a whole food + high protein meal plan v.1
healthy meals to eat this week + a grocery list
Welcome to volume 1 of my whole food + high protein meal plans! Here’s what you need to know: each of these meal plans will contain a lunch prep, a breakfast recipe, 4-5 dinner recipes, and a grocery list. Most of my recipes serve 4, so if your family is bigger than that, you can easily double the recipe!
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In this meal plan, the lunch prep is the green goddess salad. It stores so well, it’s packed with nutrients, and it’s high protein! Make this at the beginning of the week for your lunch. I prefer to make the meal prep on Monday for dinner and then pack away the leftovers for lunch so I don’t have to cook twice or eat the same thing every single day for lunch. But you do you! You’ll notice I leave one day open (in this case, Sunday. But you can use this open night on any day that works best for you!) for whatever you want to do. This could be a leftovers night, staple meal night, pizza night, or eat out night. I refer to this as a Hall Pass!
Here’s my suggested order of eating these recipes:
Monday: Green Goddess Salad (pack away leftovers for lunch prep for the next two days)
Tuesday: Guacamole Steak Bowl
Wednesday: Super Simple Chicken Lo Mein
Thursday: Creamy Tortellini Soup (pack away leftovers for lunch prep for the rest of the week)
Friday: Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta (bulked up for meal prep — I will tell you how on the recipe below)
Saturday: Leftovers of Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Sunday: Hall Pass
Breakfast Idea: Hormone Healthy Pink Smoothie
If you’re a print-it-out kind of person, here’s a PDF download of the grocery list that you can print out and write on!
Green Goddess Salad
Serves 6
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
For the Chicken: (If you don’t have an Instant Pot, use rotisserie chicken)
14-16 oz chicken breast
1 c chicken broth
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
For the Dressing:
1 c plain greek yogurt
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 c fresh parsley
1/4 fresh dill
1/4 c fresh chives
1/4 c fresh mint
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper
For the Salad:
3/4 c uncooked quinoa
3 c kale, chopped
1/2 green cabbage, chopped
1 hothouse (English) cucumber, chopped
1 c green peas, defrosted
2 tbsp chives, chopped
1/2 c fresh basil, chopped
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c pistachios
1/2 lemon
Instructions:
1. Add all the ingredients for the chicken into the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow the steam to naturally release for 5+ minutes. Shred (I recommend using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer).
2. Cook the quinoa according to the package instructions.
3. In a blender or food processor, blend all the ingredients for the dressing until completely combined.
4. For the salad, I recommend using a vegetable chopper to chop the kale, cabbage, and cucumber (it makes it go way faster and makes everything uniform in size and shape! Plus it’s affordable and versatile).
5. Toss together the ingredients for the salad, along with the quinoa. Top with the pistachios and lemon juice. If you are saving this for meal prep, store the salad, chicken, and dressing separately. When preparing to eat day-of, toss in the chicken and the dressing.
Guacamole Steak Bowl
Serves 4
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
Steak and marinade
4 filets of top sirloin, ribeye, or New York strip steak (your choice)
1 ½ tbsp taco seasoning (I love Redmond Real Salt’s taco seasoning)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 garlic cloves, minced
Sides
1 ½ c jasmine rice
1 tomato, seeds and membranes removed, diced
¼ red onion, diced
¼ c cilantro, chopped
2 avocados
2 limes
½ tsp Garlic salt (I love Redmond Real Salt’s garlic salt)
Instructions
*You can choose to grill or pan fry the steak (I highly recommend using cast iron if you want to pan fry). If you’re grilling, preheat the grill to 450F.
1. In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the steak and mix well. Rub the marinade into the steak. Cover and set aside on the counter.
2. While the steak marinates, make the rice and pico. First, start the rice, cooking according to package instructions.
3. Next, deseed and chop the tomato, and chop the onion and cilantro. Toss together in a bowl and juice half a lime into the pico. Mix and set aside.
4. Cook the steak. If you’re grilling, grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. If you’re pan frying, lightly oil the cast iron skillet (I like using avocado oil for this) and heat the pan over high heat until the oil shimmers and begins to smoke. Fry the steak for about 5 minutes on each side. Set the steak aside to rest while you make the guacamole.
5. In a medium sized bowl, mash the avocadoes. Add the juice of 1 and a half limes and the garlic salt. Taste and add more salt, as desired.
6. Build your bowls with rice, steak, guacamole, pico, and additional lime juice and cilantro, as desired.
Note: If these ingredients are unfamiliar to you, don’t let them scare you off! All of them can be found at your local grocery store. The noodles, tamari, sesame oil, and oyster sauce can be found in the international foods isle. And oyster sauce does not have oysters (or any seafood) in it! It’s called oyster sauce bc it’s the sauce they put onto oysters :) its flavor profile is like a sweet and savory soy sauce!
Super Simple Chicken Lo Mein
Serves 4
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
8 oz lo mein noodles
3 tbsp avocado oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ inches fresh ginger, diced
¾ lb chicken breast, cut into thin strips
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp tamari or soy sauce
¼ c chicken stock
1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot flour
2 bundles baby bok choy, chopped (with the very bottom removed)
3 green onions, chopped
Instructions
1. Cook the lo mein noodles according to package instructions. Strain and rinse with cold water, then set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute. Add the chicken. Make sure that each strip is making contact with the pan (not all lumped together) so they all sear evenly. Sear for 3-4 minutes on each side.
3. While the chicken cooks, make the sauce by whisking the oyster sauce, sesame oil, tamari, chicken stock, and cornstarch in a small bowl.
4. Add the bok choy and allow it to cook down, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Turn the heat down to low and add the sauce and noodles. Toss everything together until the noodles, chicken, and bok choy are all well-coated in sauce. Top with green onions and enjoy.
Creamy Tortellini Soup
Serves 6
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 lb ground Italian chicken sausage (I get mine fresh from the butcher)
8 c chicken broth
1.5 lb cheese tortellini (I use the Costco one)
4 c roughly chopped kale
1/2 c heavy cream
Fresh basil, for topping (optional)
Instructions
1. In a large pot (I prefer cast iron), sauté́ onions, carrots and garlic, in olive oil for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Add the parsley, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
2. Create a well in the center of the cooking veggies and add the Italian sausage. As it cooks, break into small pieces. Cook through, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth and turn the heat to high, bringing to a boil. When the water is boiling, add tortellini. Cook for 2 minutes, then turn the heat down to simmer.
4. Add the kale and mix. Simmer until the kale is cooked through. Turn off the heat. Add the cream and mix to combine.
5. Serve hot and garnish with fresh basil, if desired.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Serves 6
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients**
14 oz short-cut pasta (such as penne or rigatoni)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
garlic cloves, minced
1 lbs Italian chicken sausage (I get mine at the butcher of my local grocery store, this is my favorite option as it’s easier and the best tasting. If you can’t find it, you can usually find pre-packaged Italian pork or turkey sausage, or make your own with ground chicken and dried Italian herbs, red chili flakes, and olive oil)
¼ c sun-dried tomatoes, oil packed
½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
5 c fresh spinach, chopped
¾ c half and half
¼ c heavy cream
1 c fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan, freshly grated (optional)
Instructions
1. Cook noodles according to package instructions. Strain and set aside.
2. In a large pot (preferably cast-iron/dutch oven), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the Italian sausage and break into small pieces as it cooks, about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and drizzle some of the oil from the jar for extra flavor. Mix until well-combined. Add the red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the spinach, stirring as it cooks down for 3-5 minutes. Add the half and half and heavy cream. Mix until well combined.
5. Add the noodles to the pot and stir to coat the noodles in the sauce. Sprinkle with the basil and top with fresh parmesan, if desired.
**Suggested changes if you’re using this for meal prep:
16 oz pasta
1 ¾ lbs Italian chicken sausage
6 c spinach
This will bring the recipe up to “serves 8” which will provide another meal for a family of 4! As I stated above, most of my recipes serve 4. If your family has more members, double or 1.5x the recipe!
Hormone Healthy Pink Smoothie
Serves 4
Total time: 3 minutes
Ingredients
2 small frozen bananas
1 c frozen berries (I use a raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry mix)
12 oz milk of choice
2 tbsp almond butter
2-4 scoops Just Ingredients vanilla bean protein (essential – I have it linked in my discount codes highlight)
2 large handfuls of spinach
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds (optional but recommended for nutrients)
Instructions
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Enjoy! I love to add a side of toast, hard boiled eggs, or turkey bacon.
Never saved something so fast