Quick and Dirty Meal Planning

I am short on time and short on brain power this evening, so this is how I am meal planing on the fly tonight. Quick and dirty.

Sunday – we were both busy tonight hanging out with friends, I had pizza and the husband had the leftover barbacoa pork

Monday – on Saturday I made grandma’s spaghetti sauce and we will enjoy that leftovers for dinner

Tuesday – taco night, I already threw the frozen ground beef into the fridge (and updated the inventory!) and we have some delicious new tortillas to try we found at the store this weekend, only 6 net carbs!

Wednesday – hot dogs, a local brand grilled served with an exotic vegetable of some unknown type

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – I am aalllllllll byyyyyyy mmyyyyyyyseeeeeelf for a few days, to I plan to eat good healthy things like I like and spend entirely too much time at the gym, as it is free classes weekend!

Black Bean Brownies

I know, right. Gross.

I started hearing about these a few years ago, but pushed them out of my mind as a completely foul creation of the low-carb world. I mean, seriously… black beans as brownies? NO!

But then I thought about it some more. Japanese desserts are often made with a bean paste, using beans as a basis for a sweet custard to go into pastries. It is delicious, and very interesting in texture and overall sweetness.

This recipe is pretty basic, and really really easy to do. I recommend using a wax paper ‘sling’ in your baking dish for ease of removal… these things are sticky! They bake up nice and quick and have a nice, gentle mocha flavor.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional – I completely forgot them!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix all of the ingredients – except the chocolate chips – in your blender or a bowl if you have an immersion blender.

Blend.

Pour into a greased baking pan and put the chocolate chips on top, bake 30 min.

Meal Planning: February 19th through 25th

Sometimes, even the best laid plans fall to the wayside.

Nothing I planned last week happened. The sauces were both freezer burned beyond edibility (note to self, use frozen sauces faster next time, and get better containers).

Dead Sea Tupperware (From Disney’s Aladdin)

The ricotta gnocchi just didn’t sound good. This is mostly because we’ve got an ongoing argument as to what sauce goes best on gnocchi. I love tomato-based ones, but the husband prefers cream-based ones. I categorically refuse to make creamy sauces at home, so we find ourselves at a stand still. Any suggestions?

One product I did discover this past week turned out to be a true gem. In our semi-monthly trip to the local Natural Food Local Express store (I love this place!) we picked up some chicken sausages randomly from one of the freezers. They were Miller’s Cheese and Jalapeno Chicken Sausages. And they were to die for. They had a great kick to them, not too heavy handed but certainly not “were these supposed to be spicey?” We ate them on toasted whole wheat hot dog buns with grilled onions and a touch of honey mustard. The sausages themselves were not at all dry, like most chicken sausages I get elsewhere. I will be picking these up again, along with the other flavors ASAP.

Miller Jalapeno and Cheese Chicken Sausages

Oh, and we also discovered smashed potatoes. I’ll blog these soon!

On to this week.

 

Step 1: The Schedule

Sunday – I was home this afternoon and had a bit of time, so I made mini turkey meatloaves and baked potatoes. The leftover mini turkey meatloaves will be great for lunches this week too!

Monday – Work, gaming with friends at 8pm, so about 2 hours to make and serve dinner

Tuesday – Work, gym, free evening

Wednesday – Work, gym during the day, then a free evening again!

Thursday – Work, gym, free evening

Friday – Out on friday-night-dinner-date

Saturday – Whatever!

 

Step 2: What to use up

*A bit of goat cheese (Door to Door Organics now offers cheese among it’s delivery products!)

*1 remaining chicken sausage (we shall fight to the death!)
*A few peppers, some broccoli
*Keep working on the 113 items in the freezer….

 

Step 3: The Plan

Monday – Tomato, butter, and onion pasta (mine over broccoli too!)
Tuesday – Sweet barbacoa pork!
Wednesday – Ricotta gnocchi, if it kills me, with some kind of agreeable sauce and broccoli
Thursday – Chicken or pork with caramelized onions and goat cheese

 

Step 4: What to buy

If I don’t go get english muffins, I might end up single.

Chocolate Banana Protein Muffins

I’m always looking for uses for bananas, and I love a good protein muffin. Of course, this often involves lots of googling until you find a recipe for which you have all of the ingredients.

I found this recipe on www.homebeccanomics.com, which I’ll have to spend some more time investigating. I wish the author had listed the nutritional information, but I went ahead and calculated it. Just for you guys.

You’re welcome.

Chocolate Banana Protein Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, white or wheat
1/2 cup chocolate protein powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 medium Banana
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips, dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda) in a bowl, set aside.

In your stand mixer, mix the bananas, eggs, yogurt, oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients partially, then add the chocolate chips and walnuts, finish mixing.

Partially fill muffin tins (greased with cooking spray) and bake for 15-18 min. I used a muffin top pan instead of a traditional muffin pan, because that’s how I roll.

Nutritional Info:
Each muffin contains –
330 cal
16g fat
34g carbs
15g protein

Meal Planning – Feb 12 through Feb 19

Last week I didn’t really want to meal plan, and my goal is to do so 3 out of 4 weeks… so thus far, we’re doing pretty well. I’d like to be quite organized this week because I have some things I’d like to use up.

Overall, this organization thing is getting into my brain. Last Thursday, I found myself so frustrated with not knowing what was in my freezer, I had to inventory the entire thing. So after a quickie workout (4 minutes of intense tabada intervals), I set to work pulling out everything in my freezer, marking it down, and tossing anything too old to eat. Then I downloaded an app for my iPad and I now store everything in there.

App: iStorage

If you’re going to do this, let me make a few recommendations:

1) Use a pen and paper first. If you’re going to use an app or spreadsheet to track info later, it’s too annoying to do so while also digging around in a cold freezer.
2) WEAR GLOVES. I had on a pair of not-matching gloves, one had the Tazmanian Devil on it, the other was plain black fleece. Both right handed. But it doesn’t matter what gloves, just protect your hands.
3) Have a cooler or 2 nearby to toss things in as you write it down.
4) Throw away anything freezer burned or over a year old.
5) Once everything is out, wipe down the inside of the freezer with vinegar.
6) Think about your freezer layout and how to best use the space and how you want to group your items.
7) Reload your freezer.
8) CLOSE THE FREEZER AND LEAVE IT SHUT FOR 1-2 HOURS.
9) -optional- Use an app or spread sheet to keep track of what you have.
10) Take out the trash before the freezer burned stuff gets gross. You’ll thank me for this.

I now have my freezer organized as follows:

*All ground meats (turkey, venison, buffalo, beef, and chicken) together
*Remainder of meats grouped by provider of said meat (a pig, a turkey, etc)
*All breakfast items together (sausage, bacon, hash browns)
*All frozen meals grouped together
*Veggies in the doors of the freezer

And on to meal planning!

Step One – The Schedule

Sunday: Dinner with friends, I made turkey chili and it was almost completely devoured – even the 3 year old loved it!

Monday: Normal work day, gaming with friends, about 1.5 hours to cook and serve dinner

Tuesday: Work day, gym, then arguing with my husband on who gets to play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Probably dinner too.

Maybe something special for Valentines Day for dinner? We’ll see. It’s not my fav holiday.

Wednesday: Work, nothing planned in the evening

Thursday: Work, gym, normal dinner schedule

Friday: Eating out, I’m voting for Mexican this week!

Step Two: What to Use Up

*2 mystery sauces from the freezer cleanout, I think they are both pasta sauce
*Ricotta cheese
*Broccoli
*Leftover pizza
*Leftover middle eastern sides
*Leftover chili
*Other veggies

Step 3: The Plan

Monday: Mystery Sauce 1
Tuesday: Valentines day something
Wednesday: Ricotta Gnocchi with broccoli and some kind of sauce
Thursday: Mystery Sauce 2

Gonna have to eat a LOT of leftovers for lunch.

Step 4: What to buy

Nothing at all.

Healthier Twice Baked Potatoes

One of my family’s favorite side dishes was the twice baked potato. You see, it is the best of both worlds, a nice salty baked potato shell with soft, fluffy mashed potatoes inside. And cheese. How can you go wrong?

Sadly, it’s not the healthiest thing out there. But fortunately for everyone, this is one recipe that isn’t too bad to healthify. This recipe came from Potatoes Goodness Unearthed, which I discovered via my savior, Google.

These turned out great, and quite healthy. According to the source, 180 calories per serving (which, I think, is two halves of the potato). Now, I only ate half, but I added a bit of cheese on top. Only about a half an ounce.

If I were to make this again, I’d add a splash of milk too, because they were a bit dry.

Enjoy, and get creative! Think of all the things you can do with a blank canvas of a potato you intend to bake twice.

Healthier Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients (makes 8 halves):

1 cup chopped onion
EVOO
4 russet potatoes, washed
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used Greek – Chobani)
Salt, pepper, garlic to taste
Shredded cheddar, if you want, only 60 cal for .5 oz on a half a potato!
Chives, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a pan, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped onion and cook until slightly brown. Set aside.

You can either bake your potato for the first half (40 min to 1 hour at 400 degrees), or cheat and throw it in the microwave. My microwave has a convenient ‘potato’ button. Make sure you stab it a few times with a knife before you cook it, otherwise it might explode – which is fun but messy.

Once cooked, carefully cut in half and scoop out the good bits, leaving a little bit of potato around the skin (about 1/4″) and set aside. Place the potato goodness into a bowl and add the yogurt, onions, and spices (along with a splash of milk if you want). Mash until creamy, then add back to the potato shells.

Bake for 15 minutes, then add the cheese to the top and bake 5 more minutes.

Curried Cauliflower

This week, I never quite got around to meal planning, but I knew I had a few things I had to use up. The first of which was some cauliflower that had been in the fridge a while. It is, fortunately, a nice and robust vegetable.

For dinner last night, I wasn’t much in the mood to do something complicated, so we planned to do a Trader Joe’s Indian frozen meal, which we split between the 2 of us over some brown rice (also Trader Joes). I also wanted to make a vegetable, and I figured it was a good time to try the cauliflower. Keeping with the Indian theme, I decided to attempt a curried cauliflower. I wanted it to be a quick, one-pot dish.

The flavor was light in this dish, I wanted to avoid smack-you-in-the-face spicy. I loved the way this turned out, and I plan to make it again.

Enjoy!

Curried Cauliflower

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp curry powder (I used spices from my masala dabba including garim masala, corriander, tumeric, and chili powder)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
6 tbsp water

My masala dabba – aren’t Indian spices just beautiful

Directions

Remove any leaves and the stems from the cauliflower, then wash well. Cut into florets.

In a pan, heat the oil and once smoking slightly, add the spices. Cook until the spies are slightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add the onion and cauliflower to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add the water to the pan and cover. Cook for an additional 8-10 min or until as soft as you like your vegetables.