Ways of the McKays: Meal Prep (Lots of Recipes!)

We’ve always said we wanted to start meal prepping after seeing many blogs, Facebook pages and Instagram posts dedicated to it. Months later, and we finally started!

We spent time looking through weekly grocery ads to make a list of deals to match what we need on our meal list. We then spent about three hours grocery shopping at various stores. Heath hates this process, but we’ve got to go where the deals are. Here are our meals for week #1:

Breakfast: Southwestern egg cups, whole-wheat protein pancakes (Heath made these so I will have to get the recipe from him!), Ezekiel bread (found in the frozen or refrigerated section)
Lunch: Spinach Chicken Patties or Diced Peppercorn Chicken with sautéed veggies and red quinoa or roasted sweet potato
Dinner: Turkey Meatballs, sautéed veggies and a cucumber, tomato and red onion salad with an olive oil and red wine vinegar drizzle
Snacks: Hummus, pretzels, veggie straws, peanut butter, apples, kale chips, spinach chips, carrots, nonfat Greek yogurt and avocado

I don't have all the website links to the recipes because I got most of them from Instagram posts, but here is a breakdown.

Southwestern Egg Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Whisk 6 egg whites and 2 eggs in a bowl with desired seasonings (I used cayenne, cumin, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and chili powder.)
Mix ¼ cup chopped onion, ¼ cup chopped scallion, ¼ cup of black beans (drained) and ¼ cup of corn (drained) in a bowl
Fill 12-muffin pan ¼ of the way with egg mixture
Fill the rest of the pan ¾ of the way with the veggie mixture
Bake for 20 minutes and serve with salsa

Spinach Chicken Patties

Mix 1 pound of ground chicken, ¼ cup chopped spinach, ¼ cup chopped onion, 1 clove garlic (minced), ¼ cup salsa and a dash of seasonings (I used cayenne, cumin, black pepper, seasoned salt and Italian)
Place on hot grill until cooked thoroughly (or you can sauté in a skillet)

Diced Peppercorn Chicken

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut 3 chicken breasts in half, so you will have six thin chicken breast filets
Mix Durkee brand Grill Creations Black Peppercorn mix with ¼ cup of water, ¼ cup of olive oil and 2 tbsp. of red wine vinegar then add chicken
Let marinate for 15 minutes
You can grill until cooked thoroughly (Heath grilled two), or bake them for 30 minutes (I diced them after they were done baking)

Sautéed Veggies

Dice desired vegetables (I used 2 green bell peppers, 1 squash, 1 red onion, ½ package of button mushrooms and 1 head of broccoli)
Place in a pan and add ¾ cup of water, 1 tbsp. of olive oil and 1 tsp. of minced garlic with light seasonings (salt, pepper, Italian seasoning)
Cover and simmer until liquid is gone
*Note: I purposely didn’t cook them all the way through because they would be reheated throughout the week.

Red Quinoa

Put 3 cups of dry quinoa, 5 cups of water, 1 cup of olive oil in a pot and bring to a rapid boil
Let simmer for 15 minutes or until water is gone
Season with garlic powder and pepper and fluff

Roasted Sweet Potato

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Slice sweet potato in ¼ inch pieces and place on baking sheet
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning over once

Turkey Meatballs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix 1 to 1½ lbs. of ground turkey, ¼ cup chopped onion, 1 cup chopped spinach, 1 egg, 1/4 cup soy sauce or liquid amino acid, ¼ cup rice vinegar, 1 tsp. honey and 1 tbsp. minced garlic
Chop 1 slice of Ezekiel bread into breadcrumbs in a food processor, then add to ground turkey mix
Roll into little balls and place on foil-lined baking sheet
Bake for 30 minutes

Salad Mixture (a staple salad in Kazakhstan!)

Slice cucumbers, red onion and tomatoes
Drizzle with 1 part olive and 2 part vinegar with salt and pepper

Kale Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Season 1 bunch of washed and de-stemmed kale with 1 tbsp. olive oil, seasoned salt, cayenne and garlic powder
Bake for 10 minutes, turning halfway through
*Note: Don't be alarm if they crumble. They still taste good! Be careful when taking off of the pan. Also, do not use cayenne if you can't handle the heat.

Spinach Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Season 1 bunch of washed and de-stemmed spinach with 1 tbsp. olive oil, seasoned salt, cayenne and garlic powder
Bake for 10 minutes, turning halfway through
*Note: Don't be alarm if they crumble. They still taste good! Be careful when taking off of the pan. Also, do not use cayenne if you can't handle the heat.

Homemade Salsa

Courtesy of Pioneer Woman's recipe here

Below are some meals we had in the past that I forgot to share. We loved them!

Cilantro Lime Fish Tacos

Courtesy of Skinny Taste's recipe here