Hi!

Happy Fall <3  For whatever reason this is the time of year that I often fall into a cooking rut and don't know what to cook!  So I thought I'd share some of my favorite go to's:

Each idea is filling, freezes great, and is gluten free and lectin free.  Of course you are welcome to add your favorite vegetables.  And all ideas except for the egg muffins are easily vegan, just add more vegetables, and probably mushrooms (mushrooms give that meat perception, when I was vegan).

1 - Spaghetti Squash with your favorite pasta sauce

I batch cook pasta meat sauce and freeze it in portion size containers.  That is how this meal is easy.  The cooking day takes a good amount of time.  I freeze the perfect portions in stackable zip lock brand containers.  I do some variation of ground meat in a tomato base, with tons of vegetables.  Finely diced so my baby can't pick them out.  Now that riced broccoli and riced cauliflower are so common I LOVE adding those to almost everything!

And I'm sensitive to lectins, so the only tomato sauce I can tolerate is Pomi Strained Tomatoes, if you also happen to be sensitive to lectins but really miss tomato sauce like I did :)  It was a lot of trail and error to figure this one out!

This meal is obviously easy to make vegan as well :)  

Its VERY hard to cut open the spaghettis squash, so please be careful.  Cut off both ends, and then cut it in half long ways (hot dog).  The scrape out all the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, and cook it in the oven upside down on the pan at 400* for about 40 minutes.  You should be able to poke the fork through the shell when its ready.

The scrape up the spaghetti squash with a fork to prep the pasta like meal for each person.  You can still eat it if you forget this step, it just makes the meal a little more pretty and easier to eat.  Pour the sauce on top, and ready to eat.

Its quite a messy meal so I serve it in a bowl.

Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce is a favorite in our home.

2 - Asian Noodles

There are so many different variations to this, this counts as 3 meal ideas, haha!

Add all the vegetables you want.  Add the meat you want.  Normally I do chicken, fish or shrimp.  I have done scallops before, that turned out good too.  Add an egg if you want :)

Then to get the right flavoring I throw in a large piece of fresh ginger.  I use a large piece so that its easy to pick out right before serving.  Otherwise its very easily confused with a potato and the flavor shock is not usually enjoyable to whoever gets that piece.  And sesame oil and soy sauce.  You'll do these to taste.  When I cook it, I don't usually think you can add too much sesame, lol.  And soy sauce is so easy to add right at the end, so I would go light on the soy sauce.  

Then cook with rice noodles, or rice.  And mix all together when finished.

I love this meal so much because its so versatile, it tastes amazing, hence my baby eats a lot of vegetables. and its really easy to prep if you wanted to do the vegies the day before.

This is a meal that I often do when I don't know what to cook, and don't have that much fresh food in the house.  I just open the freezer and add a little bit of everything.

Other variations:

curry paste/curry flavoring with coconut milk

Note: with this meal I use avocado oil to brown the onions and garlic, once I add the other vegies and meat, I use ether sesame oil or coconut oil depending on which variation I am doing.

3 - Beet and Arugula Salad

 This salad is so delicious it has made me love beets!  I copied it/figure it out from a restaurant.  But I don't remember the restaurant name in Stinson Beach.  

Boil the beets the same as you do potatoes.  When they are ready you can poke them with a fork.  Cut the beets up to your preferred size.  I like them about dime size.

Then make the dressing.  Its olive oil, honey, and apple cider vinegar to taste. Add salt, pepper, just a sprinkle of cumin, and a spoon of herbs de province.  I use the tiny wooden spoon that is provided when you purchase this spice from trader joes. All proportions are to taste.

Once you think you have enough I pour the dressing all over the beets, mixing it all together, allowing the beets to marinate.  The proportion I like, is for the beets to be swimming in the dressing, that way when you serve it people get enough dressing with the salad.

Done salad prepped for the week :)

When you are ready to eat, put the arugula in a bowl, and nuts if you like, then the beet dressing.  The restaurant had walnuts.  I often use walnuts, pistachios, or almonds.

4 - Shepperds pie with a mashed potato crust

I realize not all children will like this meal.  But its a really easy meal to prep/re-heat.  My baby loves it.

For the filling, I do your choice of ground meat, with peas, carrots, and riced broccoli.  Add whatever else you'd like :)  Of course garlic and onions....

The spices I use is, salt, pepper, all spice, black garlic, regular garlic powder and onion powder - all to taste.  Even though I also chop up onion and garlic.

Then mashed potatoes.  As you make your mashed potatoes.

For freezing, I freeze it in the snack size zip lock baggies.  For me that is the perfect portion.  

When it comes time to cooking the entire meal.  Add the meat filling in the oven safe dish you'll be using.  And cover the top with the mashed potatoes.  Cook it in the oven for roughly 15-20 minutes at 350*.  You want the potato top to get a little golden.

And personally I use A LOT of butter in this meal.  That is up to your taste buds.

This is a really filling meal!

5 - Egg muffins

So versatile! And freezes well.

Sauté your filling.  I like to chop everything fairly small and even sizes.

My favorite combinations are mushrooms and beef sausage

or broccoli and onion (or bacon it I happened to have it)

*I'm sure cheese would be great on this one, I don't eat cheese so I can't give any good ideas.

Fill each tin with the filling, then blend the eggs in a blender with your choice of seasonings, and pour in the liquid eggs :)  I use silicone muffin liners, so I don't need to add any extra olive oil or butter.

...............

So what does this have to do with organizing?

Directly? Not a whole lot.  But if you look deeper.  Having these meals prepped opens up your time, and energy to put towards other things, like spending more quality time playing or organizing ;)  lol.  But seriously I think the point of anything is to open up your time so that you can do more of what you love, and give more to those you love.  Or if you had an unexpectedly taxing day, no worries, dinner is ready in 20 minutes. No thinking required!

Sending love, Jessica