Hi, and welcome to my week of meal planning: Day 2!
In case you missed yesterday’s post, here’s what’s happening: I started with one base meal – yesterday’s Mean Green Grain Bowls. For 5 days I’ll be making a new meal each day using those base ingredients and components. So you’re basically seeing our real-life dinner, day to day. These recipes are very simple but this is how we eat in real life – and I thought it would be fun to share that!
Something I love to do with leftovers is make them stretch! We had one leftover container full of yesterday’s grain bowl which included quinoa, roasted veggies (brussels sprouts, cauliflower, parsnips and broccolini), sauerkraut, and pepitas. I massaged a big bunch of kale, tossed it all together and doused it in the creamy kale pepita pesto sauce that I made the other day.
It’s as easy as that! Oh, except I also roasted some of the leftover chickpeas, until crisp, and tossed those in too:
Both of these meals (yesterday’s and today’s) are super flexible – swap in any roasted vegetables that you like or feel free to change up the protein if you’re not feeling like chickpeas.
Stay tuned to see what I make tomorrow!
Record your meals in our pretty (new!) meal planner: The Love & Lemons Meal Record & Market List. It’ll also make a great Mother’s Day Gift!
Big Green Kale Salad with Creamy Kale Pepita Pesto
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and dried
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 bunch of kale, stems removed (save the stems, we’ll use them in a recipe coming up)
- about 2 cups of Mean Green Grain Bowl leftovers
- generous scoops of Creamy Kale Pepita Pesto
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle the chickpeas with olive oil and roast for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and lightly crisp. Season with salt and pepper as they come out of the oven.
- Tear the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces. Add a scoop of the pesto sauce and use your hands to massage the leaves until they’re soft and wilted. The oils from the sauce will help break down the coarse leaves.
- Mix the grain bowl leftovers into the kale salad, along with a few more scoops of the pesto sauce. Add the chickpeas and serve with more sauce, as desired
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