Healthy Meal Plan: Pasta Salad, Low Carb Chicken Piccata Recipes

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Encourage

You ask, we answer! Hundreds of Start TODAY members told us they wanted more healthy, balanced meal ideas to help them reach their health goals. This dietitian-designed meal plan gives you the flexibility to easily eat healthy.

This week’s menu features plant-based MVPs, including peas, carrots, avocados, asparagus and arugula. You’ll find these ingredients in meals from Breakfast Tacos to Green Bean Sandwiches to Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad, showing you how to enjoy the foods and flavors you love while packing plenty more products.

What to eat this week: October 23, 2023

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Monday

Tuesday

• Breakfast:Grilled grapefruit with yogurt, nuts and honey
• Lunch:Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Dinner:Gluten-free chicken piccata
• Buffet snacks

Wednesday

Thursday

• Breakfast: Grilled grapefruit with yogurt, nuts and honey
• Lunch:Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Dinner:Roasted Chicken with Grilled Asparagus with Pistachio Pesto
• Buffet snacks

Friday

• Breakfast: Avocado, spinach and egg breakfast tacos
• Lunch: Caprese Caesar wrap
• Dinner: Leftovers or takeout
• Buffet snacks

Breakfast

If you’re not a breakfast person, let these low-maintenance ideas inspire you to make it a habit. Take 10 minutes to prepare your scrambled eggs in advance (they will keep for up to 4 days in your refrigerator) and partially reheat them before making your tacos. Grapefruit pulp is easy to prepare and you can grill the fruit while making coffee.

Breakfast tacos? Yes, please! The recipe calls for one egg, which doesn’t provide enough protein in the morning, so we recommend topping your tacos with canned, drained black beans. You can also double the number of eggs, as long as you have no more than 7 per week.

Grilled grapefruit with yogurt, nuts and honey

Cut grapefruit into segments, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with honey. Boil until foamy and the grapefruit begins to caramelize. Then top your grapefruit with plain or low-sugar Greek yogurt and nuts or seeds (such as pumpkin seeds or hemp seeds).

Lunch

Sandwiches and salads are standard lunch items, but these versions are nothing special. With some minimal advanced preparation, making these meals before you go to work or sit down to eat is a cinch.

This is a simple lunch dish that combines the flavors of your favorite salad. Although this recipe involves making a quick sauce, you can skip this step and use bottled sauce instead. Then add some avocado slices to your wrap. Serve your rolls with sliced ​​red pepper strips and a dipping sauce made from Greek yogurt mixed with pesto to taste. This will enhance the deliciousness of the protein and vegetables.

This salad is packed with vegetables, making it a filling and nutritious meal. For a healthy boost, use whole-grain tortellini and add some arugula to your bowl. To prepare this salad in advance, reserve the basil and arugula until ready to serve.

Dinner

This week’s focus is on delicious meals filled with colorful produce. Bonus: None of these recipes require more than 20 minutes of hands-on time.

Green bean burgers are easy to make in a food processor. Do yourself a favor and make a big batch to freeze and enjoy later. Serve your burger on a whole-grain pita with all the fixings and have grilled carrots on the side.

This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb chicken piccata, but don’t let that put you off. The chicken is seasoned with almond flour and cooked until golden brown and the sauce is rich and creamy. Although it’s served with zucchini noodles, you can mix them with whole-grain pasta or beans if you’d like.

Serving steak with a salad is a healthy way to enjoy meat, and it’s also a soothing combination. Plus, the salad combines baby lettuce and peas for the perfect crunch.

Roasted chicken with grilled asparagus

When you don’t have time to cook much, buy store-bought rotisserie chicken to pair with this quick vegetarian dish. Whip up a big batch of this pesto and freeze what you don’t use to season other meals later. If your meal doesn’t feel complete without carbs, have it with quinoa. Using the frozen version means everything will be ready to eat in 15 minutes or less.

Snacks

Snacks containing whole food sources rich in protein and fiber provide the perfect formula to keep you full for hours. Here are a few ideas:

• Baby carrots and grilled green beans.
• Pineapple cubes with cheese.
• Clementine and nuts or seeds (such as pumpkin seeds).
• Red pepper slices with creamy taco dip. To make the dip, add some taco seasoning to the Greek yogurt and mix.
• Grape tomatoes with boiled eggs.