I pulled together a few recipes to showcase the last summer harvest.

Did you know that the vast majority of us do NOT need to fear the nightshade veggies (peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes)?

Instead, we should try to incorporate these foods into our diet since they are rich in antioxidants. 

These 4 meals along with a few extra plants for your breakfast and snacks will help you hit the goal of 30+ different plants this week without any problem.

We already have 25+ covered in the recipes below! 

Menu:

• Lemony Lentil & Veggie Soup - Inspired by Milk Street
• Oat Crumble Ratatouille - Inspired by The Vegetable Butcher  
• Lentil sloppy joes, roasted potatoes, and broccoli - inspired by Minimalist Baker
• Simple black bean & sweet potato tacos & guacamole (black beans, tortillas, red onion, guac, cilantro lime garlic)

Shopping list:

Produce:

• Tomatoes x 2 large 
• Bell peppers x 2 (red, orange, or yellow)
• Eggplant x 1 medium
• Red onion x 1
• Yellow onions x 2 
• Broccoli- 2-3 smaller bunches 
• Zucchini- 2-3 medium 
• Swiss chard or kale x 1 bunch
• Small potatoes x 2lbs 
• Sweet potatoes x 2lbs
• Lemon- 2
• Lime- 2 
• Avocado- 1-2
• Garlic- 1 head
• Basil- 1 bunch
• Cilantro - 2 bunches
• Thyme (dried ok to substitute) 

Meat/dairy/deli:

• Parmesan (vegan sub if needed) ¾ cup grated, total 
• Unsalted butter (vegan sub if needed) 6 tablespoons- cold 
• Sliced cheese (optional for sloppy joes)

Dry goods:

• Tortillas (prefer whole grain, gluten-free if needed) 
• Oats (gluten-free if needed) ⅔ cup
• Flour (gluten-free if needed) ¾ cup- I used almond flour
• Black beans 1 can
• Lentils (green or brown) 2 cups
• Tomato sauce 15 ounces
• Tomato paste 2 Tablespoons 
• Sugar/sweetener of choice (maple, coconut sugar, or brown sugar) 1-2 tablespoons
• Worcestershire sauce (vegan if needed)
• Dijon mustard
• Southwest or taco seasoning of your choice, we love Penzey’s
• Cumin
• Chili powder
• Smoked paprika
• Bay leaf 
• Rice wine vinegar
• Avocado oil 

Bakery: 

• Buns for sloppy joes (optional, whole grain preferred) 
• Crusty whole grain bread (optional for soup)

Kitchen Supplies:

• Instapot (optional) or soup pot 
• Small saucepan with a lid
• Large skillet or braiser 
• Dutch oven 
• Combination of Smaller and Larger sheet pans
• Box or handheld grater
• 9 x 13 baking dish or casserole 
• Veggie peeler
• Glass storage containers, mason jars 

Prep ahead 75-90 minutes:

1. Prepping the lentils. 
• In a small saucepan, add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rinsed lentils. Bring to a low boil and then reduce heat to simmer.  Cook covered for ~20 minutes or until tender. Drain extra liquid and let cool. Store in the fridge for sloppy joes later in the week.
2. Chopping the veggies! 
• Cut up broccoli into bite-sized pieces and store in the fridge for later in the week (or buy pre-chopped).
• Eggplant dice into ½ inch pieces- set aside for ratatouille
• Bell peppers dice into ½ inch pieces, store ¼ of peppers in the fridge for the sloppy joes
• Zucchini dice into ½ inch pieces- ½ for ratatouille, ½ for soup
• Greens- separate stems from greens and chop stems finely, greens into bite-sized pieces
• Tomatoes, seeded and diced ~½ inch chunks
• Sweet potatoes- diced into ½ inch pieces- ½ for soup, refrigerate ½ for tacos later in the week
• Yellow onion- small dice- 2 for soup, 1 for ratatouille, store 1 in the refrigerator with the bell peppers for the sloppy joes 
• Red onion- thinly slice ½ for the tacos, dice the rest to use in the ratatouille 
• Cilantro-1 bunch separate stems from leaves (mostly). Finely chop stems for soup. The other bunch can be chopped ahead for the tacos and guacamole and stored in the fridge.
• Garlic- mince a head of garlic (or buy pre-minced!) 2 cloves for lentils, 2 cloves for ratatouille, 6 cloves for soup, 1 clove for guacamole 
• Lemon- using a veggie peeler, remove 4 pieces of the peel (~2 in each). Try to minimize the amount of white pith as able. Then cut into quarters and remove seeds. 

Tip for storing the veggies: 

For the sloppy joes, I store the prepared peppers, onions, garlic in the same container. 

Making the ratatouille!

1. Making the crumble: combine 2/3  cup old fashioned oats, ¾ cup flour (GF if needed, I used almond flour), ½ cup grated parmesan, 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (1tsp dried), ½ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper in a small bowl. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the cold butter into the mixture. Add 1T lemon juice and 1T dijon. Mix with hands until the mixture comes together. Cover with plastic wrap (or lid) and refrigerate. 
2. Preheat oven to 400F.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add yellow and red onion, garlic, bell pepper, and cook until softening ~3 minutes. Stir in sweet potatoes and ½ tsp salt and cook until beginning to soften 5-7 minutes. 
4. Add 2T tomato paste, eggplant, zucchini, and ½ tsp salt stirring occasionally, cook for another 5 minutes or until tender. Measure out ½ cup of water. Add a little water to the pan if veggies begin to stick and then add reminder along with tomatoes, another 2 tsp fresh thyme (1 tsp dried), and ¼ tsp salt. Cook for 1 minute. 
5. Transfer mixture to your baking dish or if feeling low maintenance could leave it in your Dutch oven. 
6. Remove crumble mixture from the fridge and break into pieces, sprinkling over the top of the ratatouille to cover. Top with another ¼ cup of grated parmesan. 
7. Bake for 25 minutes until lightly browned and bubbling around the edges. Can crisp up under the broiler for 1-2 minutes if needed. Let sit ~10 minutes before serving. 

Making the soup while your ratatouille bakes!

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil in your Instapot (or soup pot) on sauté function (or over medium-high heat on the stove). Sauté onion and stems from your greens until onions are starting to lightly brown, ~7-10 minutes. Add in cilantro stems, 2 cloves garlic, lemon rind, 1 bay leaf and sauté x 1 minute. 
2. Add 1 cup lentils, ½ of the diced sweet potatoes, and 6 cups water. Season with 2 teaspoons of salt. 
3. Cook on high-pressure x 3 minutes (or simmer for ~20 minutes). When lentils and sweet potatoes are tender, remove the lemon rind and bay leaf, add in zucchini and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add in greens and let wilt. Squeeze the juice of the 4 lemon wedges and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Store in the fridge for later in the week. 
4. Soup storage tip: If I used the Instapot, I just put some plastic wrap over the top of the insert and place it in the fridge. Before I reheat on Monday night, I’ll dish out a few lunch-sized portions while it is still cold and put them back in the fridge. Then I reheat on the simmer mode and dinner is typically ready in under 10 minutes!  

Weeknight finishing touches: TTT (Time To Table) 

1. Finishing the soup- reheat and serve with crusty bread of choice. (TTT: 10 minutes)
2. Finishing the sloppy joes and prepping the sweets. (TTT: 35 minutes)
• Preheat the oven to 425. Racks should be at ⅓ and ⅔ positions. 
• Cut your yellow potatoes in half. In a mixing bowl, toss with 1T avocado oil and a generous pinch of salt. 
• Place cut side down on your sheet pan. In the same bowl, add the broccoli, a little more oil, and salt. Then repeat with the sweet potatoes but this time add 1-2 tsp of your Southwest/Taco seasoning. Ideally, if you have 3 pans, you may want to put each veggie on its pan so you can take each out of the oven as they are ready. Potatoes should go on the bottom rack and broccoli on the top. They will need around 15 minutes to roast. 
• While veggies roast, heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until soft. 
• Add tomato sauce, ~1T of sweetener of choice, 1-2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1-2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, & 1 tsp smoked paprika. Stir to combine. 
• Add your pre-cooked lentils and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning to your taste preferences. I usually increase the amount of smoked paprika and cumin. 
• Serve with buns and sliced cheese (optional) and your roasted yellow potatoes and broccoli. 
• You should have enough leftovers to pack for lunch or serve for dinner later in the week. 
• Store the sweet potatoes in the fridge for the tacos tomorrow. 
3. Finishing the tacos and guacamole (TTT: 15 minutes) 
• Mix the sliced red onions with juice from ½ a lime and set aside.
• Chop the remaining bunch of cilantro finely. 
• Carefully cut the avocado in half and scoop out the flesh into a small bowl. Add 1 clove minced garlic, juice from ½ lime, a generous pinch of salt, and ~2T of chopped cilantro. Mix & mash together with a fork until you reach your favorite consistency. Set aside. 
• Drain and rinse the can of black beans. Season with 1-2 tsp of the Southwest/Taco seasoning. Can heat in a small saucepan or the microwave. Reheat the sweet potatoes similarly. 
• Heat tortillas over a low flame in a skillet until pliable. 
• Serve with extra cilantro and limes. 

I would LOVE to hear what you like and don’t like with these meal plans. 

What would you find most helpful? 

Drop me an email at [email protected] 

P.S. Have you downloaded my 5 Foods People with Sjogren’s Don’t Need to Fear yet? It is awesome for anyone struggling to figure out how to navigate nutrition and inflammation. 

Click here to snag your FREE copy!

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