Prep Day

I took a few hours yesterday to prepare for the week. I made a few meals and did as much as I could beforehand, so that the week runs much smoother. I have definitely noticed if I am not prepared, I will be more likely to eat junk food or stare aimlessly at the refrigerator.

I started off by making a smoothie to fuel me through my cooking frenzy. In the smoothie, I added: 1 banana, the juice of 2 oranges, 1 can of coconut water, flax seed meal and a splash of coconut water. This made enough for 3 smoothies.

I then moved on to dinner for the evening. This meal was inspired by Kris Carr’s recipe from Crazy Sexy Kitchen for Teriyaki Tofu. I made quite a few tweaks to this recipe, but I still used her marinade and topped soba noodles with the diced tofu. I also did a quick sauté of minced garlic, snow peas and green onion in sesame oil to top of the dish.

Next, I made a miso soup. I have never made miso soup before and I did not have an exact recipe I was following, so I was a little nervous. This was also loosely based on a recipe from Crazy Sexy Kitchen, but I wanted to use up some of the veggies I had in my crisper.

I combined the following in my Vitamix: vegetable broth, miso, 1 can of coconut water, tamari, sesame oil and ginger.

I brought that all to a boil in a soup pot and added in: sliced shitake mushrooms, snow peas, bock choy and green onions.

I ate a cup of the soup with my dinner and was I pretty proud of the way it came out! The veggies retained their flavor and crispiness and the broth was savory without being too salty.

I also made a tagine dish. We usually made some sort of tagine dish each week. We experiment with different ingredients, spices and combinations. I absolutely love using the tagine because it makes a bulky, nutrient dense meal, which provides us with many lunches and a few dinners for the week.

Meals made in the tagine also tend to improve in flavor over time; the spices seem to intensify as the days go on.

Most meals we make in the tagine are spicy, I went the sweeter route this week.

I first sautéed a little garlic in olive oil, then added in 2 diced sweet potatoes, 2 diced red bell pepper and 2 shredded carrots.

I then brought 3 cups of vegetable broth to a boil and added in 1 cup of quinoa and 1 cup of red lentils.

I mixed all this together with an array of spices; nutmeg, cloves and a dash of cinnamon to bring out the sweetness along with cumin, turmeric, garlic powder and ginger to still add in heat.

I also added in some raisins, then let everything simmer in the tagine for an hour.

This picture does the meal no justice. Oh, how I wish you all could smell it! This will feed us for a few days, and is a nutritional powerhouse of protein, calcium and iron.

I also made tofu eggless salad for fast sandwiches throughout the week.  I crumbled up 1 block of tofu by hand, then added in a heaping spoonful of Veganaise Pesto sauce, Dijon mustard, turmeric and chopped green onions. This is so fast and delicious slapped between Sprouted Grain Ezekiel bread.

Then it was time to juice! I did 2 days worth of juice for us. I try not to make it too many days ahead, but it does save me time in the morning to get some done beforehand.

Into the juicer went: 4 cucumbers, 4 green apples, 2 pears, a bunch of celery, a handful of broccoli rabe (this is the first time I have tried it, it was new at the Farmer’s Market this week), 2 peeled lemons and a huge chunk of ginger root.

This made (4) 16 ounce glasses.

After eating my miso soup and teriyaki tofu, I was sooo ready to relax and enjoy dessert.

For dessert, I made some mint tea, sweetened with agave nectar and coconut milk. I also ate a few coconut rolled dates with fresh berries. So yum!

This all took about 2.5 hours out of my day, but it definitely helps the week to run much smoother and it is a relief to know I only have to come home and warm a meal up, rather than worrying about cooking a huge meal after work. It also keeps me from going to eat out when I am feeling lazy or tired.

Happy Monday to everyone! I hope you all have a great week filled with gratitude, passion and veggies!