Sunday Mornings with Veggies

It's a weekly ritual

Recently I attended a wonderful event where every course was more delicious than the last. All I could think about was the preparation it must have taken—shopping for the food, storing it correctly at the right temperature, washing the vegetables, cutting them, getting the fish and meat prepped, proper food handling. . . the list goes on. Creating great meals takes time.

We appreciate this concept of food preparation from our Sundays in the Fischer Kitchen. It’s all hands on deck—me and Phil —making an array of vegetables for the week. That is our top priority because we are hardcore believers in vegetables to start every meal. Food sequencing like this has its benefits. I find myself less hungry than when I start with the carbs. I feel fuller eating that way. I’ve even found myself bypassing the carbs because I’m already full. It turns out there is plenty online on this topic.

What we do to kick off the week is dedicate a chunk of Sunday to food preparation. It starts with – you guessed it—veggie prep. Phil washes everything, and I get ready to cook. This week, we opted for cabbage, peppers and onions, and carrots.

I cooked the cabbage for three minutes in the Instapot, then seasoned it with extra virgin olive oil and spices. The peppers and onions were sautéed on the stove with spices and olive oil too, while the carrots were steamed briefly and tasted great as is. I might add something to them when served, but sometimes I like vegetables just as they are, without extras. We put everything in glass jars and let them cool before are put in the refrigerator. During the week, we reach for them at each meal.

Once we finished with the vegetables, we moved on to making a protein cream biscuit. This was a variation The Wall Street Journal’s recipe, “The Only Biscuit Recipe You’ll Ever Need to Know.” While they looked great, I wasn’t keen on using three cups of heavy cream, so I went with a lower-calorie alternative. I swapped out the sugar for honey and used Greek yogurt, ricotta, protein powder, and a touch of ginger. The first time I made these, they turned out fluffy—a dream in every bite. This time, I only had dairy-free whipped ricotta made with almond milk, which I think made them a little denser, but still tasty. Our dachshund-, star-, and flower-shaped biscuits will be enjoyed all week!

Though I had some bread, I figured it was probably a good idea to have another loaf on hand. I’m partial to using a bread pot, which is simple and easy. I used Emile Henry’s recipe with King Arthur all-purpose organic flour. This time, I added a quarter cup of raisins and sprinkled cinnamon on top, and it produced a fantastic loaf.

The flour also went into a terrific banana bread (our own special recipe, which I hope to post soon!). For this bread, we did not include nuts. I put in a few blueberries since I didn’t want them to go bad. An unexpected pleasure!

Cleanup was easy because we clean as we go. Phil, the sous chef, handles it well, and I’ve even named different areas in the kitchen. Station 1 is my main area to the left of the stove; Station 2 is Phil’s spot by the stand mixer, which is to the right of the stove; and Station 3 is to the left of the sink—a place I’m glad Phil tends to because it involves dish duty. It gives me a few giggles to call out the station numbers, and Phil often gives me a puzzled look before I point to where he should go. But seriously, he’s a huge help, and it would take so much longer without him.

Station 4 is our latest edition: the countertop of our new kitchen cupboard. It took us a long time to figure out how to bring this vision to life, and it has finally organized all our supplies in one place. I’m not sure how we found anything before! Getting it exactly as we wanted was a process, and we needed the right help to make it happen, but it was worth the effort.

With everything cooling, I was ready to turn my attention elsewhere, knowing we had checked a few key boxes for the week. May you enjoy vegetables at every meal as much as we do!