Shrimp and Asparagus Salad

This meal prep idea could not be any easier. Plus, it's delicious.  I cut up asparagus, season it with a Mediterranean seasoning blend, and stem it.  I use a bamboo basket that I just put over a pan of boiling water.  If you do it this way, you just have to check a couple things.

Tip 1: Make sure that the basket fits on top and won't slip down.
Tip 2: Make sure there is enough water that it won't dry out during the cooking process (I've made this mistake before, not pretty) and make sure the water is not so deep that it reaches the basket
Tip 3: Use parchment paper.  It's great for easy clean up.
Tip 4: Make sure the parchment paper does not cover the whole space.  There needs to be empty spaces so that the steam can rise up.

I steam the asparagus for 4 minutes.  While that is steaming, I get my shrimp ready and season it with Mediterranean seasoning as well.  Once the asparagus has steamed for 4 minutes, I add the shrimp and top and steam everything for two minutes.  Six minutes and it's done.

I add this to a salad mixture for a yummy easy salad.  I prefer it with kale.  Also I use a mustard dressing.  The mustard, Mediterranean seasoning and shrimp compliment each other so well.  Now if you are trying to use less dressing on your salads, just add more seasoning.

Happy Meal Prepping!

Meal Prep Ideas - Turkey Lettuce Wraps

This could possibly be one of my favorite things to eat.  It is easy and delicious!

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

12 ounces ground turkey

1 Tbsp olive oil

8 ounces mushroom, chopped

½ onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

3 Tbsp McCormick Asian Seasoning

Ingredients For Serving

8 - 10 butter lettuce leaves

2 ounces Japanese Somen Noodles

Sriracha

Directions

1. Cook the Somen Noodles as per package directions
2. Brown the turkey in the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until no longer pink.
3. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic and cook until the mushrooms soften.
4. Add the soy sauce and Asian Seasoning and cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
5. To serve: add a small amount of noodles into each lettuce leaf, top with the turkey mixture, and drizzle with Sriracha, if desired. Wrap the lettuce leaf to enclose the filling.

Printable Recipe

Meal Prep Ideas - Salads

I love salads but I hate getting the premade ones at the grocery.  Half the time I find lettuce that isn't good.  Then I'm disappointed. So I make my own. Our salads are not boring either.  I think that's one of the reason why people dislike salads.  They just picture a pile of lettuce.  (That's how my sister in law is)

Power Greens Salad

I also love salads because they are so easy to make.  It makes meal prep day go by a lot faster.  This week we had two different salads for lunch. First one, I'll call the Power Greens Salad.  The greens are baby spinach, baby red and green chards, and baby kale. I sliced red onions and a red bell pepper for added taste and color. I also add chicken.  You can bake, grill, slow cook the chicken. Whatever is your preference.  The salad dressing is the most difficult part.  It can turn a seemingly healthy meal into an unhealthy one.  So watch what you get.  For me, a tablespoon of dressing is enough. That helps keep my calorie count down.

Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw

For this Chickpea and Broccoli Slaw, I bought a bag of broccoli slaw, already cut up and added with other ingredients.  I added red onions and chickpeas to it.  It also has a side of cucumbers, chicken, and hummus. Hummus can be a great subistute for salad dressing.

Two simple salads that are not boring.

Enjoy,
Sothea

Meal Prep Ideas - Salmon Cakes

We are meal preppers.  Every Sunday is meal prep Sunday.  Doing this helps us stay on track.  We try to apply the 80/20 rule.  80 percent of our meals for the week are healthy.  Having meals already ready makes it so we won't reach for something easy and highly processed.

One of the meals for the week included Salmon Cakes.  It is a very simple recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup diced red onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cans salmon (about 6 ounces per can)

½ cup coconut flour

2 eggs beaten

3 tbsp light mayonnaise

2 tbsp mustard

2 tsp paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Drain salmon
3. Mix all ingredients
4. Brush 12 cup muffin pan with olive oil
5. Add mixture to fill each cup, pat down with spoon
6. Bake for 20 minutes

Printable Recipe

We had this with asparagus and Royal Blends Rice.  This one had a combination of light brown rice, red quinoa and freekeh. We love this blend because it cooks a lot faster then regular brown rice.

Happy Meal Prepping!

Meal Prep Ideas - Pancake Muffins

I love pancakes but hate to make them in the morning.  I'm not a morning person.  I'm rather grumpy until I have my morning coffee.  Since I love pancakes and I hate making them in the morning, I've tried baking them with my weekly meal prep.  They are actually pretty good.  

I use Birch Benders Gluten Free Pancake Mix.  We buy ours at Sprouts Market but you can order from Birch Bender's website as well. We've tried other gluten free mixes and we've found that this is the best one.  Their regular pancake mixes are also excellent.

To start off, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Mix the ingredients according to your pancake mix.  I found that whatever it has to make 6-7 pancakes will make 6 pancake muffins.  Put in liners and back for 20 minutes.

Also you can add other things to the muffins.  For the picture to the right, I added peanut butter chips after I put the mix in the liners.


For the Strawberry Pancakes Muffins, I cut the top off a strawberry and put one in the center of each pancake muffin.

The Bacon Pancake Muffins were inspired by Adventure Time.  Our niece and nephew used to sing the bacon pancake song all the time.  For this one, I cut and cooked the bacon.  I only cooked it for a couple minutes.  I didn't want it to get crispy.   I added the bacon and chopped green onions to the mix.  

For the Almond Butter Pancake Muffins, I melted almond butter in a bowl in the microwave.  Then I added it to the mix.  This one was a more subtle taste. So when you serve it, spread a little almond butter on top for a little added flavor.

Enjoy,

Sothea