- Hey guys and welcome back. I've got my long awaitedwinter meal prep video for you and it is packed with ideas to keep you nourished over these cold winter months. If you're new to my channel, this is the fourth mealprep video in a series. So make sure to go backand watch the others to learn more about myapproach to meal prep, which is prepping individual ingredients for easy mix and matchmeals throughout the week. In today's video I'llshow you how to meal prep 10 ingredients and give you a few ideas for warm winter meals thatyou can quickly whip up. But with the creativity in this community, I'm sure that you guys will combine these ingredients ineven more delicious ways. And when you do, make sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see it. Now just as I've done on myprevious meal prep videos, I've created a downloadablePDF guide of this winter meal prep so thatyou don't have to worry about taking any notesthroughout the video. I'll tell you how to download the PDF at the end of this video. But first, let me show you whatI've meal prepped this week. As usual, I'll start with the ingredient that takes the longest. And today that's slow cooker pulled pork. I love using my slow cookerin the winter for easy meals and this pulled pork isso incredibly flavorful. You're gonna love it. I'm starting this recipeearly in the morning just because it's hard to film in my kitchen when it's dark at night. But I do recommend you makethis recipe the night before. Your slow cooker can work itsmagic while you're sleeping and you can wake up to lovely pulled pork. I'll start by dicing up one whole onion and then add that to my slow cooker along with four garlic clovesand the juice from one orange. The orange not only addssweetness to the pulled pork, but it's what helps to makeit so fall apart tender. When you grab pork from the market, make sure to grab aboneless pork shoulder, which is sometimes also calleda pork butt or a Boston butt. In terms of size, you wantfour and a half to five pounds. Though my two pieces add up to almost five and a half pounds. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it fits in my slow cooker. Your pork should be well-marbled for that extra boost of flavor, but you don't want toomuch fat on the edges. So if I see a little too muchfat, I'll just trim that off. Next I'll make my pork rub, which is a combination oftwo tablespoons of paprika, one teaspoon of oregano,one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper, and a half a teaspoon of cumin. Sprinkle this rub verygenerously over all sides of your pork and rub itin good with your hands. (relaxing music) Place the pork into your slow cooker. And thank goodness mine fits, just barely. Then add the lid. I'm going to move mine out of the way, then turn it on low for eight hours. And you really do wantto cook it low and slow as the meat will be so muchmore tender and flavorful than if you cooked iton high for four hours. For a delicious and healthy snack, I'm going to make someroasted beet hummus this week. I'll preheat my oven to400 degrees Fahrenheit and give my beets a good wash using that vegetable scrubber I showed you last week. There's no need to peelthe beets with this recipe, and that's always a bonus. Whenever I work with beets, I always lay downparchment paper underneath so I don't have to worry aboutstaining my cutting board. Slice off the stems, leavingabout two inches attached, and leave the tails on as well. The green beet leaves are also great and packed with nutrients,so don't throw those away. Just add them to your nextsalad or green smoothie. I used to cook my beetswrapped in aluminum foil, but as I've tried to get awayfrom using aluminum foil, I now roast them in a cast iron pot. Because my pot is a verywhite Le Creuset pot that I don't want to ruin, I'mlining it with parchment paper. But if you have a black cast iron pot or a glass baking dish,you could skip this step. Add the beets to your pot, drizzle a little oliveoil or avocado oil on top, and make sure they're fully coated. Then add the lid and cook themfor about 50 to 60 minutes. (relaxing music) While the beets are cooking,I'll move onto my oranges. Oranges are in abundance duringwinter and I'm gonna enjoy the entire fruit this week, peel and all. Now I purchase all organic produce because it's important to me. But if you sometimesdo and sometimes don't, I'll definitely recommendprioritizing organic when you're eating theoutside peel or skin. Once the oranges are washed, I'll take a small knife andcut off the top and bottom, trying not to cut into the flesh. Then I'll score the orangefrom top to bottom four times, essentially dividingthe peel into quarters, and slide my fingers underthe peel to gently remove it. Slice each peel intoquarter inch wide strips and then add them to a pot. Because orange peel and especially that white pith can be bitter, we'll remove some of that bitterness by boiling the orange peel in water. While I'm waiting on the water to boil, I'll slice up my orange flesh and add it to a storage container. I've now got an easy no fusssnack for the next few days or I can easily throw theseoranges into smoothies. So, back to our orange peel. Once the water is boiling,drain it over a colander. Then fill the pot back up with water and repeat the same process one more time. I know it seems a bit tedious, but it really does help toremove some of that bitterness. After you've drained it a second time, we'll be more measured and add two cups of water and one cup of sugar. This is essentially a thin simple syrup and you can also use any sugar you'd like. I'm using organic cane sugar, but you could also use coconut sugar, maple syrup, monk fruit,other low carb sugars, or whichever sugar is your preference. Stir the sugar and watertogether, bring it to a simmer, and set your timer for 30 minutes. At this point our roastedbeets should be done, so remove those from the oven. Use tongs to carefully transferthem to a cutting board. And you'll notice I'musing parchment paper again to keep my cutting board clean because I'm all about makingmy life easier in the kitchen. Slice off the stem and tail on each beet. And for this recipe,I'll only need two beets. So I'll save that thirdone to pop in a smoothie or top on a salad throughout the week. And one last bonus pointfor parchment paper. Look at how clean it keptthe inside of my pot. If you've watched my hummus video, you know how easy it is to make creamy and smooth homemadehummus in your Vitamix. I'll add two cans ofchickpeas to my blender along with one third cup of aquafaba, which is the liquidfrom the chickpea cans. To this I'll add a half a cup of tahini, a quarter cup of olive oil,the juice from one lemon, one or two garlic cloves,a half a teaspoon of salt, and two of my roasted beets. I'll add the lid to my blender, get my tamper ready, and turn it on. And within seconds, my regular hummus turns the most beautiful and vibrant shade of pink thanksto those lovely beets. (relaxing music) Once it's done blending, I'll use my under bladescraper to get it all out, transfer it to a storage container, and place it in the fridge. My orange peel should be just about done. And you'll notice that most of the simple syrup has evaporated. Lay down a piece of parchmentpaper on your countertop and place a cooling rack on top. Then use tongs to removethe orange peel slices and lay them on the cooling rack. These need to dry at least eight hours, though I prefer to let them sit overnight. So we'll come back tothese a little bit later. (relaxing music) In the meantime, I'll makemy ultimate seed crackers, which is a boosted versionof flaxseed crackers and only takes a handful of ingredients. That includes one cup of ground flaxseed, one third cup of sesame seeds, a quarter cup of chia seeds, and a half a cup of pumpkin seeds, which are also know as pepitas. Now because pepitas are big and whole, we'll need to grind them up. And the easiest way to dothat is in a food processor. If you have a mini foodprocessor like this one, it's perfect for the job. Just add the pepitas and pulse a few times or until the textureresembles course sand. Add the ground pepitas back to the bowl with the other seeds alongwith one teaspoon of salt and one and a quarter cupsof water and give it a stir. The mixture will be reallyliquidy at the beginning. But as soon as the chiaseeds start absorbing water in that first minute, it will thicken up. Preheat your oven to200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a low temperature. But that's because ourgoal is to dehydrate the crackers and make them crunchy. Lay out a piece of parchmentpaper on your countertop and scoop half of themixture into the middle. Add another piece ofparchment paper on top, squish it down a bit, then use a rolling pin to flatten it out. You want the dough to be about a quarter inch thick or slightly thinner. Remove the top piece of parchment paper and use a knife to score the dough. You can make squares or diamonds or whatever shape you'd like. And this just makes it easierto break the crackers up once they've cooked and cooled. Carefully transfer this to a baking sheet and repeat the same processwith the other half of dough. And then bake them for twoand a half to three hours. I've really come to lovelentils over the last few years. And while they're generally easy to cook, I do have a few tips. Add one cup of lentils to astrainer and give them a rinse. But while you're doing this, make sure to remove any badlentils or small stones, which can sometimes sneak in. Pour them into a pot andadd four cups of water. While lentils do expand like rice, you don't want them mushing together. So more water is necessary. Then add one bay leafand one piece of kombu. Kombu is edible seaweed. And not only does it adda wonderful umami flavor to the lentils alongwith some trace minerals, but the enzymes in kombu break down the phytic acid in the lentils, making them easier to digest. And when I buy kombu at the store, I just transfer it to oneof my storage containers. Bring the lentils to a simmer, then reduce the heat so there's only a few small bubbles and add the lid. I'm moving my pot to a smaller burner so that the simmer can stay really low and I'll set the timer for 20 minutes. Sweet potatoes are greatin the winter months as they're hearty and nourishing and there's just somany ways to cook them. But you know how muchI love my spiralizer. So today I'm spiralizing my sweet potato. You can remove the skin or leave it on. It's up to you. But I've found that when using the small spiral blade on my spiralizer, the skin can sometimes clog up the blades. So that's why I'm removing it. Then just spiralize away. I have a whole videoall about spiralizing. So if you'd like more info about the veggies you can spiralize,make sure to check that out. Spiralized noodles arealways extremely long, so it's best to take somekitchen scissors to your noodles and trim them up beforestoring them in the fridge. Next I've got another easyveggie, and that's cabbage. I have a half of a cabbage left over from earlier in theweek wrapped in beeswax. So today I thought I'dslice up the rest of it. You can take a large knife tothe cabbage and slice it up, then chop those slicesinto smaller pieces. But since I've got my spiralizer out, I figured I might as well use that to slice up the remainder of my cabbage. To do that, I'll swap outthe small spiral blade for the flat blade and give it a twirl. About 10 seconds laterthe rest of my cabbage is sliced up into perfectly thin pieces. And then all I have to dois place this in the fridge to be used throughout the week. My lentils should be done cooking now, so I'll drain them in the sink. Remove the piece of kombu, whichas you can see, rehydrated. Let them cool a few minutes, then transfer them to a storage container. And don't forget to removethe bay leaf as well. I'm a big fan of Swisschard when it's in season. So when I see it in the market,I always grab a few bunches. To prep the Swiss chard, I'll start by washing theindividual leaves under the faucet though you could do this in alarge bowl of water as well. When it comes to storing Swiss chard, I'll show you two methods. But first I'll slice off some of the stem that's a little bit dried out. To store the chard whole, I'll place several leaves ona tea towel and wrap them up. The tea towel gets alittle wet from the leaves, but that's good as themoisture helps keep them fresh. You can also place a rubber band around the towel to keep it together. Then place this in thecrisper drawer in your fridge. For chard that I plan to eat within the first couple of days, I'll pat it dry with apaper towel or tea towel, roll the leaves up together,and slice them across. Then I'll line a storage container with a paper towel andadd the sliced chard. Because I'm adding the lid in this method and the leaves won't air dry, I want the paper towel toabsorb any excess moisture. And then I'll place thechard in the fridge. Alright, onto dressings. I have got two new vinaigrette recipes, which will help jazz upsome of my meals this week. The first is a creamy andflavorful Dijon vinaigrette. And to make that, I'll addone third cup of olive oil to a bowl along withthe juice of one lemon, one tablespoon white wine vinegar, two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, one clove of garlic, salt, and pepper. Then I'll whisk it up and pourit into a storage container. The second vinaigrette isa citrus lime vinaigrette that's got a spicy kick to it. I'll add a quarter cupof olive oil to a bowl along with the juice fromone orange and three limes and about two teaspoons offinely diced jalapeno pepper. I'll also add a quarter cupof finely chopped cilantro, salt, and pepper, and whisk this together before storing it in another jar. To finish off the meal prep this week, I have just got to put away a few of the other ingredientswhich are now cooked and done. And that includes the seed crackers, which are really easy to just break up and place in a storage container, as well as my pulled pork. Remove the pulled porkfrom the slow cooker and use two forks to shred it up. The meat should reallyjust fall apart on its own. And trust me, it'll be hard not to put half of it in your mouthwhile you're shredding it up because it's so juicy and tender. (relaxing music) Alright. So now that you've got these10 ingredients prepped, let me give you a fewideas of what you could easily make throughoutthe week by combining them with ingredients fromyour fridge or pantry. For breakfast, you probably won't be surprised by this recipe but it's honestly something I make all the time. And that's my spiralizedsweet potato egg nest. Just add a little oil,butter, or ghee to a pan and toss in a handfulof sweet potato noodles. Once the noodles have cookedfor a couple of minutes, use the tongues to formthem into a little nest and crack one egg in the middle. Add a lid and cook the egg untilthe white is cooked through and the yolk has reachedyour desired level of done. Transfer the egg nest to a plate and garnish with parsleyor other fresh herbs, spring onion, salt, and pepper. (relaxing music) For another breakfastidea and one that's simple but packed with deliciously spicy flavor, I'll slice up another springonion and some jalapeno pepper. I'll melt oil or bacon grease into a pan, swirl that around, and get two eggs ready. My approach when it comes to fried eggs is to cook them low and slow for that perfectly crispy bottomand fully cooked white. And since it will take the eggsabout three minutes to cook, I'll toss on some pulled pork to warm up and a few slices of jalapeno. Once the eggs are done, I'llslide them onto a plate, garnish with springonion, salt, and pepper, and a few shakes of hot sauce for a breakfast that willwarm anyone up in the winter. (relaxing music) My pre-pealed and sliced oranges are just asking to be eaten in the fridge, so those always makefor the perfect snack. As I mentioned before, they are also great forthrowing into smoothies, and I've got a delicious almond orange smoothie recipe on my website. For another healthy snack, my roasted beet hummusis absolutely delicious. To be honest, I usually just scoop it up straight from the container. But if I want to get fancy,I can place it in a bowl, give it a little swoosh, andchop up some fresh parsley. But before garnishing it with the parsley, I've got frozen cubes ofmy homemade basil pesto from a few months ago,which you might remember. So I'll just thaw one of those cubes and add it to the beet hummus,drizzle a little olive oil, and then sprinkle on the fresh parsley. You can scoop the hummus upwith my ultimate seed crackers. Or if you wanted to makethis meal prep even easier, you could skip the seed crackers and just slice up some celery, as I showed you on myfirst meal prep video. (relaxing music) Our next recipe takes a little longer than five minutes to whip up, but it's a great snack you'll love. And that's curly sweet potato fries. So preheat your oven to425 degrees Fahrenheit, then add some sweet potatonoodles to a baking sheet. Now, I usually prefer my curly fries made with the thickerspiral slicing blade, but as I've made a bunchof small noodles this week, that works as well. Drizzle a little olive oil oravocado oil on the noodles, then generously season with paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix the noodles all together with your hands until they're well coated and bake them forapproximately 20 minutes. While the noodles are cooking, I can whip up a quick garlic aioli, which is just a couple of tablespoons of my homemade mayo recipe,one clove of garlic, some lemon juice, salt, and pepper. When the fries come out of the oven, you'll see that they have shrunk down. And baked sweet potatoes noodles don't come out crispy like fried ones do. But I think they're tasty nonetheless. I'll add some curly friesto a plate and dollop on my garlic aioli for a spicyand warm snack to enjoy. (relaxing music) For lunch or dinneryou can whip up an easy pulled pork, cabbage, and arugula salad. Depending on your winter climate, you could make this a coldsalad or a warm salad. And I'm making it a cold salad today as the weather is quitenice in Southern California. The full salad recipe is on my website, but I'm just going toeyeball a single portion. So I'll add some pulled pork to a bowl along with sliced cabbageand some grated carrot. For greens, I'll add a handful or so of arugula along with fresh cilantro and I'll sprinkle some slicedalmonds for a little crunch. For dressing, I'm going to addmy citrus lime vinaigrette. The flavors of the vinaigrettereally enhance this salad with the orange, lime, and cilantro. And there is a spicy littlekick with the jalapeno. Give the salad a stirand then serve it up. (relaxing music) For a warm salad that'salso a great meatless option but still hearty and filling, I'll make my warm sweet potato noodles, cabbage, and lentil salad. To make this, I'll heat alittle olive oil in a pan and toss in a few slices of onion. Again, I'm just eyeballinga single portion, but the full saladrecipe is on my website. To the onion I'll add a good amount of Swiss chard as it will wilt down, and then saute thosetogether for a minute or so. Then I'll add a handfulof sweet potato noodles, saute those for another minute or two until they have softened,and add a handful of cabbage. Lastly I'll add some lentils. And because these are already cooked, I don't need to cook them, butI do want them nice and warm. At this point I'll usuallyturn off the stove and let my salad stay warm while I toasta small amount of pine nuts. Then I'll add the salad toa mixing bowl along with the toasted pine nuts and somefreshly chopped herbs. I'm using a combinationof parsley and cilantro, but feel free to getcreative with the herbs. For dressing on this salad,I'll add my Dijon vinaigrette and give everything astir before plating it up. (relaxing music) One of the great things about meal prep is that you can start tocombine your ingredients in ways that you hadn'toriginally even thought of. And this meal is aperfect example of that. I don't even have a recipe for this, as it came together on awhim with my leftovers. But I absolutely loved it, sowanted to share it with you. Add a little olive oil to a pan along with one minced garlic clove. Toss in a generous handful of Swiss chard and saute that together untilthe Swiss chard wilts down. Now this on its own is aneasy and simple side dish, but since I have lentils prepped, I'll add a couple spoonfulsof those and warm them up. But let's not forgetabout our beet hummus. Add a large spoonful ofthat to a plate and give it a pretty swoosh like allthe fancy restaurants do. Then add the garlic sauteed Swiss chard and lentils and some pulled pork. I've heated up my pulledpork in the microwave, but you could use the stove top as well. And for a little more flair and crunch, I'll finish it off with a few sprinkles of white and black sesame seeds. This meal couldn't be easierand it's absolutely delicious. (relaxing music) Now you didn't forget about ourorange peel slices, did you? I've let these sit out over night. And I do recommend makingboth the pulled pork and the orange slices the night before, as there's downtime with both of them. Because the candied orange peel will still be tacky even after it's dried, I'll roll them around in a little sugar, then add them to a jar. On my website I also show how you can dip these in chocolate. But this week I'm keeping them plain. And the great thing about this candied orange peel is that one peel is usually enough to satisfy my sweet cravings. (relaxing music) I hope you enjoyed all ofthose delicious recipes. And as I mentioned at the beginning, I created a downloadable PDF guide of this winter meal prep video for you. The PDF includes the storage guidelines of all of the ingredients as well as links to the full recipes on downshiftology.com. And hopefully that should make your life a little bit easier in the kitchen. You can find the link the download the PDF in the description box below. But if you're already on myemail list from my website, then you will receive this PDF automatically in your email inbox today. If you enjoyed today's video and would like to see morein this meal prep series, make sure to give it a thumbsup, hit that Subscribe button, and let me know in the comments below. Alright, that's it for me today. I hope that you guys stay warm and I will see youagain in the next video.
Meal prep for winter - it's finally here! With 10 ingredients create a variety of healthy recipes and hearty meals including warm salads, spicy breakfasts, filling dinners and tasty snacks. This is the 4th seasonal meal prep video in a series (plus a meal prep containers video). So make sure to go back and watch the others to learn more about my meal prep approach, which is to prep a handful of wholesome ingredients for easy, mix-and-match meals throughout the week. Meal planning and meal prepping has never been easier! I hope you enjoy these ideas for warm, nourishing, winter meals, but with the creativity in this community I’m sure you’ll combine these ingredients in even more delicious ways. When you do, make sure to tag me @Downshiftology on Instagram so I can see it! BONUS PDF: Because of your amazing comments and feedback on my meal prep series I created a PDF guide of this winter meal prep plan. You can download it here: https://mailchi.mp/downshiftology/meal-prep PS - As a reminder, all healthy recipes and meal prep on my channel and website are always gluten-free. For the FULL blog post and recipe links: https://bit.ly/2SaOKog Thanks for watching! Make sure to subscribe for more videos: http://bit.ly/2afhftX PRODUCTS MENTIONED: Glasslock Containers: http://amzn.to/2EGyVzf Weck Jars: https://amzn.to/2L74Jvk Vegetable Scrub Brush: https://amzn.to/2t875mY Kombu: https://amzn.to/2MST4mw Natural Paper Towels: http://amzn.to/2EPNboD Mini Food Processor: https://amzn.to/2MPmGRx Crate and Barrel Bowls and Plates: http://bit.ly/2EJ9rRR MORE MEAL PREP VIDEOS Meal Prep Ideas (Meal Prep #1): https://youtu.be/vmdITEguAnE Meal Prep for Spring (Meal Prep #2): https://youtu.be/txWA3vJs59U Meap Prep for Summer (Meal Prep #3): https://youtu.be/xlNiz_ustjM Meal Prep Storage Containers: https://youtu.be/3OOqn1P1cwY ALWAYS IN MY KITCHEN: Counter Stools: http://bit.ly/2tUNvZG Vitamix Blender: https://amzn.to/2NjFp75 Spiralizer: https://amzn.to/2N37WRy Tea Kettle: http://amzn.to/2uuNSMp Utensil Holder: http://bit.ly/2tVfGaH Flour Jars: http://bit.ly/2tV6C5y Knife Set: http://bit.ly/2tUGzMa Cutting Board: http://bit.ly/2tFsF53 Glass Mixing Bowls: https://amzn.to/2L2hx6O For everything else I use in my videos, check out the SHOP page on my website: https://downshiftology.com/shop The music I use: https://bit.ly/2Ms5nF2 - Great music for YouTubers! WHAT I'M WEARING: Long Sleeve Tee: http://bit.ly/2S8mK4F AG Jeans: http://bit.ly/2S8mK4F Linen Apron: http://bit.ly/2twA32E WEBSITE: https://www.downshiftology.com INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/downshiftology FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/downshiftology PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/downshiftology Disclaimer: product links may include affiliate links.