Happy June! Although we are approaching the summer months, it still feels like early spring here in New England with all the rainy 60-degree days. None the less, my taste buds are ready for some summery recipes! This week’s meal plan is mostly vegetarian with one recipe containing shrimp. However, if you want to keep it fully vegetarian, fee free to use tofu or other protein alternative instead of the shrimp. Also you’ll notice the list of spices is a bit long this week. Hopefully many of them you already have at home, but if not I recommend either going online to get a good deal on them or going to a local spice shop that will let you buy small amounts of a spice at a time.

As always, if you’re new to the THT Meal Planning Guides, be sure to check out the intro post here.

Here’s a toast to light and flavorful meals!

The Meals:

• Sunday: Roasted Spring Vegetable Salad with Crispy Chickpeas and Creamy Cashew Dressing
• Monday: Spiralized Summer Roll Bowls with Hoisin Peanut Sauce from SkinnyTaste (for a completely vegetarian meal-plan, use tofu instead of shrimp; sub cashews for chopped peanuts)
• Tuesday: Mediterranean Veggie Wraps (leftovers for lunches rest of the week)
• Wednesday: Palak Tofu
• Thursday: Leftover Palak Tofu
• Friday: dine out or leftovers

Pantry Ingredients

• Brown basmati rice
• Quinoa
• Whole wheat flour
• Olive oil
• Canola or coconut oil
• Pure maple syrup
• Natural peanut butter
• Reduced sodium soy sauce
• Sriracha
• Smoked paprika
• Dried thyme
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Nutmeg
• Garam masala spice
• Ground cumin
• Cayenne pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic clove
• Fresh ginger

Groceries

Produce

• 3 beets
• 5 large carrots
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 2 zucchini
• 3 English cucumbers
• 1 lemon
• Shredded red cabbage
• 1 package mixed baby greens
• Fresh mint
• Optional fresh basil and cilantro for the summer roll bowls, but I’ve used just the mint before and it’s been delicious.

Proteins

• 1 package extra firm tofu
• 24 jumbo peeled and cooked shrimp (can use fresh or frozen)

Breads/Cereals

• 8 whole wheat wraps

Dairy/Eggs

• Unsweetened almond milk (any type of milk will work)
• Plain Greek yogurt

Center Aisles

• 1 can chickpeas
• Hoisin sauce
• Cashews, unsalted

Frozen Foods

• 14-oz package frozen spinach

Sunday Game Plan:

Clear up your Sunday evening as we are in full meal-prep mode this week! As always, if you have the time after work most nights, feel free to prepare these meals as you go instead of prepping them ahead of time.

1. Mediterranean Veggie Wraps: Simply follow directions in recipe; however, don’t add the sauce inside of the wraps as they will get overly soggy by Friday. Instead, roll up the wraps (no sauce) and cover each with foil, store in fridge. Place sauce in a jar or other seal-able container for storage in fridge, and then serve it alongside the wraps for dinner on Tuesday and lunch the rest of the week.
2. Spiralized Summer Roll Bowls with Hoisin Peanut Sauce: on Sunday, prepare ingredients as directed (except sub in cashews for peanuts) and store in fridge overnight to eat for dinner Monday.
3. Roasted Spring Vegetable Salad with Crispy Chickpeas and Creamy Cashew Dressing: start by soaking your cashews in filtered water for at least 1 hour. While cashews are soaking, follow directions for rest of the recipe. Because chickpeas are at their crispiest the day of roasting, this will be dinner Sunday and leftovers on Monday for lunch.
4. Palak Tofu: this is another hour-long recipe, so I recommend making this at the same time as the roasted beets for the salad above. Simply follow directions as written. Once cooked, cool quickly by placing in 2-4 containers and store in the fridge until Wednesday. Option to wait and prepare rice on Wednesday night if you have 45-60 minutes when you get home (or use a simple quick-cooking brown rice instead).

Still have leftover mint? Here are a few recipes to use it up:

• Thin Mint Date Bites
• Banana Pineapple Smoothie
• Healthier Shamrock Shake
• Mojito Chicken Tacos
• Veggie Mediterranean Flatbread