Week of Healthy Meal Prep: February 4-8

Reminiscent of your classic chili, this vegetarian lentil chili is rounded out with sugar, vinegar, and spices. The lentils shine, but aren’t overwhelmingly earthy. The beans and tomatoes give the chili hearty texture, plenty of protein, and nearly half of your daily fiber requirement. Serve with cornbread and play with your toppings—add red onion, or avocado, even Fritos to the mix. To make it vegan, simply omit the sour cream and cheese.

To make your next steak night a success, watch over the temperature of the meat with a thermometer. This works best on steaks of 1-inch (or more) thickness; it’s hard to get a good reading on anything thinner. We marinate the meat with lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil—but no salt, because the marinade will get discarded. Instead, we sprinkle on a little kosher salt before pan-grilling and finish the sliced steak with gorgeous flaky salt so that it hits your tongue first and offers a beautiful crunchy kick. Round out your meal with a side of Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes.

The meat in these Instant Pot chicken tacos is tender, juicy, and flavorful. We keep it on the bones while it cooks to help infuse more flavor into the lean chicken breast meat. The toppings add fresh brightness and make the tacos sing, so pile them on and feel free to add any other toppers you love. If you have any leftover chicken, add it to nachos, taco salad, or soups. Don't have an Instant Pot, or you're short on time? Swap in rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. 

This classic dish is made extra crispy by subbing Panko for regular bread crumbs, and given a fiber boost from whole-wheat pasta. Switching out some of the eggplant for zucchini gives the dish some surprising flavor combinations as well. 

For budget cooking, this is perfect. This recipe only requires 6 ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and shrimp is an affordable type of seafood, fresh or frozen. Zesty and a bit spicy, this Mediterranean dish is one of our favorite no-fuss recipes.

Brighten up winter happy hour or Sunday brunch with this citrusy cocktail. Leafy carrot tops lend an herby backbone similar to parsley, and blood oranges infuse a berrylike sweetness. Plus, this drink boasts half your daily vitamin A and more than a third of your daily vitamin C goal.