Food prepping anyone? Clearly I’m a little late to this bandwagon, but I’m jumping on it all the same! I am not one of those who cooks all day Sunday in prep for the week ahead. I may fall into that at some point in my life, but for the most part, I keep things on hand for quick easy dinners and Josh and I eat relatively the same breakfast and lunch every day. This does two things, keeps our budget {somewhat} in line and keeps our eating fairly healthy.
I say fairly healthy, because we definitely are not afraid to enjoy some things that are not necessarily considered clean eating. We focus on making healthy choices about 80% of the time and leave room for some splurges or not-so-healthy choices the other 20% of the time. I’m getting off track here with this, but there are times that I fear people think I only eat what’s on the blog and that makes me feel somewhat like a hypocrite. So from time to time I like to make sure and clarify that I definitely believe in making habitual good choices that focus on fueling my body with wholesome ingredients, but I also believe in balance and socializing with family and friends – which often includes food!
Okay, back on track: Food Prep. Focus Kaylee. SO, while I don’t cook all weekend for the week ahead, I do quite often chop and prep my salads on Sunday afternoon to make their assembly quicker and easier for each work-day morning. If I can assemble my salad in the morning without breaking out the cutting board and knife, I’ve made my life a little easier.
While this Rainbow salad is full of garbanzo beans, roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, grapes, tomatoes, bell pepper and eggs, you can certainly take this same approach with any array of fruits and vegetables that strike your fancy and easily prepare things for a salad loaded with your personal favorites. In this case, these were the items in my local CSA {Community Supported Agriculture} last Fall, making my decision of what to use an easy one. Purchasing and using the ingredients in your CSA is a wonderful choice for many reasons. It helps you eat foods that are in season, it forces you to try things you might not have picked out on your own, and it supports your local farms and agriculture!
In addition to the variety of vegetables in this salad, I love adding boiled eggs and beans to my salad, they are a great source of protein and fiber and help keep me fuller longer. Pick up your favorite salad dressing {look for one with limited ingredients} or quickly whip up your own, and you have a healthy salad to take each day to work that is colorful, flavorful, and best of all, nutritious!
If you haven’t given food prep a try, I suggest starting with something easy like this salad and see what you think – besides, look how pretty your refrigerator looks when it’s full of fresh, chopped, and roasted vegetables, ready for assemble!
Happy cooking!
Rainbow Lunch Salad + Easy Food Prep
Ingredients
- 2-4 bags of greens {I typically go with two bags organic baby spinach and two bags organic mixed greens}
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 5 eggs
- 15 brussels sprouts
- 2 bell peppers
- 5 Roma tomatoes
- 1 package green grapes
- 2 cans garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
- 1 package light feta cheese cut into 1 ounce cubs (approx 1" x 1")
- Dressing of Choice
- Dressing Suggestion: 2 part balsamic vinegar + 2 parts almond milk + 1 part maple syrup + sprinkle of fresh ground pepper makes for a quick, tasty salad dressing!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Peel and cube butternut squash, spray baking sheet with coconut oil cooking spray, spread cubed squash into single layer on pan and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven, flip and bake another 7-8 minutes or until squash is cooked through and tender.
- Repeat same process with sweet potatoes, but leave the skins for the added vitamins!
- Add eggs to small pan, bring water to full boil, then remove from heat and let eggs sit in hot water {covered} for 12-15 minutes or until water cools. Peel eggs, running under cool water, and store in air tight container.
- Once butternut squash and sweet potatoes have cooked, chop brussels sprouts, add to greased baking sheet and bake approx 8-10 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes or until edges are brown and sprouts are cooked through.
- Wash bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, and green grapes, then chop each into smaller pieces and add to separate air tight containers for storage.
- Rinse and drain both cans of garbanzo beans, add to airtight container for storage.
- Open package of feta cheese and cut into 1" x 1" cubes, add to small container for storage.
- To assemble salads, add approx 2 cups spinach and 2 cups mixed greens to large bowl with airtight lid, then add 1 egg, chopped, 1/4 cup cooked butternut squash, 1/4 cup cooked sweet potatoes, 2 tbsp cooked brussels sprouts, 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup green grapes, 1/4 cup garbanzo beans and one cube feta cheese.
- Add 2 tbsp dressing of choice to small container, I like to make my own or use Trader Joe's Champagne Pear - I try to keep it to about 50 calories for the two tablespoons and select dressings with as few ingredients as possible.
- Now that you've done all the work, you can quickly assemble a salad each morning, by repeating the process above, and have a nutritious meal to take to work each day!
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
