My First Post….Oh! The Possibilities!

As my very first post, I thought I would keep it simple and easy. I am still getting the hang of the blogging world. The writing part is easy, but learning the ins and outs of WordPress and hosting and all the other tasks that go along with it is sometimes harder than it appears. I probably need a lot of grace for a little while as I get my feet wet with blogging. Here I am, though, so let’s do this!

I thought for a long time about what my first post should be. Where is a good place to start? I realized that I was overthinking it because I had lots of ideas to share! If I kept thinking about it, I would never get going. It is Monday, February 8. What better way to start a blog than on Monday? What do Mondays look like for me?

I have set every Monday, if possible, to meal prep for the week, so I will start there. In order to meal prep, I usually have to plan a menu. Menu planning is a process that I will share with you at a later date, but I will share the menu that I have prepared for the week below. My 19-year old son likes to follow a Keto diet, so I try to keep our meals as keto friendly as possible. We enjoy having a cheat day every two weeks because let’s face it…..Keto is hard! In any event, Keto recipes are just as delicious as non-Keto recipes.

The Menu

That is the planned menu for the week. Now, all I have to do is meal prep. How do I do that? Meal prepping to me means gathering, thawing, chopping, slicing, marinating, etc. It is kind of like being a sous chef. I only prepare those menu items that I know will maintain their freshness and food integrity if prepared ahead of time.

The first thing to do is gather and thaw. By gathering the recipes I will use, I can prepare a list of tasks for my meal prep day. I usually complete this step ahead of time so that I am ready on meal prep day.

Looking at my recipes for the week, I know that I will need to thaw some chicken thighs, tilapia filets, several chuck roasts, and steak. I will cube one of the chuck roasts for the beef kebobs, and the other two will be used for the pot roast in the instant pot. One of the roasts is relatively small so that I will use two. I will not thaw The steak. Instead, I will place it in an easily accessible place in the freezer, so it will be easy to find. The chicken thighs will be used in the Jerk Chicken Rice bowls, Coconut Curry Chicken Soup and the Chicken Tortilla Soup. I will divide those up between the two recipes

After all the meats I need are out of the freezer, I can begin prepping for the week. Before I begin, it helps to make a list of tasks according to the recipes. I have a TV in my kitchen, so I can turn on the TV and watch Netflix or YouTube while I work.

This particular week does not need a lot of prep work. Sometimes, prepping will take all day; sometimes, it only takes a few hours. Below is my list of tasks to complete for this week’s meal prep:

Thaw

Chop

Slicing

Preparing

I think that will keep me busy for today! See you tomorrow for more shenanigans!…..And look! I successfully uploaded some images and inserted some links! I am off to a good start!