Meal-prep inspired by BOLAY

I felt so inspired by Bolay’s fresh “bol”/bowl concept that I created a meal prep. The ingredients were simple enough. The basics: To build a “bol” similar to Bolay, you will need a base, veggies, protein, toppings, and a sauce.

Since these meals are for 5-7 days, I plan to mix and match different items throughout the week. For my ingredients, I chose boneless skinless chicken breasts, fresh asparagus, portobello mushrooms, 2 heads of cauliflower, and 1 head of red cabbage.

To be straightforward, this meal prep did not go as fast as my normal preps, but that was due to my lack of pans. I have 1 large pan I use for roasting vegetables. If I make a big batch of one vegetable – I end up having to saute the others on the stove or roast in the toaster oven and set up ANOTHER skillet to do meats. Investing in pans and proper kitchen items is a must (new appliance-haul post coming soon!).

Here’s how I cooked for my bowls (revised to include best recommendations on getting it done faster):

1. Evenly separate chicken, chop and pick 2 flavors to season with.

   I seasoned half the chicken with lemon pepper and the other half with sweet teriyaki. I cooked them separately in a small pan – but I recommend lining a pan with aluminum foil and baking them at the same time to save time.

   

   

2. Get the quick and easy vegetables out of the way.

   Asparagus and portobello mushrooms are quickly and easily cooked. Trim down the asparagus (so you don’t end up with hard stems) and saute with lemon pepper seasoning and EVOO in a skillet. Wipe down the mushrooms with a damp cloth or paper towel (you don’t want to drown these in water). Then saute the mushrooms in a pan with balsamic vinegar, sea salt, and black pepper. I also recommend just lining a pan with aluminum foil and roasting them to save time.

   

   

3. Cook the almighty cauliflower.

   Break down the head of the cauliflower and put the pieces into a big Ziploc® bag with seasoning (chili powder, garlic, sea salt, EVOO). Doing this ensures the cauliflower is completely coated. Shake it up and pour it out into a long pan and cover it with aluminum foil. Let it cook down, and after about 30 minutes, get rid of the foil to let the cauliflower get roasted, toasted, and crisped. While this is cooking, I move on to the cabbage.

   

4. Cabbage is a great base for bowls.

   Red cabbage can be roasted or cooked in a skillet, but due to the pan crisis, I used a skillet. Use a big sharp knife to chop the cabbage into shreds like you would for coleslaw. Cook it in the skillet with the same sweet teriyaki sauce as the chicken.

5. Create your bowls!

   Limiting the flavor profiles ensures the various items can be mixed and matched. The sauce I chose is this Orange Ginger dressing.  The lemon pepper seasoned items go well together or mixed with the teriyaki options. For the week, I paired the cabbage, teriyaki chicken and mushrooms together; and mixed the lemon chicken, asparagus and cauliflower. Sidenote: sometimes, I added feta cheese as a topping. Also, this prep can easily be vegetarian by skipping the meat. Tofu is also a great replacement.

All week, Monday to Sunday, I enjoyed mixing the ingredients and flavors for lunch and dinner. I put some kale and spinach into little sandwich bags alongside my lunch bowls. It definitely took the monotony out of meal-prepped meals. For breakfast, I made egg cups, and for snacks, I had cucumbers and tomatoes.

What’s your go-to meal-prep during the week? What works best for you? Drop a comment below or tag us on social media using the hashtag #loveherstuff.