MP #1
February 26, 2019
Whether it is a procrastination phase or a phase that you truly think a middle part looks good on you, we all go through temporary obsessions to then wake up one morning like why on earth am I doing this. Mine recently has been playing food roulette where I do not grocery shop and just buy food on the fly. This has left me hungry constantly and spending way too much money on crappy campus food. So just in time for self-proclaimed meal prep March, I am getting back on my meal prep game.
I tend to meal prep two different kinds of meals. The first is what I call my staple meals. These are my super simple meals, contain a good ratio of protein to carbs to fats, tons of vegetables and honestly build the basis of what I eat week-to-week. They definitely do not have as much pizazz, but that does not mean they are not delicious. The second kind of meals I always include are my more intensive, recipe-based concoctions that leaves everyone jealous with the delicious smells as I reheat it in the grad student lounge. I typically trade off every other week having a simpler meal then having a more fun, fresh, and fancy one just to mix it up.
For the first week, I am serving a simplier recipe, my Chicken and Rice "Bake," which looks like mush, but is actually phenomenal, simple, and a great “set it and forget it” crock pot recipe. I grew up eating Stoffer’s chicken and rice bake (10/10 do NOT recommend buying), so this is quite similar and I guess where I got the inspiration but tastes 1000000x better. I don’t typically measure things out for this, pretty much just dump and go, so take the measurements as a guideline and if something doesn’t feel right in your bones, go with your gut.
(Makes 6 meals or 5 if you are hungry)
You must have:
Crockpot or a dutch oven
2 sheet pans
Crockpot liners if you are like me and hate cleaning
Ingredients:
1.35lb chicken breast (you can do chicken thigh for a richer meal, I just stuck with breasts)
¾ container of salsa
1.25 cups of rice
2.5 cups of low sodium chicken broth
2 bunches of asparagus
Half a bag of broccoli or any other vegetables that have been sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks and needs to be cooked
Olive oil/Salt/Pepper/Paprika (if you do not have these on hand, please click off)
The Hard Part:
Put your crockpot liner in, lay down half of the salsa. If you do not do this, your chicken will become one with the bottom of your pan (no bueno). Season your chicken with the Salt/Pepper/Paprika and lay them down. Dump the rice in, the chicken broth, and the rest of the salsa. Mix everything up to make sure all the rice has some liquid on it. Cover and put the crockpot on low for 3ish hours.
I typically do this before I leave for class, come back to the apartment smelling bomb, turn off the crockpot and let it sit. You can shred up the chicken with a fork at this point, but I just let it sit overnight and shredded the chicken up the next morning.
For the vegetables, line your pan with aluminum foil if again, you are lazy like me and do not clean pans. Oven goes at 400 degrees. Lay down your asparagus/broccoli/other vegetables, I then sprinkle ~1tb EVOO on top, then season. Make sure to toss everything around to be well covered. Pop in the oven for 25 minutes, then start checking every 5 minutes until veggies are cooked to where you like them to be. I sometimes broil everything for 3-4 minutes at the end because I like burned broccoli, so you can do that, but if that is not your jam, cool. Heads up: baking broccoli is THE BEST, but your house will smell weird. You are not doing anything wrong, I think it is the sulfur in it, so make sure to light a candle to offset the smell.
Once you are all finished, pop everything in a meal prep container, make sure it has cooled down completely before putting in the fridge.
Bam, meal 1 down. This is on my prep this week, quite excited honestly. My week in food looks like:
Breakfast has been always and forever avocado toast with egg/cheese. I accept my millennial status, and I will not lie, I have been eating this for over two years and am not tired of it yet. If you are so lucky to be in Texas, Central Market Seedsational bread is the best $3.99 bread you can buy. Beware though that this is EXTREMELY filling so highly recommend eating before a nice little walk to campus, or some sort of activity or else you’ll end up like me buying Pepto at the CVS near Café Medici. Great choice to tide you over before an extensive morning or some aggravating meetings.
I have been in a snacky mood recently, so the mid-day things are all snacks. Apples and peanut butter, hummus and carrots, and grapes and cheese are what I bought this week. Something about grapes and cheese is the perfect combo of sweet and salty, and I stan the combo forever. I will typically take two out of the three with me onto campus for an easy and filling snack.
Chicken and Rice bake for dinner/late afternoon snack/when I give up the will to hold off eating any more.
I also have a protein shake somewhere in my day because #gains (jokes) and typically always finish the day off with wine (sorry not sorry).
Here’s to a “healthier” week of eating and to meal prep March starting this Friday, eek!
