healthy menu meal plan #30

Welcome! I am so grateful that you’ve joined me on this healthy journey + a big thanks to all who choose to support my work with a paid subscription. This letter wouldn’t be possible without YOU! If you like what you see, it would really help me if you would please voice your opinion and tap the ❤️ button which helps other people discover my work.

Whether bushels and bushels of summer fresh apricots come from my own backyard or somebody else’s, I just adore the velvet-soft skin of tree-ripened apricots and their scent wafting through the trees as I pile them into baskets.

But the most important reason I love them is that they are a perfect balance of sweet, tart, and tangy when harvested at just the right time. They make a fabulous addition to a fresh salad, a wonderful glaze for grilled chicken, a luscious apricot vinaigrette, or a simple pop-in-your-mouth healthy snack anytime you’re feeling a little peckish.

And there is one slightly unusual combination I’ve been a fan of for decades: apricots and eggs. Over easy with a smidge of apricot jam and a couple of slices of toasted baguette on the side is a long-time favorite. Maybe it's the tangy bite of the apricots that soften the rich fatty texture of the yolks?

So it’s just makes sense that a composed salad of mixed greens, hard-boiled eggs, thinly-sliced apricots, little baby Persian cucumbers diced into crisp bite-sized pieces, and an equally-sized dice of creamy avocado, slivers of red onion and crunchy hazelnuts has just about everything I’m looking for in a light lunch or dinner salad. As long as I have the perfect dressing to finish it off.

Today’s vinaigrette is a 5-minute recipe I call ”indispensable”. No homemade jam? No problem. Low/no-sugar options of store bought jams will fill in just fine. The French brand, Bonne Maman, has a particularly nice fruit-dense Intense version if you can source it.

Taking it a step further today, if you want to really embrace apricot season, go right ahead and swap those grilled slices of pineapple at lunchtime for grilled apricots. And if you want to whip up a glaze for the chicken with apricot jam, vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger and garlic (all balanced to your taste), have at it. Of course, the fruits I suggest for the snacks in today’s menu are just suggestions… fresh apricots can take their place too.

As always, you’ll find a few extra recipe treats in the menu PDF besides the meal plan I promised you (mostly because I just can’t help myself). Today’s mix introduces you to three more “indispensables” - to enjoy all summer long!

If you’re already a paid subscriber then you know these little extras show up almost every week as a small bonus to show my appreciation for your support. If you haven’t yet had the chance to join us, what are you waiting for?

But right now, it’s time to pull up a chair, grab a cup or a glass and join me in my Mediterranean kitchen while we work our way from one flavor-packed meal to another.

Want to upgrade to a paid subscription so you don’t miss out on anything? Everything you’ll want to know to master the Mediterranean diet including exclusive weekly healthy menu meal plans & recipes, how-to-guides, and behind the scenes stories are all here waiting for you to spend a few Mediterranean minutes with me.