This Week in Meals: Sleeper-Hit Eggplant Rice and Cult Mealoaf

I've already talked about my need for a regimented approach to meal planning in the interest of avoiding blood sugar tantrums and overall hunger-related life devastation.  With my schedule, this means making lots of food ahead of time and having it ready to re-heat/ tote to work at a moment's notice.

Fall is a great season for make-ahead food-- stews, casseroles and even kale salad actually taste better the second (or third) day. Where cooking in the Summer makes me feel kind of like a precious asshole (fresh heirloom tomatoes rotting on the counter because my plans changed), cooking ahead in the Fall makes me feel awesome and capable and prepared because the food is just hanging out in the fridge and it's already delicious!

I planned recipes on Saturday, shopped on Sunday, prepped (chopped and stored veggies, sorted ingredients into recipe bundles) on Tuesday morning and cooked on Wednesday and Thursday. Monday is the day from scheduling hell, so I ate chocolate zucchini cake from the Big Bear for dinner, and I'm not sorry. I'm a grownup!

Here's what I made:

Breakfast: Oatmeal. Green smoothies. Ezekiel bread with peanut butter. We have a thing going.

Lunch: Leftovers or this egg sandwich.

Dinner:

David Kinch's Eggplant Dirty Rice. The Amateur Gourmet made a big deal about this and he does not normally mess around, so I was bummed when I tasted it right out of the oven (it took 30 minutes to cook rather than the recommended 17) and it was meh. Then, I took a spoonful from the fridge the next morning and it was incredible-- really savory and complex and black-pepper spicy. This recipe is HUGE, so I divided into thirds. The first third fed the two of us, and I froze the other two portions separately to eat with poached fish in the next month.

Food 52's Rosemary Turkey Meatloaf. This meatloaf is approaching a cult-like status-- Rachel is obsessed. Jordy is obsessed. Rosalind is a vegan so she doesn't count. You know that yummy sweet topping that meatloaves have, and how you always with there were more? WITH THIS RECIPE THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TOPPING. Ftw. Again, we ate a third and I froze the rest in individual portions for sandwich purposes.

The chicken green curry recipe on the back of the Green Curry Paste bottle. Plus broccoli and red pepper. Half box chicken broth, one can lite coconut milk. Sautee a shallot and a jaleno pepper with fresh ginger before adding the chicken. Takes 30 minutes start to finish. Freezes great. Rachel reccomends serving this with rice noodles.

Sprouted Kitchen's Black Bean, Goat Cheese and Zucchini Enchiladas. Awesome awesome awesome. Don't change a thing.

A quick note:

You'll find that I use pre-made enchilada sauce and pre-made curry paste in two of these recipes. That is because I have a life and am not insane. Actually, I have spent 3+ hours making indonesian satay sauce by hand, but it was only marginally better than the stuff in the bottle. Since then, I decided to leave certain great pleasures to their respective experts. To whit-- dosas = Vimala's, yeast gravy= The Grit, matzoh ball soup = my mommy.