This week, I prepped a bunch of summery foods
like salads, homemade popsicles, herby salad dressings, and creamy, refreshing key lime pie Overnight oats.
How to prepare a healthy summer meal!
Whenever I meal prep, I like to first come up with a plan of what I’m gonna make and make Sure those ingredients mix and match well, just so that we don’t get bored with our meals Throughout the week and things stay fresh and exciting.
To create healthy summer meals.
I started by making my favorite homemade granola that contains tahini.
So, you’re gonna mix together some coconut oil, tahini, and maple syrup until smooth, in addition to some salt and cinnamon, before adding in your rolled oats, chopped nuts, and seeds, and mixing until well combined.
Then you’re just gonna pour this sticky oat mixture onto your baking sheet.
And I use a spatula to spread it out into a thin even layer
before popping it in the oven.
Whenever I meal prep, I always like to start with getting whatever I need to use the oven for Into the oven so I can work on other things while it is baking.
So, today, while my granola was roasting, I started in with some key lime pie overnight oats.
In a large bowl, I stirred together some rolled oats, chia seeds, and lime zest before adding in some non-dairy yogurt, non-dairy milk, and some lime juice.
Then I just stirred this really well until smooth and creamy.
I added in a touch of maple syrup towards the end, just for some extra sweetness because my yogurt and milk were not sweetened.
And then I put a lid on top of this and put it in the fridge to soak.
Next up, I started on my favorite summery hearty salad by making some quinoa.
So, I’m just putting one part quinoa to two parts water into a pot, bringing that all to a boil. And while that’s simmering, I whipped up the dressing.
So, I combined some olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic into a Mason jar, and then added some spices like cumin, salt, pepper, and a touch of maple syrup.
I whisked this until nice and smooth and then prepared the other parts of the salad while I waited for the quinoa to cook.
So, I chopped up some cherry tomatoes as well as a handful of cilantro.
And by this point, my quinoa had soaked up all the liquid.
I just put the lid on the top and allow it to sit for about five minutes before fluffing it with the fork.
Next up, I started to prep the ingredients for some baked tofu nuggets, and these are my newest obsession.
They are so flavorful and so fun to have on hand.
And all I’m doing here is pressing some tofu and that will take about 15 minutes to press.
So, I started working on an herby salad dressing by putting some fresh cilantro and parsley in with some water, blending that until smooth, and then adding in some tahini, lemon juice, garlic, a touch of maple syrup, salt, and pepper, and blended it again until nice and smooth.
If you have a small handheld blender that would work great. But this also worked and you Are left with a flavorful creamy, vibrant salad dressing.
By this point, my tofu had been pressed so I started with these almond flour-baked tofu nuggets.
I started by making a dredging sauce with some vegan mayonnaise, Mix it with some other ingredients. And then I made a breadcrumb mixture, but I used almond flour, nutritional yeast, and spices.
Now, I’m just gonna take my tofu out of the press, and cut it into nugget shapes. You could really make these whatever you want.
You could make them into tenders. But I’m basically just gonna dip them in the dredging Sauce and then the breadcrumb mixture until you get these little nuggets that are so flavorful and so fun to have on hand.
until all of my tofu had been coated. It might feel like you don’t have enough dredging sauce, but there should be just enough if you don’t overcoat them. And this is super fun to do with your kids.
We are loving cantaloupe right now. So, I used some extra time I had to cut up a cantaloupe into pieces. I find we just eat more produce if it’s already cut up, especially my kids and my husband.
So, if you have some extra time, you could cut up some melons or wash your berries or chop up some fresh veggies and just store those in your fridge. At this point, everything should pretty much be ready.
So, I’m going to assemble that quinoa salad by adding the quinoa, chickpeas, fresh cilantro, those chopped-up tomatoes, and the dressing to a large bowl.
Or you could do this straight in the Tupperware that you’re gonna store it in and just stir everything super well to combine.
And then you’re gonna let this sit in the fridge if you have time for about 15 minutes. Of course, if we’re meal prepping, it should sit in there for a few days and just gets better the longer it sits.
This salad also calls for fresh avocado, but I add that just before eating. And now your tofu nuggets should be ready and out of the oven, just store these in a Tupperware container in the fridge for whenever you need them.
And your granola should be ready. Once you remove it from the oven, allow it to sit so everything can solidify together before breaking it into clusters and storing it in a container.
All right, your epic summer meal prep is complete with some fresh melon, baked tofu nuggets, quinoa salad, herby lemon tahini dressing, some chocolate syrup, homemade granola, key lime pie overnight oats, creamy fudge sicles, and some pickled onions.
For the key lime pie overnight oats, you can pair this with the tahini granola, which tastes like Graham crackers, or you can use real Graham cracker crumbs for a special treat.
I also like to just add granola to yogurt and berry bowls.
This is such a good light, refreshing summer breakfast or snack. As for the tofu nuggets, we put them on everything. Again, you could add another kind of dipping sauce, and this is a delicious hearty meal.
I also loved to pair everything together because it mixed and matched well to make these epic salads with the quinoa salad on top of greens with the tofu nuggets and the pickled onions.
How To Cook Tofu, Baking Tofu Recipe, Simple And Easy Read More Here
