Even with three weeks left in the year, we are going to keep our meal prep strong so that we can ring in the new year with good health and good nourishment. Many say meal prepping feels restrictive and controlling, but to us, meal prepping means having more flexibility with mix-matching foods based on our moods. And we are in the mood for some hot, easy dishes that will get us through this season.
Menu Breakdown
Breakfast Recipe One: Pork Loin and Eggs
Lean protein, eggs, and a side of red peppers will start your day off right and help keep you full until lunchtime. We set aside a few slices of the pork loin from our Island Spiced Pork Loin dinner recipe and served it with a fried egg and sauteed sweet red bell peppers. You can serve this in between a biscuit and even add a slice of cheese or even make a breakfast burrito out of these ingredients. Fill it with additional ingredients such as avocado and even a potato hash.
Breakfast Recipe Two: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
This apple cinnamon oatmeal is a warm breakfast that smells just like apple pie. You get bites of soft sweet apples simmered with cinnamon spices and sweetened with honey on top of warm oatmeal. It is so simple to make and you can easily take this with you if you are on the go. Feel free to add extra toppings such as chopped pecans and nutmeg spices.
Lunch Recipe One: Salmon Stuffed Avocado
Canned salmon is one of the most valuable pantry staples anyone should have on hand. This recipe is an easy no-cook meal where we combine canned salmon with avocados. This meal is full of omega 3 fatty acids from both the avocado and salmon. What you get is a salmon salad with fresh apples and veggies mixed in a spicy sriracha mayo sauce. This is a great low carb meal that will keep you full and fill you with many nutrients you need to get you through the day.
Lunch Recipe Two: Turkey Toscana Soup
This is a healthy turkey soup that is packed with soft tender potato slices, collard greens, and turkey sausage with Italian flavors. This soup is gluten-free and dairy-free with a rich broth that comes together in one pot in less than 30 minutes. The great thing about this soup is that you can easily swap out the ingredients and still get the same great flavors. If you want to keep this low carb, substitute potatoes with turnips. You can also use fresh kale or spinach in place of collard greens. Feel free to also enjoy it with a fresh crisp salad.
Dinner Recipe One: Turmeric Chicken with Coconut Braised Collard Greens
This oven-baked chicken and braised collard greens is the ultimate comfort meal with so much great flavor. We love roasted chicken because it’s easy to bake, but we leveled up the flavor with some turmeric spice and what we got was a beautiful golden brown chicken. You can also remove the skin from the chicken thighs to keep the calories lower or you can use your favorite chicken pieces such as chicken breast on the bone or even chicken tenderloin. We paired it with coconut braised collard greens with butternut squash. If you’re not a fan of collard greens, then you have to try this recipe and you might just change your mind. Cooking the collard greens in coconut milk and the butternut squash makes them taste sweet, soft, and rich.
Dinner Recipe Two: Island Spiced Pork Loin with Apple & Butternut Squash Hash
This pork loin is flavored with a sweet and spicy island glaze with the flavors of chili powder, cinnamon, garlic, and brown sugar with a little bit of heat from sriracha sauce. We seared it to get a good crust on the outside and baked it in the oven to get it moist and tender inside that just melts in your mouth. We served it with roasted apples and butternut squash, but you can easily serve this on a bed of rice pilaf, a side salad, or even in a baguette and make a hot sandwich out of it.
Meal Planning and Preparation Tips
- When it comes to meal prepping, we always try to keep our grocery list simple by using ingredients in different ways. For this meal plan, we used apples in our oatmeal, for our salmon stuffed avocado salad, and roasted it with butternut squash for our Island Spiced Pork Loin. We also saved some of our pork loins for our breakfast meal. We also used collard greens and coconut milk in both our Turkey Toscana Soup and in our braised greens.
- We also used simple cooking methods and streamlined our cooking steps so that we can spend the least amount of time in the kitchen. For this week, both our breakfast meals take less than 10 minutes. Our salmon lunch meal required no cooking, and the turkey soup was made in one pot to lessen the number of dishes. And we baked our chicken and pork loin in the oven.
If you enjoyed these recipes, try some of our free recipes:
