The Meal Plan That Stuck

Tag: breakfast

  • Weekly prep: Monday March 2

    We had a busy weekend of sports and birthday parties, so I didn’t get a chance to do any meal prep over the weekend. I’m playing catch-up today, but still trying to get some things done so that the rest of the week will be a little bit smoother.

    (1) Flourless muffins

    My husband saw a reel describing flourless muffins, and requested that I make them. The reel that he shared didn’t have much by way of measurements or baking instructions, but I found this recipe from The Peanut Institute that helped fill in the gaps. We didn’t have blueberries so I subbed chopped up strawberries, and baked them as mini muffins because they seemed like they might be kind of dense (this was a good move). They definitely taste like healthy muffins with kind of a peanut butter and jelly vibe. My 1 year old thinks they’re amazing.

    (2) Grocery shopping

    The usual Whole Foods stock-up to start the week, including sausages for tomorrow.

    (3) Hard boiled eggs

    These were primarily for my lunch salads (see #4) but also an easy item to pull out for breakfast or a snack.

    (4) Lunch salads

    I tend to pick one breakfast and one lunch for the week. I will eat leftovers if we have them, and I generally know when that will be ahead of time, so I can plug in the gaps with at least a semi-prepped lunch plan.

    This week I’ve got a basic salad with the Miso Ginger Dressing from 100 Days of Real Food. I love this dressing recipe! I make it 90% as-written, with a couple of tweaks:

    • I add the juice of 1 lime for some citrusy freshness
    • I learned a few years ago to keep ginger in the freezer. It lasts basically forever as far as I’m concerned, and is easy to grate. I don’t bother peeling it, which already saves me some time, and grated ginger is so much easier to incorporate into dressings than anything chopped.

    I only put some of the ingredients into the tupperwares at the beginning of the week – basically lettuce and chopped veggies – to avoid any sogginess. This week I’ve got little gem lettuce, chopped cucumber, chopped apple, and shredded carrots.

    The bowl at the bottom of the below photo is my fully prepped lunch for today, which also includes quinoa, a hardboiled egg, some peanuts and some crispy fried onions. I’ve got more quinoa and dressing in the fridge, plus the eggs that I hardboiled, so I can easily toss everything together for lunch each day. It doesn’t completely remove prep time but it cuts it down significantly.

    (5) Egg cups

    These are a quick and easy breakfast for anyone, and a good way to use up veggies or proteins from your fridge. I make them in a WELL-GREASED muffin tin with bacon, zucchini, bell pepper, and grated cheddar cheese.

    Have a great week!

  • Weekly Prep: Sunday Feb 22

    Here is what I did today to prepare for the week ahead, in order to make things just a little bit easier.

    (1) Grocery shopping

    I did a big run at Whole Foods, including our household staples, shelf-stable ingredients for the week, and some salmon and ground pork sausage for Monday and Tuesday meals (Wednesday is take-out this week).

    (2) Made blueberry muffins with my son

    These are an easy breakfast or snack, and made for a fun activity with my 3 year old this afternoon. I love this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, though I ALWAYS forget to soften the butter ahead of time. I chop it into small pieces on a cutting board while I prep the rest of the ingredients, and usually it’s soft enough in time for that step.

    (3) Roasted veggies for breakfast

    I love a quick veggie scramble in the morning, but don’t want to spend time chopping and sautéing veggies in the morning while we’re racing to get everyone ready and out the door. I roasted 2 zucchinis, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 yellow onion with some olive oil and salt at 425º for 20 minutes, and will store in the fridge for the week. I’ll put a scoop of roasted veggies into a small pan with 2 scrambled eggs for a 5 minute breakfast that includes a full serving of vegetables.

    (4) Made a pack of bacon

    Some people keep a bottle of champagne in their fridge at all times. I keep cooked bacon. Warm up a few slices in the air fryer to go alongside breakfast, or toss it in a breakfast burrito. Add some to a sandwich when you really need that salty savory kick. Hell, eat it straight out of the fridge as a snack! Bacon always makes things great and it’s far better when you don’t have to cook it every time.

    A suggestion: bake your bacon. 425º for 15-20 minutes (I check it at 15 and then decide whether it needs to be crispier. It usually does). It doesn’t destroy your stove top, and if you lay it out on a sheet of parchment, then half your clean up is taken care of once the grease cools.

    Have a great week!