This weekend, I’m feeling like fresh, healthy favorites. Coffee-Rubbed Salmon, a BLT Cobb Salad and Roasted Chickpea Tacos are the start, BUT you can mix and match all the ingredients in the “recipes” to make your own meals! Scroll down for the most EPIC way to use leftover food so there’s no wasting food AT ALL.

I’m so excited to be posting the meal prep run down on here as a blog post for the first time. Why haven’t I been doing this all along?! If you like this experience, leave a little note in the comments or on my Instagram! Don’t forget – bookmark this link or send yourself a text so you can pull up the post while you do your grocery shopping before Sunday afternoon. I’m going to be prepping this on my Instagram story Sunday afternoon and we can cook together! Please follow along and share with any friends that you want to join. It’s going to be a party ;)

Grocery List

• 1 dozen eggs
• 2 salmon filets
• 1 package of chicken breasts
• 1 package bacon
• Your favorite kind of lettuce
• Tomatoes (whatever you can find or are the freshest – 1 pint cherry tomatoes or 2-3 large heirloom)
• 1 small bunch or package of radishes
• Favorite fruit for breakfast or snacks
• 1 small shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 avocados
• 2 cans chickpeas (1 is extra in case!)
• 1 package small tortillas
• 1-2 limes
• 1 orange (or 1-2 peaches would work since they’re in season!)
• 1 bunch of basil
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or walnuts
• Small container of mayo or plain yogurt (Greek works, or regular)
• Spices (You’ll use these in several recipes this week, great to invest if you don’t have these essentials!)
  • Paprika
  • Cinnamon
  • Cumin
  • Garlic Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar

Plan of Action

• Serves one person for about 3-5 days of lunch and dinner, depending on how you strategize!
• Hard boil enough eggs for potential bowls and salads, plus any extra for breakfast if desired.
  • Place at least 4 eggs (or more if meal prepping breakfast) into a large pot and fill with water until the eggs are covered by about 1 inch. Cover and bring pot to a boil. Once water is boiling, turn off the heat and set your timer for 9 minutes for perfectly jammy eggs or 10-11 if you like a harder yolk.
  • Get a bowl ready for ice water to help eggs to cool!
  • Once timer is up, drain water carefully and transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water.
• Bake the coffee-rubbed salmon and easiest baked chicken breasts (see below!)
• While those bake, clean produce.
  • Wash your lettuce, tomatoes, radishes and orange/peach. Rinse and dry basil.
  • Drain and rinse 1 can of chickpeas. Store in a container in the fridge for later in the week!
• While chicken is resting, make super-crispy bacon!
  • Turn up oven to 450 degrees and place a cooling rack over the piece of tin foil used from chicken and salmon.
  • Lay bacon pieces across rack.
  • Bake for 12-20 minutes, totally depending on thickness of bacon and desired texture! Watch to see as it becomes golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven when desired. Let cool.
• Make creamy pesto dressing (see below!)
• Wrap up your prep.
  • Slice chicken into thin pieces for salads. Slice radishes. Crumble bacon. Peel hard boiled eggs (so annoying but you’ll be happy you did it!) and see below for ideas for assembling all the things!

Easy Baked Chicken Breast

• Chicken Breast
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with aluminum foil.

1. On a cutting board, trim any unnecessary fat off the chicken breasts. (Don’t forget to wash hands after!)
2. Drizzle the first side of each chicken breast with olive oil. Then generously sprinkle each with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and oregano. Rub seasonings around on the chicken breast to distribute.
3. Place seasoned side of chicken breast down on the aluminum foil. (Make sure to leave room for two salmon filets.) Repeat olive oil/seasoning combination on the other side of chicken.

Coffee-Rubbed Salmon

• 2 servings of salmon filet
• Spices: paprika, cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground coffee
• Olive oil

1. Pat salmon filets dry with a paper towel.
2. Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle filets with a little olive oil and generously apply all spices and a sprinkle of the ground coffee.
3. Gently rub spices and coffee into the salmon to mix and spread. Wash hands.
4. Bake salmon AND chicken above at 425 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.
5. Remove salmon from sheet tray to rest. Continue cooking chicken for 5-7 more minutes, or until chicken breast reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Creamy Pesto Dressing

• 1 small shallot, peeled
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or walnuts
• One large bunch of basil, rinsed and dried
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons mayo or plain yogurt (Greek works, or regular)
• Salt and pepper to tast
• Water, if needed

1. In a mini food processor blend together shallot, garlic, nuts, a generous pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper until crumbly and a sand-like texture. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender, or finely chop everything by hand. (No problem at all!)
2. Add in basil + vinegar and pulse. Slowly pour in olive oil while it’s mixing. Then, add ing mayo or yogurt.
3. If it’s too think, add in a teaspoon of water or olive oil to thin out to desired texture.

Not going to lie, I loved the tomatoes SO MUCH that I left off the lettuce one day and just went straight in. This is un-styled, total desk lunch reality of meal prep.

What Now?

Think about how you want to structure all the foods. Either package up front to have pre-made meals or mix and match on the spot!

• Breakfasts:
  • Any extra hard boiled eggs and fruit
  • Scramble eggs into breakfast tacos
  • Extra yogurt and fruit for parfaits
• Tonight and next night dinner:
  • Salmon with small side salad of lettuce, peach, tomato and dressing?
  • Flake the salmon and serve in the tortillas with mashed avocado, shredded lettuce, sliced radishes and a combo of yogurt/mayo mixed with lime juice for a creamy zesty sauce?
• Lunches:
  • BLT Cobb Salads for the week – crumbled bacon, lettuce, tomato, some chicken and hard boiled egg? Maybe swap the chickpeas in there one day or add some avocado? Creamy basil dressing works all the days, but if you’re sick of it just go straight olive oil and red wine vinegar with a little lime!
• Later in the week: 
  • Make the full roasted chickpea taco recipe!
  • Note: swap orange with fresh peach if you want, swap straight yogurt for basil sauce

Roasted Chickpea Tacos

• 1 avocado
• 4 small flour tortillas
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lime
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 1 orange
• 4 radishes, rinsed and sliced for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Dry off rinsed chickpeas well with a paper towel. In a small bowl, toss chickpeas in olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Cover a baking pan with aluminum foil and pour chickpeas onto pan. Roast chickpeas for 20 minutes or until light golden brown and crispy.
4. While chickpeas cook, mash one avocado with ½ juice of one lime, and a pinch of salt and pepper. (To remove the inside of the avocado, look here!)
5. Make yogurt lime sauce: mix Greek yogurt, lime juice and salt in a small bowl.
6. Or just use the creamy basil dressing here!
7. To prepare orange, segment the pieces after removing the skin and then cut into small chunks. Here is a photo tutorial!
8. Once the chickpeas are done and still hot, toss in cumin, garlic powder and paprika.
9. Assemble tacos: scoop mashed avocado onto tortilla, scoop warm chickpeas, add radishes and oranges or peach, drizzle with dressing and squeeze fresh lime.
10. Store leftovers for later.

No Wasting Food or $$$

The biggest thing I heard from you all about meal prep – you didn’t want to waste anything and I agree!

If you have any combination of extra tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, bacon, avocado or eggs lying around, make an EPIC BLTAE… or should it be a BAE-LT hah! Toast your favorite bread, spread with mayo, top with lettuce, bacon, sliced tomato topped with flaky sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and then even whip up a fried egg for the top! I’m not kidding when I say I had about four of these last week in a row. They are insane at this time of year with the fresh tomatoes in season!

Mark your calendars for Sunday cooking and get ready for an epic spread next week! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram to watch all the recipes being prepped and if you don’t watch it on Sunday, I’ll be saving these videos on my Instagram profile in the Highlights section!

Love food. Love self. Love life.
Gabriela