Make meal prep more interesting with the right spices, sauces, and salsas

Maybe you’re like many others out there who made a New Year’s resolution to eat better this year. If you’ve made it this far, good job! Part of eating healthy for the long term is learning how to keep healthy foods as interesting AND easy to prepare as possible. This can be a challenge. Today I’m going to offer you a few options to make even the most basic foods taste interesting in a way that doesn’t require hours spent in the kitchen.

Let’s take a look at the most basic “clean” meal. Chicken. Broccoli. Sweet potato. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this meal blogged about and posted on Instagram more times than I can count. With little more than salt and pepper, these foods might be great a couple times, but can get really boring after awhile. Becoming bored with our food is a surefire way to slip back into poor eating habits from the past.

Keeping things easy and interesting does not require you to prepare elaborate recipes all the time. You can keep your basics the same (which keeps your preparation easier), but change up how you prepare your ingredients from time to time. Try:

• Rotisserie, grilled or shredded chicken

• Roasted, steamed or sautéed broccoli

• Roasted, mashed or stuffed sweet potato

Then, it’s all about the condiments, spices, and different veggies you add. Below you’ll find easy additions to your basic chicken, broccoli, and sweet potato that will transform your go-to basic meal to any flavor profile you can imagine.

This is my "spicy Susan." It contains just some of the ingredients I use to "spice" things up.

Italian

Add shredded chicken to marinara sauce

Roasted broccoli

Served over roasted sweet potato

Mexican

Fajita style grilled chicken

*swap broccoli for onions and multi-colored bell peppers

Stuffed sweet potato

Top with salsa, romaine, avocado

Greek style

Grilled chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and sea salt

Sauteed broccoli

Roasted or baked sweet potato

Top with: dollop of hummus, olives, feta, and vinaigrette

Buffalo style

Shredded chicken

Roasted broccoli

Stuffed sweet potato

Top with: Buffalo sauce (try Tessemae’s) and shredded romaine

Smokey

Use a smoky spice mix on chicken and sweet potato before preparation

Spice mix: (some combo of) smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, and sea salt

Steamed broccoli

Top with: low sugar barbecue sauce and avocado

The main takeaway here is that any basic and easily prepared ingredients can be upgraded with the use of spices, sauces, salsas, dips, and other toppings.

Here's to easy, healthy foods!