This Week In The Kitchen: Meal Prep + Recipes

 Weekly meal prep helps make things easier for the week of cooking and eating!

Today was my meal prep day for the week.  I washed all of the veggies and fruit that I purchased.  As noted in previous posts, I wash most of them in a bowl of water with a few Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar added.  Then I rinse them off, lay them on a towel to dry completely, and then package them up in glass storage containers or jars.  If I purchase non-organic veggies, I usually use baking soda instead of vinegar to help get some of the chemicals off.

I prepped a few things for the refrigerator and freezer.  On that list was Black Bean Brownie Bites, Chickpea Frittata Muffins, Hummus (my weekly fav), and Veggie Wontons.  

Last week I made a big batch of chickpeas in the instant pot to freeze.  This will give me chickpeas for weekly hummus making for the month.

Have you ever made Black Bean Brownies?  I've tried a few recipes and am sharing the one I created from the best parts of those recipes, and it's the one I prefer.  Hopefully you will like it as well!  While I, personally, think brownies, bars, or cookies made with any kind of beans do have a distinct flavor to them, I don't think they taste like they have beans in them.  I'm honestly not sure how to describe the flavor.  Regardless, I find these delicious.

These will go right into the freezer for snacking throughout the next few months!

I made the brownie bites in a silicone muffin mold however, I rarely use silicone in the oven. I know the claim is that it's safe, but I can't help but think eventually they'll figure out that it isn't.  I'm ok using it for freezing things, but I hesitate to believe it's not releasing chemicals into the food when heated.  Anyway, I was out of parchment liners, so I went with what I had.

A note about the ingredients:

Oats - you can use quick or rolled oats.  Most recipes call for the oats to be used whole, but I don't like the chewiness of the oat, so I always grind it in the food processor into a rough flour.  If you choose to grind them, throw them into the empty food processor and let them go for a few seconds.  Then you can follow the recipe in adding the remaining ingredients.  And of course, you can use them whole if you prefer that.

Sweetener - the recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but you can adjust this to use less or more if you find this too sweet or not sweet enough.  Liquid sweetener (i.e. runny honey, maple syrup, date syrup) is best since it adds the moisture the recipe needs.  I always use half date syrup and half maple syrup because maple is very sweet to me and date syrup isn't sweet enough, so the combo works perfectly.  If you choose to use only date syrup, you might increase the amount because although dates are sweet, I've found date syrup doesn't make it taste overly sweet once cooked.

Nut Butter or Oil - if you choose to use a nut butter it should be a somewhat runny nut butter.  Almond or peanut butter can usually be found in a runny consistency.

Mini Chocolate Chips - they add a great chocolate flavor but are not necessary.  If you prefer to make them without, you can certainly do so.

Black Bean Brownie Bites

makes 12 regular muffin cup-sized bites or 20-24 mini's

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1/3 cup rolled oats, ground in a food processor to a slightly coarse flour (*see note above)

1 can (1 1/2 cups) black beans, rinsed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup liquid sweetener (i.e. honey, maple syrup, date syrup, etc.)

1/4 cup runny nut butter (i.e. almond or peanut butter) or oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional but delicious!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare either a mini or regular muffin tin by greasing it with oil or butter, lining it with muffin liners, or using a silicone pan.

Add all ingredients except for chocolate chips (if using) to a food processor and process until smooth.  Remove the blade and stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full.

Bake 10 minutes for the mini's or 18-22 minutes for the regular-sized muffin cups.  Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Chickpea Frittata Muffins is a recipe I recently tried from the youtube channel Simnett Nutrition.  I like them!  I use their base recipe and add whatever herbs and vegetables I happen to have on hand.  The key is to make sure you are adding a few flavorful ingredients in the mix.  

My current favorite combination is veggie stock instead of water, parsley, cilantro, dried oregano, red & orange bell peppers, mushrooms, jalapeno/poblano, onion, cherry tomatoes, and a few black beans.

If you enjoy dairy or dairy-free cheese, I think that could be a delicious addition.  I will continue to enjoy working with this as a base recipe and finding more favorite combinations!

Here is the recipe from their youtube channel:

Chickpea Frittata Muffins

makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups chickpea flour

1 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup mixed frozen vegetables (peas, corn, carrot)

1 full green onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup olives, pitted and chopped

1 handful of cilantro, chopped

1 handful of parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, water, salt, onion powder, and black pepper.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

In a muffin tray (either silicone or one with removable liners), add enough mixture to fill to the top.

Bake 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool before eating.

For the veggie wontons I don't use a recipe.  Sometimes I make my own wrapper dough (I make a dumpling dough) and other times I use store-bought wonton wrappers.  This time I used store bought.

The key is to make sure they are filled with flavor.  I'm using them as soup wontons, so it will be the most flavorful part of the soup.  To get that flavor I always use plenty of red pepper flakes, soy sauce, garlic, cilantro, and ginger.

The veggies I used this time are mushrooms, cabbage, scallions, and grated carrots, all chopped finely and sauteed with the flavor ingredients listed above.  I filled the wontons, sealed them by dipping my fingers into water and pressing the dough onto itself, and then kept enough in the refrigerator for lunch and put the remaining on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and in the freezer they went.  Once they were frozen, I transferred them to a container.  They are perfect to add to soup broth straight from the freezer.  I simmer them for 5-8 minutes and that's it - a quick meal!

Our meals this week include:

Me - Wonton Soup, Salad with Hummus and a Bean Taco (refried beans from the freezer) on the side, or Salad with Hummus and Chickpea Frittata's on the side

My Husband - Grilled Chicken Wings with Potato Salad, Homemade Pizza, Roast Turkey (our last one from the freezer we bought during the Thanksgiving sales) with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Grilled Steak with Homefries, leftover Turkey Quesadillas, and Grilled Pork Chop with Veggie Stir Fry & Fried Rice

I'll have a little more meal prep this week.  The day after I cook the turkey for my husband, I'll make turkey broth with the carcass (in the instant pot) and add any veggie trimmings I have in the freezer set aside for broth, as well as freeze the meat into one-portion sized containers.

That's it!  A small amount of prep is complete for another week!

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