We recently bought a house and moved about 20 miles outside of Boston. One of the changes that came along with a new commute and work schedule is that I have started making dinner for the kids every night, instead of just Friday-Sunday (Julia, our wonderful long-time nanny, historically fed them dinner Monday-Thursday). Derek and I still have opposite work schedules, which means that I have the kids without him 5-6 nights/week. In order to make healthy meals AND pack lunches while flying solo, at a minimum I need to have a well-stocked fridge and basic menu plan for the week. Even better is when I can get some cooking and/or food prep done on Sunday.
Before I go to the gym on Sunday mornings I usually peruse some recipes in search of culinary inspiration. Today I came across a recipe that caught my eye on Budget Bytes. I was planning on hitting Trader Joe's after the gym, so I picked up the frozen roasted corn that is the cornerstone of this recipe.
The first part of my food prep for the week hinged on Derek marinating 4 chicken breasts this morning. We used his Grandma D's long-standing trick for keeping chicken juicy and not dried out, which is to marinate chicken breasts in italian dressing for a few hours. He grilled them up for lunch, leaving me two breasts to work into meals for this week.
To prep the Roasted Corn Quesadillas I mixed together one diced chicken breast, a little red onion, shredded carrot (I use the pre-shredded stuff in a ziploc bag from Trader Joe's), half a bag of frozen roasted corn, a 4 oz. can of chopped green chiles, and a little cumin.
While I prepped the filling I also made a layered salad for work tomorrow. I started with a base of Sweet & Spicy Mango dressing from Trader Joe's, and added diced red onion, yellow pepper, snap peas, shredded carrot, cucumber, tomato from our rooftop garden, grilled chicken, arugula, and chopped romaine.
Tomorrow night I have a chiropractor appointment after work (that is a story for another post), so I will cook up the quesadillas for dinner with the prepped filling when I get home at 6:30.
What are your time-saving prep tricks for weeknight cooking?
Before I go to the gym on Sunday mornings I usually peruse some recipes in search of culinary inspiration. Today I came across a recipe that caught my eye on Budget Bytes. I was planning on hitting Trader Joe's after the gym, so I picked up the frozen roasted corn that is the cornerstone of this recipe.
The first part of my food prep for the week hinged on Derek marinating 4 chicken breasts this morning. We used his Grandma D's long-standing trick for keeping chicken juicy and not dried out, which is to marinate chicken breasts in italian dressing for a few hours. He grilled them up for lunch, leaving me two breasts to work into meals for this week.
To prep the Roasted Corn Quesadillas I mixed together one diced chicken breast, a little red onion, shredded carrot (I use the pre-shredded stuff in a ziploc bag from Trader Joe's), half a bag of frozen roasted corn, a 4 oz. can of chopped green chiles, and a little cumin.
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| Filling for Roasted Corn Quesadillas |
While I prepped the filling I also made a layered salad for work tomorrow. I started with a base of Sweet & Spicy Mango dressing from Trader Joe's, and added diced red onion, yellow pepper, snap peas, shredded carrot, cucumber, tomato from our rooftop garden, grilled chicken, arugula, and chopped romaine.
Tomorrow night I have a chiropractor appointment after work (that is a story for another post), so I will cook up the quesadillas for dinner with the prepped filling when I get home at 6:30.
What are your time-saving prep tricks for weeknight cooking?
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