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. 

Blueberry-Lemon Pie

When my sister made my wedding cake, she left me with a ziploc bag of egg yolks, and told me to make something creative with them.  Time flew by after the wedding and I somehow had no time to make anything until yesterday, almost 4 weeks later.  I wasn't sure if the yolks could possibly still be good after so much time, but Coby and I both agreed that they smelled and looked ok so I decided to chance it.

When I went grocery shopping last week, blueberries were on sale 2 lbs for $5.  They are never anywhere near that cheap, so I bought 4 lbs!  I figured I would make a pie with them.  I also wanted to use the egg yolks to make a lemon pie, so I decided to try combining the two types of pie.  The two pies cook differently, so it took me some time to decide how to go about it.  Luckily, my hunches were right, and the pie came out absolutely perfect and delicious!

With a blueberry pie, you can cook the crust and the blueberries all together, but with a lemon pie, you have to blind-bake the crust.  Also, the lemon pie cooks for 30 minutes at 300, but the blueberry pie cooks for 20 minutes at 425 and then 30-40 more minutes at 350!  So, I decided to blind bake the crust, partially pre-cook the blueberries, and then assemble the pie and bake it at the specifications for the lemon pie.

Blueberry-Lemon Pie

The Crust

Instructions taken from Sally's Baking Addiction

(the crust needs to chill for at least 1 hour, and up to 48 hours.  I made my crust the day before)

(this recipe makes enough for a top and bottom crust, so you will have some leftover, perhaps for some mini blueberry pies)

2 cups all-purpose white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

scant 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz cold unsalted butter

~1/2 cup cold water

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Cut the butter into small pieces, then cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter.  When the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are as small as you can get them (I always think "pea sized"), add the cold water, a bit at a time.  Keep mixing until the dough comes together.  Divide the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 portions, wrap each portion in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator.  

Once sufficiently chilled, roll out the 2/3 portion to fit into a 9 inch pie plate. Crimp the edges, and cut off any extra dough.  Place a piece of parchment paper into the pie crust and fill with dry beans to help the crust hold its shape while baking.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment paper/beans and bake 7 more minutes (until the bottom is just beginning to brown).  

The Lemon Filling

Recipe taken from Crazy for Crust

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

5 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp salt

4 large egg yolks

3 tbsp butter

Whisk together all ingredients except for the eggs and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and bubbly.  Pour half of the lemon mixture into the egg yolks, whisk quickly to avoid scrambling, then add the lemon-egg mixture back into the rest of the lemon mixture.  Bring to a gentle boil, cook 2 more minutes, then remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.  Pour into the bottom of the pie crust.

Somehow, I ended up with NO scrambled egg in my lemon mixture!  I'm going to credit that to the fact that Coby and I teamed up to mix the hot lemon mixture with the eggs so one of us could stir while the other was pouring, leaving no time for the eggs to sit still in the hot lemon mixture.  

The Blueberry Topping

Ingredient list aken from Simply Recipes and cut in half

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

dash of cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook covered until the juice begins to come out of the blueberries.  You will want to stir every minute or so to check on them.  Then pour the blueberries over the lemon mixture.  

Bake the pie at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.  

Cool for 1 hour, then chill for 5 hours before enjoying!

Meal Prep Monday : 4/2/18

Pot Roast, Barley, Peas & Carrots

2.81 lb pot roast ($7.78)

12 oz beer (Sam Adams Boston Lager)

1 lb pearled barley ($1.29)

2 lbs carrots ($1.79)

24 oz frozen peas ($2.00)

1/2 large sweet onion (1 @ $0.71)

5 oz mushrooms (8 oz @ $1.99)

1/4 c whole weat flour

1/4 c brown sugar

salt

garlic powder

($15.56)

=15 lunches @ <$1.04 ea

Pot Roast :  Mix flour & sugar in the bottom of a crock pot, then add the roast and roll around to coat with flour/sugar mixture.  Pour beer around the roast, then cook on high for 5.5-6 hours.  Once done, shred the roast into the liquid, then remove the meat and divide up into lunch containers.

The barley : Add 6 cups of water to a large pot along with barley and approx 1/2 tsp salt. Cover, bring to a boil, then simmer with lid off until soft.  The package said 45 minutes...I forgot to watch the clock so I have no idea how long I cooked it for.  

The veggies : Chop the carrots and steam/saute with some olive oil and garlic powder.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Chop the onion and put it in the pan with olive oil.  When browned, add the peas and steam til peas are almost done.  Add chopped mushrooms, cook til done.  

The meal : Approx. 3/8 cup cooked barley, 2 spoonfuls carrots, 1.5 spoonfuls peas, a few pieces of shredded roast. I would normally put a bit more meat in each meal, but the roast wasn't quite big enough.  These meals are vegetable-heavy instead...probably healthier that way!

I started with 1/4 c each, but had some left over, so added another 1/8 to each meal.  Double meal containers got 1/2 c total. 

Meal Prep Monday : 3/12/18

Turkey Meatballs, Corn Bread, & Broccoli

The Meatballs : Combine 2 lb ground turkey, 2 eggs, bread crumbs, and seasonings to taste. (I used garlic powder, mustard powder, ginger powder, and basil.)  I only had a scant 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs left, but the mixture ended up pretty wet, so I'd recommend using 1/2 cup or more--add 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture doesn't seem too wet anymore. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, until 160 internal temperature is reached. 

*If you have a wire rack that you can put under your meatballs inside your baking pan, I would recommend it!  I do not have a wire rack that fits, and my meatballs were swimming in some kind of fatty gravy when they came out of the oven.  I'm glad I lined the pan with foil for easier clean-up! I removed the meatballs promptly and set them on paper towels to soak up the extra liquid. 

The Corn Bread : Melt 2 tbsp butter and combine with 1 c milk and 1 egg.  Add 2.5 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp sugar.  Mix in 3/4 c flour, then mix in 1.25 c corn meal.  You don't need to over-stir.  Portion out into a 12-muffin pan, and bake at 425 for 25 minutes. I used my silicone muffin cups so that I can put the corn bread in the same container as the rest of the meal and not worry about it getting soggy. 

I bought these silicone baking cups years ago and only just today actually used them for the first time!  I'll definitely try to start using them more now that they have finally made 

their way out of the box!  

The Broccoli : Chop 3 carrots and steam them in a large skillet with 2 lbs fresh broccoli crowns.  I put a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the pan, and then added 1/2 c water since the broccoli was fresh instead of frozen. 

Meal Prep Monday : 2/12/18

Garlic-crusted pork tenderloin, 

cheesy mashed potatoes and a 

green bean mix. 

The pork : A 1.5 lb pork tenderloin, sprinkled with a generous amount of garlic powder, and baked for 1 hour at 400 degrees.  

The potatoes : 5 small-medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft.  Mash with 2 oz cream cheese, some milk, a dash of salt, a generous shake of garlic powder, and a small handful of shredded cheese (I used monterey).  

The green beans : Chop 1/3 of an onion and saute with 3 pieces of chopped bacon.  Add two 12 oz packages of frozen french cut green beans when the onions and bacon have reached the desired crispiness.  Cover and steam, stirring occasionally.  Chop 10 mushrooms, add them and a large handful of spinach when the beans are done.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted.  

For each meal, I put in a large spoonful of mashed potatoes, filled half of the container with veggies, and added 2 slices of pork. I made 4 lunches because that is all the lunch containers I had at the moment, but had plenty of food left to portion out later in the week. I only needed 4 lunches anyway, because I have some leftover pasta & meatballs from last week. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you aren't a super-active person or are watching your weight, you can leave out the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and bacon.  This meal will still be delicious without them!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had this meal prepared Friday night, and then Saturday evening I went to church and discovered that Lent starts this week, which means no meat on Wednesday or Friday.  So I got back in the kitchen on Sunday night and made some bacon-less green beans and some black bean salmon burgers.

Salmon burgers : 1 small can boneless/skinless salmon, 1/3 cup (ish) of black beans, bread crumbs, garlic powder, 1 egg.  I mashed up the beans, beat the egg, and mixed everything together.  I kept adding breadcrumbs until the mixture didn't seem to wet anymore.  I shaped the mixture into 4 burgers, then I put a little bit of olive oil in a pan and cooked them for 3-5 minutes on each side.  

Meal Prep Monday : 2/5/18

Pasta, Meatballs, & Veggies!

Pasta & Meatballs has always been one of my favorite meals!  I remember it being my birthday meal of choice quite a few times when I was younger. I don't make meatballs too often anymore because they do take quite a bit of time to cook, but every now and then I start craving them and decide it's worth the time. 

I'm sharing with a friend this week, so I made 10 lunches for the workweek. 

Light amount of sauce for me, extra sauce for him.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pasta : 1 lb penne rigate, cooked, and covered in sauce from the meatballs. 

The meatballs : 1 lb 93/7 and 1 lb 90/10 ground beef, mixed with 2 eggs, 2 tbsp bread crumbs, garlic powder, 1 tbsp mustard, some basil and oregano.  Shaped into 33 balls. Cooked in 48 oz of Prego Hearty Mushroom tomato sauce for about 1.5 hrs.

The veggies : 3 large crowns of broccoli and 5 small carrots.  Chopped into bite-sized pieces and cooked in a skillet with some olive oil and garlic powder. 

There was enough pasta left for a small meal, and 2 meatballs.  (1 was eaten when I checked to see if they were done...)