I broke out of quarantine and went to the supermarket yesterday, my first time in two weeks. Things were reasonably well stocked, though the produce, meat, baking, and frozen fruit sections all felt pretty bleak. Apparently people eat a lot of hot dogs in quarantine, since there were absolutely none available.
But I snagged canned chickpeas and pineapple, a big bag of navel oranges, fresh and shredded mozz, canned tomatoes, a little pasta, and other staples. Oh, and I replenished the snack cooler. This morning I’ll hit the farmers market for apples, eggs, and greens. We should be good for another two weeks now, I hope.
It turns out, though, that because I came home without any meat at all I don’t have enough chicken to make a full batch of Monday’s Lemon-Grilled Chicken Breasts. I’ve got four bone-in breasts in the freezer and that’s it. To make things work, I’ll cut each breast in half and serve smaller portions, with more of the grain (either bulgur or wheat berries) and extra vegetables. If I don’t score something good at the farmers market, that’ll be frozen vegs. We’re all doing our best, right?
Here’s how next week comes together, in our imperfect world:
Sunday or Monday
Cook a double-batch of some whole grain. Divide it into two containers and refrigerate.
Monday
Lemony Chicken or Tofu with grains and vegetables
Both recipes are pretty straightforward, so you don’t need much from me here. Reheat one container of the cooked grain, and serve with whatever vegetables you have available. Refrigerate the leftover chicken or tofu for Thursday.
Tuesday
Photo courtesy Eating Well
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Hummus Dressing
As I said the other day, this recipe is both extremely simple and wonderfully flexible. You can use sweet or russet potatoes, virtually any kind of beans, and any kind of greens (including frozen). If you need a little help figuring out what’ll work for you, don’t hesitate to respond to this email and I’ll talk it through with you. And if you have an extra potato or two, bake them up and refrigerate for Thursday.
It occurs to me that this might be a little too light a meal for some folks. If that’s the case for you, I’d add some cheese or another vegetable to go with—or serve some of that hummus with carrot sticks.
Wednesday
Easy Slow Cooker Lentil Soup with crusty bread
Here’s another straightforward recipe. If you don’t have the right onion or you’re out of carrots or celery, you can swap things around—use any kind of onion, and double up on whatever vegetables you do have. You can also swap brown lentils for green, if that’s what you have, and I suspect this recipe would work out fine with water instead of broth—though you may want a little salt, or a generous splash of soy sauce.
Thursday
Photo courtesy The Washington Post
Flexible Grain Salad with chicken or tofu and sweet potato
The article is so thorough, you really don’t need any help from me.
Friday
Mediterranean Tuna Pasta
As long as you have pasta, tuna, and some kind of savory/briny jarred items in your cupboard, you can make this. Hit me up if you need a little help figuring it out!
And just like that, we’ve made it through another week of remote school, working from home, and cabin fever.
Stay safe and healthy please,
Debbie