Meg's Meal Planning

Quinoa

Quinoa fried rice

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Gluten free, paleo friendly, and dairy free quinoa fried rice with healthy vegetables like carrots and mushrooms. Pair it with grilled chicken or tofu for extra protein.

fried rice quinoa

I love making a big batch of quinoa to use for lunches for the week. Prep it over the weekend and you’ll find it helps control some of the craziness of what I call the “dinner rush” The time from 5-6:30pm when you cook dinner, feed the toddler, give the baby the a bottle, convince the toddler to eat dinner, feed the baby puree foods, start bargaining with the toddler to eat, give the baby a bath, then the toddler a bath because he has FOMO, put the baby to bed, do the dishes, put the toddler to bed, all while trying to eat yourself! Just typing that was exhausting.

Quinoa fried rice is an easy prep ahead meal, you can add chicken or tofu for some more protein. I followed this recipe for grilled chicken.

Quinoa fried rice

Quinoa fried rice
 
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Gluten free, paleo friendly, and dairy free quinoa fried rice with healthy vegetables like carrots and mushrooms. Pair it with grilled chicken or tofu for extra protein.
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Cuisine: Quinoa
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and diced, about 1 cup
  • 10 mushrooms diced
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 4 tablespoon coconut aminos
  • 1 tbsp. toasted sesame seed oil
  • 2 green onions, chopped
Instructions
  1. Cook 1 cup quinoa according to package directions. Set aside into medium bowl.
  2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over skillet, add carrots and mushrooms, sauté for 8 mints or until soft.
  3. Make a well and add eggs and stir apart breaking up the eggs into small pieces, add the garlic and ginger and stir for about 30 secs.
  4. Remove from pan and add to quinoa. Let cool.
  5. Once cooled add coconut aminos, sesame seed oil, and green onions. Stir together.

 

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quinoa fried rice and chicken

Marinated Shrimp Quinoa Bowl

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Marinated lime shrimp quinoa bowl with black beans, cilantro, and corn. Loaded with flavor and texture! It makes a yummy and healthy lunch or dinner!

Marinated shrimp quinoa bowl

Happy 2019 friends! If you’re like me, you indulged in too many Christmas cookies and not enough greens and proteins over the holiday season. That’s why you need to try this marinated shrimp and quinoa bowl to help recharge your system with superfoods like black beans and quinoa.

quinoa shrimp bowl

The lime marinated shrimp is zesty and tasty, not a fan or shrimp? Just swap out chicken while using the same marinade. As always my quinoa bowls are for one person, double the recipe if you are making it for two. This also makes a great side dish if you’re hosting some friends or family for dinner.

Quinoa bowl

Marinated Shrimp Quinoa Bowl
 
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Marinated lime shrimp quinoa bowl with black beans, cilantro, and corn are loaded with flavor and texture! They make a great healthy lunch or dinner!
Author:
Recipe type: Quinoa Bowl
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • ½ cup uncooked quinoa
  • ¼ cup red onion, diced
  • ½ cup frozen corn, thawed
  • ½ cup black beans
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 8-10 small shrimp, thawed (I used precooked, but you can season/cook raw shrimp, too)
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
  1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Let cool.
  2. While it's cooking, combine red onion, corn, black beans, and cilantro in a bowl.
  3. In another bowl, combine shrimp with the garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Let marinate.
  4. In a third bowl make the dressing by combining the garlic, lemon juice, honey, olive oil, and Dijon mustard. Set aside.
  5. Heat skillet over medium heat and add shrimp. If using precooked shrimp, only heat for a minute or two. Be careful not to over cook. If using uncooked shrimp, then cook until pink.
  6. Add the quinoa and shrimp to the bowl with onion, beans, and corn. Pour dressing on top. Stir and serve.

 

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Lime marinated shrimp quinoa bowl

Oven Baked Pork Schnitzel

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Super easy oven baked Pork Schnitzel is an easy week night recipe. Pair it with potatoes and a salad for an easy and satisfying dinner.  

Pork Schnitzel

Looking to get in the fun of celebrating Oktoberfest? Then try this easy oven baked Pork Schnitzel. It’s healthier than pan frying, but tastes just as delicious. It also is a great make ahead meal and stores well in the freezer.

Pork schnitzel is a popular German dish prepared by breading and frying thin pork cutlets. Although there are many varieties of schnitzel like chicken, veal, and turkey. Pork is one of my personal favorites. The key to a good schnitzel is a meat mallet. You need to pound the pork very thin.  Skip the gym and have this be your arm work out!

Baked port schnitzel

Oven Baked Pork Schnitzel
 
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Super easy oven baked Pork Schnitzel is an easy week night recipe. Pair it with potatoes and a salad for an easy and satisfying dinner.
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless pork chops, pounded until ¼ inch thick
  • ½ cup flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp roasted garlic powder
  • 2 eggs whisked
  • 1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Combine flour and spices in shallow bowl. Eggs in another, and breadcrumbs in another
  3. Dip each piece of pork into flour, shaking off excess. Then dip into egg, then bread crumbs. Place pork on a lightly oiled wire rack over baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip and bake another 5 minutes.

 

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Healthy oven baked pork schnitzel

Lemon herb Mediterranean quinoa salad

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Lemon herb quinoa salad combines all the tastes of a fine Mediterranean dish – cucumbers, tomatoes, lemon, and avocados. Served over kale for a delicious and simple dinner. 

Herb mediterranean salad

Mediterranean flavors are my jam lately. What’s not to love!? It’s all simple ingredients that are just good for you! Although if I had my way, I would add a ton of olives! But I know everyone isn’t a fan of them (especially in my house), so I didn’t include them in this recipe. But if you’re a fellow olive lover, feel free to add kalamata or black olives!

This lemon herb quinoa salad is chock full of yummy tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. To make sure you stay satisfied and full, it also has quinoa for some protein. All on top of kale! Remember, don’t skip the step where you massage the kale leaves. It sounds strange but really makes a difference.

Lemon mediterranean salad

Lemon herb Mediterranean quinoa salad
 
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Lemon herb quinoa salad combines all the tastes of a Mediterranean dish - cucumbers, tomatoes, lemon, and avocados. Served over kale for a delicious and simple dinner.
Author:
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
  • ½ cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon (1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice)
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 cups of kale, washed and chopped
  • Extra virgin olive oil (for kale)
  • 1 mini cucumber, quartered
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
  • ¼ cup red onion, sliced
  • 1 avocado, sliced
Instructions
  1. Prepare quinoa according to package directions.
  2. Meanwhile, make the salad dressing. Whisk together in a small bowl olive oil, lemon juice, water, red wine vinegar, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.
  3. Add kale leaves to a large bowl, drizzle extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste. Massage kale with hands for 1 minute.
  4. Add cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, and avocado to kale. Add in quinoa.
  5. Drizzle lemon herb dressing on top.

 

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Lemon herb mediterranean quinoa salad

Week of August 20th

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Week of Aug 20th

Summertime and the livin’s easy! Right?! Now that summer is winding down, my diet is starting to catch up. When it’s warm outside, I don’t mind sitting on the deck with 1 or 2 glasses of wine, (Rose all day!) or taking an impromptu trip to Tree House Brewing Co. when they are pouring drafts, or getting ice cream for dessert a few nights out of the week. So this week is all about healthy eating – cauliflower rice, quinoa, chicken, shrimp.

Monday – Vegetarian Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Kale, Chickpeas and a Lemon Tahini Dressing

Quinoa for blog

Tuesday – Garlic butter chicken with parmesan cauliflower rice.

keto chicken recipe

Photo by eatwell101

Wednesday – Shrimp tacos with mango salsa

Mango shrimp tacos

Thursday – Enchilada chicken meatballs served over quinoa.

gluten free enchilada chicken meatballs

Photo by Isabel Eats

Friday – Creamy kale and turkey sausage pasta with sun dried tomatoes.

creamy kale and sun dried tomatoes

Vegetarian Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Kale, Chickpeas and a Lemon Tahini Dressing

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This power quinoa bowl is bursting with flavors that your taste buds will love! Roasted kale and chickpeas are mixed with a garlicy lemon tahini dressing and topped with avocado and green onions. 

quinoa with roasted kale

Thursdays have slowly become my favorite day of the week! Crazy right?? But I’m fortunate enough to have Thursdays off from work and they have become my recipe testing, cooking, and food photography day. For countless Thursdays I have created quinoa power bowls for lunch/dinner from whatever I have left in my fridge. This vegetarian quinoa bowl with roasted kale, chickpeas, avocado, and a lemon tahini dressing is definitely in the top five!

Roasted kale chips are probably my all time favorite thing to snack on. My sister and I will clean out my garden and sit around devouring them all day. I’m not even kidding; sometimes we don’t even make it to the couch, we just stand over the tray on top of the stove grabbing handfuls!

quinoa for blog

For this recipe I used homemade roasted kale, but store bought chickpeas. You can use store bought of both or roast both yourself! But the recipe will take longer if you roast chickpeas at home.

Vegetarian Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Kale, Chickpeas and a Lemon Tahini Dressing
 
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This power quinoa bowl is bursting with flavors that your taste buds will love! Roasted kale and chickpeas are mixed with a garlicy lemon tahini dressing and topped with avocado and green onions
Author:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • ½ cup uncooked quinoa
  • 3 large kale leaves
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • ¼ cup roasted chickpeas
  • ½ avocado, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1½ tbsp olive oil
  • Pepper
  • Pinch of roasted garlic seasoning
  • 1 green onion stalk, diced
Instructions
  1. Cook quinoa according to package directions, set aside to cool.
  2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and rip kale leaves into bit size pieces.
  3. Layer on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and salt. Bake about 10 minutes or until browning, tossing halfway through.
  4. Once quinoa has cooled, transfer to a medium size mixing bowl, add in the kale, chickpeas, and avocado.
  5. In small mixing bowl stir together the tahini, water, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and roasted garlic seasoning.
  6. Pour dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir together. Top with green onion.

 

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Vegetarian quinoa bowl with roasted chickpeas

Vegetarian Quinoa Bowls with Cilantro Lime Dressing

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This cilantro lime dressing is tangy and just a little sweet. You’ll want to use it on top of everything, like this easy and healthy vegetarian quinoa bowl. 

Quinoa bowl

Finally the weather is getting nice and the only thing my son wants to do when we get home at the end of the day is “PLAY OUTSIDE” as he nicely tells me in his sweet two-year-old voice. I love it; we easily stay out until 6 or 6:30 pm, but just like a typical two year old, he has no patience to let me cook dinner. Insert easy vegetarian quinoa bowl to the rescue!

My favorite part about these quinoa bowls is many of the items can be prepped in advance or cooked a day or two before with another dinner. Having a baked sweet potato another night? Cook an extra one to use in this recipe.

cilantro lime dressing

The cook time for this recipe assumes you already have the sweet potato cooked. If you don’t, remember to allow for an extra 45 minutes for that to bake in the oven or you can cook it in the microwave.

Easy Vegetarian Quinoa Bowls with Cilantro Lime Dressing
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Quinoa Bowl
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • ½ cup red onion, chopped
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup baked sweet potato, cubed
  • 1 cup avocado, diced
  • For the cilantro lime dressing:
  • ½ cup vanilla greek yogurt
  • 6 tbsp mayo
  • 6 tbsp lime juice
  • 3 garlic gloves, minced
  • 1 cup cilantro, chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Cook the quinoa according to package directions.
  2. In a large bowl combine the red onion, red bell pepper, sweet potato, and avocado.
  3. In a small bowl combine the greek yogurt, mayo, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
  4. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, add it to the large bowl. Then add the cilantro lime dressing. Toss together.

 

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Vegetarian quinoa bowl with cilantro lime dressing

Kale, quinoa, black bean, sweet potato and avocado salad

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Super foods unite! This salad is unbelievable!  The flavors all blend well together and the avocado sauce has the perfect amount of kick!  I really enjoyed making this because it has a lot of my favorite foods to cook and eat! It was the perfect size for two people; my husband and I polished if off!

 

Spiralize sweet potato, season with olive oil and salt and bake in oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes

 

 

Add avocado , cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, olive oil, and salt to food processor, blend well

 

 

Season kale with salt and massage well

 

 

Kale, quinoa, black bean, sweet potato and avocado salad
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 bunch kale, ribs removed and chopped into bite size pieces
  • 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 avocado, sliced and pitted
  • ½ jalapeño pepper, seeds and stem removed. You can use more to make it spicy
  • Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
  • ½ can black beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions
  1. Prepare the quinoa as per packed directions. Set aside to cool.
  2. Spiralize sweet potato onto baking sheet. Season with 1 tablespoon olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
  3. Place kale in serving bowl and season with salt. Then massage kale with hands for 1 minute in order to really blend the salt. Whisk together 1 tablespoon olive oil, juice from ½ lime, and lime zest. Drizzle over kale. Set aside.
  4. Add avocado, ½ jalapeño pepper, cilantro leaves, juice from ½ a lime, lime zest, and salt to a food processor and blend well.
  5. Add cooled quinoa to kale, stir to combine. Distribute the kale to plates and top with sweet potato, black beans, and avocado sauce.

 

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Top with roasted sweet potato, black beans, and avocado sauce