Batch Cooking Show! Week 2 Foods

Leah here! Welcome to the Adventures in Triathlon Cooking Show – Week 2 (let’s call Week 1 lost to the ages).  We don’t stab… too hard!

This week we made FOUR meals, as we had a little more time to fill (Saturday – Sunday), though since we got a late start (the batch cooking was on Sunday instead of Saturday), we will just have a few extra for next week!  No big d, it’s nice to have some variety, and these all ended up to be GREAT, though one dish went an unintentional way…  Check out the video below for highlights of batch cooking this week!

Here are links to the recipes.  I won’t belabor the point and rewrite them here, but here’s my take on each since we’ve had a chance to taste them all a few times eating this week:

Beef Pasta Fagoli Soup:

This was the oops.  I had this lovely broth, bean, veggie, and italian spice thing going and was so looking forward to it.  However, like a dummy, I added DOUBLE the amount of pasta (it called for 8oz, I usually buy 8oz boxes of pasta, but got new pasta that apparently was 16oz).  There may have been some champagne involved.  It ended up still being GOOD with some extra parmesan or cheddar cheese as a pasta dish, but I wouldn’t make it that way again without double or triple the tomato sauce.  The recipe is for the way it SHOULD have been.

Mongolian Chicken, Veggie Stir Fry, and Brown Rice Noodles with sesame oil and soy (white rice for Joel):

This was EPIC the first day.  It was the favorite thing we made.  Sadly it hasn’t held up as well reheated.  I may save this one for a non-batch cook day in the future.  It’s adequate, but nothing is even remotely as good as it was the day of cooking.  It also has sauces with MSG (didn’t realize that when planning it) – so while everything else about it is super squeaky clean eating, that alone probably should make it a once in a while food.  Also, the veggie stir fry – I used a seasoning packet this time (I have a bunch that I always forget about), but the calorie count should be about the same.  For the noodles, I literally tossed some brown rice noodles (about 1/2 cup per serving) in a dash of soy and sesame oil.  Also amazing Sunday, but not as good reheated.

Shepard’s Pie:

We’ve been making this for ever, but this was the first time we put cauli-taters on it.  Cauli-taters are magical and worked just perfectly.  Not entirely sure I’ll eat straight mashed potatoes ever again, especially in batch cooking – they are definitely better the next day.  Next time, I will also package up some salads to go with it (in separate containers) since I seem to be REALLY LAZY about making salads this week because in my head the cooking was all done.

Chicken Enchilada Pie:

This was the last thing we cooked, and again, there may have been some champagne involved.  We layered in all the ingredients and we almost put it in the oven and realized that we had forgotten the chicken that we lovingly put in the crockpot and then shredded up.  So we put it on top of the pie and didn’t have much sauce to coat it in.  It got all crispy.  It wasn’t a deal breaker, but I’d definitely layer it into the bottom of the pie with the beans next time.  Also, next time I’ll figure out a way to mark which side has the spinach, since Joel got some and complained about it.  Also, also?  Perhaps maybe 1.5 cans of enchilada sauce would be better, it could use a little more goosh.

All in all, everything is definitely edible, and I’d make them all again (though the mongolian chicken would probably be a one-off, not for batch).  We’ll be cooking and tasting more healthy foods this weekend so stay tuned for Episode 3 next week!

(390)