- Hey guys and welcome back to my channel.
If you're new, I'm Lisa
and today I'm whipping up
a summer meal prep, as
these videos continue
to be highly requested.
Now, because it's summer
and it's really hot outside,
especially here in Southern California,
I did my best to limit
the amount of cooking
in this meal prep.
There's only two ingredients
that require any cooking
and the rest of the
items are light and fresh
and really straight forward.
So, that means less time
in your kitchen cooking
and more time outside enjoying summer.
So, in today's video, I'll
show you how to meal prep
10 ingredients and give you a few ideas
for meals and recipes
that you can make quickly
throughout the week.
I've also thrown in a
little bonus dessert recipe
for you today because when
it's hot and it's summertime,
I think we could all use
a sweet frozen treat.
Now, just as I did on
the last meal prep video,
I created a downloadable PDF guide
of this summer meal prep,
so you don't have to worry
about taking any notes at
all throughout the video.
I'll tell you how to download the PDF
at the end of this video, but first,
let me show you what I've
meal prepped this week.
As usual, we'll start with the item
that takes the longest
amount of time first
and for this meal prep,
that's zucchini bread.
So, we'll grease a loaf
pan with coconut oil
and set our oven temperature
to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Zucchini bread is the
perfect summertime bread,
as zucchini is in abundance
and it's a great way
to sneak more veggies into
an otherwise very beige
food item.
Zucchini bread is also really moist
and, as you'll see later,
it can be used in both
sweet and savory ways.
Grate one and a half cups of zucchini,
which is usually about one large zucchini.
Then use a nut milk bag or a kitchen towel
to squeeze out any excess
water from the zucchini.
As a tip, I always use my
nut milk bag inside out,
so that the seams are on the outside.
This helps prevent food
particles from getting stuck
in those seams.
So, you'll just squeeze out all the water
and then set this zucchini aside.
To get started with our dry ingredients
for this gluten free, paleo
friendly zucchini bread,
we'll add one and a half
cups of almond flour,
a half a cup of tapioca
flour and a quarter cup
of coconut flour to a bowl.
To that, we'll add one
teaspoon of baking soda,
a tablespoon of cinnamon and
a quarter teaspoon of salt
and then stir all of our
dry ingredients together.
In a separate bowl, we'll
mix our wet ingredients,
which includes three eggs,
a half a cup of applesauce,
two tablespoons of maple
syrup and a half a tablespoon
of apple cider vinegar.
Then we'll add our grated
zucchini and give it a stir
until everything is combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry
and stir everything together
until you've got a batter.
Then pour that into your greased loaf pan
and cook for 50 to 60 minutes
or until the top is golden
and a toothpick comes out clean.
(cheerful music)
Hard boiled eggs make for the perfect
single ingredient snack,
but for this meal prep,
I've got a few new recipes up my sleeve.
If you watched my video on how to make
the perfect hard boiled
and soft boiled eggs,
I'm sure you're an expert
at making these by now.
But, for those who haven't
yet watched that video,
we'll start by bringing
a pot of water to a boil.
Once the water is
boiling, turn the heat off
just for a second and use a skimmer
to gently place the eggs in the hot water.
Turn the heat back up to high
and set a timer for 12 minutes.
While the eggs are cooking, we
can move onto our next item,
which is to peel and
slice several bananas.
Line a plate or tray with parchment paper
and grab yourself some popsicle sticks
because we're gonna freeze the bananas
and create a sweet treat in just a bit.
Once your bananas are peeled,
slice several of them in half
and it's probably not wise
to slice them in your hand
as I'm doing.
Once you have three or four
bananas sliced in half,
insert the popsicle sticks
halfway into the bananas
and place those in the freezer
for at least two hours.
For our remaining bananas,
slice these into quarters
and place them in a storage
container or Stasher bag,
as we'll use these for smoothies.
I really love Stasher
bags for sliced bananas,
as the bananas lay in one flat layer
and they don't stick to
the bag, as it's silicone,
which makes getting them out far easier.
If you'd like more
information on Stasher bags,
make sure to watch my meal
prep containers video.
Alright, your hard boiled
eggs should be almost done
at this point, so
prepare an ice water bath
and then set that to the side.
Once the 12 minutes is up,
remove the eggs from the pot
and let them fully cool in the ice water.
Like zucchini, cucumber
is a cooling, refreshing
and hydrating veggie during the summer.
In my first meal prep video, I showed you
how to precut carrots and
celery and store those in water.
Well, good news, you can do
the same thing with cucumber
and snack on it throughout the week.
So, slice up one or two cucumbers
and then add those slices to a glass jar.
Fill your jar with cold,
filtered water, close the lid
and then place it in the fridge.
If you have any leftover cucumber
that doesn't fit in the jar,
just cover the end tightly
with plastic wrap and store
this in the fridge, as well.
Another ingredient that
just screams summertime
is fresh strawberries.
And since my local market
had organic strawberries
on sale two for one this week,
I, of course, grabbed two.
Strawberries are,
unfortunately, at the very top
of the dirty dozen list,
which measures the amount
of pesticide residue in
produce, so washing is key.
And studies have shown that
conventional strawberries
often times have residue of more than
10 different pesticides.
Now, I should also clarify
that organic strawberries
are not pesticide free.
In fact, organic produce
still contain pesticides,
just not the synthetic pesticides found
on conventional strawberries.
So, think of organic as simply
containing less pesticides
and being non-GMO.
To wash the strawberries
and remove dirt, debris
and bacteria, add them to a bowl of water
and let them soak for five minutes.
Then drain them and store on
a paper towel lined container
with no lid for up to five days.
And if you'd like to know
why I no longer add vinegar
to my water, I'll have more
info on the full blog post.
If you're gluten free or looking for
a lower carb alternative
for sandwich bread and buns,
it really doesn't get much
better than fresh lettuce leaves.
I'm using green leaf lettuce today,
but you could also use red
leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce
or several other varieties.
We'll wash the lettuce
similar to the strawberries,
so fill a big bowl with water
and remove each lettuce leaf
from the stalk.
Submerge it in the water,
slosh it around to clean it
and let it sit for several minutes.
If you have a salad spinner,
use that to dry the leaves
or blot the leaves dry with
a kitchen or paper towel.
I'm usually not a fan
of single use products,
like a salad spinner, but
if you eat a lot of salads,
as I do, then it's definitely
a very useful tool.
Once the lettuce is dry, add the leaves
to a paper towel lined storage container
and place it in the fridge.
At this point, our eggs should
be fully cooled, as well.
You can keep them in their shell
for up to a week in the fridge
or you can peel them ahead of time
and they'll last for up to
three days in the fridge
in a storage container.
It's totally up to you based
on your personal preference
and what you plan to
make throughout the week.
Next on our list is bell pepper
and I frequently add diced
bell pepper to salads
and egg scrambles during the summer.
So, slice the bell pepper in half
and use your middle three fingers
to easily remove the seeds.
Then dice the bell pepper,
add it to a storage container
and place it in the fridge.
I haven't found any benefits
with adding paper towel
or water to the container
with bell pepper,
so I just add it straight to one of my
Glasslock storage containers.
(upbeat music)
Meal prepping onions is one
of my favorite things to do
because it means I only
have to cry one time,
rather than several times
throughout the week.
And, boy, do I have sensitive eyes.
I like to slice the red onion
into thin half moon slices
because that then gives me the option
to keep them like this
or quickly dice them
into smaller pieces throughout the week.
And that quick little dice is so fast
that it never gets my waterworks flowing.
Once the red onion is sliced,
add it to a storage container
and place it in the fridge.
Now, hopefully you haven't forgotten about
our zucchini bread because
after we've sliced and diced
all those veggies, it
should be fully cooked.
So, remove it from the
oven and let it cool.
(cheerful music)
Last on our meal prep list are two
very flavorful dressings, and the first
is a champagne vinegarette.
It comes together really easily
and starts with finely
dicing one small shallot.
Add that to a a bowl,
along with two teaspoons
of Dijon mustard, the
juice from one lemon,
a teaspoon of honey, a
quarter teaspoon of salt
and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.
To that, we'll add one third
cup of champagne vinegar
and whisk it together.
Then add one half cup of olive oil
and whisk continuously
while slowly pouring.
You'd like to emulsify the dressing a bit,
but odds are, it will
separate when you store it
and that's fine.
All you have to do is give it a good shake
before using and I'd recommend placing it
in a leak proof container, like a Weck jar
or a Le Parfait jar
with a silicone gasket.
The name of this dressing
is a big giveaway
to one of the recipes we'll be making.
We'll start by mincing two garlic cloves
and adding one teaspoon of Dijon mustard,
the juice from one lemon, a
half a teaspoon of oregano,
which is really the key spice
in Greek salad dressing,
a quarter teaspoon salt, a
quarter teaspoon black pepper
and one third cup of red wine vinegar.
Then whisk that together
as we did previously
and slowly pour in a
half a cup of olive oil
while continuously whisking.
Pour that into a storage
container and place it
in the fridge.
Our bananas should be quite frozen now
after about two hours, so place
them in a storage container
that's lined with parchment
paper and if you stack them,
just make sure place parchment
paper between the layers.
(cheerful music)
Alright, so now that you have
these 10 ingredients prepped,
let me give you a few
ideas of what you can make
in just a few minutes by combining them
with ingredients in your fridge or pantry.
For breakfast, you can whip up
a very easy and fresh
strawberry banana smoothie.
There's only four
ingredients in this smoothie
and it can be made with
dairy or dairy free.
To start, remove the stems
from the strawberries,
cut them in half and measure
out about two cups worth.
Add those to your blender,
along with one frozen banana,
which is four of our
chunks, a half a cup of milk
and a half a cup of yogurt.
Then blend it all
together until it's creamy
and if you want to get fancy,
you can add a little
fresh strawberry garnish
to the top.
(upbeat music)
For another breakfast or snack,
we're gonna use our
zucchini bread as the base.
Of course, you could
pop your zucchini bread
in the toaster and add a pat of butter,
but I thought we'd get
a little creative today
with both a sweet and
savory breakfast option.
(cheerful music)
For a sweet option, spread a little yogurt
on your zucchini bread and top that
with some sliced strawberries.
As usual, I have my homemade
almond butter in the fridge,
so I'm drizzling that on
top, but honey would be
a great option, as well.
For a little crunch,
I'm adding cacao nibs,
but chopped nuts or chia
seeds would also be tasty.
For a savory option, add
several avocado slices
and one of our hard boiled eggs.
Top that with chives or other herbs
and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
As you can see, the
toppings are really endless
and whether you opt for sweet or savory,
the good news is that you're
already getting a boost
of veggies in the bread.
For a snack throughout the day,
you can munch on your cucumber slices
or use them to scoop up homemade hummus.
But, I also have another
delicious idea for you
and that's smoked salmon,
avocado and cucumber bites.
Remove a couple of cucumber
slices from your jar,
lay them on a plate and make sure
you've got some Wild
Alaskan Smoked Salmon.
Smoked salmon is a great
way to add a protein boost
without any cooking and it has
that wonderful smokey
summertime flavor to it.
But first, we need to mash
up half of an avocado.
You could scoop this out
into a bowl and mash it up
with a squirt of lime
juice, but I have a habit
of mashing straight in the avocado skin
if I'm just doing it for myself.
Add a dollop of avocado to each cucumber
and place a piece of smoked salmon on top.
Chop up more fresh chives
and sprinkle those,
along with a little bit
of cracked black pepper.
These bites are beyond tasty
and will definitely tide over
any hunger pangs throughout the day.
(cheerful music)
For lunch or dinner, it's
really easy to whip up
the veggie heavy Greek salad.
If you still have cucumber
slices left throughout the week,
you can use those, but if
you'd like to save those
for snacking, it's really easy
to slice up another cucumber, as well.
The full recipe for this Greek salad
with proper measurements is on my website,
but I'm just eyeballing a single portion
for myself today.
So, I'll dice up half a cucumber
and add that to a bowl
and slice up a handful
of grape tomatoes.
I'll also slice up a small handful
of pitted Kalamata olives and add those,
along with a portion of
our pre-chopped bell pepper
and red onion.
Our last ingredient is feta cheese,
which I love, and if you watched
my zucchini fries recipe,
you know that I always buy
fresh blocks of cheese,
rather than pre-graded
or pre-crumbled cheese,
as I'm not a fan of those
anti-caking additives.
Then, all that's left to
do is drizzle this salad
with our homemade Greek salad dressing,
give it a stir and enjoy.
(cheerful music)
for another lunch or dinner idea,
we're gonna spruce up a
traditional egg salad recipe
and turn it into an avocado egg salad.
To do that, we'll take three
of our hard boiled eggs,
dice them up and add them to a bowl.
Then we'll peel and remove
the pit from one avocado,
finely dice it and add
that to the bowl, as well.
The avocado will become plenty mashed
when we stir everything together,
so there's no need to
mash it before adding it
to the bowl.
Next, we'll take some of our red onion
and you could leave these in half moons
if you like large pieces
or you can quickly dice it
into smaller pieces, as well.
You can use a variety
of herbs in this recipe,
so feel free to use whatever
you may have in your garden,
but I'm adding chopped
chives and fresh parsley
from my patio.
To that, we'll add two
tablespoons of mayonnaise,
and I'm using my homemade mayo,
one teaspoon of lemon juice
and salt and pepper.
Give it a quick stir and
try not to over stir it.
To serve the avocado egg salad,
pile it on top of our
pre-washed lettuce leaves
and garnish it with microgreens.
(cheerful music)
As you can see, I'm all
about the salad recipes
in the summertime, so for
one more delicious salad,
we're gonna make a smoked salmon,
avocado and arugula salad.
Again, the full recipe
for this is on my website,
but to eyeball a single portion,
I'll add a handful of arugula to a bowl,
along with a small handful of microgreens.
Then I'll tear up my smoked
salmon into smaller pieces
and add that, along
with half of an avocado.
To balance out the saltiness of the salmon
and the creaminess of the avocado,
we'll add a little natural
sweetness with a sliced pear.
Lastly, add a small handful of red onion
and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
We'll top this salad with
our champagne vinegarette,
and if it has separated,
just give it a good shake
before adding a few teaspoonfuls.
I think you're really gonna
love the flavors in this salad
and it's certainly been
one of my favorites
for that last several weeks.
(cheerful music)
Alright, I promised I'd
have something sweet for you
on this summer meal prep, so
to finish things off today,
we're gonna make
chocolate covered bananas.
If you'd like any toppings on your bananas
like nuts, shredded
coconut or dried fruit,
make sure to get those
ready ahead of time.
To get started, add about
eight ounces of chocolate chips
to a heatproof glass
and melt the chocolate
either on a double boiler
or in 20 second increments
in the microwave.
Then take your frozen bananas
and dip them in the chocolate.
You can cover them all the way,
though I found it's a little less messy
to just cover them about 80% of the way.
Let any excess chocolate drip off
and you'll notice that the chocolate
will start to harden quite
quickly on the frozen bananas,
so be ready to sprinkle on your toppings.
I've found that holding the banana
while sprinkling the
toppings allows the chocolate
to harden around the banana.
If you place the banana
immediately on parchment paper
and sprinkle without holding it,
you'll find your chocolate
spreading out flat.
Today's toppings on these bananas
includes shredded coconut,
freeze dried raspberries,
chopped pistachios, cacao
nibs, chopped hazelnuts
and almond butter.
Chocolate covered bananas
are the best summertime treat
and you can pre-make them
for the entire week, as well.
Just place them back in the freezer
in the storage container
once they're coated
with your toppings.
(cheerful music)
I hope you enjoyed all of
those delicious recipes
and as I mentioned at the beginning,
I created a downloadable PDF guide
of this summer meal prep for you.
It should hopefully make your life
a little bit easier in the kitchen,
as it contains all of the
food storage guidelines
and links to all of the
full recipes on my website,
downshiftology.com.
You can download this PDF guide
in the video description box below,
but if you're already on my list,
because you downloaded the
spring meal prep guide,
you don't have to do anything,
you're automatically gonna
receive this summer meal prep
in an email from me today.
One of the benefits of
subscribing to my website
is that you're always the first to know
when new recipes and videos go live.
If you liked this video and
would like to see more videos
in this meal prep series, make
sure to give it a thumbs up,
hit that subscribe button and let me know
in the comments below.
And if you haven't yet watched
my first meal prep video
or my spring meal prep
video, I will link those
on the last screen.
Alright, that's it for me this week.
I will see you guys
again in the next video.
(cheerful music)
