Day 8 of my 30 day blog series journaling my experiment with a Capsule Kitchen. The plan? Use 33 ingredients to create all our meals for three months. If you just joined me you can either start at Day 1 or view all Capsule Kitchen posts.
Today begins a new week of experimenting with my Capsule Kitchen list. Again, my goal is simplicity. And, I found that in grocery shopping. Having a short focused list made shopping a breeze.
Pepperplate iPad App
Now that the stage is set and I’ve made 2 easy go-to meals, it’s time to start experimenting with some new recipes. And I have several recipes saved.
When we first started living in our RV, I had a small metal box storing recipes written on index cards. A couple of years ago my friend Jenni introduced me to a free food app called Pepperplate. I quickly transferred my recipes from the index cards to the app. Since then I’ve saved several recipes (many I’ve never made) and used the meal planning and shopping list features.
I have Pepperplate synced between my laptop and my iPad. I prefer to work on my laptop when adding new recipes or adding items to my shopping list. I use the iPad when I go shopping. It’s worked well.
To combine the Capsule Kitchen experiment and Pepperplate, I did a couple things.
First, I went through my saved recipes, looking for recipes that used my Capsule Kitchen ingredients. I created a “Capsule Kitchen” category and attached this category to those recipes.
Second, I created a “new recipe” that contains my Capsule Kitchen list in the ingredients section. When it’s time to grocery shop, I:
- select Capsule Kitchen - Summer recipe
- choose Add To Shopping List
- uncheck the ingredients I don’t need
- and Add To List the items I do.
Trying Something New Tonight
I’ve got that box of quinoa in my pantry and a recipe saved to Pepperplate. My success rate using quinoa in the past is 100%. As in, we’ve hated it 100% of the time. Let’s hope that having a box of muli-colored quinoa makes it more appealing to my family.
Crockpot Quinoa, Sweet Potato & Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast (or 2 small ones)
- 1 can corn, drained and rinsed
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cans (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, not drained
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 small sweet potatoes (2 and 1/4 cup), peeled and chopped
- 2 cups (13 miniature) sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, orange)
- 1 fajita seasoning mix
- Flour or corn tortillas
- Optional toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, low fat sour cream, green onions
Directions:
- Thoroughly rinse the quinoa. Drain and rinse the corn and black beans.
- Combine the quinoa, chicken, corn, black beans, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth in a crockpot.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and chop into small pieces. Add to crockpot.
- Remove the tops of the peppers and slice into long strips. You can choose to leave the seeds or remove them. Add to the crockpot.
- Add the fajita seasoning packet and stir everything together.
- Let cook for 3-5 hours on high watching it carefully so the quinoa doesn’t burn.
- When finished, shred the chicken, fluff the quinoa, and stir everything together.
- Serve on flour or corn tortillas and top with optional toppings.
I won’t add corn to the dish and I will be using Chicken-Better than Bouillon to make my chicken broth.
Your Experience
Is quinoa an ingredient you use? Do you use any apps for recipes or meal planning?
Follow Ditching Suburbia’s board Capsule Kitchen on Pinterest.
You aren’t the only one with the 100% for quinoa. I can’t stand it. DH did manage to make it into a good breakfast this morning for him & our son. I think he said he rinsed it 3 times or something ridiculously time consuming.
Thanks for the “recipe” of capsule ingredients. We use Plan to Eat but that will work excellently for us as well!
Kris,
Glad to know I’m not the only one having issues with quinoa.
And I’m wondering why it can’t come pre-rinsed. I have a mesh strainer, but I still have to put a paper towel or coffee filter in the strainer to keep the quinoa from slipping through.
I’ve heard good things about Plan to Eat. I hope the Capsule Kitchen idea works for you, too.
Quinoa is not a favorite of mine, either, but I will eat it. My husband likes it, and it is an excellent rice replacement for him as it is lower carb and he eats less of it. As I’m not living in a tiny kitchen (yet) I make both grains for dinners like burrito bowls or curry dishes. We tried red quinoa for the first time this week, and he prefers the plain white. I do add a small spoonful of coconut oil to the grains as they cook. I do the same with our rice and we like it a lot.
Lonna,
Before starting the Capsule Kitchen experiment I bought a small jar of coconut oil. I’ve only used it once. I never thought to try it with rice. I’ll have to give that a try.