Week of Healthy Meal Prep: March 4-8

Naan breads are the secret to instant pizza-style flatbreads (no rolling or baking of dough required). Look for whole-grain naan, such as Stonefire, and treat as you would a prepared pizza crust.

It's Mardi Gras! But this year, skip the jambalaya or gumbo and go for this Lowcountry classic for a much more authentic way to celebrate. If you don't care for (or can't find) crawfish, shrimp make a fine substitute. Toasting the flour brings nutty flavor to the sauce, similar to a brown roux. Microgreens make an elegant—and tasty—garnish. And be sure to finish the meal off with the King Cake Cupcakes recipe, below!

The feta, crunchy chickpeas, and zippy dressing tie the whole bowl together in a way that won’t leave you craving junk food. Plus, this portable meal is high in fiber and has a decent amount of protein—both of which will fill you up. But this basic recipe equation can work with lots of grains, greens, and beans, so substitute with what makes you happy. Leave all your ingredients in quadrants, if possible, to prevent things from drying out or getting too soggy. Add dressing and crunchy chickpeas just before eating.

You could complicate things if you wanted to, but why bother when the simple way tastes so great? Not counting salt, pepper, and oil, this recipe contains just six ingredients—and tastes like a million bucks. That’s because the lightly seasoned chicken releases all its chicken-y goodness into the skillet, where onions, garlic, kale, and chickpeas lap it up so that none of the rich poultry flavor goes to waste. If you can, purchase air-chilled and/or organic chicken thighs. Since chicken is the star here, you want the best you can find.

Author Colu Henry loves taking vegetables to the edge by roasting until they are deeply browned and caramelized, giving them great texture and amping up their flavor. The feta cheese emulsifies in the pasta water, creating a velvety sauce for the pasta.

You can't celebrate Mardi Gras without king cake, but it can be a portion-control nightmare. The cinnamon croissant-esque cake is topped with gobs of sticky-sweet glaze and buckets of colored sugar sprinkles.

Our recipe, however, turns the dough into individual cinnamon buns. We keep the sugar where it counts most: A cinnamon-sugar sprinkle and a swirl of glaze. You’ll get all the flavors without feeling so bogged down after.