Sunday = cooking for the week

I'm going to warn you, this is a long one...

One of the things that I do to help myself succeed is to make as much of what I eat myself.  I like knowing exactly what is going into my meal, which equates into knowing exactly what is going into my body.  I have tried a bunch of variations on meal planning, only to perfectly map out my meals on Sunday and have an emergency appointment on Tuesday or to be running behind and settle for fast food--which in a post-op's life usually limits me to a grilled chicken sandwich minus the bread--which, when you have to do that very often gets very old very fast--or to get to Wednesday and just not be feeling like whatever was on my Wednesday slot. 

In order to make this plan actually work with my life and my schedule is keeping things flexible and using what I have on hand combined with what is on sale for that week.   If I see something I know I will use, I stock up while it is cheap and keep it in my pantry...AKA my "store". I also do as much as I possibly can one day a week (for me, it's almost always Sunday, but being flexible it could be any day that works for me that week). So, here is what I had on hand that needed to be used:  leftover ham, a bag of coleslaw mix, grapes, a red pepper, a gallon of milk, a sleeve of English muffins, a tiny container of chopped pecans, 3 onions, some carrots, bacon, a pre-marinated pork loin and 18 eggs...random, right?  I swear I made use of all of it...details below. 

I was smart enough to think ahead and do my grocery shopping on Thursday after work, so that I could avoid the supermarket at all costs during the rush of the 1st of the month.  I hit Grocery Outlet, which always means remaining flexible for what I will make that week because their stock changes depending on what they can get for cheap.  This usually results in really great deals, but really random meals depending on what they have, but I usually spend half of what I would on groceries by shopping there 1st.  I also like them because they give you 50 cents off your shopping bill for bringing reusable bags.  At grocery outlet, they were having a dollar bonanza, so for $1 (each) I got: strawberries (I bought 4), jalapenos (a giant bag), limes (5/$1...I bought 10), cilantro (2 bunches for $1) and those pre-cut apples (8 pkgs for $1).  And because they had it in stock and I knew I would use it, I bought: pesto, Sabra roasted garlic hummus, cottage cheese, taco seasoning, shrimp and single servings of plain Greek yogurt.  And because I had a new recipe from Tina to try, I bought 2 bags of dry lentils for 69 cents each.

So on Saturday, because I was ahead of the game (having already bought groceries) and the weather was GORGEOUS, we used the barbecue.  I made: the pre-marinated pork loin, some of the shrimp (kebab'd style) and Ashley's jalapeno poppers (recipe below).  Also on Saturday, I found a delicious looking recipe for a baked berry pancake that just seemed to scream out Sunday morning breakfast.  I ripped it out of my Sunset Magazine, but you can find the recipe here.

Jalapeno Poppers:
Jalapenos
Cream cheese
Bacon

Cut the stem (top) off of the jalapenos.  Carefully scoop out the seeds and fill the empty jalapenos with cream cheese.  Wrap each popper with bacon and secure with a toothpick (or make a big skewer of them).  *You'll get the best results with thin bacon, but I have yet to meet a bacon that I didn't like*.  Grill on the barbecue until the bacon is crispy and the jalapeno is slightly soft.  Yep, it's that easy.  If it's not barbecue weather, you can also bake these bad boys.  Delicious.

If you're following along at home, make sure you get the Berry Pancake recipe and let's fast forward to Sunday where all the magic happens.  I wanted to serve the berry pancake for breakfast and I still had leftover bacon, so those got top billing in terms of how I prioritized my cooking.  Since I had gotten so many strawberries at G.O. for cheap, I used straight up strawberries vs. raspberries in the recipe.  So into the oven went: Berry Pancake + bacon.  Yep, I bake my bacon because: 1. everyone in this house likes it extra crispy and I don't have the patience to babysit it while it fries and 2. I absolutely hate when I get popped with bacon grease splatters.  I also whipped up a fresh fruit salad with strawberries, grapes and oranges.  And since the oven was on, I baked a dozen eggs in a muffin tin to use for my take on the Egg McMuffin (So if you're keeping track, I used: 16 of the eggs, the remaining bacon, 2 1/2 cups of the milk, and 2 containers of the strawberries plus a use for all of the English Muffins.  This also left me with one lemon that had been zested for the pancake).

The pancake takes 30 mins to bake, so while that worked it's magic, I got 2 big soup pots started to make Creamy Cabbage Soup and the lentil recipe I scored from Tina.  I also reserved 2 glasses of milk for the kidlets to have with their pancake, which was absolutely beautiful when it came out.

I think next time I will try adding protein powder to the milk to beef up the protein content, but my kids had no complaints. :)  We sliced this into 8 pieces and served it with SF whipped cream and a sprinkling of Super Secret Squirrel Granola (which is so secret I can't give you the recipe...I still have the scar from where they took out my kidney so I could get my hands on it.)

Lentil Recipe:
Here it is verbatim straight from her message to me:  "1 bag dry lentils,2 quarts water (broth), 2 diced potatoes ( I skipped since I am trying to be good), 1 large diced onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 5 diced carrots, ( can put celery, but I would rather eat an eyeball while suctioning a trach///BERT-gagging ), 30 oz can diced tomatoes ( rotel :o) you know I like spicy ), salt, pepper,... 1T italian seasoning, 2 bay leaves. COOK 1 HOUR then add 1/2 C. kethcup ( DO IT! ) and adjust seasoning then cook until desired doneness. I add sambal oelek ( rooster with no garlic only chilies ) as I put it in the bowl."
*In case you're wondering about the the eyeball part, Tina and I are both nurses and we both hate the same 2 things: sputum and eyeballs.  I leave that part in because it makes me laugh and reminds me to avoid the celery, because I too hate cooked celery.  I also avoided the potatoes when I made it.* 

The creamy cabbage soup is something that I personally like and it brings back fond memories of when I was a brand new mom and my husband's aunt brought me a warm bowl of this soup.  After not sleeping or eating or even showering for about a week, it was so comforting to have a warm meal of real food that I cried my head off.  This is how the soup became known as "The Soup That Makes Me Cry".  I have modified the recipe somewhat, so here is my take:


3 cans of chicken broth
Fresh cabbage and carrots, chopped (I totally subbed the coleslaw mix in here)
1 onion, diced
Bring these items to a boil and let simmer until they reach the desired doneness.  

The original recipe calls for celery and potatoes, but I personally omit them because as previously mentioned I hate cooked celery and potatoes are kind of my gateway drug to overdoing it with carbs, so I try to avoid them.

When the veggies are cooked, you will make a roux in a separate pan.  Take a basic roux recipe...equal parts flour and fat and then the same number for the liquid but in cups...so I did 3T butter (the real stuff) + 3T flour + 3 cups 1% milk.   (The original recipe calls for heavy cream, but I have always had good luck with milk and I needed to use mine up).  To make my roux especially delicious, in my flour I also add thyme and fresh ground pepper.  This is my own spin on it and is totally optional.  Fold the cooked roux into your cabbage soup and then toss in diced ham.  Do not season this soup with salt until you have added the ham, so you don't over do it. (If you're keeping track, I have now used up:  the milk, the carrots, the onions, the leftover ham, and the coleslaw mix).

Did you notice how both recipes call for diced carrots and diced onions? To save time, sanity and clean up, I chop up all the veggies I need for my recipes at the same time.  And since I know I will make shrimpo de gallo later in the week, I went ahead and chopped the onions for that at the same time and set them aside in a separate bowl.  I also needed to use up a few remaining grapes and that pesky lemon (minus the zest).


I also made a quick batch of my Sweet and Crunchy Chicken Salad while the two pots simmered.  I used:


1 can chicken (the kind from Costco)
3 pkgs of the apples (coarsely chopped and tossed in freshly squeezed lemon juice)
a handful of chopped grapes
Greek yogurt (sweetened, if you like)
leftover chopped pecans (these were cinnamon and splenda ones that I had made)
Combine all ingredients to make an easy chicken salad.  You can also add diced onion or celery, if you like.  Craisins or raisins would also work. Since I had the extra broth from the chicken in a can, I dumped that into the cabbage soup vs. tossing it.


So, at this point I have used up everything except the red pepper and 2 eggs.  Since my knife and cutting board were already dirty, I sliced up the red pepper to have as a snack (with the hummus scored at Grocery Outlet).  I also went ahead and chopped up the jalapeno and green olives for the shrimpo de gallo later in the week and added that to my bowl w/ the onions...trust me, use a glass bowl.  I like the Pyrex bowls with the plastic lids for this task.  I admitted defeat with the eggs and returned them to the fridge.  They are easy to use up in a quick omelet, so I'm not too worried here.


So in 2 hours, I was able to make: the Berry Pancake, which my kids dubbed "Pink Pizza", which served my family of 4, plus 4 leftover slices, crispy bacon (which was annihilated) , 12 egg McMuffins (which I wrap and freeze for easy breakfast meals), a huge batch of lentils, Creamy Cabbage soup, chicken salad and most of the prep work for Shrimpo. This gives me tons of healthy options for the week and also stocked my freezer with some of the lentils and soup.  

That's my secret to success...that and a husband that does the dishes! :)
~K