I literally cooked for 6hrs! Granted 4 of those hours were for the meal swap we @ Crossfit Brigade had to help jump start our challenge.
Spaghetti with a bolognese sauce and julienned veggies
Anyways, my cooking spree began with lunch right after church. I wanted something quick-ish, so I decided to do spaghetti...with a twist. My daughter set out browning the 4+lbs of hamburger meat (w/ garlic, salt, and pepper) for the bolognese sauce (for us southerners, spaghetti sauce w/ meat). I set out to julienne a squash and zucchini to go along with the carrots.
Why julienned veggies? Well, I figured it would be a healthy substitute to the noodles that are currently a 'banned' substance in the household. Oh there were complaints as I was julienning (sp?) the veggies but once everything was put together, everyone ate their food WITHOUT complaint. I will say that I didn't cook the julienned veggies since they are so thin and rather tender. It was kinda like eating al dente noodles.
Back to the sauce. We had 2 choices for the bolognese sauce since I split the meat into 2 pots. Cherith used for her sauce, the Earthfare Tomato and Basil Sauce we had purchased (b/c there was a tasting- that sales trick never fails!) and I made my own from 3 cans of diced tomatoes, 1 tomato paste, 1 onion, garlic, and WILDTREE perfect pizza blend. (was in a hurry and knew this blend tasted good)
There was enough left overs for the kids to take a portion to school and 2 additional portions.
Coconut Curry Chicken
That night, after the Crossfit meal swap, I got home to a RAVENOUS family. I thought surely they would've eaten leftovers...but no, they did not. They did do some chores however. :)
So I opened the fridge and started thinking what I wanted to eat and was in the mood for and thought...didn't Michelle from the gym make a curry dish? That's right, she did and I've got all the ingredients!! Su-WEET!! :)
I pulled out the 3 large chicken breasts (about 2lbs), cilantro, can of coconut milk, coconut oil, medium onion, garlic, and the prepared veggies (2 cups each of diced carrots, mushrooms, bell pepper, cabbage).
The chicken was cubed and browned with the onions, garlic, and coconut oil.
I then added the veggies for a few minutes before adding the can of coconut milk. At this point I added WILDTREE Thai Red Curry Paste to the mix (about 1/2 a jar). -I was out of my other mild curry blends.
Once it cooked down for about 7 minutes, I took it off the heat and added the diced cabbage and topped it with fresh cilantro leaves. There was plenty for all 5 of us and enough for me to eat for BOTH breakfast AND lunch yesterday @ work. (I forgot the yummy breakfast portions from the meal swap, darn it all!)
Pot Roast
Right before bed, I was talking to Matt and trying to out what would be the best meal for tomorrow(Monday). After making 24 servings form the meal swap and 2 full meals for the family, I was done with cooking AND I think he was done with me making a sink full of dishes and being my Sous chef but hadn't prepared for the next day.. :)
So we decided to use the beef we bought @ Greenlife during their 3-day sale. It was for a good price (comparable to BiLo or Walmart), so we bought 3 -4lb portions. I was excited b/c we got to finally use my new crockpot (that locks) that my in-laws gifted me for XMAS. Matt got the recipe and agreed to start it up before he left for work.
Monday rolled around and the game changed... Cherith had a physical therapy appt late so my workout time moved to 5:30 and had us getting home around 6:45. (Boo hiss)
Matt didn't add any veggies to the roast, so I popped 5 small (4-6 in long and 3-4 in diameter) sweet potatoes into the microwave and got the asparagus out.
We sat down about 20 minutes later and ate the food in shifts. (The girls wanted bowls for the broth.)
1st course- 'Baked' sweet potatoes w/ coconut butter and cajun spice
Let me just tell you, Artisana coconut butter is FREAKING AMAZING on sweet potatoes, especially if you add a cajun spice blend on top of it. Even Cherith and Matt thought so. (Emaline and Jonah weren't brave enough). I even had a spoon of straight up coconut butter I was so hungry and it tasted SO good.
2nd course- Beef pot roast
Everyone got a nice portion (hunk of meat) with yummy broth. I don't need to explain how it was done...everyone knows about pot roast. Why Matt didn't add veggies, I don't know, but it still tasted good and we literally drank the broth from the bowls.
3rd course-Asparagus with evoo and salt
For whatever reason, this came last. I think it was because we 'meatatarians' wanted the meat sooner than later. I loved steamed asparagus, actually we all do, with evoo drizzled on and a bit of salt.
Dessert- About an 1/2hr later everyone wanted a snack and since I was preparing the lunches and had washed the strawberries and blueberries...they just ate some of them. I made myself a strawberry, pineapple, and coconut smoothie.
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