Week of Healthy Meal Prep: August 5-9

The shrimp is balanced with slight sweetness, bitter char, and tangy lime—a combination that complements the refreshing melon. Pick the ripest melons you can find; they should be firm but slightly soft and fragrant, especially near the stem end. Round out this dinner with your favorite grain or the Herb-Scented Rice Salad.

This is the iconic, traditional meat loaf like your mom used to make (or that you wished your mom would make). Mix the ingredients gently, just until combined, and don't compact the meat when shaping the loaf for best results. For extra pizzazz, garnish with parsley.

This quinoa bowl has everything that you’d want in a dinner grain bowl: plenty of colorful vegetables, dark leafy greens, and heart-healthy protein all tied together with a tangy dollop of yogurt. Here we call for red quinoa for its pretty color, but any type of quinoa or quinoa blend will taste great. 

This fast pasta dish is easy to prep and makes for a nice quick, family-friendly, weeknight dinner. You can top it with chicken to give it a little extra staying power, but it also works well as a lunch salad, or to bring to a potluck as a side dish. We like to use fiber-packed chickpea pasta, but whole wheat is a tasty substitution.

In this fresh take on succotash, we use a pan-steaming technique (no steamer basket required) to cut down on cooking time and keep the beans and corn crisp-tender rather than ultra-soft. For succotash, fresh corn always tastes more delicious than frozen, but thawed frozen corn would certainly be a good stand-in here in a pinch. If you are using fresh corn, after you cut the kernels off, run the dull side of your knife down the kernel and scrape some of the corn “milk” into the pan, too. This recipe makes a small portion but can be doubled or even tripled to serve a crowd. Serve with a store-bought rotisserie chicken.

A long, tall version of the great summer sipper, this healthy watermelon margarita recipe has only 105 calories.