Since many of you seemed to have loved my meal prep post the other day, I thought I’d continue where I left off. Today it’s all about dinner. While I like salads for lunch, I’m all for warming meals at night. Warming stews, asian noddle dishes or lentil bowls is what I live for. Contrary to my lunch meal preppig post, this one actually requires you to cook at night. But the idea is to prepare as much as possible on Sunday already. That way, all you have to do is do the fun part of cooking: whipping it all together!

Most meal plans obviously go from Monday until Sunday. But let’s face it. Weekends are different. Whether you love long breakfasts, Sunday brunch with your friends or dinner with your family, it’s hard to meal plan for the weekend. That said, I am not a mother, so with families, this might be different. Correct me if I’m wrong here.

I am defiitely not a meal prep professional, but over the years, I’ve developed some tricks that enable me to meal prep without stressing out about it.

Here are 10 things that make meal prepping and planning easier:

1. Find recipes that you would like to make during the week. Finally dig out all the pinterest recipes that you’ve been meaning to try forever or browse through the new cookbooks (clears throat).
2. Don’t be too proud to make your favorite meals once a week. Family favorites make everyone happy and satisfied.
3. Write down your plan on a sheet of paper. That way, you’re more likely to stick to it. You may even pin it to your fridge.
4. Modify the recipes seasonally and according to your taste. Seasonal vegetables are more nutritious, cheaper and available everywhere.
5. Write a shopping list and – depending on the recipe size – write down twice the amount of ingredients.
6. Cook once, eat twice. That’s the mantra of meal planning.
7. Buy as many groceries as you can on Saturday. Then buy fresh ingredients on wednesday.
8. Cook starchy foods such as rice, quinoa or millet on Sundays and store them in glas containers in the fridge. They supplement any dish.
9. Cut onions on Sundays, chop garlic and grate ginger. This will come in handy during the week. Also on Sundays, chop the vegetables for Monday and Tuesday and store them in glass containers in the fridge.
10. Do not stress about it. Meal Planning should make your life easier and less stressful.

Meal Plan for 5 days (Mon-Fri) for two people:

Montag: Mediterranean Quinoa with sun-dried tomatoes  (cook twice the amount to eat twice)

Donnerstag: Asian Sesame-Noodles (cook twice tha amount to eat twice)

Friday: Quick and easy tomato spinach pasta (cook once to eat once)

Shopping list on Saturday:
red lentils
250 g of green beans (or sugar snap peas)
7 carrots
1 broccoli
2 zucchini
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (400 g each)
brown rice
quinoa
400 g rice noodles (or pasta of your choice)
1 glass of sun-dried tomatoes
tomato paste
paprika
kalamata olives (optional, I love them)
3 shallots
250 g of fresh beetroot
750 g of tomatoes
2 stalks of rosemary
1 can of coconut milk
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (800 g in total)
tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or plain soy sauce
lime
organic lemons
spring onions
300 g of pasta of your choice (I like whole-wheat spelled, lentils or buckwheat pasta)
almond butter (cashew or sunflower seed)
30 g of almonds
sesame oil

Shopping list on Wednesday:
200 g of spinach
1 bunch of rocket
1 red bell pepper

Usually a staple in a healthy kitchen:
fresh basil
garlic
red onions
fresh ginger
chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
cinnamon
thyme (dried)
honey (or coconut blossom sugar, maple syrup, rice syrup)
sea salt and pepper
coconut oil or ghee
extra-virgin olive oil
apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
vegetable broth or my easy peasy homemade vegetable broth paste (takes 5 minutes)

Food preparations:

Sunday:

• Finely chop onions, shallots, garlic and ginger for all dishes and freeze in portions. This saves you a lot of time during the week.
• Peel the beetroot and cut it into pieces. Cut the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Roast the beetroot and tomato in the oven as described in the recipe, allow to cool and put in a glass container in the fridge. If you like, you can already cook the soup completely, then you just have to warm it up on Monday night.
• Cut the vegetables for the Bali Buddha vegetable stew and store them in a glass container in the fridge. My tip: replace the beans with sugar snap peas. This saves you some time on Tuesday because you don’t have to cut off the ends of the green beans.
• In the meantime prepare dinner for Sunday.

Wednesday:

• Prepare the sauce for the Asian noodles and store in a glass container overnight.
• Spiral the carrots and zucchini or use a julienne to cut them into thin strips. Store in an air-tight glass container in the fridge over night.

Enjoy!

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Green Kale Vegetable Soup for all those healthy January people out there!

Hi there January New Year’s resolution people. It’s mid-January and I feel really good for some reason. Normally, January has got me like….uhhhh….but this year, I feel strong, confident and definitely confident. This might be partially due to all the healthy food that I consumed since Christmas, and partially due to the lovely people that I am sourrounded by. It’s the first year of having my best friend living really close to me, like 30 minutes close, which is a new record-breaking closeness for us. And I am focusing more on date nights with my boyfriend, which is another great feature of this January.

I have been doing lots of yoga, too, attended a couple of sweat-wrenching HIIT classes and I’ve been fairly productive for my Master’s studies.

Do you hate me already?

Please don’t! I am really just trying to encourage you that you can work on more positive goals in your life as well. Maybe you are balancing a full-time job, kids and a husband all at the same time? Maybe you are a single-dad trying to raise a teenage girl all by yourself? Maybe you have just started or finished university, and you feel completely lost right now?

Whatever place you are in right now, it is definitely possible to move closer to your goals this year, even if it is just a tiny little bit. We all have baggage to carry, but it is so important to look after ourselves, and to pay attention to what we want and what we need.

This soup is a gift to treat your body well, to take some time off, and to get back on track this year. There are so many awesome veggies that your body needs right now to fight the cold and the wet weather, and to nourish itself from the inside.

Be kind to yourself and do take some time to relax from time to time!

This recipe was created for my monthly column on “Ohhh….Mhhh”. If you like German, you can check out my column on Steffi’s blog.

Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS, QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

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Today’s recipe is another healthy barbecue inspiration: Grilled Mango & Pineapple Vegetable Skewers with Mojo Rojo & Mojo Verde. The idea for this recipe came to me when I recently visited a local food market in my beautiful small German town. It was a fun little market with local vendors selling home made foods such as healthy popsicles, roasted chickpeas, sauces such as tomato sauce, pestos, or mojo sauces, and there was even a nut butter booth. I guess it is unnecessary to say that I was in food heaven. However, every time I saw something that I liked, I instantly thought: I can do this myself. I have all this fancy equipment in my kitchen, so there is actually no need to buy anything anymore. Of course, we ended up buying lots of stuff, mostly because the vendors were so nice and friendly. However, as soon as I got home, I had to try making my own mojo sauces, because it reminded me of my last vacation with my mom and little sister. Mojo is a chili sauce from the Canary islands, which is traditionally served with wrinkly, salty potatoes. If you’ve ever been to the Canary islands, then you’ve probably tried Mojo at some point. 

Most restaurants on the Canary islands serve mojo rojo, or red mojo, which is made from red chilies and red bell peppers. However, I’ve always been a fan of mojo verde, or green mojo, which is a variation of the traditional sauce as it is made with cilantro and parsley – some of my favorite superfood herbs. I felt like adding some mint leaves in there, too, because I’ve developed a slight mint obsession lately, but you can leave these out if you like.

I used zucchini, red bell pepper and red onions for the skewers, but you can of course use any vegetable you have in the fridge. I’ve actually tried them with mushrooms last week, which also tasted fantastic. The combination of savory veggies and sweet fruit pieces is a dream, and the sweetness of the grilled mango and pineapple gives the skewers an exotic touch. If you are not a fan of fruit in savory dishes, then you can of course leave them out, however, it’s just not the same without mango and pineapple. Try bringing these to your next barbecue with friends, and you’ll be the star at the table, I promise. The grilled mango pineapple vegetable skewers with mojo also go really well with the stuffed mushrooms with cashew basil cream, the grilled avocado bruschetta, and the harissa spiced sweet potato wedges – a heavenly healthy BBQ!

Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe or have any suggestions, questions or comments?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

The post Grilled Mango & Pineapple Vegetable Skewers with Mojo Rojo & Mojo Verde appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.

I’ve probably already mentioned a couple of times how beneficial beetroot is for everyone, and especially high blood pressure patients. Drinking a glass of beetroot juice a day has been shown to drastically lower blood pressure. Naturally, I enjoy some beetroot juice a couple of times a week. This delicious combiniation of beetroot, apple, oranges, carrot and ginger is simply amazing. If you like it a little sweeter you can even add half a banana and trust me, you won’t be able to tell that you’re drinking beetroots at all.

You will need a juicer for this recipe. If you haven’t already bought one, now is the time to invest in one. Juicing vegetables is an easy and quick way to get their nutrients. Juicers are also not as expensive as blenders, they start at reasonable prices even students can afford. It’ll be worth the money, believe me. Please make sure you add a couple of drops of oil, preferably flax seed oil (also called linseed oil) , to make sure that your body can absorb the fat soluble vitamin K. Flaxseed oil, an incredible source of omega-3-fats, is called “the elixir of life” by some scientists because of its cancer preventing and blood pressure reducing benefits. So it doesn’t hurt to add a couple of drops to this juice.

Health benefits:
– biotin (important for blood sugar balance and skin health, necessary to build healthy fats that keep the skin moist and soft)
– iron (important for healthy red blood cells that transport oxygen through your body)
– manganese (for nerve health)
– potassium (lowers cholesterol levels and blood pressure)
– fiber (important for heart health, lowers cholesterol levels)
– vitamin C (good for your immune system, tissue health)

Enjoy!

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS, QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

Feel free to leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag your creations on social media using #heavenlynnhealthy.

I’d love for this blog to be a dialogue.

The post Delicious Beetroot Juice appeared first on Heavenlynn Healthy.