Meal Prep Monday: Veggie Style

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was good, except for dropping the bf off at the airport for a 2 week work trip :( On the bright side, I took advantage of the meat lover's absence to go vegetarian for this week's meal prep.

Breakfast

I picked up some delicious pumpkin flax plus granola from the Whole Foods bulk aisle, and decided to use it as the base for a new mason jar breakfast.

Recipe:

Calories: 380 | Fat: 15 g | Cholest: 0 mg | Sodium: 117 mg | Carbs: 51 g | Fiber: 10 g | Sugars: 25 g | Protein: 13 g

1/3 cup pumpkin flax plus granola

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp sliced almonds

2 tbsp raisins

1/2 banana

1 egg white

1/4 cup coconut milk

Mix everything in the mason jar and refrigerate overnight.

Protein

I decided to prepare two different types of soy proteins: tempeh and tofu. Tempeh is a soy product, originally from Indonesia, made by fermenting cooked soybeans with a mold. According to FitSugar, since tempeh is less processed than tofu, it's healthier in general and has more protein and fiber than tofu. You can find tempeh with the other tofu products in many grocery stores, although Harris Teeter's selection was limited to a couple flavored varieties. I found this unflavored flax version at Whole Foods.

After some googling (this article was very helpful), I found that although tempeh is generally ready to eat, most people suggest cooking it before using in recipes.Baking sounded the simplest to me, so I sliced the tempeh and threw it in a pan with about 1/4 c vegetable broth, 2 tbsp braggs amino acids, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 tbsp garlic powder. After letting it marinate for a couple hours, I  baked the tempeh for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I broke off a corner right after it came out of the oven and it was pretty tasty, fingers crossed it works well in the recipes I have planned.

I also picked up some much less exotic extra firm tofu. I actually like the taste and texture of raw firm tofu, but I decided to try to kick it up a little by broiling it.

Following directions on the Nasoya website, I sliced the tofu into 1/2 inch slices, placed it on a baking sheet lined with greased aluminum foil, and broiled it for about 5 minutes on each side until the tofu was browned and slightly crispy around the edges.

I really like the resulting texture and plan to use it in a salad for lunch tomorrow.

Sides

I made another giant batch of quinoa, this time it was multicolored and extra fancy looking! I also got my usual ton of produce, some of which I chopped up for tomorrow's lunch.

Workouts

Following my August Workout Calendar, here are the (all FREE) workouts I have planned for this week.

Monday: Core
Nike Training Club Jeanette Jenkins Hollywood Abs
Blogilates Bikini Blaster 3: Abs Abs Abs!

Tuesday: HIIT
Blogilates Pop HIIT 1

Wednesday: Arms
Nike Training Club Arm Definer and Shoulder Shaper

Thursday: HIIT
FitnessBlendar Brutal Kettlebell HIIT

Friday: Legs
FitnessBlender Lean Mean Legs Workout

Saturday: Rest
We'll see if I manage to really rest this time :)

Sunday: Run/Play
Volleyball Grass Doubles Tournament!

Q: Are any of you vegetarian or vegan? What do you do for meal prep?