Yes! The title means, I cook one week of meals in one day and you can too! 🙂

As a means to have more energy and more quality family time in the evenings, after having my last child, I decided to start fitting in my cooking for the week on one day. At first, I thought it might be a bit overzealous but after some thought and planning, I was able to pull it off pretty well on a regular basis with ease.

Here are the steps I took:

• Picking the day and time: I decided to pick late Saturday afternoon/early evening as my cooking day! Usually, our Saturday moving and grooving happenings early in the day and by the evening we are winding down and relaxing. So I usually start toward the end of my children’s nap time and I cook for a few hours.
• How I cook the meals: I usually try to vary how I cook the meals so that I can get it done efficiently. So, I usually cook one meal in the crockpot or slow cooker, one or two in the oven and one on the stove top. This way I can have multiple things going at once.
• What I cook: I usually pick a soup or stew for the crockpot, a pasta dish for the stove top, a casserole of some sort and possibly a blackened fish in the oven.
• Meal days: Typically, we eat one the pasta meal on Sunday and Monday, the casserole meal on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Crockpot meal on Thursdays and maybe Friday if we don’t decide to have pizza. Sometimes we just rotate the meals daily if we don’t want to eat the same thing for two days. Also, we usually eat the blackened salmon throughout the week for lunches with a salad or some other veggie. Ideally, Saturday we eat the leftovers or it’s our free day and we might eat out.

So basically, I cook three big dishes and fish and it lasts for the entire week. So all I have to do is warm up the food each day! Boom! More energy and more time for my family in the evenings 🙂

Below is an example of one of my Saturday cooking sessions! FYI: I will be videotaping this cooking session in the near future so keep an eye out on EDMTV if you want to actually see the process I take.

Beef Stew

Ingredients:

Grass-fed Beef tips

2 TBL of olive oil

1 Bag of frozen mixed vegetables

2 packets of Lipton soup mix or Mrs. Grass (low-sodium)

2 cups of beef broth or chicken broth

2 cups of water

½ cup of flour

1tsp. of minced garlic

McCormick’s veggie seasoning (to taste)

Garlic powder (to taste)

Cooking Steps: Season the beef tips, coat in flour, olive oil and minced garlic and brown (ONLY) the beef in a skillet (cast iron preferably). Once brown, remove the beef tips and use the drippings to make a gravy (adding more flour, oil, water, and 1 packet of the soup mix). Add beef tips, gravy, stock, frozen veggies, 2^nd packet of soup mix and water to the crockpot. Stir and season with garlic powder and McCormick’s vegetable season. Cover, set timer settings, and cook. *Might be necessary to add additional water and more McCormick’s halfway through the cooking time.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

Grass-fed skinless boneless chicken thighs

1 box Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice (w/ 23 herbs and seasoning)

2 cups of fresh mushrooms

½ cup of chopped white onions

1 pint of heavy whipping cream

1 cup of baby carrots

1 cup of chopped celery

1 TBL of minced garlic

4 cups of chicken broth

McCormick’s veggie seasoning (to taste for chicken thighs)

Garlic powder (to taste)

Thyme seasoning (to taste)

Cooking Steps: Season the chicken thighs on both sides and put under the broiler for 15 minutes or until slightly browned (cooked all the way through). While the chicken is broiling, chop the celery and white onion. Sautee the chopped veggies, minced garlic, mushrooms, carrots and butter until tender. Then add the rice, herbs and seasonings, 4 cups of broth and cook on medium. Meanwhile, take out the chicken and chop it up into chunks or slices (*side note, you can avoid this step by picking up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and just chopping it up). Then add chicken to the pot. Finally, add heavy whipping cream, thyme seasoning, mix thoroughly, and then pour your soup into the slow cooker and let it simmer for an hour.

Shrimp or Chicken Scampi Pasta

Ingredients:

Skinless Chicken breast or thighs

Or

2 cups of raw shrimp

Linguine pasta

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

1 cup of spinach leaves

½ cup of red onions

1 TBL of minced garlic

1 TBL of butter

1 cup of fresh mushrooms

¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil

½ pint of heavy whipping cream

McCormick’s shrimp scampi seasoning

Garlic powder (to taste)

Parmesan cheese

Cooking Steps: Boil water for pasta (be sure to salt the water). Add pasta once the water is boiling and cook until tender. Sautee minced onions, butter, mushrooms and shrimp (if using chicken prep ahead of time & chop before adding). Next, add the packet of McCormick’s scampi seasoning and olive oil and heavy whipping cream stirring until shrimp are almost done. Finally, add tomatoes and spinach and let simmer under tomatoes are tender. While simmering, prep the pasta by tossing in olive oil and garlic powder. Once plated, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Blackened Brown Sugar Bourbon Salmon w/grilled Vegetables

Ingredients:

Wild Caught Salmon

McCormick’s brown sugar bourbon seasoning

1 Red onion

1 Green pepper

1 Red pepper

1 Yellow pepper

1 Orange pepper

1 zucchini

1 squash

Fresh portabella mushrooms

Feta cheese crumbles (optional)

Cooking Steps: Season salmon with McCormick’s Brown Bourbon Sugar seasoning and let marinade overnight. Have veggies chopped ahead of time for grilling. Place salmon on broiler tray or equivalent and broiler salmon for 6-7 min. (don’t overcook it but try to get a “blackened” crust on top. Place veggies on the grill and sautéed or place on a sheet pan and broil with the fish.

Application: If this process seems appealing to your lifestyle, then the first step is making a plan! Try to think of 3 basic meals you can make, possibly using some of the same ingredients and start there. Try not to pick recipes with a lot of ingredients for this process, as that may draw out your cooking time.

Remember, I never try to make my experiences or knowledge a principle or standard for others but I share my experiences and knowledge with others hoping that through sharing, I might positively impact, inspire & empower some else’s life. -Jill