It’s time for another Meal Prep Sunday / Meal Prep Monday. This time I’m coming at ya with the THANKSGIVING LEFTOVER EDITION…which means lots of turkey and lots of cranberries. Don’t worry though, this is anything but the traditional leftover turkey sandwich and these meals will even help you get back on track before another whirlwind of holidays hit.
This week I even decided to try to put my snacks for work into a little “bento box” to avoid my morning rush of snack gathering before work – although I really just used a single compartment meal prep container and made my own little box thanks to some jumbo and regular size silicone baking cups. If you’ve got kids or really like the idea of making your own snack box, there are a ton of bento boxes available on Amazon – check out this SmartBentoBox or this YumBox snack size bento box. That’s a lot of links…sorry. But there are more options than just plain old meal prep containers out there, and you deserve to know 😉
Here’s what’s in the snack boxes:
- 12 baby carrots with 2 tbsp Sabra original hummus
- 2 hard boiled eggs (I just eat the whites)
- Cranberry White Chocolate Protein Energy Bites
Aaaaand here’s what’s on the menu this week…recipes and nutrition info are down below.
Day 1:
- Breakfast: Dirty Chai Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich
- Lunch: Cranberry Balsamic Chicken with Green Beans and Red Potatoes
- Dinner: Parmesan Kale Turkey Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate (Recipe in eBook)
- Workout: Leg Day
Day 2:
- Breakfast: Cranberry Orange Overnight Oats
- Lunch: Turkey, Broccoli and Wild Rice Soup
- Dinner: Cranberry Balsamic Chicken with Green Beans and Red Potatoes
- Workout: Chest Day
Day 3:
- Breakfast: Blueberry Coconut Overnight Oats (recipe in eBook)
- Lunch: Parmesan Kale Turkey Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate (Recipe in eBook)
- Dinner: Turkey, Broccoli and Wild Rice Soup
- Workout: HIIT/Circuit training
Day 4:
- Breakfast: Cranberry Orange Overnight Oats
- Lunch: Cranberry Balsamic Chicken with Green Beans and Red Potatoes
- Dinner: Parmesan Kale Turkey Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate (recipe in eBook)
- Workout: Leg Day
Day 5:
- Breakfast: Blueberry Coconut Overnight Oats (recipe in eBook)
- Lunch: Turkey, Broccoli and Wild Rice Soup
- Dinner: Cranberry Balsamic Chicken with Green Beans and Red Potatoes
- Workout: Shoulders & Triceps
Day 6:
- Breakfast: Cranberry Orange Overnight Oats
- Lunch: Parmesan Kale Turkey Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate (recipe in eBook)
- Dinner: Turkey, Broccoli and Wild Rice Soup
- Workout: Rest Day
Yield: 1 serving • Calories per serving: 318 • Fat: 8 g • Protein: 21 g • Carbs: 38 g • Fiber: 7 g • Sugar: 12 g • Sodium: 165 mg • Cholesterol: 1 mg
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbsp cranberry sauce (I used Trader Joe’s brand for the nutrition info)
- 2 tbsp Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp vanilla whey protein, divided
- 1 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp orange zest
Directions:
- Whisk Greek yogurt and 1 tbsp vanilla whey until smooth. Set aside.
- Combine all other ingredients except cranberry sauce and pour into a resealable container.
- Top oats with cranberry sauce and refrigerate overnight. Top with Greek yogurt mixture before serving.
Calories per serving: 317 • Fat: 11 g • Protein: 14 g • Carbs: 39 g • Fiber: 7 g • Sugar: 13 g • Sodium: 109 mg • Cholesterol: 1 mg
Parmesan Kale [Turkey] Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate (recipe in eBook)
Yield: 6 servings • Calories per serving: 397 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 37 g • Carbs: 49 g • Fiber: 9 g • Sugar: 4 g • Sodium: 486 mg • Cholesterol: 66 mg
Cranberry Balsamic Chicken with Green Beans and Red Potatoes (recipe from Cotter Crunch)
Yield: 4 servings • Calories per serving: 298 • Fat: 6 g • Protein: 28 g • Carbs: 33 g • Fiber: 5 g • Sugar: 11 g • Sodium: 208 mg • Cholesterol: 72 mg
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 1/2 lbs quartered mini red potatoes
- 3 cups green beans, steamed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary
- Salt and pepper to taste
Marinade Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup cranberries
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp tamari sauce or gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black peppers
- 2 garlic cloves
- Place chicken in baking dish and set aside.
- Pulse all marinade ingredients together in a food processor for about 20-30 seconds. Pour over chicken and allow to marinate at least 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a half size baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
- Toss quartered potatoes with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes until fork tender and golden.
- Bake chicken at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.
Yield: 6 servings • Calories per serving: 251 • Fat: 5 g • Protein: 21 g • Carbs: 24 g • Fiber: 3 g • Sugar: 4 g • Sodium: 414 mg • Cholesterol: 47 mg
- 3/4 lb cooked turkey, chopped into bite size pieces
- 2/3 cup O Organics Wild Rice mix
- 2/3 cup chopped yellow onion
- 2/3 cup chopped celery
- 2/3 cup sliced carrots
- 14 oz bag of frozen broccoli florets
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 low sodium chicken broth
- 10.5 oz can low sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
- 2 tsp Flavor God Garlic Lover’s Seasoning
- 1 tsp Flavor God Everything Seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp ghee
- In a large pot, melt ghee over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and Flavor God seasonings and sauté for 5-10 minutes or until carrots begin to soften.
- Add chicken broth, cream of chicken, wild rice mix and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Once the broth has reached a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until rice is just cooked.
- Add chopped turkey and frozen broccoli, remove from heat and cover for an additional 10 minutes until turkey is heated and broccoli is thawed. (If serving right away, you can keep the pot on the heat for this part, but if using for meal prep you don’t want the broccoli to sit in hot broth for too long.)
Containers I used for this prep:
- Eat Clean Live Clean Meal Prep Containers – 7 for $10.77 on Amazon
- Leftover containers from when I was trying a meal prep service for a hot minute (I dumped them because the meals were expensive and way too high in calories/fat for me even though it was a healthy meal prep service). I’ve searched high and low for where to buy these containers in anything but bulk and these Freshware containers are the closest I’ve gotten – 15 for $12.99 on Amazon
- Meals to Go round meal prep containers – 10 for $6.86 on Amazon
- Mason jars for overnight oats, although I usually use Ziploc Twist n’ Loc Containers – 6 for $9.79 on Amazon but you can also find them in the grocery store. Great for soup too!
