Hooray, the first issue of the winter Food Journal is ready for you!
As usual, these Food Journals focus on whole plant-based foods in one-dish main meals that bring comfort and joy. These meals are designed to be quick and easy enough for an average busy weeknight and generally include greens, veg, protein, and starches like grains or potatoes. Steps are low-key and I’ve included options to help you along the way.
As you may have noted with last autumn’s series, the recipes make quite a bit of food! I have found that by filling up on these high quality, nutrient-dense meals of whole foods, I have less desire for processed foods. That’s a big win! I’m not as hungry between meals and find myself at a healthier weight. If I make my main meal portions too small, I’m more likely to reach for processed stuff in between meals.
Free subscribers, you can find guides below on prepping a couple powerful elements that can help you easily put meals together through your upcoming week. Or consider trying out the full issues for a month, just $5. The button below will ask for your email and then take you to your purchase options.
Paid subscribers, I’ve added some new features to the Food Journal to help you through your week:
The weeknight main meal recipes for the Food Journal issues are now written out for you in the newsletter in addition to the e-books, giving you more ways to access them. So in this issue, paid subscribers will find all 5 quick & easy weeknight recipes typed out below along with the downloadable e-book. That way, you can simply pull up your newsletter or access the Food Journal newsletter hub page to work through your week of meals. You’ll still be able to download and print the e-book version, too!
I’ve also included some extra process photos and even a video to help you better understand steps that might otherwise leave you wondering.
I hope you find these additions helpful! My aim is to help you fit these meals into your unique life, so I always appreciate your feedback. You can reply to this email or leave a comment below. I’m working on building an index so you can more easily reference past recipes - stay tuned for that!
Note: Since these emails are now on the longer side, the email system you use may truncate the newsletters. If that happens, click “view entire message” and you should be good to go. Paid subscribers can also find the full newsletter on the newsletter hub home page.
Beautiful Ingredient Food Journal
Winter 2024, Issue 01
5 quick & easy weeknight meals
Stuffed Potatoes with Lentils & Broccoli
Lentil Nachos with Potatoes & Cabbage
Vegetable Lentil Soup
Cashew Broccoli Noodles
One Pot Pasta with Kale & Cannellini
What we’re prepping for batch prep hour
The first three weeknight meals are helped out by pre-prepping a few ingredients on Sunday.
Sunday’s plan is to prepare:
baked potatoes (filing and nutritious, a great source of fiber)
black beluga lentils (filling and nutritious, a great source of protein, fiber, and iron)
queso (flavor-packed and nutritious)
These will generously feed about four people over three meals - and there will probably be enough extra for a lunch or two, or to put in the freezer to help you out another week. By putting in this time, we’re saving money using bulk dry ingredients and reducing the time it will take to make the weeknight meals. (The potato theme this week was inspired by Forks Over Knives.)
Don’t have time this weekend? That’s ok, with each recipe I’ve noted some short cuts you could take if you haven’t pre-prepped anything.
Baked Russet Potatoes
INGREDIENTS
6 lbs russet potatoes
STEPS
Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a couple baking sheets with parchment.
Scrub and wash, dry, and remove blemishes/sprouts/dark spots from the potatoes. (I’d had my potatoes for a good week, so they had a variety of sprouts to cut out, as you can see below - funky looking yes, but it’s ok, they’re still usable!)
With a fork, poke holes on all sides of each potato, then place them evenly on the baking sheets.
Bake for an hour, or until the largest is soft in the middle when pierced.*
Let cool to room temp (within 2 hours) before placing in sealed containers in the fridge. Use within 3 days.
*While the potatoes are baking, prep the lentils and queso.
Black Beluga Lentils
INGREDIENTS
3 cups dry black beluga lentils
4 1/2 cups filtered water or veggie broth
1 teaspoon garlic granules
STEPS
I feel it’s worth spreading the dry lentils on a dish cloth to search for any little stones or debris. Occasionally, I’ll discover some debris that has gotten through the packaging system. It happened in this week’s batch - thankfully, what I found weren’t stones but balls of dirt or clay (see photo below). No worries though, it only takes a minute to do this, and rinsing the beans helps ensure they’re clean.
Rinse and place the lentils into a large pot along with the water/broth and garlic granules.
Heat on high to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes, until the lentils are cooked through but not too soft.*
Stir and remove from heat to let cool to room temp (within 2 hours) before placing into sealed containers in the fridge. Use within 3 days, freeze any extra.
*While the lentils are simmering, prep the queso.