Level 1 - Day 44

Double The Recipes When You Can

Leftovers are lifesavers for several reasons.  And I highly recommend that you get in the practice of doubling Suzanne's recipes.

As long as you're going to the trouble of preparing a meal, it's not that much more effort to chop a couple extra veggies or cook some extra protein.  Plus, you only clean up once and get several extra meals for your time saving efforts.  I especially like that reason because I absolutely hate doing dishes.

And, sometimes, when you buy meat in larger sizes you can get some discounts at the grocery store.  Or, maybe take advantage of the buy one get one free sales, too.

But the big reason, for me, is that when you have leftovers on hand you won't be tempted to stop on the way home for take-out.  And, if you're like me, there are going to be days when you just don't feel like cooking.  Which are the dangerous days because it's so easy to grab whatever is easy ... and you know how that story turns out.

So, the moral of this story:  don't set yourself up to fail.  Make sure you always have leftovers on hand.

Breakfast - Watermelon.  Then, after 20 minutes I had a frozen gluten-free waffle with natural peanut butter.

AM Snack - The morning went so quick, I forgot to eat my snack.

Lunch - Leftover Chicken Meatball Soup from Day 42.

PM Snack - Slice of cheese.

Dinner - Lemon Shrimp with Fresh Beans and Snap Peas (from SS web site).  This fast and easy meal should have been wonderful, but I messed up.

The recipe yields 2 servings, so I increased it to 6 servings.  However, by the time I got all the ingredients in the pan it was too full.  I tried to keep the shrimp and veggies moving, but it was clear that some stuff was going to get cooked too much and others not enough.  So, halfway thru I split the ingredients into two pans.  As a result, most of the pea pods got over done, along with a couple shrimp.

Here's my advice:  if you're going to increase the recipe to 4 servings, you should be okay with one pan.  However, if you're going to increase it to 6 servings, separate everything between two pans from the start.

Overall, this was a very light, and refreshing meal.  Especially on a hot day.  The flavors were bright, and even my finicky mother ate it.  However, she pushed some of the overdone pea pods to the side, like all kids do when they don't like something.  For the record, my hubby and I ate everything.