Leg(ume)s For Days

I'll blog that cover salad too.

In my quest to get back to the Pesca- Ovo-Vegetarian Diet Part 2: Now With Less Gluten!, I've found that I can't rely on my old fast meal standards like chicken and pasta. As a result, I'm crunched for time because I don't start thinking about preparing dinner in the middle of the day and before you know it, dinner is on the table at 8:45 with a 9:30 bedtime looming.

This month's Whole Living Magazine as well as The Kitchn have been pushing the idea of prepping individual ingredients as opposed to entire meals, and then improvising different combinations throughout the week. Rice is one ingredient that I usually make in huge batches and then reheat for days, but I hadn't thought of broadening my mise en place. Smart.

With a free Saturday afternoon, I put on some yoga pants and Vampire Weekend Pandora Radio and got to work.

Oh yeah baby do that delicious thing.

Today's prep list:

• Caramelized onions
• Roasted butternut squash
• Lentils
• Golden raisin vinaigrette
• Braised mushrooms
• Blanched cauliflower
• A sad few blanched carrots (they were about to go bad)

In a couple of hours I amassed a nice pile of jars. And at this point, I'm feeling pretty healthy. My hope with all of this prep work is not only to stop the dinner panic that has been happening more frequently, but also to prevent so much food waste. If I can at least blanch or freeze half the veggies that languish in my crisper, I will save myself the humiliation of reaching into that drawer and emerging slimy-handed and full of shame.

Future prep list:

• Ginger root > in vodka
• Sweet potatoes > parboiled?
• Sliced celery > frozen in bags
• Polenta
• Quinoa
• Seared greens of some kind, probably kale
• Something with excessive tomatoes > possibly this?

The aftermath L-R: caramelized onions frozen in a muffin tin, lentils, braised mushrooms, roasted squash, raisin vinaigrette, blanched carrots, blanched cauliflower.