Meal prepping week two

I like when posts have lots of bright photos but I'm not really as beautifully artistic as some of the other blogs I follow, so I had to sit back and think what else I do that can have lots of photos with pretty colors. I like cooking, I try to be good at it. I usually make one big meal once a week and this is my second week attempting meal prepping (actually sectioning off the food into pre-determined sizes so I don't overeat through the week), so come along with me on that I guess.

Full disclosure, I had a small breakdown before this cooking session about envelopes, so I started by making a soothing cup of chai. One of my coolest friends is actually from India and showed me how to make it, and I feel like I have this cool insider knowledge no one else has. It's always really good and makes me feel better, and I'm not sensitive to caffeine so I can have it at 4 pm like this.

It's technically out of date (Nov 2025) but I don't know if tea can really go bad (unless it is moldy--repeat, do not drink mold ty)

Anyways this is how I make the chai. I feel okay sharing it because no one reads my blog, so if you get this far consider this my gift to you.

1 c. milk

1 c. water

1-2 tsp chai

1 green cardamom pod 

1-2 tsp sugar (but really to taste)

Dash of cinnamon

 

1. Combine milk and water.

 

2. Boil it (or, near boil it if you are afraid of the milk overflowing because that can happen if you boil the milk too fast and it always makes me afraid that the milk will spill over the pot which it factually did once and it smells bad when it does that and leaves a burner stain).

 

3. Crush/burst open the cardamom pod and place it with the leaves, then put the leaves in the boiling (or near-boiling) liquid.

 

4. Let the leaves steep for 3-5 minutes. The amount of time you leave it in determines the strength of the tea.

 

5. Pour into mug with cute decal and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon on top. 

 

I kind of let it sit on the stove maybe a smidge too long so the flavor was a little less sweet, but I hate boiling the milk because one time I was making the tea for a friend and it boiled over on me. The second the milk hit the burner it made this horrible smell. I'm scarred.

 

First I like to do all my prep work for everything I'm going to make, which is usually a lot of chopping. I've been working hard lately to do more vegetables because I wasn't raised with a real focus on those and I want to be healthier as an adult. It's weird because a lot of veggies are like $0.50 each but then it feels like they last barely a week on the counter or in the fridge, so I've learned to make them very quickly after getting them. We got these from a grocery store order yesterday.

 

It's impossible to tell but these yams are actually pretty small, which I like. I hate cutting big yams. I have dropped two yam halves on the floor two separate times. Which equals one full yam. Insane yam math.

This side is a little icky so we will be cutting off this part

The broccoli is from NYTs Cooking, and it has like... butter, red wine vinegar, and dijon mustard for sauce. This sounds disgusting, doesn't it? I was like smelling all the pieces separately and gagging a little. But it is weirdly so good and addictive. Trust.

My supervisor

I did the most amazing butterfly cut on the chicken. There's no picture of it but it was really good. That's something I really like about cooking: you can feel yourself gaining skills. Two months ago I did not know how to cut a leek. I've never made anything with leeks before. "Leeks, what is that, like some kind of hole that can spring on a boat?" -me, two months ago. But idk, in cooking, you look up a quick youtube video, try it out, and then throw those damn leeks in your soup and realize damn, leeks are great and I'm great at prepping them. So the butterfly cut I mentioned earlier was the third time I was prepping using the butterfly cut, and it's really cool to feel myself getting better at it.

 

Should've taken a photo of it, I guess.

 

Anyways, I wasn't in a huge hurry to make everything, so it took me a couple hours total I think. It was relaxing but it's also hot in front of the stove so I got sweatier than I want to say.

Served myself way too much--couldn't finish it

Honestly even though I've only done it for one week, meal prepping is kind of taking some stress out of the upcoming week. It's pretty nice to come home from work and just toss it all on a plate and heat it up. It's such a small thing, so it's weird to feel like it makes a difference.

 

Also it kind of feels like an adult lunchable. 

Into its tiny little boxes the food goes

 

CURRENT RAT EVENTS

Current fixation: Conjunctival cysts. There are certain things that you have no idea is a Thing--this was one of them for me. Was. Because I came back home from work on Thursday with one that had developed during the day. It is basically a harmless lump that forms on the eye itself. Do not google images of it, it's freaky. Luckily mine is already gone but now I know that this is a Thing that can Happen and I hate the burden of this knowledge.

Current hobby: Working on Blogger code. Apparently to get a list of the most recently updated blogs from the blogs I follow in a widget, I have to manually call the Blogger API. Crazy.

Current worry: Insurance appeal on hospital billing. And growing a conjunctival cyst. Also my cat's bathroom activities (possible vet trip tomorrow).

Quiet morning. Read a little of Secure Relating by Ann Kelley and Sue Marriott. Stressed over envelopes then made a big dinner for the week while watching Nobody Wants This. Watched some Superbowl ads.

Ace of Swords (upright)--triumph, truth, breakthrough.