Post 112 ~ More meal prep - Helped along by my new favorite kitchen gadget

Remember in Post 110 when I finally worked up the courage to try my convection oven? MAN I wish I had gotten braver sooner. The convection oven is fast, convenient, and makes prepping my week's meals SO easy.

Here's what's on the menu for this week:

• Monday is my day off, so I made a pizza. Another post will be coming soon about that!
• Tuesday: Savory orange glaze pork chop with green beans and roasted pepper
• Wednesday: Leftover roasted chicken (another post soon on that) with potato and brussels sprouts
• Thursday: Greek marinade pork with Brussels sprouts (can you tell I splurged on an order of them?) and some roasted pepper
• Friday: Tangy chicken breast with - wait for it... well, you already know.

Here's what you'll need:

~ Brussels sprouts - about 10-15, shredded

~ Green beans

~ 1 Orange pepper that has to be eaten soon Or Else

~ Leftover roast chicken and potato (I'm totally cheating a little on this post)

~ 2 pork chops

Seasonings:

~ 5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce

~ 2 single serve packs dressing: Greek and French

~ 1 tsp brown sugar

~ about 1/4 cup orange juice

~ Chives

~ Garlic salt

~ EVOO

~ Butter

All these meals really take is just a little forethought. Earlier today I got two pork chops and a chicken breast out to thaw. Once they thawed, I put them each in a ziplock bag. Onto one pork chop went a single-serve packet of Wegman's Greek dressing (yes, I bring half of Wegman's grocery store with me when I travel to Singapore). Onto the other pork chop I shook some Worcestershire sauce and orange juice (I'm a big fan of impromptu marinades). Onto the chicken breast went Wegman's French dressing and about a teaspoon of brown sugar. Into another bag went the sliced pepper with some EVOO and garlic salt. I let them marinate for a few hours. 

Before I prepared to cook them, I sliced and steamed the brussels sprouts and beans, and prepared them in the containers. Then it was time for the fun part. This time, I had decided to go all out with the convection oven. I set everything onto the rack like this:

Then I topped the Worchestershire pork chop with some chives, and put the whole thing in the convection oven, set it on "steak" for "0.8 kg" because I don't speak metric and have no idea what I'm doing, and turned it on.

About halfway through, it instructed me to flip everything, and at this point, it was looking like I was going to have to add more time, but surprisingly, when the timer went off, everything was cooked - I poked a knife into each piece of meat and juices ran clear. I was happy that the peppers even had a little browning to the edges that nicely roasted veggies can get!

Into containers they went, I made myself a pizza for dinner, and cleaned up the kitchen (really, I only had a cutting board, some utensils and the rack and pan to clean - that's it!) and settled in for the evening knowing that when I come back from my long, late days, dinner will be waiting for me! With a glass of wine, of course.

Ooh! That reminds me! I've discovered a really nice wine, and it seems to go on sale quite frequently! Grant Burge Shiraz, from South Australia is my new favorite! It is big on flavor and not "harsh" like a lot of the *ahem* less expensive *ahem* wines that I've been finding. The best part is that this one is frequently on special, so I bought another bottle as well as a cabernet sauvignon to try. Life is looking up for the Accidental Chef!

Yours in the love of good (convenient) food and good (and reasonably priced) wine,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.