PRO meal: Greek chopped salad – A Produce and Protein Packed Meal
So far, this week has been a definite change-up from last week’s vacation and restaurant extravaganza.
We’ve had three nights of at-home dinners and I prepped some food for the week,
including my current favorite bread
amazeballs
a couple of leftover turkey burgers, courtesy of the Pilot’s mad grilling skills
and chopped veggies for salads.
I also prepped that angel food cake…. and half of it is gone.
My mom came over and enjoyed a slice, but the rest of the destruction was caused by me, myself and I. Oops.
Having meal components on hand makes such a huge difference when I quickly want a healthy meal. Most of the work is already done!
Like today’s salad:
all I had to do was pan-fry some tempeh, chop a few olives and make a quick vinaigrette. 7 minutes and lunch is served.
This is definitely a PRO meal (lots of produce and protein!) and something that’s perfectly portable to take to work or school.
Hope you love it!
Greek Chopped Salad
-chopped cucumber, bell pepper and tomato (washed and prepped Sunday afternoon)
-pan-fried tempeh (instructions below). You could also use chicken, chickpeas or tuna!
-fresh mint and/or parsley
-olives and/or goat cheese
-Easy vinaigrette: 1 t rice wine vinegar, 1 t extra virgin oil oil, sprinkle of sea salt, garlic powder, pepper and oregano
1. For the tempeh, heat a skillet on medium heat. Add some olive oil (you need oil to make it nice and crispy!)
or coconut oil, then thin slices of tempeh. While one side cooks, season the other side with your favorite spices (I used garlic powder, sea salt, pepper and smoked paprika).
2. Flip and season the other side.
While the tempeh is cooking, whisk the dressing at the bottom of a large bowl.
3. Add your veggies, stir to combine, and then the tempeh (or tuna, chickpeas or chicken) and stir to combine. Top with fresh parsley and/or mint.
Super easy, super satisfying.
xoxo
Gina
What quick lunch combos are you loving right now?
For more PRO recipes, check out:
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Ahhh this looks so good! Also, thank you for linking elanas bread recipe a while back because I.am.obsessed. It’s amazing!
Also wanted to tell you…I was snacking away at an amazeball today, thinking about how it tasted like heavenly cookie dough, and wondered if you ever have tried to bake amazeballs?! I know they’re so good on their own but was curious if it would come out like a cookie since its so doughey. These are the things I think about…hahaha..
ohhhh i haven’t! let me know if you try it!
I have!! They’re good!
what is tempeh? and how does it taste?
fermented soy, and is sometimes mixed with other grains. it tastes kind of nutty on its own
Angel food cake always seems to mysteriously disappear! I blame it on the angels 😉
I like to pre-make burger patties for frying up during the week. Sometimes I mix in finely chopped veggies with the ground beef for a little hidden veggie punch!
This week I am on a rotation where I’m outside all day, so I needed a lunch that would be easy to grab and go that doesn’t need to be refrigerated or heated up. I made a huge pasta salad with whole wheat pasta and mixed veggies and bagged it up to take all week 🙂
What brand of almond flour do you use for the bread? Thanks!
i use the almond meal from trader joe’s
I love a good pasta salad with lots of fresh bright veggies and home made vinaigrette for lunch! Bring on summer
A few more questions about the bread- did you encounter the “tunnel problem” mentioned along with the recipe on Elana’s site? What size loaf pan did you use and how long did you bake it for? Thanks!!
i haven’t had a prob at all! i used a smaller loaf pan (i think the same dimensions the recipe specifies)
Gina, did you follow the original recipe or the revised one??
Ok I saw your answer below!!
I have never had tempeh, but I’ve been reading about it a lot lately and am definitely planning on trying it soon. That salad looks delicious! Right now I’ve been digging a combo of cottage cheese and veggies, usually cucumber, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. And this from the girl who HATED cottage cheese up until a month ago!
This weeks lunch is a sliced tomato, bocconcini and avocado with salt and pepper. This is my go to fair weather lunch so I am hoping that it brings on spring weather!
i’m boring, quick lunches for me have been scrambled eggs or fried potatoes (fried with water and coconut oil)
I love the colours of that salad! looks so healthy
This looks so good definitely gonna give it a try!! I was wondering is there an email we can email if we have questions we would like to ask???
fitnessista at gmail dot com
YUM! that looks great! I love tempeh!
Thank you for showing and easy way to cook tempeh! I almost bought some on Sunday, but wasn’t sure how I would use it. It’s totally going on next week’s shopping list for lunch salads!
here’s another one of my fave tempeh salads! http://fitnessista.com/2011/07/a-new-favorite-beast/
I’m in love with that Paleo bread from Elena’s Pantry! It’s so good, I just slather some Coconut Oil on it for breakfast and I’m good to go. This tempeh salad looks awesome!
It’s so easy to eat alot of angel cake, my Grocey store had a blueberry one today so I bought it and its so good. I will be making my own soon!
I could make this on hand right now – I love it when that happens when you find a new recipe that sounds absolutely delicious! And don’t even ask what happened to the last 1/3 of the red velvet cake I made Mark for his birthday…oops…lol
It’s Asparagus and berry time here, so I love to mix them in in salads and top with my fave protein like chickenbreast or giant prawns!
But your salad looks absolutely delicious and i love the combo of Tempeh and Goat Cheese!!
That salad looks amazing! Did you make version 1 or 2 of the bread? I made version one and it fell flat shortly after taking it out of the oven…. it is also REALLY eggy – doesn’t quite look like the texture you got in yours? Is yours a really eggy texture?
i make version one, and it comes out great, but i use almond meal instead of almond flour. it’s like a wheat bread texture
I will have to try that instead. Thank you!
Omg this looks amazing! I’m on a huge salad kick right now, thanks so much!
I think I have the same lunch today! But your post made me realize I left the tomatoes in the fridge. 🙁 We always make extra dinner for our lunch the next day. We get our lunches ready while doing the dishes and getting our little man’s stuff ready for childcare. Salads, pastas, stir fries, crock pot chicken recipes and curries are our favorites!
Totally random question- how do your veggies hold up all week long when you pre-chop everything? I’ve noticed when I pre-chop my peppers they tend to creat juices over the week and they aren’t as crisp and I feel like the tomatoes would be even worse? I usually put my stuff in ziplocks, is it better to store cut-up veggies in tupperware? I’ve even tried putting a paper towel in with cut veggies in the ziplock and still veggies aren’t very fresh. Please help! 🙂
they’re usually good in a container for up to 5 days. they get mushy quickly for me in a ziploc
Great thank you!