Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I wish I could spend every day just hanging with family and friends, but laundry doesn’t do itself and I had to make a bunch of food for the coming week. So today, it was back to the grind.
Before I set about doing any chores, though, I made myself a quick breakfast of leftover shredded roast chicken thigh and green beans.
Then, I got my ass handed to me at my kickboxing class.
Post-workout, I replenished my depleted glycogen stores by eating half a banana, some coconut flakes, macadamia nuts, and a coconut milk and blueberry sundae.
For lunch, we headed to Calafia Cafe, where I ordered a rotisserie chicken salad with radicchio, pears, and walnuts. I asked for no blue cheese and vinaigrette on the side.
Fitbomb ordered 2 poached eggs…
…and house-made lamb sausage, and bacon.
As soon as we got home, I tucked the little rugrat in bed for a nap. As soon as his head hit his pillow, I set to work immediately, prepping meats and veggies for the week ahead.
Our three-year-old loves roasted, unsalted cashews, but we just found out that the nuts we get at Trader Joe’s are roasted with canola oil (or rice bran oil, depending on the package). So this afternoon, we dry-roasted a tray of raw cashews for him by spreading them on a baking tray in a single layer and sticking everything in the oven (350 F for 10-15 minutes).
As soon as they were finished…
…I turned down the oven to 250 F and finished preparing my pork shoulder roast (which I started prepping yesterday) by slicing up two yellow onions and spreading them on the bottom of my dutch oven. Next, I topped the onions with the seasoned pork shoulder and ¼ cup of chicken broth.
I placed the lid on top and popped it in the oven for four hours.
In the meantime, I seasoned and vacuum-sealed four chicken breasts and four bone-in pork loin chops (purchased this weekend from Full of Life Farm)…
…and submerged them in my preheated SousVide Supreme (set at 140 F).
Next, I roasted four bell peppers directly on my gas range…
…hard boiled a dozen eggs…
…and roasted and peeled some beets in my toaster oven.
At 5:30 p.m., the pork roast was fork-tender. I removed the lid from my dutch oven and I broiled the pork for 10 minutes (5 minutes on each side).
After hand-shredding the meat, I tossed in the softened onions from the bottom of the pot.
I can’t wait to eat this dish later this week. (Yes, I’m getting pretty good at avoiding the temptation to indulge in instant gratification.)
For dinner, I seared off the sous vide pork chops…
…and served them with garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes straight out of the Cuisinart…
…along with sauteed lancinato kale, baby spinach, beet greens, and shallots.
Here’s my dinner plate:
After today’s marathon cooking session, I have a s-load of ready-to-eat proteins and vegetables, so I have no excuse not to eat well AND Whole30 approved (for four more days!).
