Meals from the First Two Weeks of December

When I said I'd be back Wednesday with recipes and such I really meant Thursday :)

I came down with a terrible cold on Sunday that morphed in to a sinus infection-because I'm awesome like that.

Getting sick really ticked me off this week because I'd gone nearly a year without being ill. That might not sound that impressive to some, but I've basically spent the last 5 years constantly catching any and all colds/strep/flu/general disgustingness that was circulating in my classroom.

Since I'm still playing catch up, the meals below cover the highlights from December 1 through December 10. And, I'll be back tomorrow (for real) with another post that details my basic meal prep plan each week and several sauce recipes since I've been promising a post on those topics for weeks.



Turkey "Salad" Pitas
I mixed some of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey with, well, basically guacamole. Charlie and I both love avocados so this worked for us. The pita also has tomato slices and spinach on it. The sweet potatoes wedges were tossed in bacon grease (why not?) with salt, a little chipotle, and garlic powder. The key to getting them crispy in the oven is high heat-bake them at 450 for about 20 minutes.




 




Egg Salad
This was a perfect wrap for a quick, light lunch. I have a recipe for wheat tortillas I'm excited to test but I did not make the ones in the picture. My egg salad is really simple. For two servings I use 4 hard boiled eggs, 1/2 a tablespoon of mayo, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. We've eaten egg salad sandwiches at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks because I had to do something with 18 eggs in the fridge. Besides, egg salad is delicious!

Veggie Wrap

I filled a wheat tortilla with 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, a handful of green pea shoots, some leftover brown rice, and half a tomato. I made more sweet potato wedges as a side. Have I mentioned Charlie and I are both obsessed with sweet potatoes? 










 





Black Beans with Brown Rice
I froze half of the black bean soup that I made last week in 2 cup containers. After I thawed one portion it in the fridge, I warmed it up with 1/2 a cup of chicken broth and cooked it until the liquid was gone. The rice was left over from meal prep I did earlier in the week. With everything already made, all I really had to do for this meal was slice the green onion and lime, dress the salad greens, and plop the sour cream on top. Black beans might not be much to look at but this version has great flavor due to all of the spices involved. And, for once, I actually omitted the hot sauce so there's nothing spicy about this dish.








Turkey and Spinach Pot Pie
The week after Thanksgiving I made individual pot pies and then a 9-inch pot pie whose filling mainly consisted of all the spinach I had left in my fridge, the remaining leftover gravy, a turkey thigh, and a few spoonfuls of leftover green beans, carrots, and peas. I made the whole wheat crust as well. I had a tough time getting it out of the pan so the dish isn't very pretty but it tasted great. When given the option between the pot pie and several other dishes, Charlie picked the leftover pot pie twice! I found the inspiration for my pot pie here.







Over the last few weeks we've also had the dishes listed below. I think I've included these dishes in earlier weeks and I didn't want to bore anyone by describing them again.

Mango Chicken with Black Beans and Rice
Butternut Squash Curry with Cranberry Chutney
Turkey Sandwiches
Pork Stir Fry
Peanut Chicken