Recently my brother Charlie asked if I would help him learn how to do some healthy and tasty meal prep on a budget, so yesterday was his first week of “cooking school.” Lessons also included first having to forage for his own food in the wilderness aka…the grocery store. Here’s what we cooked up:
💥BBQ chicken bowls with caramelized sweet potatoes and parmesan roasted broccoli (coming soon)
💥Lemongrass turkey meatballs with garlic bok choy and spicy mayo sesame rice
💥Deconstructed pastelón with a turkey based picadillo filling (coming soon)
End results: he learned that he REALLY likes roasted broccoli, food with flavor doesn’t have to be hard to make even if the name sounds scary, grocery shopping probably takes longer than he thinks 😆 and ALWAYS double check the grocery list your sister gives you 🙄😉 Overall we had fun, a great lesson and already have round two on the calendar!
We now refer to these sessions as “Cooking with Charlitos.” I am excited to teach him about the amazing ways he can use veggies he’s never even seen and he’s excited to eat it all! These recipes will be soy free and gluten free too while he learns how to make better food choices. To help him keep track of how we made each dish, I’ll be posting them here throughout the weeks of our cooking classes. They are really simple recipes, full of flavor and make for a super smooth meal prep if you want to make them all at the same time, utilizing several parts of the kitchen for maximum efficiency. We had 10-12 meals prepped, cooked and cleaned up in 2 hours! See the links above for the additional recipes that we made along with this one.
Lemongrass Turkey Meatballs with Garlic Bok Choy and Spicy Mayo Sesame Rice
A fast and simple asian themed meal prep to get you through the week. Packed with flavor, simple to make and will help keep you away from expensive takeout!
Ingredients
Lemongrass Turkey Meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 garlic cloves minced**
- 2 green onions chopped**
- 2 tbsp lemongrass paste
- 1 tbsp sriracha
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs gluten free preferred
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
Garlic Bok Choy
- 2 heads bok choy
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 5-6 green onions chopped (use whats left in your bunch of onions after chopping for the meatballs)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce if not avoiding soy
Spicy Mayo Sesame Rice
- 1 cup rice uncooked – we like sushi but any rice will work
- water per package instructions
- 1/2 cup Avocado mayonnaise I like Primal Kitchen
- 2-4 tbsp sriracha more or less to your preference
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
Instructions
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Cook rice on the stove top according to instructions, or for super easy prep, in a pressure cooker or rice cooker. While cooking, make meatballs.
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Mix all ingredients together except for the avocado and sesame oil. Shape into 12 meatballs and set aside. Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Add 1/4 cup avocado oil and 2-3 tbsp sesame oil. Pan fry meatballs on one side for 3-4 minutes or until they start to brown. Flip, lower heat a little and cook another 5-6 minutes, moving around until meatball is cooked on all sides and through the middle. Set on a paper towel lined plate.
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Without cleaning out the pan, add the boy choy and let saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the green onion, garlic, salt and coconut aminos. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
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When rice is done, mix in mayo, sriracha, salt and sesame seeds.
Assembling meal prep containers
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Divide the rice evenly between containers and top with 3 meatballs. Divide the boy choy into each container. Seal container, label and store in fridge for up to 5 days. Freezes and reheats well too!
Recipe Notes
**Time saving tip: chop up garlic and green onions for both the meatballs and boy choy at the same time so you don’t have to go back and forth to the cutting board. While you are there chop up your bok choy too!Â
Veggie-tip: Feel free to saute any greens that need to be used up with the bok choy. I always love adding in kale, radish greens, etc. Get them out of your fridge and into your belly!
Pro-tip: Don’t buy bread crumbs! Save the heels of your bread, pulse in a food processor, throw in an airtight container and store in the fridge for when you need bread crumbs!
Rice-tip: if using a pressure cooker, THIS SITE is my absolute favorite link to perfect cooked rice!
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