If it has to go fast at lunchtime or in the evening, it’s tempting to eat fast food. But it doesn’t have to be like this, with a little preparation we can have healthy and balanced meals every day, even in hectic phases. Those who plan, prepare a part and prepare certain ingredients in advance at home create a good basis to get healthy through the week. Simple Meal Prep recipes help you to always have a tasty and healthy meal at lunchtime or in the evening – without having to prepare long times beforehand.
Meal Prep is currently more topical than ever. No wonder, because home-cooked food still tastes best. Meal Prepping also saves time, nerves and even cash at the end of the day. Due to the great demand for my Meal Prep Workshop series which started in spring 2018, this was once again confirmed to me. For this reason I offered two more workshops for Hamburg (1.9.) and Frankfurt (22.9.) this year. A few places are still available at the moment.
Since there are already some Meal Prep tips on the blog, I would like to share a new recipe with you today. I’m sure you’ve heard of a Green Bowl before? For my last workshop with adidas and Vitamix there was a similar recipe which was very well received by the participants. A Green Bowl is usually made up of different nutrient building blocks such as complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and an easily digestible protein source. For example, a quinoa salad with seasonal vegetables and salad is mixed and topped with a delicious dressing. Green Bowls are incredibly healthy and nourishing, they are easy to prepare and at the same time the perfect takeaway meal. So I can absolutely recommend them as Meal Prep suitable.
What is a Green Bowl made of?
Basically everything that tastes good and is healthy. For this recipe I prepared a Green Bowl from cooked quinoa, steamed vegetables and lettuce. I like to choose at least a part of complex and easily digestible carbohydrates (quinoa, millet, amaranth) to which I add vegetables and salad. In this recipe I added a fresh Caesar salad dressing to quinoa, fresh salad leaves and oven steamed vegetables. The special thing about it is that every single ingredient is absolutely Meal Prep suitable and keeps fresh in the fridge for several days. This makes the Green Bowl the perfect Meal Prep meal when there is little time left during the week.
By the way, a Green Bowl never tastes boring. Due to the different ingredients it can always be mixed differently. In addition, every bowl contains a balanced mix of macro nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins, trace elements and secondary plant substances). We definitely don’t need to worry about optimal nutrient distribution in this meal. And you can also play wonderfully with the individual nutritional building blocks when putting together a Green Bowl and adapt them to your own needs. If, for example, you have the feeling, after a strong sports session, that you are going to focus more on complex carbohydrates for your post-workout meal, then you can vary the ratio accordingly and simply shift it upwards.
Which ingredients are suitable for Meal Prep?
Especially Meal Prep-suitable becomes the Bowl by the selection of your ingredients. In this case I deliberately chose Meal Prep suitable ingredients. They are all very easy to prepare and easy to carry along. Ingredients that are suitable for this are all pseudo grain salads such as quinoa, millet, bulgur or amaranth. Steamed vegetables and legumes such as chickpeas or lentils can also be excellently prepared and stored in the fridge for several days. In my Green Bowl there is almost always an additional protein side dish like nuts or cheese. Theoretically also cooked lean meat (chicken) or smoked fish fits wonderfully into a Green Bowl. There are no limits to your imagination.
My tip: If you plan your meals for several days in advance, you’d better choose purely vegan ingredients – simply because of the longer storage times, the germ risk can be minimized. I also recommend storing all ingredients separately from each other. So nothing “slushes” together and stays fresh longer. For safe storage, I usually use glass or BPA-free plastic containers from which I simply put together my favourite combination of ingredients shortly before consumption. It really couldn’t be simpler and faster.
Last but not least…
What should not be missing on a Green Bowl is a delicious dressing. For this recipe I chose a vegan Caesar salad dressing. It tastes incredibly good, can also be prepared wonderfully and, because it is vegan, lasts a few days in the fridge.
Green Bowl with Caesar salad dressing
Zutaten
- 120 g quinoa
- 1 handful salad
- 1 pepper
- 1 zucchini
- 2 carrots
- 1 smal broccoli
- 2-3 branches of thyme
- 1-2 branches of rosemary
Ingredients vinaigrette
- 60 ml tamari
- 60 ml orange juice
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 3 t coconut blossom sugar
- 1 pinch of black pepper
Ingredients Caesar salad dressing
- 100 g cashews 3-4 hours soaked in water
- 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove peeled
- 1/2 avocado
- 3 tbs cider vinegar
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 bunch of parsley
- 1 tbs sea salt
- 1 t black pepper
Anleitung
- Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet and set aside. Mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a bowl and set aside. Clean the salad. Wash carrots and courgettes, cut lengthwise in half and cut into broad cubes. Wash the peppers and cut into strips. Then place the vegetables (except for the salad leaves) on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add thyme and rosemary and bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes.
- Fill the prepared ingredients into a bowl next to each other and pour the vinaigrette over it.
- Put the ingredients for the Caesar salad dressing in a mixer or purée finely with a hand blender. Then pour over the bowl.
