5 Nights of Easy Eats
Last week I showed you guys what I bought and prepped on Sunday to make quick and easy dinners throughout the week.
I love cooking, but after work I want to exercise or run errands and I need dinner to be 3 things:
- Easy
- Healthy
- Delicious
So most of my weeknight dinners come together in under 20 minutes.
You can check out the prep post for the details (or refer back to it if you’re making a shopping list.)
But just for a reminder, here’s the produce, protein, oils, and seasonings that I bought (or had on hand) — and some of the simple prep I did on Sunday!
(This was to cover 2 people eating 5 meals but it easily gave me leftovers for lunches and breakfasts throughout the week)
The EASY EATS
Let’s jump right into the good stuff – what all those ingredients turned into!
Here we go:
MONDAY
Mondays are hard, so dinner should be easy and also delicious!
Sunday night we grilled, so I went ahead and grilled a bunch of chicken thighs (just seasoned them simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano). The leftovers were tucked away just waiting for Monday night βΊ
I’d also prepped the cauliflower puree on Sunday, so I just quickly reheated the chicken and puree, and paired them with an easy salad: spinach, sliced radish, and black olives with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. BOOM.
Here’s the video of how I make the cauli puree. (You just boil/steam a smallish head of cauliflower and 1-2 cloves of garlic in a little broth and coconut milk. Then, you add it to the food processor with ghee and salt and process until smooth. Season until it tastes just how you like it!)
This is so simple and SO good! I ate some of the leftover cauli puree for breakfast another day with a soft boiled egg and some wilted spinach π
TUESDAY
As you saw in the prep post, I roasted some sweet potatoes on Sunday.
When Tuesday rolled around, I sliced the sweet potatoes open and reheated them quickly in the microwave.
I took some of the sausage we’d bought and removed the meat from the casings and just browned it up in the cast iron. (You can use whatever sausage you love, but chorizo, bratwurst, and Italian sausage are good here!)
In another pan I sauteed the sliced mushrooms in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of Coconut Aminos.
At the last minute I threw in some spinach until it was just wilted.
Then everything gets stuffed into the sweet potatoes! We topped ours with avocado and green onions, but if you do dairy, goat cheese or feta are also delish!
WEDNESDAY
Egg-Roll-In-A-Bowl!
I love this one because it’s really affordable but still super nutritious (and YUM! – it tastes like egg roll filling!)
Sunday I ran half a head of a green cabbage and 4 carrots through the shredder attachment of my food processor. I kept the shredded veggies in the fridge until Wednesday when I needed them!
To a hot pan I added some leftover bacon grease (I always keep this in the fridge) and the shredded veggies.
I also added garlic, Coconut Aminos, fish sauce, and toasted sesame oil. I covered the pan and cooked everything until the veggies were nice and soft – stirring frequently and adding a little more fish sauce or Coconut Aminos until it tasted just right to me π (If it starts looking a little dry or sticking to the pan, add a splash of water or broth.)
In the last few minutes of cooking, I added in some frozen green peas.
In a separate pan I fried up some eggs — they went over the veggies along with some sliced avocado and green onions.
Make this your own by adding in whatever veggies you like or swapping the π₯ grease out for another oil. Itβs also good with chicken or shrimp, too ππΌππΌ
THURSDAY
Sausage, peppers, onions, and potatoes!
If you saw my Sunday prep post, you saw we roasted potatoes. We had them a couple times throughout the week for breakfast and lunch and again with this mealππΌ
It may sound strange, but leftover potatoes are actually healthier than freshly cooked potatoes!
That’s because when potatoes are cooked and then cooled, their level of resistant starch increases.
Resistant starch feeds the good bacteria in our guts and has a number of health benefits, including:
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Lower blood sugar levels
- Reduced appetite
- Improved digestion
Plus leftover potatoes make dinner a breeze ππ»ββοΈI microwaved the potatoes for 30 seconds and then let them get crispy again in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil.
The peppers and onions I just sautΓ©ed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and the sausage I also cooked in a cast iron until fully cooked and crispy. And π₯ because always π
FRIDAY
This seafood “pasta” is kind of like a bootleg puttanesca but not at all fancy and easy as can be!
I saved this one for Friday because it’s one of our favorite dinners and also because I make it using frozen seafood (rather than fresh meat which obviously has a shorter shelf life and needs to be used up earlier in the week)
I always keep frozen seafood on hand (I used shrimp, salmon, and cod here). Frozen seafood’s the best because you can thaw it in no time when you need dinner fast ππΌ
Just a few flavor hacks make jarred sauce amazing, and I use the Nom Nom Paleo Instant Pot method to cook the spaghetti squash, so this meal comes together in 20 minutes or less!
To cook the spaghetti squash, you just add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot and then add your sliced spaghetti squash over the metal trivet. Cook for 7 minutes and do a quick pressure release — that’s it! Of course if you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can roast your spaghetti squash — it will just take longer.
K loves real deal pasta so he has his over spaghetti while I love it over the spaghetti squash βΊ
Here’s a video of how I make the sauce:
WRAP UP
There it is! Just a little planning and prepping on Sunday means I can come home and whip something healthy up in 20 minutes or less.
That’s a gift to myself, really. Because when I’m tired and hungry, the temptation to grab take-out or eat something unhealthy is there.
If I know a yummy meal is just a few minutes away, it’s so much easier to make the choice that’s best for my body! (and wallet)
If this post was helpful for you, let me know — leave a comment, send me an email, or shoot me a message on social!
PS – This “meal plan” happens to be Whole 30 compliant, even with the peas, since they were recently added to the compliant list of foods on the program.
8 responses to “5 Nights of Easy Eats”
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I love this whole idea! Thatβs what I need … a plan. Cooking for one can get troublesome when you shop and just fix whatever sounds good at the moment. Retirement put all kinds of glitches in the order in my day, lazy habits can sneak in. Thanks Alyson, I already feel better about meals to come
Thanks, Cody! Glad you found it helpful πhaving just a simple plan in place makes it so much easier for me to stick to the good stuff! #noexcuses π
This all looks amazing! Thank you for sharing π
ππ
Allyson….thanks for all your advice on the Whole 30 and the wonderful recipes! I LOVED the 5 day easy eats. So far this week, I’ve made the Chicken & Cauliflower, Sausage & peppers, and egg-roll-in-a-bowl…that one surprised how tasty it was and quick! All were wonderful and I am enjoying your recipes, advice and blog very much!
Sharon this makes me so happy! So glad youβre enjoying the dinners ππ
Great post. I have been starting to food prep my lunches. I am planning to do whole 30 in October so I figured your blog would have some great ideas!
Thatβs awesome! All of these are Whole30 except the peas π youβre gonna do great! Iβll tag you on Instagram with a few of my favorite Whole30/Paleo bloggers ππΌ