By Mid-December. The school is in basketball season. The football season is over. I have started showing up at the basketball games as a fan, not a coach. Sofia is in indoor track season prep. The twins are in seventh-grade life — basketball, soccer, the chaos of middle school.
I have been cooking simpler. Less production. More small dishes. A pot of red chile sauce. A batch of beans. Eggs and chorizo. The energy of the kitchen has settled.
Lisa and I have been having the future Sundays. We talked about Las Cruces. We talked about the move. We talked about timing — the twins graduate high school in 2031. The plan is solid. Six more years.
The road bends. Feed your people. The game is won at the table.
When basketball season started and the kitchen energy finally settled, I leaned hard into the kind of cooking that just works — a big pot of red chile sauce on Sunday, beans going low and slow, eggs and chorizo for whoever needed them. That’s meal prepping in its truest form: not a trend, just a strategy. If you’re feeding people through the chaos of middle school schedules and indoor track and the long stretch toward a plan that’s still six years out, building a strong base on Sunday is how you stay standing the rest of the week.
Meal Planning and Meal Prepping
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr 50 min | Servings: 6–8
Ingredients
- 8–10 dried New Mexico red chiles, stems and seeds removed
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano (Mexican preferred)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt to taste
- 2 lbs dried pinto beans, rinsed and sorted
- 1 smoked ham hock or 4 strips thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 1 lb Mexican chorizo, casings removed
- 8 large eggs
- 2 tbsp neutral oil or lard
- Cooked rice or warm tortillas, for serving
Instructions
- Rehydrate the chiles. Place dried chiles in a saucepan, cover with 3 cups of the broth, and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cook 15 minutes until softened. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Blend the red chile sauce. Transfer softened chiles and their liquid to a blender. Add garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, and paprika. Blend until very smooth, 1–2 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a saucepan, pressing the solids through. Season with salt. Simmer over medium-low heat 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce deepens in color and thickens slightly. Cool and portion into airtight containers for the week.
- Cook the beans. In a large heavy pot, cover rinsed beans with fresh water by 3 inches. Add ham hock or bacon and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim any foam. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes until beans are completely tender. Season generously with salt. Cool and refrigerate in their liquid.
- Brown the chorizo. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chorizo, breaking it up with a spoon. Cook 8–10 minutes until fully browned and slightly crispy at the edges. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.
- Scramble the eggs (for immediate use or next-morning prep). Whisk eggs with a pinch of salt. In the same skillet used for chorizo, cook eggs over medium-low heat, folding gently, until just set. Serve immediately or refrigerate for quick reheating.
- Assemble your week. Build plates throughout the week using red chile sauce over beans and rice, chorizo mixed into scrambled eggs, or red chile drizzled over a warm tortilla with beans. Reheat chile sauce in a small saucepan over low heat with a splash of broth to loosen.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 480 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 11g | Sodium: 720mg