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I knew I needed a lot of ingredients (and time) to make a healthy, delicious dinner every day, but it just felt impossible during the week. But I've since learned that with the right ingredients and pantry staples, it's easy to make delicious meals. This week, we'll be preparing main dishes with 5 ingredients (not including the basics like oil, salt, and pepper) to make cooking easier. Plus, in honor of February being American Heart Month, these dinners meet heart-healthy standards.
your meal plan
Thursday's Shrimp Oreganata Cauliflower Gnocchi is a mouth-watering dish that's ready in 15 minutes from start to finish, using convenient items like ready-to-use frozen cauliflower gnocchi and pre-cooked shrimp. Another thing I love about this recipe is that you can use the microwave to cook the tomatoes mixed with garlic, oil, salt, and oregano. This saves you the hassle of cleaning up splattered tomatoes on the stove later. I pair this dish with a whole wheat baguette drizzled with olive oil to complete the meal with a scoop of delicious blistered tomatoes. You'll notice that some of these dinners include very simple side dishes (and I mean really simply) like this one to help round out the meal.
Things to note: Monday's Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Hummus Dressing recipe and Friday's 3-Ingredient Farro Bowl with Rotisserie Chicken recipe make 1 and 2 servings, respectively, but can easily be adjusted to make larger servings. We can provide it. On my shopping list, I included enough ingredients to serve 4 people for each dinner.
Sunday: 5-Ingredient Roasted Lemon Chicken and Vegetables with Brown Rice
Monday: Stuffed sweet potato with hummus dressing
Tuesday: Oven baked salmon with roasted red skin potatoes
Wednesday: chicken and white bean soup Served with mixed greens tossed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and black pepper
Thursday: Shrimp oreganata cauliflower gnocchi Drizzle olive oil on whole wheat baguette
Friday: 3 Ingredient Farro Bowl with Rotisserie Chicken and Apple as Dessert Fruit
What I want to drink
Smoothies not only make a great breakfast, they also make a great grab-and-go snack. I love enjoying this Banana Mango Smoothie in the winter. Because it has a tropical flavor that will take you to the beach. In addition to their natural sweetness, mangoes and bananas are packed with nutrients such as fiber, potassium, and vitamin C. Therefore, you need half a teaspoon of honey per serving to balance the acidity. However, you can omit it and still make a delicious and slightly sweet smoothie.
Get the recipe: banana mango smoothie
What inspired me this week
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I don't shop much at Costco (we're a family of two, so we don't have a lot of storage space), but some of the items on sale in February are worth a visit. My husband and I both love sparkling water, so we spotted her 24-count case of San Pellegrino for $5.50 off. That's it. Mini Fruit Bars, Amazing Salt & Pepper Pistachios, and Oikos Greek Yogurt Cups are nutritious and easy-to-pack snacks to take to work.
Learn more: Top 9 Costco Sale Items in February
