Prep Day
Today I tried something completely different when it comes to meal preparation. It's called Prep Day, and it had intrigued me for a while. Basically all it entails is getting several things ready for the week in one day instead of stretching it out through the week.
Today's Prep Day included:
Hard Boiled Eggs
Roasted Pepitas
Chicken Breasts
Elderberry Syrup
The first thing I did was hard boil six eggs using my handy dandy egg cooker. Having eggs ready to go in the morning makes breakfast super easy. If you haven't tried Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel Seasoning then you have been missing out. It is perfect to sprinkle on hard boiled eggs.
You can also get a similar product at Walmart if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby.
While the eggs were cooking (it takes about 16 minutes) I began roasting some pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds). I find these for a reasonable price at Aldi, but use a recipe from Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Table cookbook. I melt two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet, and add a dash of salt, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. The secret here is to use your nose to help you know when they are done. Stir continuously until they are fragrant. I have been eating these on English muffins spread with Laughing Cow cheese, and then topped with the pepitas. I'm obsessed, and so is my two year old grandson!
The next thing on the agenda was copying down a recipe I found online for Crockpot chicken breasts. Now I don't usually copy down recipes I find online, but I didn't want to take a chance on not remembering where I found this because I hate it when that happens. I did go ahead and pin it on Pinterest so I should be good the next time I need it. The seasonings for this recipe were all things I have on hand so it is easy to prepare.
Sixteen minutes later the pleasant chiming of my egg cooker alarm went off so I stopped to plunge the eggs into ice water for 15 minutes. This makes it easier to peel the eggs so I can store them in a glass container in the fridge. Now they are ready for breakfast the next morning.
Next I gathered the ingredients needed to season the chicken (garlic powder, onion powder, dried Italian seasoning, paprika, salt, and pepper) and made two batches because I can only cook three to four breasts at a time. This way I have plenty to last me for several meals.
After seasoning the breasts on both sides, I poured 1/4 cup of chicken broth and a tablespoon of butter in the Crockpot, and added the chicken.
They cooked in the Crockpot for 3 hours at low. After removing the chickenI let it cool for about 10 minutes before shredding or cubing it. I store it in quart size freezer bags for later. It's extremely easy to pull out and defrost when you need it for a meal.
While the chicken was cooking I separated two pounds of lean ground beef to put in the freezer. Since there is only the two of us I never use a pound of meat, especially if I am adding beans or pasta to the meal. This way I get four 1/2 pound servings of meat. Somewhere along the line I learned to smash the meat down very flat to freeze it. This way it takes up less room in your freezer because it lies flat, and it doesn't take long to defrost. Of course, you could go ahead and precook your meat to have on hand for the meals your family enjoys.
Last, but not least I made another batch of Elderberry Syrup. A couple of years ago when the flu was so bad, and the flu shot did not seem to be working I began purchasing Elderberry syrup from the store. It was pretty pricey, and who knows if it really worked, but neither Chuck or I got the flu that year. Since then I learned how to make my own at a much more reasonable price. Each year during the winter months and into early spring we take a dose of Elderberry syrup to help boost our immune system. I purchase the dried elderberries on Amazon from Frontier Co-op, and add dried ginger, ground cloves and ground cinnamon to the mix. I also use Nature Nate's raw and unfiltered honey. You might recall that I was a honey ambassador for this company a couple of years back, and can recommend this as a quality product.
I'm going to include the following links below to help you out if you are interested.
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