Healthy and Sane in the kitchen: making a week’s worth of meals in an hour

Hi guys! Long time no “speak.” I seriously have no idea where the time went since my last post [feeling totally back to normal btw!]. I’m sure I was doing something seriously awesome. Definitely!

SO, I’m currently on the Amtrak train to NY, where I’ll be spending the rest of the week (let me know if you want to meet up on Friday at some point!!). I originally told Adam about this business trip and the fact that I was going to stay over my sister’s for the weekend and he didn’t seem to be fazed by it… until he realized he was going to have to feed himself for 6 days! Ha!

He’s currently trying to be healthy so in order for him to avoid feasting on takeout every night (not good for our budget or his health), I told him I’d prep some stuff for him. I ended up being really happy with my super easy “meal plan” and thought I’d share it with you. This is how you make a week’s worth of food in just over an hour!

To make it that quick, you’ll need help though from your grocery store (I originally was going to roast the chicken myself and make homemade tomato sauce but we all know by now from my frequent absence from this blog that time is not typically my friend).

This is the stuff I picked up for the week:

A roasted chicken from Whole Foods (just $9.99!!), broccoli, Applegate prosciutto, 1lb of 90% lean ground grass fed beef. I also had a jar of tomato sauce and a tube of polenta in the cupboards and some carrots, baby spinach and dying asparagus in the fridge. Wraps, burger buns, pasta, cheese and condiments are not shown here. We had them at home (you probably do too!) and they will come in handy during the “assembly stage” but not yet.

I started by roasting some veggies. They make great sides for just about any meal!

[Carrots were tossed with coconut oil, salt and pepper; asparagus and broccoli with EVOO, salt and pepper. 425* until nice and toasty… that’s about 15 mins for broccoli, 20 for asparagus and 30 for the carrots. Toss occasionally]

Then it was time to jazz up the tomato sauce. Jarred tomato sauce with extra red pepper flakes, baby spinach and roasted chicken – let the sauce simmer with the mix-ins for about 10 minutes.

I also made some chicken salad (see below) and grilled the polenta rounds. Lastly that ground beef was made into some burger patties (to be frozen) [1lb beef with 2T ketchup, 1T Worcestershire sauce and 1/4t salt is my go-to burger seasoning – it makes the patties moist and flavorful].

Here we go – all done!

Meal #1: Roasted chicken with roasted veggies and fried potatoes (from last night’s dinner)

Meal #2: Pasta with tomato, spinach and chicken sauce (Adam will cook the pasta)

Meal #3: Chicken salad [chicken, reduced fat mayo, light sour cream, pinch of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, s&p + carrots]

Mix in sliced toasted almonds right before eating, wrap with tomato and avocado slices.

Meal #4: Grilled polenta with tomato sauce and prosciutto

This idea comes straight from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners cookbook. Actually the whole idea of repurposing a few ingredients for different meals (in this case chicken, tomato sauce and prosciutto) came from the book. Love Jamie and all his books!

Burger patties to be frozen and grilled on demand

Other meals… that Adam can handle on his own

• Prosciutto panini
• Chicken/avocado/tomato sandwich

Roasted veggies for sides

Snacks:

• Baby carrots with hummus (Whole Foods jalapeno hummus is our my recent obsession)
• Yogurt with homemade granola and organic blueberries (all washed, ready to eat)
• Fruit (organic apples, pears and bananas in the living room platter)

Oh and if you’re wondering what’s sneaking behind there in the photos… that would be parmesan thyme biscuits and maple walnut shortbread cookies I made over the weekend. No big deal

All together, ready for the fridge!

I had one happy husband on my hands! Now he has to report back on how everything was. I better not see greasy Chinese in his online food journal!

I need to do things like that more often even when I’m in town! What would you have made??