according to package instructions.  Mixed with the sauce left in the pot after I removed the meatballs.  

Broccoli :  2 lbs fresh broccoli, coated with olive oil and garlic powder and roasted.  My oven was set to 425, I think it was actually around 475.  The broccoli roasted for 10 minutes. 

I turned the oven setting down to 395 after that to roast something else, and when it dinged to say it was at 395 I checked the thermometer I have in the oven.  It said 450.  A new oven is next on our list of big-purchase items.  As soon as we make time to go pick one out...  

Meal Prep 2/18/19

Pork Tenderloin : Cover with garlic powder and bake in the oven at 400 for 60 minutes (until internal temp reaches above 140)

Sweet Potatoes : Peel 3 small-medium sweet potatoes and cut in half.  Place in a pot, cover with water, boil until soft enough to mash.  Mash with milk, salt, and garlic powder.

Purple Potatoes : Peel 6 purple potatoes.  Place in a pot, cover with water, boil until soft enough to mash.  (The water turned turquoise while they were boiling...so weird!) Mash with milk, salt, and garlic powder.

Green Beans : 2lbs fresh green beans. Check through the beans and remove stems.  Spread out on a large baking sheet, coat with olive oil, garlic powder, and a bit of salt.  Bake for 12-15 minutes. Stir about halfway through.

Meal Prep 2/11/19

Chicken : Boneless/skinless thighs, 2 packs (6-8 per pack).  Season with garlic powder and bake in the oven at 425 for 35 minutes.  (Use a thermometer to check for thorough cooking - I stuck the thermometer in several different pieces to be sure they had all reached an internal temperature of 165.)

Brussels Sprouts : 2 lbs of sprouts, cut into bite-sized pieces.  Tossed with bacon grease and seasoned with garlic powder.  Roasted at 425 for 12-15 minutes. 

Pasta : 1.5 lbs of tri-color rotini, cooked according to instructions on the box.  Tossed with Classico Sundried Tomato Alfredo sauce.

Makes 11 meals.

Meal Prep 2/4/19

Pork-Turkey meatballs

Risotto

Broccoli

Meatballs : 1 lb ground pork, 2 lbs ground turkey, 1 egg, garlic powder.  Shape into 30 balls, place them in a single layer in a large skillet, cover, cook on medium heat.  Stir occasionally.  Add some soy sauce and mustard to the liquid that gathers in the skillet.  

Risotto : Chop some onion, brown in a saucepan with olive oil.  Add 1 lb arborio rice, stir to coat with oil.  Add enough chicken broth to cover, cook on low, adding more broth or water as it is absorbed by the rice, until the rice is done.  

Broccoli : Coat with olive oil and garlic powder, roast in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes.