Italian Chicken & Vegetables – AIP Meal Prep recipe

My TMJ flare has left me unable to open my mouth more than a 1/2 inch since September, so I’ve been looking for easy… I made this recipe late October and just haven’t pulled together the post until now.

This turned out to be one of my easier meal preps, got done a lot faster than I usually do and I was feeling quite crappy, so this will definitely be a repeat. It also turned out to be one of the tastiest I’ve made yet. I added a small package of fresh basil and, to be honest, it gave me joy every time I ate it. Hey, with 8 disabling disorders, I take the joy where I can get it.

There’s a Farmer’s Market not far from my house with great affordable organic fruit, I supplement from the grocery store and end up with a bounty like this:

If you asked me what my number one tip to staying vigilant on meal prep would be, it’s… learn to cook without a recipe. Sure, go to sites like mine, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook to get ideas but the sooner you come to a chef level where you can ‘wing it,’ I highly encourage you to. When faced with chronic conditions we are almost always battling brain fog. For me, this lends to stress when it comes to recipes. I find myself looking at it, manically, incapable of remembering what comes next. Perhaps I am alone in suffering from that lol, I don’t know but the freedom of just ‘making food,’ removes all that stress and I can focus on the actual task at hand.

I decided I wanted something with an Italian flair, so I grabbed Italian veggies and seasonings and just took a crack at it…

Can’t say enough good things about my Nuwave ovens, I almost feel like I should be a chat host for them lol. I’m sure you can replicate the recipe using an oven or grill. The NuWave is at 350 degrees but it cooks faster, so if you’re using an oven (you could also saute them) just keep an eye on it. I like to leave the veggies a little underdone because they usually sit for a bit until I get them portioned out and then they’ll cool, pulling them a little early helps compensate for potential sogginess. Unless you like soggy veggies lol but I don’t think they’re quite as healthy like that…

I put the hardier veggies on the bottom, building up to the onions and garlic. This week I used:

Frozen Broccoli, 1 bag from the Costco organic broccoli

Green and Yellow Zucchini,  1 each, 1/2 inch pieces

Sunchokes, about 8, 1/2 inch pieces (these are a pain to peel!)

Celery, about 8 stalks (great anti-inflammatory), chopped

Kerry gold butter – about 3 TB, sliced and spread around (it’s 9 meals!)

Onion, I used Vidalia, 1/2, sliced

Garlic, my fave, 6 cloves, minced

Seasonings: just a few shakes of each: Onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and parsley

Cook all that for 10 minutes.

 

Chop like seasoning and add:

Fresh basil, I used a small pre-packed package

Purple kale, about 5 leaves/stalks

Celery leaves, from the celery I chopped

Mix it all together and cook 5 more minutes.

I did the chicken – about 5 pounds of chicken thighs with Montreal Steak Seasoning on the NuWave. You can grill it, bake it, however you like it.

Then just put it together!

 

All in all, meal prep takes me about 3 hours, not counting breaks – between shopping, washing, chopping, cooking and portioning, it’s definitely a work out. But, having a healthy breakfast and lunch at work every day goes a long way toward helping me keep down my inflammation, keep up my nutrients, reduce my excessive daytime sleepiness and, bonus, it tastes good :).

Bon Appetit!

 

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you want to stay up on my blog posts, they’re not as frequent as I’d like them to be, I know – you can check the Notify me of new blog posts by email button below the comments.

If you feel you’ve benefited from my blog and would like to support my site, and help me grow it, you can become a benefactor several different ways:

Comment what you thought about the post below

Share with your friends using the social media buttons to the right

Click and visit one of the ad sponsors on my page

Visit my Store and buy something you need on Amazon (does not to be the featured item)

Support virtual busking by dropping some coin into the hat (by clicking on this image and making a supportive contribution via Paypal):

Thank you! <3