Y’all ever spend 5+ minutes with the healing brush trying to get rid of a spot on your picture, only to realize it’s a spec of dust on your monitor? No, Just me? Alrighty, well this is starting out just swimmingly! Let’s jump into why I am posting this recipe, one that so closely resembles my other Meal Prepping Perfection recipe. The main reason is I simply got bored of eating the same lunch week after week. I felt the need for a change yet wanted to keep the “healthy factor” in place. I had seen some similar recipes on Insta and wanted to add my own flair. I had a boatload of Indian spices from my buddy’s mom and wanted to see how they would pair with a bunch of peppers and onions. I wanted to keep some sort of potato in the meal to add a bit of starch and keep me full, so I chose to use some leftover Yukon golds I had in my pantry. Only thing this dish was missing was a protein. Here comes the fricking kielbasa baby! Now these come in all kinds of crazy flavors and sizes, but I opted for two that should complement each other nicely; one salty, one sweet. Feel free to change this up to your liking.
For this post I used a variety of colored bell peppers to add to the aesthetic appeal, but a pepper is a pepper right? Show those cheap greenies some love and just use those to save a little money, we can’t all be food bloggers…
Onion selection may not seem like a big deal to most, but make sure you are reading the sticker/label to ensure you are getting a Sweet Vidalia onion. These bad boys really make for a wonderful roasted veggie and are, in my opinion, superior to a Plain Jane yellow onion. Reds will do fine in this dish as well, but I would avoid a white onion as they have a really potent flavor that may overpower the spices you are going to add.
Speaking of spices, holy mother Mary does it matter what kind of spices you use! Prior to receiving these spices from my buddy Snehal, I had no idea what garam masala was supposed to taste like. I could only dream of the color that can be obtained from fresh turmeric, and ground cumin? I may as well buy sawdust in a jar to show the stark contrast between fresh ground and store bought. Thank you Snehal’s mom, thank you!
With all that being said, it is possible to get quality pre-ground spices at the store, but you may have to swing on over to Penzy’s spices, or World Market to find something that will stand up to the fresh stuff. (Sorry McCormick…) One thing in this recipe that is 100% store bought, not fancy at all, would be the cilantro avocado dressing that I used to top this beautiful array of veggies and sausage. Maybe you can do one better than me and come up with a scratch recipe that I can use to replace this, I’d love to give it a whirl!
YumMeal Prep Perfection 2.0
a new take on a healthy lunch that will have all your coworkers drooling in envy
Ingredients
- 6 small Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
- 3 bell peppers, sliced
- 1 large sweet Vidalia onion, sliced
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
- 6 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 14oz kielbasa packages, sliced on a bias
- 2 limes
- 6 tbsp cilantro avocado dressing, divided
- 2 tbsp ground garam masala
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp ground chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric (optional)
- 2 tsp salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 425°f
-
Slice all veggies and toss together in a large bowl with half the olive oil. Sprinkle garam masala, cumin, coriander, chili powder, turmeric, and 1 tsp salt over the top, mix to coat all the pieces.
-
Chop up the potatoes, leaving the skin on and toss in a large bowl with the remaining olive oil. Add in the minced garlic, chopped dill, and season with salt/pepper to taste. (I used white pepper). Mix to coat everything.
-
Evenly spread veggies and potatoes on separate baking sheets and place in the oven on the top rack for 15-20 minutes until potatoes turn soft and veggies have roasted to perfection.
-
Working in batches or with two cast iron skillets, brown the sliced kielbasa on each side over medium heat. (this step is optional since the sausage is pre-cooked).
-
Plate your meal prep in cute little glass bowls or Tupperware and drizzle some of the cilantro avocado dressing over each one, along with fresh squeezed lime juice. They should keep in the fridge for about 5 days.