Meals for the Week of January 18, 2021

This week I was not inspired by much to plan or cook, but I know doing SOMETHING helps us immensely during the week. We are still trying to figure out our flow with a toddler, although, will we ever really find a flow?!

So I leaned on Fed and Fit’s Cook Once, Eat All Week resource to get me through. They provide a free 5-weeks on their website! Here’s the link. We used week 3 which focuses primarily on pulled pork, plantains, and red peppers.

Honest review of the Cook Once, Eat All Week method -> Love the simplicity and not having to figure it out! From the grocery list already made, instructions to meal prep, and quick steps to make the meals it really is a great resource! My beef with it though, I get sick of the core ingredients. I like variety in my meals and lots of veggies to prevent boredom. We also eat a lot and for at least the week we did, we did not have much of leftovers.

Week of meals for January 18, 2021

Our family: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Scope: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner (what is shown for breakfast and lunch is what I eat, I am not tracking my husband’s meals – but the goal every week is to use what we have so there is no waste)

This is going to be a quick run down of what we do. If you have questions or want to know specifics let me know in the comments. If I get enough demand I will start tracking things and sharing them.

 

Prepped on Sunday: Not sure how but food prep took most of the day, with interruptions of course.

Pulled Pork – 8 pound pork shoulder, cut into chunks, salted, and seared on all sides on the stove. In a roasting pan, placed the seared chunks in, covered 3/4 of the way with filtered water. Baked covered in the oven at 325⁰ for about 4 hours. When done, transferred the chunks to a large bowl and took 2 forks to pull it apart. Stored in 2 large glass containers.

Followed Week 3 of Cook Once, Eat All Week instructions for roasting plantains and red bell peppers.

2 Frittatas – Roasted chopped zucchini, leftover sweet potatoes chopped (scraps from zoodles made Saturday for Beef Chow Mein (see last week’s post), and chopped red onion at 425⁰ for about 20-25 minutes. Baked Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausage at 400⁰ for about 30 minutes then chopped up. Using 2 baking dishes (large and medium of a set) used coconut oil to grease then layered in roasted veggies, chopped sausage, and a bag of spinach all split between the 2 dishes. In a large bowl, scrambled 10 duck eggs and poured over ingredients of the medium baking dish. In the same bowl, scrambled 15 chicken eggs and poured over ingredients of the large baking dish. Baked in the oven at 350⁰ until eggs were no longer jiggly.

Bone Broth – Using a freezer bag of leftover chicken bones, added sliced ginger root, a few garlic cloves, dried mushrooms, bay leaf, and a few splashes of fish sauce cooked in the Instant Pot under high pressure for 160 minutes. Strained and put into 3 quart mason jars (there was enough left to have 2 mugs to have on the spot).

 

Monday:

Breakfast – Reheated duck frittata in the oven. I do this by turning it on to 350⁰ and putting the frittata on a baking sheet while the oven is preheating. I take it out shortly after the oven has heated up. This allows me to start getting ready or do things like stuff diapers or get Bubba’s lunch and snacks made. Also, had a cup of bone broth with grated ginger and garlic.

Lunch – Leftover roasted chicken and butternut squash soup. Check out last week’s post for details.

Dinner – Cook Once, Eat All Week’s Pork and Plantain Stuffed Peppers served with leftover white rice.

 

Tuesday:

Breakfast – Reheated duck frittata in the oven. Also, toasted a piece of sourdough bread and topped off with half an avocado and sea salt.

Lunch – Leftover Beef Chow Mein. Check out last week’s post for details.

Dinner

Baked 2 sweet potatoes in the oven at 400⁰ for about 45 minutes. Cut in half and added about 2 teaspoons of whipped bone marrow.

Deep Roots Valley Farm’s steaks – salt and peppered and seared in the cast iron on the stove until browned on both sides. Transferred to a plate, covered with tin foil, and let sit for 10 minutes before eating. This gave us medium rare steaks.

Made a side salad – heaping handful or two of pre-washed arugula, sliced 2 mini cucumbers, halved a bunch of grape tomatoes, and topped off with Trader Joe’s Green Goddess dressing.

Inbetween putting the sweet potatoes in the oven and letting the steaks come to room temp before searing, I made ghee on the stove using a stick of butter. I drizzled this over the steaks before serving and stored the rest away in a ghee bowl.

 

Wednesday:

Breakfast – Reheated duck frittata in the oven. Also, toasted a piece of sourdough bread and topped off with ghee and sea salt.

Lunch – Leftover Beef Chow Mein along with the last of the roasted chicken. Check out last week’s post for details.

Note on leftovers- most will tell you leftovers in the fridge are good for 4 days. It is a great rule of thumb! In our household, we inspect and smell the food, if all looks good we still eat it – but it is always reheated. You do what you are comfortable with!

Dinner – Cook Once, Eat All Week’s BBQ Pork Plantain Pizza topped off with avocado mash (dash of cayenne, garlic powder, and smoked paprika).

 

Thursday:

Breakfast – Reheated duck frittata in the oven.

After dropping off Bubba prepped sourdough tortillas.

Lunch – Leftover BBQ Pork Plantain Pizza

Made marinated red onions to go along with dinner. Realized later I meant to make pickled red onions but this worked!

Dinner – Pulled pork tortillas using everything we have in the house.

• Finished the sourdough tortillas – separated ball into 6 smaller balls, pressed, and cooked in the cast iron on the stove over high heat
• Warmed up and browned pulled pork
• Halved a bunch of grape tomatoes
• Guacamole – 3 ripe avocados, garlic powder, cayenne, and smoked paprika
• Served with arugula, marinated red onions, and nutritional yeast

 

Friday:

Breakfast – Reheated duck frittata in the oven.

Lunch – Leftover Beef and Bacon Chunky Pumpkin Chili. Check out last week’s post for details.

Dinner – Cook Once, Eat All Week’s Cuban Pork Casserole

 

Saturday:

Breakfast – Egg drop soup. In a butter pot, bring bone broth to a boil. Scramble 2 duck eggs in a bowl and sprinkle ground ginger and garlic powder in. Once broth is boiling, take fork and mix/swirl the broth and slowly pour scrambled eggs in. Turn off heat and pour pot back into the bowl and mix the bottom and sides to get any egg residue.

Lunch – This turned out to be delicious – open faced pulled pork sandwich using what we hand on hand and needed to use:

• Freshly baked sourdough slice
• Half sliced avocado
• Reheated, browned pulled pork in the cast iron on the stove
• Beet sauerkraut
• Marinated red onions with oil drizzled over everything
• Sea salt

Dinner – Healthyish and Happy’s Brazilian Salmon Stew served with white rice. My parents were here once again helping with the reno and this was a hit! One thing to note, I was worried that there wasn’t enough liquid for everything to cook. After a few minutes of trying to bring it to a boil, water was released from the veggies and salmon that the liquid rose and everything was submerged to simmer.

 

Sunday:

Breakfast – Egg drop soup with grated garlic and ginger

Lunch – Leftover Cuban Pork Casserole

Dinner – Nom Nom Paleo’s Egg Roll in a Bowl served with white rice.

Modifications based on what was available at the store – Used a small green cabbage instead of napa.