Meal Prep: Next Level Adulting

Today, despite being a Monday, was my Sunday.  Sunday is my meal prep day!

It's one of my favorite days of the week.  I think my Sundays would be a hell on Earth for those that don't enjoy cooking, cleaning and organizing but I happen to LOVE being in the kitchen.  

This week is especially busy between social activities, board meetings, Lacrosse Booster Club meetings, fundraising events, working out, and the time I usually spend staring off into space.

These are the weeks where planning and organizing my meals is especially important as I won't be home enough to plan out and execute healthy meals.  I need things that are easy and I can grab and go.

Menu:

• Breakfast Congee
• Quinoa & White Bean Burgers
• Tomato Salad
• Roasted Delicata Squash "Chips"

This will give me breakfast, lunch, and healthy snacks until Friday.
With everything being Vegan, there really isn't anything that will go bad so the longevity of the meals is fairly extensive in comparison. 

When I cooked with meat - I had a 1-2 day window (at most) where I'd be willing to eat leftovers or transform left overs into a new meal.  It was a 1 day window if I had made something with seafood so me not eating meat / seafood / dairy is an amazing thing from a cost savings perspective.

BREAKFAST:

Breakfast Congee:  For those of you that aren't familiar with the greatest most versatile meal on Earth - let me introduce you to congee.

Congee is essentially a rice porridge made by boiling rice in a shit ton of water.  Like more water than you'd think appropriate.  Get to that point and then add more. 

It beaks down the rice into a pudding-like consistency.  

Serve it sweet or savory.  It's a blank canvas for really anything.  This is a breakfast congee so I added sweeter elements to mine.  

Congee is often used to promote good health and strong digestion.  According to TCM, because congee is so easily digested and assimilated, it harmonizes digestion, and also supplements blood & qi (life energy).  Congee can relieve inflammation and nourish the immune system.   I actually didn't think of stringing those words together - Scott told me all this like a year ago and it has been widely published in many journals of Cancer & Nutrition, etc.  

For me, It's just really yummy ... all the other stuff is added benefit. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup rice - I used Jasmine 
• 6-8 cups water - it depends on 1. how long you plan to cook it and 2. what consistency do you like.  

HOW TO:

• Take that rice, throw it in an rice cooker or instapot (whatever you use to cook rice)
• Add water 
• Cook for a couple hours.  In my rice cooker - I have a slow-cook setting.  I use that on high and it's ready in 1.5 hours.
• As you shut the lid you're going to think there's NO WAY this will ever cook but it will.  The rice to water ratio can be as high as 1:10 and it will gobble up every drop of that water!

----- That's it ... That's Congee -----

TOPPINGS:

• Maple Syrup
• Coconut Oil or Butter / Butter substitute (Earth Balance is amazing)
• Vanilla or Almond extract
• Dried Fruit (I used Cranberries & Cherries)
• Pecans / Peanuts (I smash the peanuts with a rolling pin and it adds a peanut buttery quality)
• Toasted coconut (coconut chips) - great textural component
• Chocolate goji berries 
• Dash of Salt
• Sweetened Coconut Milk

You can add ANYTHING to it.  Figs, Dates, Honey, Berries, Chocolate Chips, etc.  

For meal prep- I portion out 4oz which comes to about 270 calories - you'd think with everything I put into it it would be massively high in calories but it's not - I throw in enough to give it great taste and texture but I'm not eating a bucket full of this.  Very careful with the portion size.

LUNCHES & DINNER

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Quinoa & White Bean Burgers

This is another recipe that really encourages you to do whatever you want.  Look in your pantry - don't have cannellini beans - so what, use black beans and make it a Mexican spiced burger.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Quinoa, cooked according to directions (1 cup Quinoa to 2 cups Water)
• 1 can Beans (cannellini, black, etc) smashed up (far left photo)
• Spring Onions (I used 3)

SEASONING:
I had a jar of pesto on hand so that was the primary flavor profile in this week's burger.

Note: If I hadn't used pesto which has a high oil concentration I would have added a few tablespoons of Olive Oil to help bind the mixture together.

HOW TO:

• Cook Quinoa according to box / bag directions
• Drain Beans / Rinse and smash them into a paste in a large bowl (far left photo)
• Season the beans using whatever flavors sound good to you - I used Pesto
• Add cooked Quinoa to Bean Paste (second photo from left)
• Mix well and shape into patties when cool enough to handle (third photo from left)
• Leave in Refrigerator to cool completely / set.

TIPS:

• Make sure that you can form a patty otherwise they will beak apart as you pan "fry" them
• Separate layers with wax / parchment paper - lining the bottom of whatever you are going to store them in.  
• Use a spatula to get them out of the container, try not to use your hands or handle them roughly as they don't have the same ability to bind like a burger would.  I think by not smashing them into really thin patties is the key to keeping them together.

COOKING:
Hot pan and a bit of oil - Sear them on both sides which will actually crisp up the Quinoa - they have the most amazing texture.

I do a few things with the cooked patties:
1. Burger obviously - I may use a bun or most likely a lettuce cup
2. I add them to salads like a deconstructed burger (sans Bun)

The salad is my lunch tomorrow (estimated calories = 260 calories)
The burger was my dinner tonight ... when I thew everything into MyFitnessPal - dinner came in around 434 Calories because I added avocado, the greens were dressed in olive oil and lemon, and I used a potato bun (130 calories), etc.
The actual burger is 130 calories.

SNACKS:
This week I'm having tomato salad and roasted delicata squash as my between meal snacks ... Both insanely simple and fairly calorie net neutral.

Tomato Salad:

• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Lemon
• Basil
• Spring Onions
• Olive oil & Champagne Vinegar

​Roasted Delicata Squash

• Delicata Squash (which is really hard to find now - use Acorn)
• Olive Oil
• Curry Seasoning (or any seasoning you like)

Roast in a 370 oven for as long as you want to get the desired doneness.  I like mine carmelized and on the darker side as they become great for dipping into things.

Greatest thing ever: One evening, I went next door to my amazing neighbor's house and saw that she doesn't remove the seeds when she cooks her squash. 

I would have never thought to do this which is so strange as I love eating roasted pumpkin seeds so why not leave them?

It really makes these so much better and texturally interesting as the roasted seeds compliment the buttery softness of the squash.  I love squash and somehow this little trick makes me love them even more, which I never knew was possible.

Sliced relatively thin, seeds and all - I tossed these in olive oil and sprinkled them with:

• Tumeric
• Curry Powder
• Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Crushed Red Pepper

Roast in 370 degree oven for 35 mins - flipping at half way point.

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I'm almost certain that you can't easily find delicata squash this time of year - buy Acorn - it's the exact same process just a slightly different shape. 

How do I have so many you ask? Because my neighbor bought several cases of them when they were in season.  They will last months and months. 

I actually bought a case but had eaten all mine.  I feel that I should ration them out so I can make them last a bit longer but it's one of my favorite things to eat.

I don't have a great deal of self control in general so we'll see how long they last.

As a final step after cooking is to portion everything out into individual serving sizes. I weigh everything.  I tend to stick to 4oz portion sizes unless it's raw vegetables, then I will eat usually as much as I want.  

I'm not stressing over the difference between 2 cups lettuce versus 3 cups but I do watch what I put onto my raw vegetables.  I don't avoid fat as it's an essential part of maintaining a healthy body & brain.

In my current approach to eating, I'm entirely plant based, eat no sugar and try to limit my refined carbs.  I am comfortable with small portions of whole grains such as quinoa, millet, etc.  But I'm not going to freak out over eating a potato bun with my veggie burger.

Combined with what I eat is WHEN I eat - I eat between 10 am and 6 pm.  That also explains why I need to be in bed by 9:00 pm and watch television in my bedroom.  Otherwise I get very snacky and make my way into the pantry.

​I'm up late tonight and am starving.  Will have a cup of warm water with lemon and call it a day.

​Enjoy your week!!