Meal prep with turkey
Goodness gracious. After nearly twelve weeks of living like a nomad, I’m living back in my house. On Thursday, my full size refrigerator and dishwasher were finally delivered and I couldn’t wait to head to Kroger and Trader Joe’s to get what I need to stock this stainless bad boy.
I’m an extremely routined person. I go in and out of phases with flavors of food, or brands of cereal and coffee for the morning. But for the most part, I eat the same meals, week after week, month after month. I’m not one for food prep and just within the last YEAR, started eating leftovers. If you ask Kait, she states that “Phil and Brittany are the only ones in the friend group that don’t diet.”, and she’s completely right. You will never see me deny myself goodies or a certain food. Life’s too short, even if that seems like a haphazard way of living. I enjoy food, sweets, breads, beers, wine, etc., so I’m your girl, if you ever want to dine out! And, the only difference between Phil and myself is that physically, he’s in shape. The dude will take off on an afternoon and hammer out a 10 or more mile run, in the southern humidity and heat, and I won’t.
While I rarely deprive myself of food, I don't eat too terrible. I love all the things that are bad for you, but I rarely buy those things unless I’m really really really craving them. I stick with the same meals, and guess what? I don’t really eat much meat, besides 99% lean turkey. So, here’s how I “meal prep”. I hope you enjoy and can take a page out of my book! Food is meant to be devoured and shared. It’s meant to bring you together with the people you love. I probably should also add, as I write this, my community of friends make thee best healthy dishes when we get together. Healthy food doesn’t suck, it’s just finding out what you like. But, most of them are gluten free, or grain free, and I need sugars, gluten, and terrible foods in my life sometimes!
Here are the things that I eat each week:
-turkey tacos
-taco salad
-Mexican stuffed peppers
-turkey and spaghetti squash with vodka sauce
Here’s how I do it. I buy one pound of turkey every time I’m at the store and keep one in the refrigerator and one in the freezer. I brown the entire pound and put it in Tupperwares until I'm ready to use it, usually half is taco seasoned and the other half is plain. The first night, it never fails, I always do turkey tacos. I make with clean seasoning. (This is where the bulk of my turkey meat goes)
Clean Taco Seasoning: 2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp garlic poder
1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp chili powder
After my turkey is cooked, I throw a little water in to simmer with the mixed up taco seasoning, I do not use the entire batch of Clean Taco Seasoning on it, I give a healthy sprinkle coating for taste. Once it has simmered, I’ll use a whole wheat shell, cheese, and raw spinach leaves for the toppings.
The next day, for lunch, I’ll use Mission brand, gluten free chips, and crush a few up in a bowl. Then, I’ll take raw spinach leaves, cold taco seasoned turkey meat from leftover night before and put it on top with a little bit of cheese and tomato, if I have it. Voila, taco salad.
For dinner, I’ll use the rest of the taco seasoned turkey meat in Mexican Stuffed peppers. (I’m only cooking for one)
Mexican Stuffed Peppers: -taco seasoned turkey
-1/2 cup of cooked brown rice -petite diced tomatoes
-sweet corn
-extra taco seasoning
I don’t measure out the vegetables, I just add it until it looks good and tastes great. I mix this all together and put in the hollowed out green peppers. Then, I’ll bake them at 350 for 45 ish minutes. The last 5 minutes, I’ll throw on some cheddar cheese on top. Boom. Mexican Stuffed Peppers.
Lastly, sometimes, I’ll get sick of the taco seasoned turkey so I’ll just want the other half of plain turkey meat. I’ll warm it up in a skillet with Trader Joe’s Vodka sauce. This is ABSOLUTE HEAVEN in a jar. I’m so picky and don’t like sauces that come from a jar, normally, but this is awesome! Once this is heated though, I throw it on some cooked in the oven already, spaghetti squash and top with flakes of parmesan cheese.
I will eat those meals all week and honestly, I never get sick of them. I’m a big turkey fan, so much so, I barely eat hamburger anymore—the smell kind of makes me nauseous when it’s cooking, and chicken, let’s just say I’m usually afraid of seeing tendons and red dots and lines, so I won’t usually buy it.
Trust me, I’m a peach to cook for and I’m not picky at all, can you tell? B.