Sunday is almost always grocery shopping day for me. I go alone once every 4 weeks, and then my family will take turns going with me. So far, my son is my good luck charm; I spend the least amount of money when he goes with me. Today I had a few errands to run and I wanted to go to the outlet malls with my family, so the decision before me was to get up early and go grocery shopping, or go after spending the day with my family. I chose to get up and make a nice breakfast for my family, complete with fresh squeezed juice from some home grown grapefruits, tangelos and oranges that my folks grew and gave to me. After breakfast, I made sure my grocery list was complete, then we all went to the outlet mall and ran some errands. When we came home I went straight out to the grocery store. I started in on the meal prep after all the groceries were put away.
I like to have leftovers for lunch. They make life so easy, and I find that most of the time, food tastes better the next day. My family requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner one night this week, and when they have spaghetti, I usually make spaghetti squash for myself. I can't eat an entire spaghetti squash, so that makes for at least 1 or 2 lunches. I also planned to have a roasted beet salad for lunch 2 times this week, so I needed to prep the beets. I found that recipe in a People magazine believe it or not. I will post that recipe below. While the beets were roasting, I made some veggie packs that my husband likes to snack on. Simply a baggie with cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, celery, baby carrots, and radishes.
I also needed to prep my breakfast for 3 days next week. I found a recipe on www.nomnompaleo.com for prosciutto wrapped egg muffins. I got those prepped and in the oven, and then started dinner; shrimp risotto with a kale chopped salad, and some garlic bread. Everyone chowed this down, I don't know if they were just super hungry, or if it was just that good.
Lots of recipes to post today, so I'll keep things short.
Nancy Fuller's Roasted Beet Salad
3 medium beets, washed and trimmed
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp minced red onions
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 C baby spinach
1/2 C crumbled goat cheese (I use feta)
1/2 C walnuts
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the beets in foil packets and roast in the oven until tender, about an hour. Open the foil packets and let cool. Once cool enough to handle, peel using a paper towel, then dice.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey, red onions and mustard. Add the beets and spinach to the dressing and toss to coat. Top with goat cheese and walnuts.
* I like to add grilled chicken or some other protein to this to make it a full meal.
The recipe for the prosciutto-wrapped mini frittata muffins can be found at www.nomnompaleo.com I must say, they are yummy. The only changes I make to the recipe are that I use fresh spinach that I cut into ribbons, as opposed to frozen spinach. I also don't care for cooked tomatoes, so I leave out the cherry tomatoes.
Finally, the shrimp risotto came from "The Mom 100 Cookbook" by Katie Workman
Shrimp Risotto
6 C low-sodium chicken broth
Generous pinch of saffron threads
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 C Arborio rice
Kosher or coarse salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 C dry white wine (optional)
1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley or chives (optional)
1. Place the chicken broth in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the saffron and reduce the heat to medium-low.
2. Heat the olive oil and 1 Tbsp of the butter in a heavy medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook, stirring until just tender, about 2 minutes. Add the rice, season with the salt and pepper to taste, and stir until all the rice is coated with the fat and the rice is turning slightly translucent, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the white wine, if using, and stir until it is almost completely absorbed into the rice, 1-2 minutes. Add 1 C of the hot broth and let simmer, stirring frequently, until the liquid is almost absorbed, about 3 minutes. Continue adding broth 1 cup at a time, stirring often and letting it simmer until the liquid is almost absorbed before adding more (you can add water to the pan with the broth if it looks like you might run low). When the rice is still fairly al dente, after 15 - 18 minutes, stir in the shrimp and another cup of the broth and cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp are almost cooked through and the rice is al dente, about 4 minutes. Add another 1/2 cup of liquid if the mixture is too thick (you want it to be quite loose).
4. Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the remaining Tbsp of butter and 1/4 cup of Parmesan, if using. Taste for seasoning , adding more salt and/or pepper as necessary. Transfer the risotto quickly to a serving bowl or individual bowls, sprinkle with parsley or chives, if using, on top, and serve immediately with more Parmesan cheese on the side, if desired.
I've never made risotto before, and this was actually pretty easy. I was thinking it should be like rice, and was rather surprised when it was slightly "soupy." I was pretty good though, everyone ate, and David had 3 servings.
The amount of time spent in the kitchen prepping and cleaning wasn't that long, and I had my family help with the cleaning, and some of the prep work - David peeled and deveined the shrimp for me, and he's actually better at it than I am. I don't mind spending time in the kitchen when my family is helping me, and we're bonding as we cook and clean. That amount of time - less than 2 hours, and I now have 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and another 2 if you count leftovers from my spaghetti squash that I will be having later this week. Life is easy.
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