Oh I love starting a new series on the blog, something about it feel so fresh and, even though it’s still within my own little established blog, brand new!

Something major dawned on me recently. I always thought meal prepping was for working outside the home people to complete on the weekend in order to bring healthy and satisfying lunches to work during the week.

But that’s not entirely true.

Meal prepping can be for anyone. Stay at home mamas included. Because those mamas often find themselves shuffling between sports in the evening instead of in the kitchen cooking away and enjoying a lovely meal.

Or maybe you are home, but you have a newborn, and the idea of cooking every. single. night. is enough to drive you to the looney bin.

Enter Meal Prep Monday! Suitable for all lifestyles. I’m going to be testing out some fresh, healthy, and satisfying recipes you can make ahead and prep into ‘bowl’ formats and eat whenever you are ready. There is something so comforting in knowing there is a great meal ready when you are, don’t you think? (And hey, you don’t have to prep your meals on Monday. This is just when I will be featuring meals that are suitable for prepping).

First up are these Greek Chicken Bowls.

I die.

So much so, that I ate one for dinner, then one for lunch and dinner the next day. Yep, didn’t get old.

A few things, I halved the recipe since I was on my own this week. If you want 6 bowls though go ahead and make the whole thing. I marinaded the chicken 24 hours in advance and grilled. The cucumbers call to be marinaded, but with so much flavor going on in the chicken and the taziki sauce, I figured leaving them along was fine and they totally were. You can skip that step or go ahead and marinade them too.

I used Trader Joes organic brown microwavable rice which is so super easy. So aside from a bit of chopping and remembering to marinade and grill (or just cook on the stove top) chicken, these came together very easily and BAM – you’ve got yourself three (or six!) meals.

You so rock.

MEAL PREP: GREEK CHICKEN BOWLS (makes 6 individual servings, or bowls)

Greek Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbs garlic, minced (Note, adjust to preference)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs dried oregano
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cucumber Salad
2 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 English cucumber, finely diced
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 Tbs dill weed, or 1 Tbs fresh dill, chopped fine
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

The Rest
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup red onion slices

DIRECTIONS:

In a large plastic zip bag, combine olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano, greek yogurts and salt and pepper.  Add chicken into the bag. Massage to make sure chicken is full covered and marinate for at least 20 minutes, up to 12 hours.

Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. In a skillet, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken when it is hot, and cook, flipping part way through. Cook approximately 4-5 minutes per side. (You can also grill over medium high heat, which is what I did).

Once cool, cut into bite sized pieces. Just make sure you let it cool first, or all the juice will run out.

Meanwhile, make cucumber salad by chunking the cucumbers, and tossing in a bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, and oregano. 

Make tzatziki sauce by combining the Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, dill weed, lemon juice, lemon zest in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. And add mint (optional – I totally used and yum!)

Cook brown rice according to package directions. When finished cooking, divide between meal prep containers, 1/2 cup in each container, halve cherry tomatoes, and mix with red onion slices. Divide amongst the bowls. Top with chicken, cucumber salad, and some tzatziki sauce.

Keep for 3- 5 days in airtight container, serve cold!