Starting Fresh – Healthy Eating for the New Year
This Month’s Recipes: Italian Braised Pork - Pepper, Cheddar and Scallion Wheat Biscuits - Apple Oat-Bran Muffins
Happy New Year everyone! I know it’s almost mid-January, but I’m still allowed to say that, right? I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying the first few weeks of a brand new year, complete with all it has to offer. As I write this, I am enjoying a rare sunny January day, waiting for baby boy to make his appearance, which is currently a couple days overdue.
To me, January implies a new start… wiping the slate clean and starting fresh. This will certainly be the case with us this year, as we welcome a new addition to our family. Yet, I have felt that in years past as well… a new start for eating right, resuming a regular exercise plan, setting business goals that I could track for the year, all of those aspects of our lives that we devote time and energy to. Having healthful meals available really helps us achieve these goals.
But aside from hiring our services, how can we have healthful meal available in order to set ourselves up for success? In contrast to my normal newsletter, I thought I might share with you how I have tried to be organized and prepared. In the few weeks leading up to baby’s “D-Day,” I have stocked our freezer with healthy, easy meals and components in order to help me be as successful during OUR new start at home. I thought I’d share them with you, our readers, so that you could also have some healthful, go-to supplies ready in your freezer as well.
What I did: I kept things simple.
Prepared one braised, slow-cooking, meat-centered dish that could be served easily over rice, potatoes, pasta or polenta. Made 6-8 portions of this dish (enough to help, but not so much as to overwhelm), and packaged them in generous servings of 2. (I used my Italian Braised Pork recipe)
Slow-cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot. I simply placed a quartered onion in the base of the crockpot, and topped with a whole chicken that had been rinsed and dried. I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and poultry seasoning (keeping the flavors very neutral, so I could use the meat/broth for many purposes), then cooked on low for 6-8 hours or until the legs were very tender, and the meat shredded easily. I shredded the meat, mixed together with a small amount of the broth in the bottom of the crockpot (to keep it moist), then divided into freezer containers. Saved the stock that came from the chicken and used for cooking rice (below).
Made healthful biscuits and muffins that could be easily integrated for breakfasts, snacks or served with dinner. (Good examples include the Pepper, Cheddar and Scallion Wheat Biscuits and Apple Oat-Bran Muffins)
Prepared a batch (or two) of plain brown rice (cooked according to the package directions in the chicken stock, which resulted from the slow-cooker chicken). Cooked until tender, cooled on a sheet pan, and frozen into 2 serving containers.
Stocked the freezer and pantry with smoothie ingredients, including frozen fruit, frozen bananas, juices, almond milk, protein powder and peanut butter.
I also bought some frozen salad shrimp, which can be quickly defrosted, and added to any number of dishes for lean protein.
This was my start to the freezer prep. I figure that this could give me plenty of options to start from, when I need help the most.
Of course, the chicken can be used a number of ways… in soup, spiced up for tacos, thrown into pasta or fried rice (with the brown rice)… you name it. I could also mix it with a barbeque sauce and serve with pickles and a salad on the savory biscuits I made.
All items were organized and labeled for easy discovery. That way if I needed to ask someone else to help, they wouldn’t have to hunt all over my freezer to find what I was talking about.
Having some simple ingredients prepped ahead of time can get you out of a situation where you are scrambling at the last minute. Take a few hours of prep over a week (or in one weekend) and set yourself up for success!
As always, I wish you the very best and a healthful start to your new year. Thank you to all of our clients, for their patience and dedication during this time of great transition for Ready, Set, Eat!
Sincerely,
Shana Larsen and the Chefs of Ready, Set, Eat!