Friday: Costco Restock, Batch Cooking for Vacation & A Homemade Cava Bowl
This morning we used some of the bacon I’d cooked earlier this week, had toast, and my 11-year-old requested another baked potato with breakfast. She absolutely loves baked potatoes, so I just popped one in the microwave, added butter and a little garlic salt, and served it with bacon.
Then I cleaned up the kitchen, loaded up the four younger kids, and headed to Target and Costco.
We have a really busy weekend coming up, and next week is our last full week before our family lake trip. I knew if I didn’t shop today, I’d end up fighting the weekend crowds—and it’s supposed to rain. There is nothing worse than coming out of Costco with an overflowing cart while it’s pouring rain.
So Friday morning Costco it was.
Honestly? It was delightfully empty.
My Favorite Costco Bowl
While we were there, I noticed Costco has the large Pyrex glass bowls that I use constantly in my kitchen.
These have completely earned my stamp of approval.
I use mine for:
- letting bread dough rise
- holding an entire cut watermelon
- making huge salads
- marinating meat
- mixing big batches of food
I also really prefer glass over metal for sticky things like bread dough. Metal bowls eventually get scratched from scrubbing, but glass cleans up beautifully every time. It doesn’t hold odors, it doesn’t stain, and I can always get it completely clean.
If you have a Costco membership and you’ve seen that bowl sitting there, I genuinely think it’s worth buying.
Costco Protein Haul
This shopping trip looked a little different because I’m shopping for two things right now:
- This coming week at home.
- Our upcoming lake trip.
I’m basically planning to double-cook everything this week so I can freeze meals to bring with us.
Here’s what came home:
- Two whole chickens to roast
- 12 pounds of ground beef (two Costco packs)
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Two-pack pork tenderloin
- A prepared pineapple chicken (freezer convenience meal)
- Burnt ends
The prepared pineapple chicken caught my eye because it reminded me of the cilantro-lime chicken Costco used to sell. I thought it would make a great quick lunch at the lake with some rice.
My 13-year-old also convinced me to grab the burnt ends. He absolutely loves them, and I realized they’d make a perfect high-protein snack after a long day on the boat.
When you’ve spent all afternoon swimming and eating chips, sometimes everyone just needs protein.
Lunch
For lunch, I finished the last of the grilled chicken from earlier this week.
I made a quick one-pan stir-fry for Chris and me, using the leftover grilled chicken with vegetables.
I heated a little oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, added about half a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables, and let them cook for about 5 minutes to heat through and cook off some of that extra moisture.
Then I added about 1½ cups of diced leftover grilled chicken and seasoned everything with splashes of liquid aminos and rice wine vinegar, garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of honey.
Once the chicken was hot, I pushed everything to the side, added some cold cooked rice, seasoned that similarly, and then tossed the whole thing together.
Boom. Lunch.
The kids finished off more of yesterday’s focaccia pizza with fruit and vegetables.
That pizza just keeps giving.
Two Whole Chickens
Right after lunch I got the two whole chickens into the oven.
This is still one of my favorite ways to cook whole chickens.
Whole Roasted Chickens
- 2 whole chickens
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
Rub the seasonings over the chickens and underneath the skin as much as possible.
Place them in a large glass Pyrex baking dish.
Cover with parchment paper, then tightly with foil.
Bake at 300°F for several hours until they’re fall-apart tender. I let it roast for about 4 hours today.
Once they cool, I pull all the meat off.
Some went into the refrigerator for this weekend, and the rest went straight into the freezer for our lake trip.
Future me will be very thankful.
I also sliced all the Costco bagels and portioned them into the fridge and freezer. Costco bagels are great, but they tend to get moldy quickly…so I do this every time we buy them.
Cookie Bars for the Freezer
While the chickens cooked, my 16-year-old and newly four-year-old teamed up to make another batch of cookie bars.
Earlier this week they made chocolate chip cookie bars.
Today they decided on M&M cookie bars.
Why not?
Those are headed for the freezer too, so we’ll have easy desserts ready to bring on vacation.
Dinner: Homemade Cava Bowls
Dinner was something I’d been looking forward to.
A while back I’d made my loaf pan chicken and frozen it specifically for a night like this.
I thawed it, warmed it up, reheated some leftover rice, and built homemade Cava-style bowls.
Alongside the chicken and rice, I made a quick hummus dressing.
Creamy Hummus Dressing
- ¼ cup hummus
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Garlic powder
- Dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
Whisk until smooth. Add a splash of water if needed to thin it into a pourable dressing.
I also tossed together tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion with my balsamic vinaigrette.
Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic powder
Whisk until combined.
Then everyone built their bowls with:
- Rice
- Chicken
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Red onion
- Kalamata olives
- Green olives
- Hummus dressing
The only thing we were missing was feta cheese.
I don’t usually keep feta around because I can’t eat dairy, but my teen definitely would have added some.
The only thing I’d change next time is cutting the chicken into slightly smaller pieces. I originally sliced it when I first cooked it a couple weeks ago, and after reheating today I realized smaller bites would have been even better.
Otherwise, it was a really solid homemade version of Cava….and we didn’t have to wait in line for 35 minutes.
Looking Ahead
After dinner I finished pulling all the meat off those two chickens and portioned everything into containers for the refrigerator and freezer.
Now we’re stocked with cooked chicken for the weekend and for vacation.
The ground beef is waiting its turn. I’ll tackle all 12 pounds on Sunday morning.
Tomorrow is going to be an unusual day because we’ll be gone almost the entire day (big homeschool meeting with all the parents from our co-op), so I’m not sure what tomorrow’s Kitchen Log will look like. I may have to recruit Chris to snap a few food photos for me.
And tomorrow night, if the weather cooperates, Chris and I are supposed to go to the Chris Stapleton concert.
The cute outfit I’d originally planned has officially been abandoned.
If the concert happens, I’ll be dressed like I’m heading out on a rainy hike: raincoat, water sandals, quick-drying clothes, and probably a baseball hat.
Not exactly glamorous—but hopefully dry enough to enjoy the music.