Ingredient Prep 1/15/25
My 2025 resolution was to get into the habit of prepping ingredients for the week! I adore a nourishing meal, that actually tastes GOOD! Here are a few of the first prepped ingredients of 2025 💃
Herby Ranch
Use it as a dip for veggies, chips, crunchy curls, fries, whatever your pretty heart desires!!!! I also used this as a dressing for a bean salad that I’ll tell you about later in this post!
Butter Bean Ranch Salad
This salad, next to some chicken, topped with feta and pickled onions is truly magical! I had this exact combo three days in a row for lunch, and it made my heart smile every single time with it’s simplicity, bright flavors, and nourishment!! All of the flavors get to know each other while it sits in the fridge, so it tastes even better after a few days!
Liquid Gold
No shit, I think I made my liquid gold dressing over a hundred times in 2024. If I was stranded on an island, and got to bring 3 things with me, I would bring a bag of crunchy curls, a large knife, and an enormous jar of my liquid gold dressing! Kidding! Kind of!!
It is obviously spectacular on a salad, but I also like to use it to marinate chicken, which I did for this weeks ingredient prep! I also love to drizzle it over any meal that needs a little pizzaz! ✨
Just throw everything in a jar and use an immersion blender to blend! You can also use a blender of course! If you don’t have either of those, no worries, you can just add everything together, and mince you garlic or micro-blade it in. Then give it a good shake or whisk to emulsify, and you are golden! Pun fully intended!
Should keep in the fridge for 4-6 days! The olive oil may harden in the fridge, but to fix that, just re-blend or give it an aggressive shake!!!!
If you plan on making the liquid gold chicken thighs (which I think you should), then double this recipe so you have extra to marinate your chicken!
Liquid Gold Chicken Thighs!
You just need however many chicken thighs you’d like to make (I did 8 and it made me 3 meals), and the liquid gold dressing!
Marinate your chicken thighs for a few hours or overnight, with the liquid gold dressing!
Sear your thighs on both sides in a hot Dutch oven or cast iron skillet
Then put them all in the Dutch oven (I had to sear them in two rounds) and throw that in the oven at 380 degrees!
Cook these until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees! Should be about around 5-10 minutes!
You can also skip the searing step, and just put them right in the oven and cook them in there for a little longer, to reach 165 degrees! You won’t get as nice of a sear this way, but they will still taste delicious with less hassle!
Once they come out of the oven, let them rest for a few minutes and cut into strips!
Pickled Onions!!!!
I just adore a pickled onion! They add a nice pizazz to any meal with their sweet vinegary bite, AND they are beautiful! What is not to love! I love a sweet pickled onion, so if you want yours a little less sweet, simply add less sugar!
One red onion - thinly sliced
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
Generous pinch of salt
Cracked black pepper
I like to throw in a few pink peppercorns for an even brighter pink color!
1/3 cup white sugar (you can sub maple syrup or honey here too!)
Mix together your sugar, vinegar, warm water and salt and pepper until the sugar has fully dissolved! (Try a bit of this mixture, and adjust to your liking! You can add more salt, sugar, vinegar or water here depending on what you like!)
Pour mixture over your thinly sliced onions! If this doesn’t cover them, you can add more warm water or more vinegar!
Let this sit without a lid, until it comes to room temp!
Then add your lid and put em in the fridge! They will be ready in about two hours, but the longer the sit the better they will be!
Rosemary Vanilla Syrup
I’m having SO much fun with this rosemary vanilla syrup! I’ve been taking it with me on my morning coffee runs and adding it to my lattes right in my car!!!! Top notch self care!!!! (If you are curious about my coffee order, it is currently a 16 oz iced latte, with 2%, an extra shot of espresso, extra ice and light honey! Then I add a splash of rosemary vanilla syrup!)
Add the sugar, water and rosemary to a small saucepan, and bring to a light boil
Let this boil for 5 minutes, and then turn down the heat so it is just lightly simmering!
Let it simmer for 15 minutes
Strain out the rosemary with a sieve
Once it has cooled for a few minutes, add your vanilla extract and a pinch or two of salt
Batta bing, batta boom! You’ve got yourself some rosemary vanilla syrup!
I hope you find as much joy and ease in these recipes as I have! Cheers to more ingredient prepping in 2025, to give us all more time to spend with friends, chasing our dreams, resting, and doing whatever the heck else you want to do with your time! I love love love you bitches, respectfully!
xoxo, Bria
Thanks for sharing!!! Excited for your Substack. PS your handwriting is so whimsical and fun!
so excited for this!!