Meal Prep #4 - Slow-Cooker Oats ~ Orecchiette with Kale & Roasted Chickpeas ~ Grilled Chicken, Garlic Yellow Squash Rice Pilaf, & Roasted Veggies (recipes included!)

Week Four! This week we have recipes that are both delicious and filling! This one is so easy on the go as well, no having to mix up ramen bowls or fumble with a burrito: just pop it in the microwave at work and you're good to go!

On the menu this week

• Overnight Slow-Cooker Oats with Apples (we can't stop making this one!)
• Orecchiette Pasta with Kale and Roasted Chickpeas (garlic and paprika make this one scrumptious and smoky)
• Marinated & Grilled Chicken, Roasted Veggies, and Garlic Yellow Squash Rice Pilaf (This one is so easy to prepare... and that rice is SO creamy!)

Lunch and dinner, all portioned out!

By the way, this is plenty to feed two people. Let's start with...

Dinner

First off, toss how ever many (we used 8-10) boneless skinless chicken breasts into a big ziplock bag with your favorite marinade. Ben's trick is to just use some Italian dressing, but choose whatever you prefer! Let those babies soak up all that goodness for about an hour.

Meanwhile, get those veggies going! We used essentially the same method as last week, but this week we just used 2 crowns of broccoli and about 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts. After washing and drying, chop the broccoli into crowns and hack those sprouts in half. Smother in (or sprinkle with, if you're healthy like that) olive oil, toss to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Spread out on a few sheet pans and roast at 425 degrees F for 20-30 mins, stirring halfway through.

Mmmm, love that char!

For the rice, Ben and I used a recipe that we got from Blue Apron. We made 6 times the recipe, however and used yellow squash because our local grocery was out of zucchini.

Here's a link to the full Blue Apron Recipe (<---click to view)

Or, here's a screenshot of the part important to us...

To make it, we ended up using...

2 cups jasmine rice (white basmati will work too)

4 cups of water

9 cloves of garlic (you'll use all of this, rather than half like the recipe link says)

6 yellow squashes

3 limes (you can get more if you want to garnish the final dish with an extra lime wedge)

...So you're going to need a big pot for this...

Basically mince the garlic, medium dice the squash, and then season and cook in olive oil on medium-high until softened and fragrant (1-3 minutes).

Pour in the rice and water, bring to a boil on high and then cover and simmer on low for 12-14 minutes, until water is absorbed (ours took a bit less time than this).

Season to taste, fluff with a fork, and squeeze the juice of all 3 limes into the pilaf.

It's definitely a good idea to get your mis en place game on when you're working with bulk ingredients like this!

After an hour, drain your marinade and grill up those chicken breasts! After letting them cool, slice or dice them to make it an easy meal on the go!

Lunch

I'm so pleased that we got to make this recipe again! It was one of my favorites from Blue Apron a while ago (I swear I'm not being sponsored by them, just love their stuff!).

Here's a link to Blue Apron's rundown (<--- click to view), we ended up using this recipe times five. Which means you need...

30 oz orecchiette pasta

7 1/2 cups of chickpeas

15 cloves of garlic (yep that's right, 15)

5 bunches of kale (might be easier to buy a big pre-cut bag, unless you're feeling rustic like us)

2 1/2 lemons (more if you want to serve with an extra slice)

5 yellow onions (I would say 5 medium or 3 large)

10 Tablespoons of butter

5 Tablespoons of capers (we skipped these)

5 teaspoons of smoked paprika

Grated parmesan to garnish

...again, this is the week of the big pots. I ended up re-using the same stock pot for both boiling the pasta and tossing everything together. If you have a giant pan, go with that; the pot just requires a lot more stirring to get everything coated.

All dishes prepped, ready to stuff those tupperware's!

Lastly...

Breakfast

These Slow-Cooker Oats (<---click to view) from Meal Prep #2 have totally won us over. We use 1/4 of this recipe each day (using a full apple each day as well) in our tiny little slow cooker. It's so nice to wake up to a warm, comforting bowl. We've stopped peeling the apples before we chop them up; it really only effects the texture, which we don't mind. We tried using the star anise one day this week and wouldn't recommend it: it's very overpowering. These oats are warm, creamy, and great for rainy mornings in bed!

Lunch and dinner all lined up!

I hope this is useful! Happy prepping!