Chop day

One of the big changes we've had to make is a lot more organic whole foods in our diet.  Not that we we weren't already on this road but we've thrown ourselves into 100% because it helps the pituitary symptoms.  So on chop day my husband rides to the store while I completely clean the kitchen.  When he comes back I'm faced with this:

That adds up to:

2 avocados
1 bunch radishes
1 bunch scallions
14 mini peppers
4 onions (not the whole bag)
3 stalks celery
4 carrots
2 tomatoes
6 mushrooms
1 head lettuce

All of which will be chopped, vacuum stored and used over the next 4 days.  I will also be filling that big crock pot with beans for meals for the week.

I got the idea from Tamar Adler.  Her book An Everlasting Meal is coming up next on my to-read list.  But the videos alone are inspiring.

How to stride ahead, Pt 1

How to stride ahead, Pt 2

(And thank you Google for only linking YouTube.  Bah!)

The basic idea is to  cook or prep your vegetables as soon as you get them home, in that way you're more likely to use them and it speeds up cooking time, meaning you're more likely to cook whole meals at home.  I've found that to be true, pre-preping take a good 30-45 minutes off your cooking time.  And when you get one of those cook in x number of minutes cookbooks which never seem to be that quick, try subtracting the time it takes to clean and chop all the veggies and you might find that it's a lot closer.  I think the chefs who write them don't take into account the time it takes their assistants to prep for them

That was the before.  This is the after:

On the left are the peppers, onions and mushrooms for tomorrow night's pizza.  The mushrooms are sliced and in a bag so they won't get slimy.  Moving clockwise the four bowls are peppers, tomato, sweet onion and avocados to top the beans and rice tonight.  We'll chop the avocado at the last minute to avoid browning.  The three jars across the top are onions, carrots and celery for the soup on Tuesday.  The four mason jars and bag are radishes, peppers, red onion, scallions and lettuce for our lunch salads for the week.  And in front are an Anaheim pepper, yellow onion and garlic for tonight's beans.  I've found that coffee filters make great prep bowls if you're going to use things that night.   I forgot to cut up the cauliflower to go with the roast chicken on Monday, I'll do that while I cook the vegetables for the beans.

And so our menu for the week is as follows:

Friday - Moroccan chicken soup (leftover from last week)
Saturday - Black beans and rice
Sunday - Vegetarian pizza
Monday - Roast chicken and Roast cauliflower
Tuesday - Classic chicken soup and Quinoa

Breakfasts are always some kind of grain porridge (oatmeal, brown rice or millet) and scrambled eggs.  Lunch is always salad.  Snacks are apples and cheese, yoghurt and granola or milk and a Luna protein bar. 

And that is our food story for this week

Edited to add:  Dinner tonight was so pretty I had to share