Looking for a quick and easy way to reduce inflammation? This post explains what inflammation is, how to reduce it, and provides a delicious and satisfying 5 day anti-inflammation meal plan that has been optimized to help reduce inflammation and to keep you feeling healthy and well-balanced.
5medium sweet potatoes,rinsed, poked, and patted dry
For Greek Quinoa Salad:
⅓ cupraw quinoa
⅔cupwater
1cupsliced grape tomatoes
1cupdiced cucumber,quartered
½cuppitted kalamata olives,sliced
½cupthinly sliced red onion
For Greek Quinoa Salad Dressing:
3tablespoonolive oil
3tablespoonred wine vinegar
2tablespoonlemon juice
¼teaspoonsea salt
¼teaspoonblack pepper
Instructions
Matcha Chia Make-Ahead Smoothie (5 servings)
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
These smoothies are made all together (as written) and then divided evenly and then stored in the freezer in mason jars with re-usable lids.
While you could make this fresh each day, I make all 5 smoothies ahead of time and store them in the freezer. Then, I remove one each day the night before and allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight so I have my smoothie ready to enjoy each morning.
Turmeric Chickpea and Kale Buddha Bowl (5 servings)
To make the wild rice, place wild rice, water, and salt in a deep pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Cover, and bring it to a boil. Then, turn heat down to low and let simmer 40-45 minutes. The rice is cooked when it is tender and creamy, and all the liquid has been absorbed.
To make the chickpeas, combine the chickpeas with the seasoning, and toss to coat. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the seasoned chickpeas. Sauté the chickpeas for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. To avoid smashing the chickpeas with a spoon, you can shake the pan to toss the chickpeas around to evenly brown. Add additional oil, as needed, to prevent from sticking. Then, remove from heat and set aside.
To make the kale, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the kale and sauté until softened. Add the garlic and sea salt, and stir for another minute.
Assemble the bowls into meal prep containers, starting with the wild rice as the base (1 cup per meal). Then, top with the seasoned chickpeas (⅓-1/2 cups per meal), sautéed kale, grapes (¼ cup per meal), and wedge of lemon. When ready to serve, top with avocado, if desired, and squeeze lemon juice.
For The Lemon Turmeric Energy Balls (5 servings, 3 balls per serving)
Add all ingredients to a food processor, and process until the mixture becomes a ball and is fully blended.
Divide the mixture evenly into 15 portions - using a meatball scoop is handy for this. Roll into balls using your hands.
Place into the fridge to become more firm and solidify. Then, store in the fridge in an air-tight container all together or individually portioned for each day.
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Wash sweet potatoes and remove any debris or dirt, and then pat dry. Place the sweet potatoes on the baking sheet and poke several holes around each of them using a fork or small knife.
Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a fork can easily be inserted into the flesh of the potatoes.
When the sweet potatoes have about 20 minutes left, cook quinoa. Just combine the uncooked quinoa and water in a small sauce pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook 15-20 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa has opened and is tender. Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork, and then set aside to cool.
Once the sweet potatoes are done baking, let cool slightly. Once cool, cut the sweet potatoes open and shred the flesh from the skin so that the inside is mashed and easy to scoop out.
For Greek Quinoa Stuffing, in a large mixing bowl, combine cooked quinoa and the rest of the ingredients for quinoa salad. Set aside.
In a separate small mixing bowl, make the quinoa salad dressing by adding the ingredients for the dressing and whisking them together.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and then toss everything to combine evenly.
Stuff the sweet potatoes with the quinoa salad and store in glass meal prep containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutritional information is for an entire day of the 5-day meal plan, which includes breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner.
All food can be stored in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
Meals can be prepped ahead of time in bulk, if desired.