Thursday, March 24, 2011

Meal Prep...part two

We strayed a little bit away from the plan, but we didn't do too bad. Here's our actual menu:

Monday: leftover elk tacos with all the taco fixings and flour tortillas
Tuesday: jambalaya, homemade corn bread
Wednesday: oven-fried chicken, sweet potato fries, spinach salad (forgot to take a picture!)
Thursday: we went out to eat...gasp!...but it was St. Patrick's Day :)
Friday: cheese tortellini and leftover oven-fried chicken with red sauce, spinach salad

Here are the finished products:
 Elk Tacos
 Jambalaya with homemade corn bread
Tortellini, oven-fried chicken with red sauce, spinach salad

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Meal Prep

I always talk about prepping for meals for the week on Sunday, but I never seem to get around to it (I'd rather clean than cook!). Today, I was finally in the mood to shop and cook for the week - probably inspired by all the Top Chef I've been watching!

My favorite cookbook is Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals. I love this cookbook because it tells you how to prep, where to stop, how to store/freeze until ready to eat, and what to do with leftovers. It makes it easy for a beginner like me. I went through the entire recipe book and made a list, then Skyped David to see what he thought. Here's the menu (all of the main courses except Monday are from the cookbook):

Monday: leftover elk tacos with all the taco fixings and flour tortillas
Tuesday: oven-fried chicken, sweet potato fries, spinach salad
Wednesday: jambalaya, spinach salad
Thursday: oven-fried chicken tacos with all the fixings and flour tortillas, rice and beans mixture
Friday: red wine and black pepper glazed elk steaks, sweet potato fries, corn

Once we decided on the menu, off to Costco and HEB I went. Two hours later, I had the groceries unpacked and ready to cook. I made the jambalaya (keeping the rice and the jambalaya mixture separate until ready to eat), the rice and beans mixture for Thursday, and the coating for the chicken on Tuesday.
Beginning the process
Jambalaya (without the rice)
Rice and bean side dish for chicken tacos dinner
Ready for the chicken!
Check back all week for the finished products - I'm going to try to take pictures if I remember!