I know it’s Tuesday and all, but this is my Meal Prep Monday post…since I was too pooped after spending half of the day in my kitchen yesterday. I just didnt have it in me to actually sit down and blog about it after. For clarification – it didn’t take me half of a day to meal prep! I was experimenting with some other recipes that will be making an appearance very soon 🙂 Experimenting + meal prepping + (my favorite!) washing dishes + doing laundry at the same time = very long day. Ugh…seriously, why can I not just have a dishwasher and washer/dryer in my own apartment in San Francisco? I’m going to have to move after my lease is up with this place. I hate washing dishes.
Oh, right, we’re here about the food! Not the dishes. So I decided to mix things up a bit this week with my meal prep. I’ve been repeating a lot of the same food combos lately so I figured, why not add some purple in there? And I did. With some purple cauliflower – why is it purple you may ask? I have no idea, but Wikipedia tells me it has antioxidants. It tastes exactly the same as white cauliflower.
I didn’t add enough chili powder to this to make it hot spicy, but feel free to add more! I think this is just enough to give it a good flavor without giving you the spice sniffles. The chickpeas are nice and firm, but not crispy so you can’t spear them with a fork. I paired this with some baked chicken, although I think grilled is always better 🙂
Keep scrolling to the bottom for the rest of my meal prep ideas and nutrition info!
Spicy Garlic Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4
Calories per serving 123 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 medium head purple cauliflower
- 1 cup canned low sodium chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Splash of lemon juice
- Optional topping: Plain non-fat Greek yogurt and parsley
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, toss all ingredients together until cauliflower and chickpeas are evenly coated.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until cauliflower is tender crisp.
Nutrition Facts
Spicy Garlic Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Amount Per Serving
Calories 123 Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Fat 4g6%
Sodium 306mg13%
Carbohydrates 18g6%
Fiber 6g25%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 6g12%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Get your Quest bars here! I love them for a snack – lots of protein and hardly any sugar.
Here’s what I’ve got and nutrition totals for each meal:
Chicken with Spicy Garlic Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas
Calories: 243 • Fat: 5 g • Protein: 32 g • Carbs: 18 g • Fiber: 6 g • Sugar: 3 g • Sodium: 382 mg • Cholesterol: 65 mg
- Recipe above plus 4 oz raw chicken
- Bake chicken at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins.
Ground turkey with Baked Sweet Potato and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Servings: 4 • Calories: 242 • Fat: 1 g • Protein: 32 g • Carbs: 28 g • Fiber: 6 g • Sugar: 9 g • Sodium: 44 mg • Cholesterol: 0 mg
- 16 oz 99% lean ground turkey
- 2 2/3 cup sugar snap peas
- Large sweet potato (~350 grams)
- Optional: olive oil, Emeril’s Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, seasoning salt
- Directions: Cook turkey in large skillet, add in Emeril’s Cajun seasoning if desired. Steam sugar snap peas in microwave: Place sugar snap peas in a microwave safe bowl. Cover bowl with damp paper towel, microwave for 3 minutes. Cut sweet potato in half lengthwise and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder and seasoning salt if desired. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, then increase to 400 degrees for another 10-15 minutes until tender.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Overnight Oats
Calories: 336 • Fat: 12 g • Protein: 24 g • Carbs: 40 g • Fiber: 10 g • Sugar: 8 g • Sodium: 258 mg • Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Recipe here
I stuck everything in the oven at one time – helps save time and energy. The sweet potatoes kind of look like they’re about to get beamed up thanks to the foil and bright oven lights.
The sweet potato got so tender that the skin started to fall off 🙂 Deeeelicious. I love using foil to save me from having to do any cleanup!
Containers you see here:
- Rubbermaid TakeAlongs (square containers)
- Sterilite Ultra Latch Locking Container (holding the ground turkey/sweet potatoes)
- Old peanut butter jars for the overnight oats
I love seeing new ideas for meal prep! The most appealing idea for meal prep is not having to cook every day! However I cannot seem to figure out how to keep my chicken from drying out. It seems that it's dry just after day 1. Any advice?
Hi Amanda! Dry chicken is, unfortunately, a common problem with meal prepping 🙁 It's very hard to avoid with baked chicken, but I find that grilled chicken holds moisture a little better. For seriously yummy meal-prepped chicken, try a slow cooker recipe like this one:
https://www.peanutbutterandfitness.com/2014/04/slow-cooker-chicken-taco-salad-with.html
Or check out this balsamic chicken bake…the chicken is cooked covered in tomatoes, mushrooms and pesto so it stays moist even after sitting in the refrigerator for several days:
https://www.peanutbutterandfitness.com/2013/10/balsamic-chicken-bake.html
Soak your chicken in a salt water bath for 1-3 hours, and it will always turn out delicious, and it will re-heat very well.
Soak your chicken in a salt water bath for 1-3 hours, and it will always turn out delicious, and it will re-heat very well.
don't fully cook the chicken…cook it until it is almost done. It will retain it's juiciness!
Love this post! I see you have shakes, are those protein shakes? would love the recipe for those as well! Thanks!
Nope, those aren't shakes, they're PB&J overnight oats.The recipe is linked above.
I did the same including the shakes except mine are Herbalife protein shakes 🙂
No shakes here! 🙂 Those are overnight oats.
Fantastic recipes – I'll be making veggie versions for my packed lunch all this week. Just one question – does the cauliflower recipe keep okay? I was thinking tupperware in the fridge but would that last?
The cauliflower kept fine for me for about 4-5 days and I stored it just how you see it pictured above in plastic containers.
Do you think these two meals would freeze well? I like to have some variety throughout the week ��
The meals will freeze well.
The meals will freeze well.
Please could someone help me out. In what order would you eat these meals. Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this meal prepping.
Hi Gerwyn, what order you eat the meals in is really a personal decision. I usually eat the meals that are higher in complex carbs (the ones with sweet potatoes) right after a workout, which is dinner for me. But if you're working out in the morning, you should probably eat the meals with sweet potatoes for lunch. Unless you're an elite athlete or are training really hard, you probably won't notice a difference. If you want to learn more about meal timing, there are lots of articles online written by people who are much smarter than me 🙂 Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for providing the recipes! So many meal preps are just a picture and a description! Us newbs, need all the help we can get!
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