Meal Prep Sunday: A Moroccan Millet That Will Make Your Skin Glow + 5-Minute Tweaks For 4 Days Of New Meals

Welcome to Meal Prep Sunday, where you’ll make a single, healthy recipe with serious bodily benefits, whether it makes your skin glow, helps soothe your gut, boosts your immunity, and more! Because it gets boring to eat the same thing every day, you’ll do the bulk of the prep on the first day—and every day after that, there will be one small, five-minute-or-less, tweak that will transform the leftovers into a new, amazing meal. This beautiful millet-based meal prep comes from James Beard-winning journalist Carolynn Carreno, author of the Instagram-ready Bowls of Plenty. Be sure to check back next Sunday for an all-new set of recipes.
As much as I love roasted root vegetables, braising them is my favorite new discovery. Braised, the veggies don't shrivel up. Instead, they're tender and plump and creamy. And if you've never had cooked radishes, you will now. And you're in for a great surprise.
I use the trimmings from the vegetables to make a quick stock, which takes an hour to make; if you want to skip this step, use homemade chicken stock water. Made with commercial stock, the vegetables are, let's say, not amazing. Other than a tablespoon of butter, which is added at the end to give the veggies a yummy glazed finish, this dish is gluten-free and vegetarian. To make it vegan, skip the butter and use coconut yogurt in the leftover meals.

Shopping List

• Olive oil
• Canola oil
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup millet
• 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas (or 3 cups cooked chickpeas)
• Sugar of choice (coconut is fine)
• 1 small jar harissa
• Sriracha sauce
• Tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 cups chicken stock (low-sodium, or vegetable stock or water)
• 1 (16-ounce) bag frozen pearl onions
• 1¾ cups fresh carrot juice (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1 (7- or 8-ounce) container plain Greek-style yogurt (preferably full-fat)
• Unsalted, pastured butter (optional, see recipe)
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 bay leaves (preferably fresh; find them where fresh herbs are sold)
• 2 pounds mixed root vegetables (parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, carrots)
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 small package prewashed spinach (preferably baby spinach)
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 lemon
• 1 head garlic

BASE MEAL

Moroccan Millet Bowl With Braised Veggies and Harissa

Photo Credit: Beatriz da Costa

Makes enough for one week of meals for one, with the modifications below
Ingredients

• 16 fresh pearl onions, trimmed of root ends (or frozen pearl onions)
• 2 pounds mixed parsnips, turnips, carrots, and rutabaga
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 bay leaves (preferably fresh)
• 4 thyme sprigs (optional; use them if you have them)
• 1½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1 (15-ounce) can, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• Moroccan Millet (recipe follows)
• Harissa (or another red pepper paste)

Method

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.
2. If you're using frozen onions, skip this step: Fill a bowl with ice and cold water to make an ice bath. Put the onions in a strainer and plunge the strainer into the boiling water for 2 minutes. Lift the strainer out of the boiling water and plunge the onions in the ice water to stop them from cooking. Turn the onions out onto a clean towel to dry and slip off and discard the peels. Reserve the water in the saucepan.
3. Trim and peel the parsnips, turnips, carrots, and rutabaga, and cut them into 1- to 1½-inch pieces. Trim and scrub the radishes and cut them in half. Add the vegetable trimmings and peelings to the saucepan of water and bring the water to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook the liquid for 45 minutes to 1 hour to make a light vegetable stock. Turn off the heat. Strain the stock and discard the solids in the strainer.
4. Put all the vegetables in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven. Add the salt, bay leaves, and thyme (if you are using it). Add enough stock to come halfway up the side of the vegetables. Bring it to a boil over high heat, cover the pan, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer the vegetables until they're tender when pierced with a fork but still hold their shape, about 40 minutes. Uncover and add the chickpeas, butter, and sugar (if you're using it). Baste the vegetables and chickpeas with the juices in the pan and cook over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid has thickened and the vegetables are shiny and glazed.
5. To serve, pile the millet into a bowl. Spoon the vegetables with their juices over the millet and serve with the harissa on the side. Wrap up all leftovers and place in fridge for Day 2 through 5!

Moroccan Millet

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ medium Spanish yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves (preferably fresh)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup hulled millet, rinsed
• 1¾ cups fresh carrot juice (or water)

Method

1. Adjust the oven racks so one is in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the oil, onion, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and salt in a large ovenproof sauté pan (FYI: Most sauté pans are ovenproof, even those with rubber handles) with a tight-fitting lid. Cook over medium heat, stirring often so the onion doesn't brown, for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the millet and toast, stirring so it doesn't burn, for 2 minutes. Stir in the carrot juice, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Put the pan in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the millet has absorbed all the liquid. Remove the millet from the oven and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover, gently fluff with a fork.

DAY 2: Chickpea and Millet Salad With Carrots, Parsley, Feta, and Raisins

Serves 1
To make the salad, drain a can of chickpeas and divide it in half (save one half to make the same salad to take to work later in the week). Dump the chickpeas into a big bowl. Add ½ cup cooked millet. Grate 2 medium carrots using the largest hole on a box grater and add them to the salad. Crumble ¼ cup feta over the salad and add 2 tablespoons golden raisins (both of these are optional). Add 1 heaping tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, the juice of ½ lemon, and ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt. Hold a small handful of fresh Italian or curly parsley over the bowl and use scissors to snip the leaves directly into the bowl. Toss and eat.

DAY 3: Stir-Fried Millet With Spinach and Sriracha

Serves 1
To make the stir-fry, pour enough canola oil (or grapeseed oil) to cover a medium skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. Add ¾ cup cooked millet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until it starts to pop in the pan. Fold in 2 big handfuls of spinach, sprinkle with 2 teaspoons tamari (or low-sodium soy sauce) and cook, folding constantly, until the spinach wilts. Move the millet and spinach over so there's room in the pan and pour 1 beaten egg into the empty space in the pan. Sprinkle with 1 scant teaspoon sugar and cook, folding the egg in with the other good stuff, until the egg is scrambled. Fold in a thinly sliced scallion, slide the whole mess into a bowl, scribble Sriracha over the top, and eat up.

DAY 4: Root Vegetable and Millet Patties With Harissa Yogurt Sauce

Serves 1
Mash ½ cup leftover cooked root vegetables and chickpeas with ½ cup cooked millet, 1 teaspoon flour (white, whole wheat, or rice flour will all work), and 1 teaspoon salt. Pat into two equal-size patties about ¾ inch thick. Stir ½ teaspoon of the leftover harissa into ¼ cup of plain Greek yogurt. Pour enough olive oil to cover a medium skillet and heat it over medium-high heat until the patties sizzle when you put them in. Cook the patties for about 4 minutes on each side, until the outsides are deep brown and crunchy. Remove the patties from the skillet and put them on a bed of steamed spinach; dollop the harissa yogurt sauce on top, and serve.

DAY 5: Pureed Root Vegetable Soup With Millet

Serves 1
Warm 1 heaping cup of the cooked veggies and chickpeas with 1 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock or water) in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Puree with a stick blender or in the jar of a regular blender, adding more liquid if needed to make a smooth soupy soup. Stir in 1 tablespoon butter (optional). To serve, ladle the soup into a big bowl and dump ¼ cup millet into the center. Dollop with a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt and serve.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-28852/meal-prep-sunday-a-moroccan-millet-that-will-make-your-skin-glow-5-minute-twea.html

Click Here For More Articles