- Hi guys, it's me, I'm back again.
Before we watch this video that I shot myself,
I just wanted to say thank you
to everybody who left me a comment.
All of your words of encouragement and advice meant so much,
there was so much wisdom in all of that,
and I so appreciate it.
This video for me is really about two things.
One is getting a meal prep strategy
out to you guys because I think we're all
getting sick of the same old recipes
now that we've been locked down for a bit,
and I think this strategy is really gonna help
and the recipes are really delicious.
And the second thing was just to get a video out there
that I could say I made a first step,
do you know what I mean?
Sometimes I think we let perfect be the enemy
of good enough and we gotta start somewhere,
so get ready for some hilarious lighting snafus,
some composition mishaps.
You'll see, there are parts that go from bad to worse.
(laughing)
But I'm really looking forward to maybe a year from now,
looking back at this video and being like,
"Oh my gosh, how far I've come," right?
All right, so with that let's roll tape.
Now I love a good meal prep like anybody,
but what ends up happening sometimes when you meal-prep
is you're kind of sick of the thing you meal-prepped
after you've had it like three or four times.
But with this idea, we are gonna make
one batch of grilled chicken and then I am gonna show you
three different recipes that you can make with it
so that that way you don't get bored
of the same old thing and it kinda gets switched up
because you're basically using different flavor profiles
to make that grilled chicken taste even better.
So I'm working with two pounds of chicken tenders.
So we are gonna make our marinade,
which is a really simple chicken marinade.
It's sort of my go-to grilled chicken recipe.
So I have just some Dijon mustard here,
and it's probably about a tablespoon or so.
And then we're gonna add about two tablespoons
of red wine vinegar.
You can see we've been making this recipe a lot here
because this is all I have left.
(laughing)
So in it goes.
Now I will also say this,
if you don't have all these ingredients on hand,
you can actually just use
store-bought Italian salad dressing.
That is the best cheat in the book,
it makes a great marinade, especially for chicken.
Okay, now once I've got this all combined,
then we are gonna add a little bit of olive oil.
Just like that, two or three tablespoons or so,
you don't need much.
What I love about this recipe is our grilled chicken
is gonna go in three different directions.
We have three different flavor profiles here
that we're gonna be working with.
And a spice that I think travels well, if you will,
is oregano because you find it
in so many different cuisines.
You can find it in Italian cuisine.
You can find it in Mexican cuisine, and even Mediterranean.
So it's a great one to use for this recipe
because our chicken is gonna be taking on
lots of different forms as you'll see in a minute.
And then we're gonna put our chicken in.
And you really don't need that much time with this.
That's another thing I love about it
is it marinates for just probably just 20 minutes or so.
And so I will typically make this in the morning,
like when their e-learning and I come in here,
get this going, and then this usually becomes lunch,
this first thing I'm gonna show you.
Then you're gonna be all set for dinner.
The chicken's gonna be ready.
And then it even takes you to lunch the next day.
So this is the thing I love about these types of,
what I call meal extenders, I guess,
is that you make a big batch of something,
whether it be chicken, tomato sauce,
pesto is another good one, boiled potatoes,
and then you get like two or three meals out of it.
So the main part of the cooking is done
and then you have just kind of like
little cooking things to do.
Okay, our chicken is ready.
I'm just gonna put a little bit of non-flavored oil
on the pan just so it doesn't stick.
So the first thing we are gonna make
are these really adorable little mini tacos.
They're kind of like a cross between a taco and a tostada.
These are the tortillas that we're gonna be using.
These are just these little street tacos,
the brand is Mission.
I discovered these when I was just ordering groceries
during this sort of lockdown time.
I just clicked what I thought were tortillas,
and maybe they didn't actually have the regular tortillas,
and these are what showed up.
But this is what gave me the idea for this recipe
because they're so cute.
And they're really great, moms, for kids,
because you know they don't eat that much sometimes.
You can just make these little ones
and everybody gets what they want.
So while your grill is heating up,
you want to make your guacamole.
That way when your tacos are done, the guacamole's all ready
and all you have to do is plop it on top.
I typically use two avocados for this.
So we're just gonna cut them in half.
Okay, my favorite way to mash up guacamole
is with a potato masher.
Watch how quick this is.
This just makes it go by so much quicker
and really, I don't like guacamole that's too mushed up.
I kind of like it to be chunky.
It's really funny, when I go France
to see my in-laws in the summer,
my nephews who are in their early 20s,
they love my guacamole.
So every time I go, I make it for them.
And it's so funny because they always say to me,
"Tata, you know, I got the avocados all mashed up for you."
And I go in the kitchen and it's like pureed.
It looks like baby food.
(laughing) I don't know why they do that.
But they feel like it has to be all mushed up.
And I'm always like, "No, don't do that, don't mush it up."
Excuse the light shifting.
Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm in the heavens right now,
it's so bright out.
(laughing)
I just can't change the setting so we're gonna go with it.
Okay, we've got some lime here.
So I'm gonna cut this in half.
I like limey guacamole, so we're gonna add a full half.
And then we're gonna save the other half
to garnish our tacos.
We're gonna add some salt.
I like this little crunchy sea salt.
I think that's always really good.
And some pepper and some tomatoes.
I don't know, maybe five or six cherry tomatoes.
And the other thing we have to add
is a little bit of hot sauce.
Now my kids don't know that I do this,
but I do add like one or two.
You don't really notice it,
it just gives it a little something extra,
and something that tastes a little bit tomatoey.
So if they end up watching this video
(laughing) now the secret's out, kids.
Now the crowning glory to any guacamole, in my opinion,
is cilantro, fresh cilantro.
And you know how sometimes when you go to the market,
and you buy cilantro, and you forget about it,
and it's sitting in your bag,
and it's getting all slimy and gross,
and by the time you remember it, you're like,
"Oh, it's not good anymore,"
that's why a couple of years ago I stopped
buying the cilantro and now I just grow it.
And it is like the easiest thing.
Come on, I'll show you.
We're gonna go out and pick some.
Here, I'm gonna take this camera.
There we go, (laughing) I hope I'm still in focus!
All right, we're gonna go out to the garden.
Everything is looking so good these days.
Spring has definitely sprung.
I've been out here obsessing like every day.
These are my little zucchini plants that I've protected
with these willow cloches because I've had little,
I don't know if it's slugs or if it's raccoons nibbling.
So that has stopped the nibbling.
But anyway, once everything's really grown in,
I'll give you guys a tour on the garden channel.
Okay, here is my cilantro.
Check it out, doesn't it look great?
And all I did was throw a bunch of seeds in this pot,
and a few weeks later, look at this gorgeousness.
Now, cilantro does like to bolt.
See how this is getting really tall here?
So when you come out and pick your cilantro,
go for the leaves that are the tallest
because that will prevent it from bolting,
turning to seed and then dying.
So we wanna keep the cilantro healthy.
But I also just pop in a few seeds every three weeks
so that I'm continually getting new growth.
All right, we're gonna go back inside now.
Oh here's another tip, while we're out here, look at this.
So this was my mint that had to get completely hacked down.
I gave it a total haircut, look at that.
I do this two times a year and not to worry,
mint will just come right back.
It's like the Phoenix from the ashes, look at it.
It just comes right back and you get
the most beautiful mint.
So if you're suffering with mint that's gotten all buggy
for some reason, just give it a haircut
and it'll come right back, it'll be beautiful.
Okay, back in the kitchen we go.
(laughing)
See, oh you can see my little setup, see?
Here I am, I've got my little camera and my light.
And this is where the little food cam will come in.
So I'm gonna put that right back like that
so you guys can see the guacamole.
There we go, okay.
So now we are gonna get our chicken going.
So this (sizzling) does not take very long to cook.
This is another reason why I like these chicken tenders.
We're just gonna go a few minutes on each side.
And then once they're looking pretty okay around the edges,
you can give 'em a flip and then just check to make sure
that they're cooked all the way through.
So you can grill as many tortillas as you need.
I'm just gonna make three now so you guys
kind of get the idea of what it's all about.
So you're gonna put them on there.
I'm gonna add some of this cheese.
I really like to use this Mexican blend,
finely shredded cheese because it melts so quickly.
You know, you don't have to wait very long.
I typically will cut the tender in half.
And you figure it's like one half for each taco.
And then cut each one in chunks, see?
I'm gonna put three down like that.
There we go, then we're gonna put our chicken.
I'll just put like a little mound on each one, see?
And then we are just gonna plop this.
I just do like a spoonful, otherwise it gets kinda messy.
You can add some more cilantro on top, you can just tear it.
I don't know, I think it kinda looks pretty
when it's all a little bit all over the place.
Lunch is served, all right.
Now, let's get ready for dinner.
Let me show you what we're gonna make.
Okay for dinner, here's what you're gonna do.
So I really love this Israeli couscous.
Have you guys ever tried this?
It's usually sold near the regular couscous,
but recently I haven't been able to get regular couscous.
I don't know why, but there's plenty of Israeli couscous,
and it's more like a pasta.
It's super delicious and really easy,
and you guys are gonna love this recipe.
We're gonna wait on this for one second.
What we wanna get going first are the onions
in a little bit of olive oil.
Now if you don't have a red onion at home,
you can always approximate the taste of a red onion
with a white onion that you can add
a little splash of balsamic vinegar to.
(laughing) So that's really good too.
If you didn't actually have a white onion,
you could try that.
I also like to season it with a little bit of salt,
and a little bit of pepper.
(grinding)
And you could stop right there.
This would be perfectly delicious like this.
But if you have in the spice cabinet,
look for some garam masala.
Have you guys ever cooked with this?
It is like one of my favorite spice blends.
We're just gonna add a little bit of this.
Like a little dab'll do you because it is sweet,
but in the best of ways,
like in a warming spice kind of way.
You basically wanna cook them down
until they're translucent and really fragrant.
Now we're gonna start on the couscous.
So get yourself a big pot, a Dutch oven works great.
We're gonna put a little bit of olive oil in the pan
because what we wanna do first is toast this couscous.
And I just think it adds to the flavor.
It's really delicious and kind of nutty.
But I think it's worth doing a little more toasting.
So you just wanna stir this around
until it gets nice and toasty.
And you'll see that it is getting toasty
by having the little pearls turn color,
so they'll get like a honey brown,
I don't know, five minutes or so?
At this stage we are going to add some water.
So I'm adding about three cups (sizzling)
to three and a half cups of water.
So we're just gonna let this simmer (banging)
until all of that water is evaporated.
And here's the other good thing.
It only takes about 10 to 12 minutes,
so it's a lot quicker than rice.
Okay, now watch how easy this is.
So we're just gonna add some golden raisins
into the couscous and I like to add them in here
at this stage so that they can
plump up a little bit because see,
all of this fabulous steam is gonna help with that.
And we're literally just taking them
out of the box and throwin' 'em in.
There's no chopping, cutting, prepping,
that's why it's so easy.
It's basically the onions and the couscous
were the only like cooking things that you have to do.
Then we have our chicken.
I've got about two cups of the chicken that I just diced.
If it was sitting in the fridge overnight and it's cold,
I just put it in here with the raisins
because see again, that steam is gonna help us out,
and it's going to warm through our chicken.
And finally for a little vegetable,
we always have to have our vegetables,
(laughing)
even though we just wanna eat carbs,
we're gonna have some spinach.
So this is another thing.
You're taking it literally out of the container,
that triple-washed spinach, baby spinach,
no cutting, no chopping, no washing, in it goes.
So I've done about maybe a cup, cup and a half.
And then what we can do is put the top on
and let that get all steamy.
Okay, and then the last thing
we're going to add are some pine nuts.
I love to have just a little bit of nutty crunch
in something like this.
If you don't have pine nuts, you could also add pistachios.
I've done that before, some raw pistachios.
Some slivered almonds would be good.
Just some little nut I think is good.
All right, and there you have it.
We are all done, so let me show you what this looks like.
Once you get, oh no wait, we're not all done.
Just a minute, we gotta add our onions.
This is the best part, the onions.
These are so delicious with the combination
of those raisins, it just brings everything together,
and it looks really pretty too.
It ends up being really colorful.
It's so hardy.
It has all your food groups.
You could even eat it with a spoon
if you're having that kind of a day.
(laughing)
I've had 'em too, I know.
Mm, that's so good.
It's like a warm hug of hope in a bowl.
Next, our lunch the following day, let's do that.
All right you guys, the final meal.
We are gonna be making a sandwich.
A little pita pocket.
I've been using hummus a lot instead of mayonnaise
because it gives you the flavor without all that fat.
Now you could use store-bought hummus
or you can make your own.
That's another batch thing you can make.
I have a really easy recipe for that here on the channel
and I will link to it in the description.
So we're just gonna do like maybe
one to two tablespoons of the hummus.
Okay, then after our hummus is in,
we are going to add some spinach.
So again, we're just using that spinach
that we put into our couscous.
We're gonna use it again here.
Making the most of our meal stretching.
Then I like to add the chicken.
So for this, I just take the chicken and cut it in half.
So you could dice it if you want to, but I don't know,
I find that it's kind of nicer to just have
a nice strip of chicken.
So I put the chicken in like that.
And then I like to put all these different toppings.
So depending what you like,
you can pick and choose from this list.
So we're gonna go back to our little red onion.
We're gonna put some of those,
that's good for a little bite.
I also like to go back to the cherry tomatoes.
We've got plenty of those (laughing) a little bowl there.
We can add some of those.
And then another thing that's just good
in this whole mix are some cucumbers.
So we're gonna add some diced cucumbers on top.
And there we go, lunch all ready to go.
I don't know, my kids love anything in a pita.
They'll eat anything in a pita, so moms,
you can stuff all kinds of things down in there,
they won't even know.
I started doing that with the spinach
and they just didn't really realize
that there was spinach in there, it was perfect.
All right you guys.
Thank you so much for sticking with me.
I don't know, I guess this worked, right?
The important thing is that you got three great recipes
that will help you through this time,
and that's really what I'm after at the end of the day.
All right, I will see you back here next week.
I think we need to do something sweet.
Something comforting and sweet that we can eat in a bowl.
That sounds like fun to me.
All right you guys, I'll see you soon, bye.