Stretching Out Meals for the Week

As part of my meal preparation yesterday, I was able to stretch out 1 serving into 3-4 by adding ingredients that I had in the fridge/pantry (these have been weighed and will be added into my total expenses).

The first meal was baked oatmeal. I started with just under 2/3 cup of oatmeal, about 1 serving, and stretched it out to 3 - 1 1/4 cup servings. I remembered a recipe that I previously made from the Eat for Health book by Dr. Fuhrman. I started by putting the oatmeal in an 8x8 baking dish with a cup of water and 3 dates. I sprinkled a little coriander on top and baked at 350 degrees until the water was absorbed (approximately 30 min.). I chopped up 1 1/2 bananas and grated 3 apples in the blender and sprinkled them with cinnamon. I added the fruit with a little more water and baked until the fruit was soft. Once done, I sprinkled the top with  1 1/2 TBS ground flax.  This recipe is very versatile and will work well with many other combinations of dried, frozen or fresh fruit as well as nuts, seeds and nut butters.

The second meal was pumpkin curry with lentils. I started with one serving of frozen pumpkin curry (prepared by Kathy) and turned it into 4 - 1 cup servings each served over 1/2 cup rice. I cooked 1 cup of lentils until they were soft. When the lentils were finished, I drained the excess water and added 2 chopped roma tomatoes, raisins and curry powder and cooked it until the tomatoes were soft. I added the thawed pumpkin curry and cooked it for a few more minutes and then topped it with chopped green onions. This is another recipe that can have many variations by adding other vegetables or beans, although its not very common to have a extra package of pumpkin curry in the freezer (except if you're the Jacksons with 20+).