A Week's Worth Of Meals! Huevos Rancheros, Pork Chili & Sides - Plus Prepping For More!

I am very very proud to say that this week I was super-organized, for the second week in a row!  I did my groceries on Monday after work, and then prepared the week's meals.  It was amazing.

Here's how I did it.

Monday's dinner was Melissa D'Arabian's Huevos Rancheros.  This is a go-to vegetarian meal for us.  It's delicious, and very quick & easy.  I love it, and I'm sure you will too.  I mixed the salsa & beans in a bowl, got the eggs out on the counter, and put the tortillas in their respective places in the muffin tin.  Then I went on to prepare the rest of the meals, since you only want to actually cook the Huevos Rancheros right before you are going to eat it.  I served it with grilled balsamic veggies (recipe below), so I chopped up the vegetables required, made the marinade, and set those aside as well.

Huevos Rancheros

8 5” tortillas

3 T butter melted (I left this out)

Salt & pepper

1 c salsa

¾ c canned black beans, rinsed and drained

8 eggs

½ c shredded pepper jack cheese (I always use whatever cheese I have on hand)

½ c sourcream (I used fat free)

Muffin tin

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut off outer edge of each tortilla and remove so they fit snugly in muffin tin(I don’t do this, I just make a small tear so that I can fold them into a cone and then into the muffin tin – why waste food?).  Brush both sides lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with salt (no need for either of these steps).  Press into muffin tins creating little cups.  In a small bowl mix half of the salsa with the beans and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon a heaping Tbsp into the bottom of each cup.  Crack an egg on top of each.  Bake until barely set, 8 minutes.  Top with cheese, cover with foil, and bake 6-7 minutes more.  To serve, spoon sour cream and remaining salsa on top of eggs.

As mentioned above, I served this with roasted veggies, which was easy since I just put in them in the oven for 10 minutes first, then added the huevos rancheros for the remaining 15 minutes or so.  The original recipe is from Canadian Living, for grilled veggies, so both roasting & grilled instructions are below.

Grilled Balsamic Veggies

3 lrg zucchinis (green or yellow)

1 lrg red onion

2 sweet peppers

4 portobello mushrooms

¼ c chopped parsley

Marinade –

1/3 c balsamic vinegar

3 garlic cloves grated

2 tsp honey

Salt & pepper

½ c EVOO

Marinade – combine all ingredients and whisk.  Chop all veggies in large chunks.  Pour marinade over top, cover & refrigerate 2 hours, tossing occasionally.  Place on greased grill over medium-high, close lid & grill, basting frequently with marinade 12 minutes.  Serve sprinkled with parsley (I roasted them in the oven at 400 for about 25-30 minutes).

Once everything for this meal was prepped, I began making the 3 Bean Salad With Feta for the next day's salmon meal.  I'll leave the salmon recipe for tomorrow's post, so that you are only seeing here what I did in the one evening.  The bean salad recipe is from the Cheese Magazine, and despite it's odd ingredients, it's surprisingly delicious.  This is another favorite of ours and we make it quite often.

3 Bean Salad With Feta

½ c slivered almonds (I left these out)

¼ c sunflower oil (I used EVOO)

2 T red wine vinegar

1 T honey

½ tsp cumin

Pepper

1 can red kidney beans

1 can chickpeas

1 can romano beans (I left these out)

1/3 c chopped parsley

¾ c diced feta

1 c clementines peeled and divided into sections

1 c green grapes halved (I didn’t halve them)

Preheat oven to 375.  Spread almonds on baking sheet and bake 5-7 minutes (if using).  In large bowl, mix remaining ingredients and stir.

I put the salad in a container and left it in the fridge for the next night's meal.  I also prepped the sauce and seasonings required for the salmon that I was serving with it - more on that tomorrow.

The last thing I did was prepare everything needed to throw into the slow cooker for my end-of-week meal, Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Chili (thanks Kraft).  

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Chili – Kraft

2 c chicken broth

2 c chili style tomatoes, drained

1 can red kidney beans rinsed

1 can black beans rinsed

1 onion chopped

2 T chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 boneless pork shoulder

1 c shredded old cheddar

1 c sourcream

To prepare ahead – combine first 7 ingredients in slow cooker or large container and refrigerate until ready to use.  When ready to cook, add all ingredients to slow cooker (if not already there), top with pork.  Cover and cook on low 10-12 hours or high 7-8 hours.  Shred and return to cooker.  Stir. Spoon into bowls and top with cheese and sourcream.

For the veal chops, I made the marinade, rubbed the chops, and put them in a ziploc bag to sit in the fridge until I was ready to cook them.  You can find the recipe here - it's a favorite of mine, so I cook this one often as well.  

Tomorrow I will give you the salmon recipe - so that it will be a much shorter post.  This one deserves to have chapters! LOL