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. 

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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!

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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.