Multi-Purpose Meals During Quarantine - Meatball Sub on Whole Grain Toast

Time in quarantine has been “Q time” (i.e., quality time) spent with the fam. However, it’s also been a lot of work planning, shopping and preparing meals.

It’s been going on for so long, I can honestly say I’m exhausted from it. I recently decided to make a change and started thinking about multi-purpose meals.

Dinner Tonight, can be Lunch Tomorrow

What if the dinner I made tonight became lunch tomorrow? You’re probably thinking, “right, it’s called leftovers.” Yes and No. Leftovers happen when you’ve made too much, and you have the same thing the next day. I’m talking about consciously deciding ahead of time to make enough so you can have a totally different meal the next day.

For example, tonight I am making chicken meatballs for my family. I use the Lupin Meatball recipe on the Carrington Farms’ website with a chicken swap for the beef (my personal preference). I combine the ground chicken, egg, Ground lupin Bean, Pecorino Romano, grated cheese, ground pepper, garlic powder, sea salt, parsley, basil, oregano, tomato paste, and sautéed onions. I mix together well and gently shape into 1 inch diameter balls and then cook.

Lupin Meatballs with Zucchini

I’ll be serving the meatballs with zucchini noodles for tonight’s dinner and then I will heat up and slice the remaining balls tomorrow to serve on a toasted whole grain sandwich thin with melted, shredded mozzarella and sliced tomato.

Tuesday Taco Night

On Tuesday, we have ‘Taco Night.’ I will be making extra meat for the tacos for dinner so that Wednesday’s lunch will be the taco meat, along with microwaveable wild rice, sprinkled with Mexican cheese. Both of these lunches offer a wonderful blend of protein and fiber.

Yum!! My mouth is watering just thinking of it and, the best part of it is that I don’t need to figure out what we’re having for lunch these next two days. It’s a win-win.