Weekly Veggie Prep and Roasted Cauliflower

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I introduced this blog with the idea that Andy and I do a fair amount of food prep on the weekends, so I figure I need to actually dedicate entire posts every so often to show you what I mean by that.  The previous recipes on the blog don’t show just how “into” veggies I am, but I reallllly am.  As a rough estimate I can confidently say that most days we both get at least 6 servings of veggies and 4 servings of fruit, and that is possible because we prep.  I’ll start with our basic veggie prep and roasted cauliflower that we do almost every weekend – and I’ll try to keep myself from getting too wordy.

weekly veggie prep

First thing I should clarify is that we do this on Sunday’s during Anna Ruth’s naptime.  I know a lot of people don’t have a guaranteed time they have to be home, so I’m lucky that I can make this a priority. You may not have an hour on the weekends where you can, or even want to, prep, but even 10-15 minutes can make a huge difference during the week.

One thing I always always always do is chop fresh veggies for Andy and me to eat for lunches or snacks during the week.  We prepare ten sandwich baggies of veggies that we eat each day.  Groundbreaking, I know…  I actually started doing this when I was pregnant with AR and had to force myself to eat veggies, and it stuck.  These bags usually include red bell pepper strips (5 peppers total), cucumber slices (2 English cucumbers total) and grape tomatoes (8-10 per bag), and I’ll add celery and carrots to Andy’s bags if we have it.  I’ll also make a separate bag for AR with just bell pepper strips and cucumber slices that she can snack on while I’m making dinner in the evenings.  We’ve got the whole process of rinsing, chopping and bagging down to about 10 minutes, which is time well spent in my book.  You guys, this automatically ensures you’re eating about 2 cups of whole, raw veggies every day without giving it much more thought.  <– Winning

weekly veggie prep

The other two things I make almost every week are roasted cauliflower and butternut squash.  I roast them on Sunday and use them up throughout the week.  Next week’s post will include my roasted butternut squash go-to, so I’ll spend some time on cauliflower now.  Pic of pre- roasted cauliflower covered in curry powder and turmeric in yo face…

roasted cauliflower

Cauliflower is loaded with nutrients, and has even been linked to cancer prevention (yay, health!).  I love it roasted because it takes on an almost nutty flavor.  Toss it with some curry powder and turmeric (spices shown to improve brain health), throw it in the oven then give yourself a nice hug for taking such good care of you.  Really, roasted cauliflower is great for so many things….

  1. As a side
  2. Added into stir-fry
  3. As a salad topping (surprisingly good)
  4. Added into pasta
  5. Paired with butternut squash, sautéed spinach and an egg for a glorious breakfast bowl
  6. Paired with baked falafel, butternut squash and avocado in a pita pocket

The list could go on.

I generally don’t even add it into our dinner plans for a specific night because I just throw it in whenever I feel like it, and we never end the week with leftovers.  It’s especially nice to have when I’m getting Andy’s lunches ready.  I usually try to make enough at dinner to send him lunch the next day, but some nights we don’t have quite enough left, so I’ll just add in roasted cauliflower – DONE.

Well, it seems I lied about not giving too many words…I’ll leave you now with my go-to roasted cauliflower recipe.  I’d love to hear what you, my lovely readers, do to prepare for the week.  I’m always looking for ways to eat healthier and easier!

roasted cauliflower

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Chop the cauliflower into florets, rinse and drain well (dry as much as you can).
  3. Put cauliflower into a gallon-size zipper bag and add oil and spices. Zip bag closed and shake, making sure the ingredients distribute evenly.
  4. Pour cauliflower onto baking sheet* and roast for 30 minutes. Stir and cook an additional 10-15 minutes if you want them to brown a little more.
  5. Eat as is, or store in the fridge for up to a week and use in any of the ways discussed above.

*I line my baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil with cooking spray – clean-up is done!