Meal Prep Monday...or, Tuesday

In an ongoing effort to simplify my day and eliminate time wasting (which, for the record, I am pretty fabulous at doing), I made a commitment that once I got back from vacation, I would start doing some batch meal prepping.  When I did this before and created entire meals (grilled chicken breast, half of a sweet potato, steamed broccoli, sliced peppers), I got bored and let some of the meals go to waste.  

Today I decided I would prep specific foods, but not combine into set meals.  This gives me the time benefit of having foods already cooked and prepared, but still allows me the flexibility to create a few different meals with the same base ingredients.

I browned two packages of ground bison meat.  Have you ever tried it?  It taste just like ground beef (no gamey taste like you might get from venison or other such meats) but it's leaner and buffalo are raised more humanely than cows - there are no anti-biotics or hormones used and in many cases, the buffalo are pasture raised.  Do your research on the brands your store carries.  If you happen to live near a farm that sells buffalo meat, check that out and support your local agriculture.

I also cleaned and prepped two packages of Brussels sprouts.  I'm not a big fan of steamed Brussels sprouts, but I still want the health benefit of eating them, so I lightly tossed in extra virgin olive oil and organic garlic sea salt, then baked in a single layer on a baking sheet at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Tip:  if your sprouts are of varying size, slice the larger ones in half to ensure even cooking.

Lastly, I simply steamed two washed & prepped bags of organic Broccoli.

Today's lunch, post-gym, was chopped raw baby spinach with the broccoli & Brussels sprouts topped with 1/2 cup cooked ground bison meat.  I then added 1/2 sliced avocado and topped with a little drizzle of Organicville Gluten-free chili sauce.  It was a fabulous lunch!  Stay tuned tomorrow to see what I make with my prepped food.

Pork Tenderloin Crockpot Meal

Really?  I haven't blogged since...gasp...JULY?!?  Let's just try to skip over that little tidbit of information and hop right over to this awesome dinner I made yesterday.

Although it's been unseasonably warm in the Mid-Atlantic area recently, yesterday we welcomed FALL temps.  Happy Dance!!!  When the weather gets cooler, I always feel compelled to pull out my Crockpot more often.  Since we just got back from Disney on Sunday, I found myself staring into an empty fridge yesterday morning.  A quick ($300) trip to the grocery store solved that problem.

I picked up a fresh, hormone-free pork tenderloin and a slew of veggies - then decided I'd figure out the rest when I got home.  I chose small red potatoes, sliced white mushrooms, asparagus and a large vidalia onion along with the spices.

This is the super easy part...

I washed my produce, sliced the potatoes in half, chopped the onion into 1" chunks, cut the asparagus spears into thirds and - nice - the mushrooms were already cleaned and sliced for me.  Win!  I only rinsed the tenderloin.  I didn't season or pan sear it.

I tossed the potatoes & onions into the bottom of the crockpot and added the tenderloin on top.  Here's where I added the spices.  I simply sprinkled cumin, organic garlic sea salt and a Mexican Fiesta blend directly onto the tenderloin (when it was done cooking, it looked like a rub, without the effort!)  I then added the free range chicken broth around the sides of the tenderloin (it was about 1 cup of broth) and topped the tenderloin with the mushrooms & asparagus.

That was it!!  I just covered it and set it to low for 7.5 hours.  When it was done, it smelled amazing and the pork fell apart with a spoon.  My five year old inhaled a full plate.  Her favorite part?  The mushrooms.  I just love her and her desire to try new foods!

You can really make this any way you feel inclined.  I loved the way it turned out.  Let me know if you try it and what you end up adding.