I once read that women used to knit, quilt, and do other crafting because most of their every day work is not permanent, and they wanted something they did to stay DONE. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping, all of it is never ending, never finished, never stays done. With that happy thought.....
Today's food prep -
- A kid friendly pasta dish, full of hidden vegetables, mushrooms, greens
- Kid friendly overnight oats cereal
- Chopped greens and kale
- Confetti salad
- Two salad dressings - Caesar and Strawberry
- Cheezy Kale Soup
- A frozen smoothie trial attempt - first time
- Black bean chili
- Brown rice for the chili
- Roasted chickpeas for snacking
Prep:
Most important tip - start with a clean kitchen and an empty sink. Fill one sink with hot soapy water and get a clean dish towel for drying. Also, we will need a wash cloth for wiping counters and floor spills, a big "trash" bowl and a veggie scrap bowl.
Chopped the vegetables for the pasta dish, the Kale soup, the Chili and then sauteed them. Onions, mushrooms, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes.
Food processor - carrots for the Kale soup and confetti salad, then cabbage, cauliflower for the confetti salad.
Roasted garlic for the dressing and chickpeas - took the garlic out after 15 minutes, left the chickpeas in for 40
Washed, dried, then chopped romaine lettuce for salad greens, store in fridge. Then did the same with 7 bunches of kale - some for the soup, the rest chopped and put in the freezer for smoothies.
Assembly:
Put a half pound of lentils in the crockpot with water for the Kale soup, added cooked onions, mushrooms, garlic, peppers and chopped kale, shredded carrots. I popped the carrots and kale in the dirty pan from the onion/mushroom mixture and cooked them with a bit of water first, to speed cooking time. Set on high for 4 hours.
Put the cooked onions, mushrooms, garlic, peppers with raw spinach and kale and more tomatoes into the blender with a little water and tomato sauce, blend smooth for pasta sauce. Add to cooked noodles and store in fridge. Rinse blender.
In a soup pot, put Black bean chili ingredients - precooked black beans & pinto beans, tomatoes, peppers, and the cooked onion/mushroom/garlic/bell pepper mix. Season as desired and let simmer for 20-30 minutes to merge flavors.
In a glass bowl with a lid, add 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, raisins, vanilla, 1/2 tsp honey, and 1/4 tsp cocoa powder - store in fridge until ready to eat (overnight or at least 8 hours). Do as many of these as you want cereal meals.
In storage container, add shredded carrots, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and some of the raw onion, bell peppers, garlic for confetti salad. Season, if desired, and store in fridge.
Blend ingredients for Caesar dressing - nut butter, water, roasted garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, dijon mustard, pepper - and store in dressing container in fridge. Rinse blender.
Blend ingredients for best ever sweet dressing, Strawberry :) , seen above in pink... defrosted strawberries, cashew butter, water, and juice of 1 lemon. Store in dressing container in fridge. No need to rinse blender because....
We're making smoothies now. Add all ingredients (banana, cashew/walnut butter, water, greens, berries, chia) and blend smooth. Pour into glasses to serve and one went into the freezer for the frozen smoothie experiment. I used a leftover glass container with no lid.
Store the now cooked and cooled chickpeas for snacking later, squeezing lime and seasonings over them first.
Quick clean up, putting away partially used items, wiping counters, sweeping floors, taking out the trash and compost scraps.
When the soup, chili, rice is finished cooking, let them cool a bit, store in the fridge, and wash out the pots. Then, a nap or resting with a cup of something warm is definitely in order.
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