Wednesday, April 30, 2014

A Week at Home: Groceries and Recipes


Today I'm gonna share with you a day of eats, a week's worth of groceries and the recipes I prepared for this past week. I got back from backpacking Ireland with my sister a week ago and Brett and I are only home for a week before we leave again to go visit my family in Virginia.  Normally I cook throughout the week instead of doing all of our food prep in one day -- this is simply because I love cooking and like to experiment all throughout the week -- but for some reason I wanted to make all of our meals for the week right away. 

Thankfully I bought just the right amount of food and all the recipes I chose for our main meals turned out great!

But before we get to the deliciousness, here's one last picture of my sister and me before we left our B&B for our first day of backpacking Ireland. Ruth was apparently still jet-lagged while I was pumped to take on the day!
  

If you're brave you can watch this music video I made of us dancing all around Ireland. 
Warning: it's a bit ridiculous.

Breakfast:

I can't seem to get sick of this breakfast.
1/2 cup oats, 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed, 2 teaspoons chia seeds 
and then topped with peanut or almond butter


A Week of Groceries:
Veggies: Zucchini, Cucumber, Green Bell Pepper, Spinach, Kale, Carrots, Tomatoes, Onions, Parsley
Fruit: Apples, Strawberries, Bananas, Pineapple, Lemons, Lime
Dairy: Almond Milk (Vanilla for Brett, Unsweetened for me), Strawberry Greek Yogurt (for Brett), Cheddar Cheese (for Brett)
Proteins: Dried Black Beans, Dried Chickpeas, Turkey Deli Meat (for Brett), Silken Tofu
Other: Baking Powder, Corn Starch, Dried Raisins, Vegetable Broth, Unsweetened Apple Sauce, White Wine Vinegar, 90% Dark Chocolate (for me!)

You're probably wondering: where are all the carbs? Don't worry. I'm a lover of carbs. When I can I make my own bread (Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, quick breads, flatbreads, tortillas, muffins, etc.), granola cereal, granola bars and crackers (Whole Wheat Rosemary Wheat Thins). I already had bread frozen in the freezer and was going to make more granola and crackers for the week.

Before lunch I got both the chickpeas and black beans cooking on the stove and in the crock pot. Again, when I can, I like to buy dried beans, cook them and freeze them in 1 3/4 cup portions instead of buying canned beans. It's a lot cheaper!


Lunch:

A big ol' salad with tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, craisins, hemp hearts and lemon tahini dressing.
And a package of...

I don't want to tell you how long these packs of almonds have been in my pantry. 
Since Brett and I are moving soon, I'm slowly trying to eat through our pantry and freezer foods.

My other snacks basically consisted of all the taste testing I did while meal prepping for the week. 


Homemade Flax and Pecan Granola:

I'll share this recipe soon! I use applesauce instead of oil and add flaxseed and whole wheat flour to make the granola clump together more. Delicious!


Red Lentil Marinara Sauce:

I made some small changes to this recipe from Kitchen Treaty and I love how it turned out. 
I used tomatoes with green chilies and added more vegetable broth.
There is so much flavor and you can eat this in so many different ways. 
Throughout the week we ate it with whole wheat pasta, on top of steamed kale and just plain like stew. 
Definitely a keeper!


Homemade Whole Wheat Flatbread

This recipe has been a staple in my family ever since I was young. 
It's just whole wheat flour, yeast, equal parts salt and sugar and water.
You can use the dough to make flatbread/focaccia or form it into a loaf.
It's so, so easy.
And as always, recipe to come soon.




Last, but not least, I made Baked Falafel and Vegan Tzatziki Sauce for dinner to eat with the whole wheat flat bread I made earlier.
We had our good friends and neighbors over for a quick dinner 
and everyone gave their stamp of approval.
We also had some of the best pineapple I've had in ages. Summer is here!



Dessert:


A square of this dark, dark chocolate.

If you're not into dark chocolate, check out this Strawberry Rhubarb Tart recipe...


...or check back in a couple days for these 5 ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares!


 There you have it! A week of groceries and food prep. Check out Jenn's blog for other recipe ideas.

Eat Consciously,

Faith



11 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, everything looks SO amazing! You are a food prep master!! Wow... I honestly want to come live with you, lol! yum! btw: what exactlky are hemp hearts? I've always wanted to try them!

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    1. Thanks Leigha! And I don't know about master;) Hemp hearts are basically hemp seeds shelled, so just the center part. I found this link that explains more about them and all their nutritional benefits: http://nutiva.com/hemp/organic-hemp-hearts-health-benefits/

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  2. I agree with Leigha, all your food looks amazing. And you've inspired me to consider prepping my own chickpeas and black beans rather than buying them canned! Thanks!

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    1. Thanks Marnie! And I just started cooking my beans. It's not hard to do...just let them boil while you get other things done:) How's it going being vegetarian so far?

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    2. I was actually going to ask about freezing beans - I've been wanting to try that... How do you freeze them? Does it matter what kind of container you put them in or how you do it?

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    3. I haven't been doing it long, but I've heard two main methods: either people pat dry their beans as much as possible before storing them flat in a freezer bag OR they store them in some of the cooking liquid in a bag. I've been doing the later...basically putting the beans in a bag and pouring in some of the liquid they cooked in to fully cover them up. This way they don't dry out. To use them, just let the beans/liquid thaw and then drain and rinse the beans just like they were from a can. Hope this helps!

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    4. So helpful! Thanks :)

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  3. What gorgeous pictures! I'm a big fan of prepping things like dried beans as well—the texture is way better than canned, and fewer creepy chemicals to worry about : )

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    1. Thanks Jess! Yeah, I was intimidated by cooking my own at first, but it's not hard!

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  4. Oooh, I am so intrigued by the homemade flatbread! And I just discovered lemon tahini dressing for salads; so good.

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    1. The flat bread is so delicious and simple so definitely check back in a couple days for the recipe! And yes, lemon tahini is amazing:)

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Thanks for commenting! I always love hearing from my readers!