I’ve had a recent obsession with Mediterranean/Lebanese/Israeli/Levantine cuisines lately. I cannot be stopped. My favorite restaurant? Zankou Chicken. (Trying Ta’eem next!)  My favorite cookbook? Modern Flavors of Arabia. My favorite lunch? This fattoush salad.

Fattoush salad (for those of you who aren’t familiar) is a bread salad made with greens and vegetables and fried pita bread. This version is so flavorful – and colorful – from sweet tomatoes, persian cucumbers, fresh lemon juice and bright herbs. I took a shortcut by buying pre-fried pita chips, but you could also use baked ones from the store. Just don’t skip the pita chips – they truly make this salad!

Serve the salad alongside some chicken shawarma or a slab of feta and fresh olives for a true feast.

Meatloaf. It’s so meat & potatoes midwest right? Well, this is not yo mama’s meatloaf. (Anybody watch that show?) This perfect meatloaf meal was inspired by a My Fit Foods meal (more on them soon) and I recreated it at home for a bunch of meals this week. I’m really trying to focus on recipes that are easy, family-friendly and don’t require “weird health foods” – the main purpose of this blog is to share ideas to make life healthier in an easy, approachable way. If you have family-favorites that you’d like a nutrition makeover for, let me know!

Lean turkey is the center of this meal, rounded out with sweet potatoes (and a pat of grass-fed butter) and steamed green beans. This meal is filling, healthy and pretty easy to pull together. The meatloaf takes an hour to bake, and while its in the oven you can bake, boil, or microwave the sweet potatoes and steam the green beans. The recipe makes 8 servings so depending on your appetite, you can freeze half of it for later like I did!