Eating to Thrive Part 3 – How to Cook Simple Food

IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS SERIES, I WROTE ABOUT HOW TO USE THE LAW OF FOUR TO CREATE A MENU BASED AROUND MAINLY WHOLE FOOD ITEMS.

In the second part of this series, I went into a small bit of detail what you need to start cooking such as appliances, spices, and kitchen items.

Now I am going to build a menu for two days out of what I bought using the Law of Four and the spices I have in Part 2.

Pay attention, take notes, get some ideas of your own, and let’s create some food.

My Law of Four items are:

Protein

99% lean ground turkey
Chicken breast
96% lean ground beef
Pork tenderloin

Carbs

Sweet Potatoes
Strawberries
Blueberries
Gluten free pasta

Fats

Eggs
Mixed Nuts
Avocado Oil
Peanut Butter

Vegetables

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Mixed peppers
Green beans

Filler Items

Nonfat Greek yogurt
Marinara sauce
Shredded Cheese
Bubbies Pickles

Spices

Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Red Pepper
Paprika
Cinnamon
Garlic
Onion Powder
Oregano
Cumin
Chili Powder
Bone Broth
Coconut Aminos
Penzey’s Fox Point seasoning

For arguments sake we are going to use my calories and macro count from today:

Calories – 2786.9
Protein – 241.7
Carbs – 275.7
Fat – 80.6

Let’s prep the protein

We will start with the pork tenderloin and slow cook this to use for daily meals. If you have a crockpot you can use this, but if you don’t and have the Instant Pot, use the slow cooker feature.

This recipe serves me well time and time again:

3-4 pounds of tenderloin
1 cup bone broth
1/2 cup coconut aminos
2 tbsp minced garlic or 1 tbsp powdered garlic
2 tsp salt and pepper
1 tsp onion powder
Slow cook 8-10 hours in crock pot 

When this is finished you will shred it up, store it in the fridge, and have it handy for the week.

Next you will take your chicken and dice it up into small pieces to store in a container or ziploc bag. Why not the full breasts? Simple, they take too long to cook and diced chicken is versatile for the purposes of this menu. I suggest cutting up the entire week at once, as this won’t take too long and you are able to get this done quickly.

This preps two protein items and the last two will be on an as needed basis for this menu.

Time for carbs

Sweet potatoes are fantastic precooked in the oven, stored in the fridge, and reheated as needed. Not only is that a very efficient way to prep them, it also provides your diet with much needed resistant starch.

What is resistant starch?

Resistant starch is starch that you can’t digest. It passes through your intestinal tract without being absorbed and your gut bacteria feed on it, breaking it down and fermenting it into short chain fatty acids (such as butyrate), thus feeding and supporting healthy gut bacteria. These short chain fatty acids also support your large intestine, even decreasing your risk for colon cancer.

Cooking, cooling, and reheating sweet potatoes increases the resistant starch content by up to 55%, which is a stellar increase to consider for your diet and health.

Prepping these are as simple as a knife, cutting board, and a couple of baking sheets.

Preheat the oven to 400 and cut the potatoes into smaller bite sized pieces. Spread them evenly over the cookie sheets and season with salt, pepper, and some paprika. Cook them until they are slightly browned on the outside, this will be about 25-28 minutes. Store in Pyrex and fridge them up.

Note, I hate storing hot food, or reheating, in plastic. Invest in the Pyrex.

Your fruit and pasta are on an as needed basis.

You have the basic prepped items out of the way which are the most time consuming. So let’s build a menu for two days using the calories/macros I have listed above.

Day One

Breakfast:

Measure out
175g of Pork Tenderloin from the fridge
200g of frozen peppers
300g of prepped sweet potatoes
2 whole eggs

1. Sauté the peppers to cook the extra water out from the freezing process
2. While that is going on, cut the shredded pork into smaller pieces
3. Add pork to top of cooked peppers
4. Nuke sweet potatoes for 1:30 in a large bowl
5. Once pork and peppers are heated up together, crack 2 eggs over the mixture, add salt and pepper, mix together
6. Dump mixture over the bowl of heated sweet potatoes and you have breakfast

Snack:

Measure out
45g of mixed nuts
175g of Greek Yogurt
100g of fresh blueberries
125g of fresh strawberries

1. Add berries to a storage container with the yogurt and 1 tsp of cinnamon, mix and store in cool area
2. Nuts on on the side

Lunch:

Measure out
335g of diced chicken breast
300g of prepped sweet potatoes
100g of marinara sauce
25g of shredded cheese
2 Bubbies Pickles

1. Add chicken breast to the air fryer in one layer, set it for 400 degrees and 7 minutes
2. Check it after 4 minutes, toss it around, finish cooking
3. To a storage container add the cooked chicken, the sauce, and cheese on top
4. To another container add the potatoes
5. Ziploc bag the pickles if you are taking lunch with you for the day

This meal can be easily prepped in the morning with your breakfast as it takes 7 minutes to do.

Dinner:

Measure out
140g of 99% lean turkey
140g of 96% lean ground beef
16g peanut butter
300g of prepped sweet potatoes
200g of fresh broccoli
100g marinara sauce
25g shredded cheese

1. Mix the beef and turkey together in a ball to make a patty, salt and pepper it up
2. Grill it, sauté it, air fryer, pick your poison here
3. Set the broccoli in the Instant Pot in a vegetable steamer with a little bit of water in the cooking pot
4. Turn on manual, low pressure, one minute
5. Once the timer goes off the broccoli, release the valve and wait
6. Nuke the sweet potatoes for 2m
7. Plate the burger, add the 16g of peanut butter to the top of the burger, add the shredded cheese on top of that, salt and pepper the broccoli and add a little chili powder and onion powder for added taste

This is a menu for a “normal day” when you aren’t rushed for time, you get up at a reasonable hour, and leave yourself plenty of room to prep for the day. The precooked food helps you, the diced chicken cooks quickly, and dinner will take less than 20m to do from start to finish.

The daily calories and macros are:

Calories – 2787.8
Protein – 248.0
Carbs – 269.5
Fat – 79.7

Pretty damn close to the script of:

Calories – 2786.9
Protein – 241.7
Carbs – 275.7
Fat – 80.6

What will you do on a day when you know you have a busy day ahead of you, but you are hellbent on ensuring you have food for the day prepared?

This is where simplicity really comes into play.

Breakfast:

Measure out
200g of Pork Tenderloin from the fridge
200g of frozen peppers
3 whole eggs
2 Bubbies Pickles

1. Sauté the peppers to cook the extra water out from the freezing process
2. While that is going on, cut the shredded pork into smaller pieces
3. Add pork to top of cooked peppers
4. Once pork and peppers are heated up together, crack 3 eggs over the mixture, add salt and pepper, mix together
5. Dump mixture on a plate 

Large Meal to prepare for the day:

This is a one meal situation where you will make a ton of food to start, and then store it up for the day’s meals because you know you have a busy day and don’t need to waste time worrying about food.

Measure out
325g 96% lean ground beef
300g 99% lean ground turkey
45g shredded cheese
200g broccoli
225g gluten free pasta
510g marinara sauce

1. Brown the protein in a large skillet while you are cooking the pasta in boiled water – yes I am stating the obvious with this.
2. Use the Instant Pot to cook the broccoli
3. When pasta is finished, drain it and dump it into the browned protein, adding sauce to it, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and a little onion powder. 
4. Separate into storage containers and add shredded cheese to the top of each one
5. Add broccoli to a separate container 
6. This makes 2-3 meals under the calorie load for the day

Snack:

Measure out
42g mixed nuts
100g of fresh blueberries
125g of fresh strawberries

1. Add berries and nuts to their own storage container for snacks

This day is simple, easy, and fast to prep. Browning protein in a large skillet takes minutes and can be cooked while the pasta is boiling. 

The daily calories and macros are:

Calories – 2712.9
Protein – 240.9
Carbs – 254.5
Fat – 80.4

Pretty damn close to the script of:

Calories – 2786.9
Protein – 241.7
Carbs – 275.7
Fat – 80.6

All you need to do is a few things:

1. Manage time for prep because eating out often costs money, is loaded with added fat and carbs, relinquishes control over your food intake to someone else.
2. Practice cooking, if you are new to this it will take some effort to develop a system of prepping, cooking, and storage.
3. Experiment with spices, use websites like Tacticalories, Flavor God, Penzey’s and others to find amazing spices to use. Make your food pop in your mouth, bland food is boring and you won’t like that for an eating plan long term.

There are a bunch of menu items I left out in the spice section and a few in the food groups, but that is the beauty of menu creation, you can swap, replace, and diversify your menu from what you bought.

I hope this helps you on your quest to cooking great, easy, and delicious meals.

We are here to help if you need personal accountability with nutrition or a training plan to take you to the next level.

Reach out today, and let’s get to work.

____

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