Meal Plan: Chicken Goes Greek and Asian, Black Beans Go with Kale and Guac, and Rice Supports It All
The Family Plan #17
Are you ready to spring ahead tonight? Daylight Savings Time moves the clocks forward overnight. If there’s one things we parents are happy to give up, it’s an hour of sleep, am I right? You might feel sluggish tomorrow, and if you’ve got littles their nap cycle might be thrown off (yay), but the prep work you’re doing won’t take much brainpower at all. You’ve got this.
Sunday
Cook a Lot of Brown Rice and Maybe Some Black Beans
You’ll be using rice in three meals this week, so you’re gonna need a big pot. When making this much at once, I prefer cooking it like pasta in my largest pot, following Saveur’s instructions. Divide the cooked rice into three containers and refrigerate.
If you opted to buy dried black beans, set them up to soak before you go to bed tonight. (Yes, they’ll miss an hour of soak time, but it’s ok.) I like Bon Appetit’s general bean-cooking instructions, which show you how flexible the whole procedure can be. Divide the beans into two containers along with some of the soaking liquid (discard any vegetables or herbs you used for seasoning) and refrigerate.
Optional: If you want to make Tuesday really easy, wash and chop the kale for the burrito bowls, wrap loosely in paper towel, and refrigerate in a plastic bag.
Vegetarians only: Take a look at Well Plated’s instructions for Crispy Tofu, to go with the vegetables in peanut sauce on Thursday. If you’d like to make that, be sure to pop your tofu in the freezer! If not no worries—you can just stir-fry the tofu instead.
Monday
Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Vegetables with brown rice
This recipe is so straightforward, you don’t need much from me. Cut half of one of the red onions into chunks and finely chop the other half—refrigerate the fine-chopped for tomorrow. You’ll be cooking two extra chicken breasts to use on Thursday—leave those un-marinated, and season with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. (If you’re feeding picky eaters, you can hold back another piece or two from the marinade for them tonight.) Reheat one container of brown rice using one of the methods in TheKitchn’s guidelines, and serve. Refrigerate the extra chicken.
Vegetarians: At step 5, let the vegetables roast for 20 minutes instead of 10, then toss the sausage in the marinade, add to the pan, and roast for another 10.
Photo courtesy Cookie + Kate
Tuesday
Kale, Black Bean & Avocado Burrito Bowl
Pull out a container each of beans and rice as well as that finely chopped red onion. You can skip step one in the recipe—just reheat the rice instead. If you prepped the kale on Sunday, you’ll be eating in about 15 minutes. You’ve heard this before: If you have picky eaters, serve everything salad bar-style.
Wednesday
Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan with pasta
Before you start prepping the parm, set up a large pot of salted water to boil for the spaghetti. The recipe tells you to cut the eggplant into 8 slices, but what really matters is the thickness of each slice—too thick and they won’t be cooked through at the same time as the zucchini. Slice it a little thinner than you do the zucchini to compensate (you may need a little more of the breadcrumbs). Put the pasta into the pot when you flip the vegetables and it should all be ready around the same time. Don’t forget to warm up some of the marinara to toss with the spaghetti.
Photo courtesy Well Plated
Thursday
Easy Peanut Chicken with Veggies
Pull out the last container of rice and Monday’s chicken. Shred the chicken using two forks and add to the peanut sauce when it’s ready. Reheat the rice. Follow the recipe as instructed, and you’re good to go.
Vegetarians: Either prepare the Crispy Tofu (you froze it, right?!) or press the block between layers of paper towels, cube it, and add it to the vegetable stir-fry in the main recipe’s step 2.
Friday
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Beans and Guacamole
Note that this recipe serves 2, so you’ll be doubling everything for a family of 4. Pull out the second container of black beans and proceed. For picky eaters, leave the spices off some sweet potato, hold back some plain beans and plain avocado, and set everything out—yup—salad bar-style.
Watch your inbox on Monday for another discussion thread. I’ve been doing Weight Watchers, and I’m itching to talk about how to make recipes work when you’re trying to lose weight.
Get to bed early tonight!
Debbie