Whats for Dinner | A Week of Cooking at My House | Crystal Lopez

Here is what I am cooking for my large family this week.

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About Us:
We are a large blended family with nine kids- eight boys and one girl. My husband just learned about his daughter in 2018 not knowing he conceived her in high school. (Here is her channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn_C5r86g5KCxLWxu58Y3fg). We moved to San Antonio, Texas in 2018 to be near her (and my in-laws) after living in the Dallas area. I had lived in DFW all of my life and so had our youngest five kids. We currently have five kiddos still at home ranging in age from 16-6. Our three grown boys live in the DFW area. Here is the first time we met her in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DnnWEjyTnw

We have homeschooled since 2012. I have been an online influencer since 2008. I have made a full time income from my blog (https://crystalandcomp.com/) for about 8 years. I also run an online business with my business partner where we teach bloggers how to grow and run six figure blogs (https://www.facebook.com/groups/learntoblogbetter).

I’m so glad you’re here!

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Hello you guys it is Crystal Lopez here from Crystal enom.com how are you doing today I hope you are having an amazing day all right so I am going to show you what we cooked in a week at our house um this we had some really really yummy

Things this video is actually this is our meal plan from about 3 weeks ago we’re running a little bit behind over here so um anyway let me show you what we had so this first night I am taking some chicken thighs that were in the freezer this is actually not boneless

Skinless this is bone in and skin on chicken thighs that I buy at Costco and they are frozen and individual like you buy a big thing of it that is broken down into six individual packs that have three to four or so thighs in each one so I am GNA

Cook all of this up and I actually did not they didn’t thaw out very well so I’m having to kind of pull them apart a little bit um but all is well it totally ended up just fine I was able to pull them apart wash your hands when you’re

Done you’re fine we’re going to take um a cookie sheet and put some parchment paper down I always like to use parchment paper anytime I am using a cook sheet and then we are going to add some seasonings and spices um I love this Kinder’s garlic and herb and then we’re

Also going to put some honey on top and we are going to bake it in the oven until it’s until it’s bubbly and brown super good All right so I had been reading about some of the the great health benefits of is it do you pronounce it Pharaoh or far I I don’t know which one is correct um but this is something that I wish they offered in bulk at Costco but they don’t

The Sprouts that’s near me they have like I don’t know 16 to 32 o packages of this it is a grain and it’s actually a grain that’s really good for you um and so I’m going to make some of that up and for some going to start off by boiling

It and um you kind of cook it like rice but when it’s done I’m actually going to take it and and pour it out on a cookie sheet and let it kind of you don’t want it to get mushy but I want for it to cool because I’m going to turn it into

Kind of like a cold salad it’s really really good and then I’m going to use up some leftover veggies that are in my fridge for this situation I am or for this instance I am using some zucchini typically I will take zucchini or squash and put it on a sheet

Pan but I’ve decided instead to do it on the stove top this time using a skillet with some olive oil and garlic and we’re going to add in a few other things as well it’s going to be very flavorful and yummy I’ve got an onion some mushrooms

And I think I added garlic as well so um yeah we’re going to make that as a side and then we’ll have the Pharaoh or tomorrow and the chicken and it’s going to be Great Okay now I’m going to start pulling together this uh it’s like a it’s a it’s a salad um a cold salad that is using the Pharaoh and I am actually going to make like a little simple vinegret with some lemon and olive oil and crushed red pepper and a few other ingredients I

Feel like I put fresh parsley in here which is actually really good for you um and then we’re going to mix it with the grain and uh it’s really really good I gave a little bit to even though my kids were not familiar with Pharaoh um or

Farro however you say it um I gave them all a little bit to try and they weren’t super super objectionable to it I’m digging out the lemon seeds I didn’t do a very good job of juicing that lemon um you also put a little bit of Dijon

Mustard in it as well but I was able to save some of this and eat it for lunch a couple of days just as like an extra little addition to my lunch um this is great if you have like say a salmon filet or a piece of chicken um or even

Just some vegetables and put them on top and eat it all together it is really really good and the red pepper flakes give it a very subtle kick but they are a really nice addition it was so yummy I cannot wait to make this again to shake ground bre so clearly I

Have two things going on here at one time or a couple of things going on here at one time I keep kind of interchanging while I’m working on this grain salad I am also um which really I’m working on the vinegrette for the grain salad I’m also working on that stove top uh

Mushroom and uh zucchini combo over there so I just Googled it and I asked Google to tell me how to pronounce this word and it’s Pharaoh so I will try to remember that so that I don’t have to second guess myself all the time um so

We are making a pharaoh salad that is incredible we’re using fresh garlic I’ve been using fresh garlic more and more and I’m not hating it so the health benefits are really good for it so glad we’re doing that all right we’re going to just keep moving right along here We do you w do you want to come along with me come along with me you and we a’t got to do something get it right to keep running grab the it and Tom’s away I let fade and we ain’t to do something Us I’m going to control we going to make a big sound going to break them to do something it right Running It it and Tom’s Let do let Tonight [Applause] Something all right so for this night I am making the kids some all-in-one um kind of mock chicken alfredo I’m using some chickpea spiral pasta that I have and some leftover chicken alfredo from a few nights before and turning it into um just a quick one pot meal and then for

Myself and Lenny I am heating us up some leftover uh turmeric chicken vegetable soup that’s great for inflammation so this has peas carrots chicken leaks onions turmeric um I think I had a little bit of cayenne pepper in there super good and then this was for the

Kids PA it with a vegetable and we’re good to go all right now this is a different night and I am going to make this crockpot creamy tusin chicken for the kids but I forgot to get the crockpot going so I forgot to get it

Laid out and ready to go in the morning so that it was ready yeah know later in the day that didn’t happen that’s okay we’re going to turn this into a Skillet Mill and actually I’m realizing as I’m adding this recipe to my binder that I’ve already printed this recipe once

Before and made it a while back so all is well super delicious I did order this really pretty wooden swivel lid salt holder I’ve got some pink Himalayan salt in there super cute I love it all right we’ve got a couple of cloves I think that’s three cloves of fresh garlic

We’re going to peel it and chop it up I’ve got a little bit of olive oil going in my large electric skillet we’re going to add this garlic to that and we are going to make some Tuscan Chicken So as I’m kind of lightly Browning this chicken here I do want to let you know that these nights that I’m making things like this that are lots of meat um and this is going to have some pasta in it and a creamy sauce I am actually not

Eating these things things on these nights I am actually cooking different things for myself and Lenny I’m actually very strictly following um or pretty strictly following some uh a Mediterranean diet with low glycemic things um and it’s working out really well so I am making us large batches of

Different soups like that chicken turmeric soup that you saw I have been making a sweet potato apple soup um now sometimes I will take like the leftover sheet pan veggies and have them the next day for lunch I’ve really been limiting my meat consumption to

Only a couple of times a week um I am working really hard to um you know I’ve I’ve got to bring some inflammation down and um I’ve got to watch my sugar and intake and so um just being very very mindful of that right now so there will be additional videos that

I share with you that have just the anti-inflammatory cooking in it just so that you can kind of get an idea for some of the things that I’ve been making for us that are super yummy um we are introducing some of it to the kids they

Don’t always love it all um but that’s okay we’re going to slowly introduce it to them get them trying it getting them try getting them to try new flavors like the tum um and even Curry and things like that um so watch for some more videos on

That um but I just wanted to kind of give you a a full look of or an understanding of of everything that’s going on as far as what our dinners are looking looking like these days all right so we’ve got our chicken Browning there in that big electric skillet and

Um we just want to get it cooked all the way through and then I am going to make some sheet pan veggies with the broccoli and cauliflower and again I will hold on to some of this uh the leftover I will keep all the leftover vegetables here

I’ll keep all the leftovers period but these leftover veggies that is a great lunch for me the next day I’ll just have uh the vegetables maybe over some quinoa or just by themselves it’s really good and it’s filling and it’s good for Me All right so we’re using that new berky did you see our video where I shared with you um how we put the set up the berkie and uh priming your filters and all of that where you using it in our cooking we’re using it for our daily water

Drinking I am really liking it so we are going to use that water to boil some noodles and we’re finishing up the chicken here we want to cook it all the way through um and then we are adding some of the sundried tomatoes among some other Things So in case you’re wondering what we do with leftovers most of us will eat leftovers we’ll either have them the next day for lunch because we’re all home we homeschool and work from home so um we will use them as a lunch uh option or sometimes I will take the leftovers

And just serve them two nights in a row if there’s enough um or reinvented into something else which this particular meal I really wouldn’t be able to do that because it’s already you know got the pasta and the meat and the sauce and everything but if I had just leftover

Chicken and vegetables that weren’t in a creamy sauce or anything I could easily turn that into a casserole of some sort um for example or you know if I have leftover chicken with certain like leftover chicken with beans and rice maybe I’ll take it and turn it into quad

Ideas or nachos or something like that you get the idea anyway we’re adding some spinach here this was the kids really liked this um I feel like I had made it before and I think that’s why the recipe was already in my binder because I found it and it looked Good I’m just using some half and half here you could even use like an almond milk or coconut milk or a half and half half almond half coconut or you know heavy cream you could use any of those and we’re going to add in a little bit of Parmesan as Well And this is more of that chickpea pasta it is really foamy like it makes the water real foamy when you’re cooking it but other than that it’s tasty it’s not bad at all I don’t get complaints from my kids about It all right we’re just waiting for this to thicken up a little bit and then we’ve got that pasta going over on the stove and you’ll see what I’m talking about here the longer that this cooks and kind of starts to boil the foam fo it gets really foamy on top that’s a

That’s a spinach gone Rogue but see how frothy that gets um it’s kind of weird at first you’re like what is going on here but it’s fine that is what it does it’s a bean essentially so I mean it is it’s a chickpea that these are made out of these pastas and

So they’re going to be a little starchier right all as well we’re just just going to add that to the skillet mix it all together serve it up I don’t have any pictures of it plated but super Easy okay and the last meal for this week we are going to do a slow cooker rotisserie chicken I actually have this recipe over on my site at Crystal long comp.com just Google rotisserie chicken and I like to start with an onion and I put a whole onion just sliced into

Pieces down in the bottom of the crock pot and then I put the whole fryer on top of that make sure that if it has any of the innards in it like the gizzards or anything like that that it’ll be in a little baggie in the cavity of the

Chicken you’ll take that out um at Costco I buy two large uh Ro two large whole chickens whole friers you may see them labeled that way you get two in a pack at Costco Sam sells them the exact same way um but I freeze them and then I

Will defrost them one at a time and use them just like this to make a homemade rotisserie chicken it’s really yummy so we’re going to add we’ve got that onion at the bottom we’re going to add in some garlic and then I will uh get that fryer

Added or that whole chicken added to the slow cooker and I think you’ll be really impressed with what we do with it um it’s not what you’re Thinking So much emotions want to pick a with everything seems so good I guess I can’t help Myself would you call me in the I’m calling up cuz I’m right under the stars would you leaving this Mar baby I’m the one who’s breaking hearts the one who’s [Applause] Breaking okay so we’re going to take some olive oil and coat it on the outside of this fryer this large whole chicken okay we want to make sure that it’s evenly all over the outside of the chicken this is going to help keep it moist and this is

Also going to help all these seasonings that we’re going to put on here stick to it so we’re going to do some salt and some pepper and this is some uh Pink Himalayan salt you can use sea salt you can use table salt whatever you want to use

Kosher this is the Kirkland’s version or the Costco’s version of Mrs Dash and I am just going to put some of that on the outside and then some parsley the green is great color um so we’ve got this chicken sitting on top of that onion and garlic mixture we’re not adding any

Water no liquid at all none that chicken goes on top the olive oil and then all those seasonings just like that pop the lid on it and cook it on high for 6 hours or on low for 8 to 10 and dinner will be done all right guys thank you so

Much for watching I hope that we will see you in the next video we have lots more to come thanks guys