slow cooker and prepare ahead week

it was a mostly overcast and rainy labour day last week. it's the first rain we had seen in a long time and it kind of made me want to prep what i could for the week. i work online, but being labour day, was unwilling to even check my work email. prepping ahead means my time with the boys during the day is just easier
slowing down
taking time to listen
do work during nap time
fill the rest with time together
...i've crossed the line - it's sounding sappy...time for the make ahead meal plan (well mostly).

my list of dishes with recipes and pics in the links...

breakfast
omelette with leftover salmon, and green onion
fried eggs with leftover chili (blended)
yoghurt and fruit
fruit salad
rotate

snacks/lunch
a lot of cantaloupe and watermelon
pears
nectarines
coconut rice crackers
veggies and dip
leftovers - lots and lots of leftovers
salads
sorbet
roasted banana ice cream - made in the ice cream maker
chocolate ice cream with minstrels and rolo - made in the ice cream maker

suppers

• steak and potatoes - we did steak and potatoes with sweet potato fries and garlic aioli (basically mayo blended with a bit of minced garlic, salt and lemon juice).
• SLOW COOKER chili
• hot steak salad
• SLOW COOKER moroccan inspired lentil stew - vegetarian 
• thai-inspired fried rice - vegetarian
• baked salmon with salad
• leftover chili

(put slow cooker meals in caps because these produce at least 6-10 adult portions

...for hundreds of weekly meal plans visit orgjunkie.com

thai-inspired fried rice

i know i have done this in the past as a rice noodle dish
but originally it was this - a rice dish
i love thai flavours
and when i was studying thai yoga massage and reflexology i often had very light, simple meals
so that my mind and body felt light and ready to soak all the new learning in.
this dish came out of those memories
i've tinkered with it
and now throw it together on a moment's notice
i made enough for 5-6 adult servings (i ate this as a main dish, not as a side one)

ingredients
2c uncooked jasmine rice or rice of your choice - prep as per package instructions
3tbsp of fish sauce and soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp oil (i just use olive oil - could use sesame if you want more of a chinese twist)
2 green onions chopped
1 hot pepper chopped (i bought this in chinatown and there was no translation)
1 tbsp sugar (i used demerara)
4 tbsp chopped cilantro - mine came from the garden

after the rice is cooked i heat up the oil in the wok and put everything in except the onion and cilantro. stir until blended for about 5min over medium heat and then add cilantro and onion for 2-3minutes, again stirring until blended.

oh, how i love this simple rice dish. so does everyone else in my family. and this rice is GREAT for leftovers. it holds up and tastes really good, even several days later.

slow cooker lentil stew

i've had green lentils sitting in my cupboard for ages so thought that the way to use some up would be in the crockpot. then spotted some chickpeas and wanted to go in a north african/middle eastern direction.

so here it is...

4 cups of crushed tomatoes
2 c green lentils
4 c sugar peas - trimmed top and bottoms

8 small/medium potatoes - cubed

2 small onions
1 can chick peas washed and drained
2c vegetable stock
2tbsp of minced garlic, and cumin
1tsp of salt, and pepper

...all in the crockpot on high for 4hrs. this was okay. it wasn't spectacular, it wasn't bad. i blended some down for the 11mth old and he loved it. the 3yr old loves chick peas so that was good. both dh and i ate this on its own and it was solid enough to do so. but this recipe (experiment) needs a bit of tweaking before i can give it a ringing endorsement. the sugar peas were a good call as they added a nice sweetness to the meal.
it was good enough that we ate it as leftover lunch twice.

leftover chili

the slow cooker chili led to a lot of leftovers
one of the nights i reheated some with bbq chipotle sauce and poured over toasted bread (gluten free for me so i made a corn tortilla)
and topped with shredded cheese

salad with salmon

simple supper
salad topped with 1 and .5 fillets of salmon - just cooked in the oven at 400 for 15minutes (from frozen) with some sweet onion dressing added about .5 way through cooking

easy and delicious
both the 3yr old and 11mth old like salmon so i cooked extra for them

roasted banana ice cream

do not look at pretty pictures of homemade ice cream unless you are prepared to make it...
note to self made

my ice cream maker is getting a lot of use this week

ingredients
4 very ripe medium bananas
1c heavy cream
2c 5% cream
1/2c sucanat (natural sugar)

bananas were sliced and tossed in sucanat and baked at 325 for about 15min

at the 10min mark i tossed them around for more even baking
all in a bowl with the other ingredients
i used a hand blender to blend until smooth
cooled in the fridge for about 2hrs
and then into the ice cream maker for 30min
ice cream was a soft serve consistency at that point so into a container in the freezer for about 2hrs

this was really tasty, but i would have liked more of the cream taste shine. so next time i'll halve the amount of bananas and see what happens.

huge hit with the boys - huge, smeared all over their faces, hit