I’ve been pretty lazy in the kitchen the past few days but I made up for it today. You might think I woke up and exclaimed, “Woohoo! I’m so inspired that I can’t wait to cook today!” But, in fact, my internal dialogue was more like, “Merde! I’m going back to work tonight so I HAVE to get some grub prepared pronto!”

Yes, panic mode can kick my ass into high gear.

With Big-O back in school, my breakfasts are simple and quick ‘cause we’re trying to beat the clock every morning. Today, I fried up a bratwurst and ate it with some nuked frozen broccoli and cherry tomatoes.

As I’ve mentioned numerous times, you MUST stock frozen veggies in your freezer! When I’m pressed for time, I can always dump some in a bowl, nuke it, and *POOF!* veggie side!

After we returned from dropping Big-O off at school, I focused my attention on preparing main dishes for the next few dinners. Since my SousVide Supreme is a lifesaver in these situations, I seasoned and vacuum sealed some pork chops (Dukka seasoning, salt, and pepper)…

…and repeated the steps (using Tabil seasoning, salt, and pepper) with a mess of mini goat loin chops.

I stored all the seasoned chops in the fridge since they’ll be sous vided on Thursday and Friday.

Then, Lil-O and I took a field trip to Trader Joe’s to stock up on meat and veggies. One of the new items I picked up was a packet of frozen wild Pacific salmon fillets with chimichurri sauce. These fillets caught my eye because they were pre-seasoned in a Paleo-friendly marinade and vacuum sealed. By golly, I could throw them directly into the water oven! 

And that’s just what I did as soon as I got home! I preheated the SousVide Supreme to 123 F and dunked in the salmon packet. The frozen fillets weren’t individually wrapped (boo!) so I decided to leave the fish in the water oven for about an hour.

While I waited for the salmon to come up to temperature, I threw together a porktastic bacon-topped meatloaf that we’d be eating tonight for dinner.

I stored the uncooked meatloaf in the fridge and wrote down instructions for my mom to pop it in the oven at 4:00 p.m.

Then, I fished the salmon out of the water oven (pun alert!) and I plated it with a side salad for lunch.

I found the salmon kinda fishy (I’m pretty sure it’s Sockeye) but for the minimum amount of work I put in, I’ll gladly gobble it up without too many complaints.

In the afternoon, I picked Big-O up from school and then took a catnap for a couple hours in preparation for the all-nighter I’d be pulling tonight.

When I woke up shortly after 5:00 p.m., the meatloaf was finished cooking so I let it rest at room temperature…

…while I prepared some baked sweet potato fries seasoned with golden vadouvan (the taters DO come out crispier when baked on parchment!)…

…and nuked some frozen green beans tossed with butter and Fox Point seasoning.

Since I had some time to kill while the sweet potato fries were baking, I fried up a batch of emergency protein with grass fed ground beef, diced onion, and Chili 9000 seasoning for my work meals.

Here’s my dinner plate:

After dinner, I went to Lil-O’s nursery school orientation meeting before heading to work. Unfortunately, I have another orientation meeting at the nursery school in the morning. When I left the school this evening, I apologized in advance to the teachers that I’d be wearing the same outfit in the morning but smelling worse for wear. Sigh.

About Michelle Tam

Hello! My name is Michelle Tam, and I love to eat. I think about food all the time. It borders on obsession. I’ve always loved the sights and smells of the kitchen. My mother was (and is) an excellent cook, and as a kid, I was her little shadow as she prepared supper each night. From her, I gained a deep, abiding love for magically transforming pantry items into mouth-watering family meals.

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