Cooking and Prep for the Week

In general, I have been (in the past), a master of cooking and prep for the week.  I spend a few hours each day on the weekend cooking, baking, chopping, preparing 2-5 dishes so that lunches and dinners are taken care of, at least until about Wednesday.  Funny that as I keep in contact with friends from high  school, college, and all over via facebook, I've noticed that it's definitely a theme for the working parent.

Or just the working person in general - my sister (no kids) also does a lot of cooking on the weekend.  It's efficient.  I am constantly impressed by how Biz cooks and preps for the week - not only for herself, but also for others.  She's so organized!!  My neighbors (husband and wife team with 3 girls under 6) seem to seamlessly cook on Sundays for the entire week.

Enter pregnancy, work stress, and lack of sleep.  I still enjoy cooking on the weekend, but I tire more easily.  What I notice first is the aching feet, legs, and back.  I can only really stand to be on my feet for about an hour.  So that means my prep has suffered.  This means that I cook more often during the week, and by the time spouse gets home - dinner is ready, but I'm beat.

This weekend I'm trying something new.  I am still doing my cook and prep, but I will do it in 1 hour increments, then I will rest. 

Also, I walked 1 mile (up over a big hill) to the grocery store first (and back), then started cooking.  I left my shoes on when I got  home.  It seems to be helping.  I am up to 1.5 hours on my feet right now, and I'm still okay.  Maybe I need the cushion with the extra 32 lbs.  I'm not sure how much longer I can make that big hill.  But last weekend I sucked it up and bought a maternity swimsuit.  I have 9 weeks to go.  If I wear it 3x a week for the next 9 weeks, I can get it down to just over $1 per wear. :)

So here is what I am prepping for the week.  I am trying to go lower carb/ more paleo to stem this weight gain.  Hence the trip to the store for even MORE vegetables. 

I made this delicious beef roast in the crockpot yesterday (45 mins of prep - not "a dump and press go" recipe by any means).  I bought a large (6.5 lb?) roast (organic and free range) for $50 from my coworker "beef source" (she buys in bulk).  She recommended the crock pot.  The recipe came from my America's Test Kitchen Family cookbook, and was a southwestern roast recipe (in honor of Cinco de Mayo).  If you can't have a margarita, might as well make tacos, right?  The only thing the roast needed was more salt.  I used homemade stock, so my food is always under-salted.  2/3 of this went into the fridge, and the rest into the freezer for a later date.

Now, I know this soupy runny beef would taste GREAT over some rice.  But I want to limit my carbs a bit.  So I cooked up some white rice and red quinoa and put 1/2 cup in a container for lunch.  But I am also cooking up a bunch of zucchini and mushrooms, and will use that as the primary base for the lunch.

In summary:

Beef roast (tacos!)

White rice/ quinoa

Mushrooms and zucchini

Bacon, chard, beet green, turnip greean, onion, zucchini frittata (that's dinner, with a salad).

Peanut lime dipping sauce (for my carrots, snap peas, and colored peppers).  Or maybe this one.  Or a combo.