Meal Plans ThePrep Easy Antioxidant-Rich Dinners for Fall (Weekly Plan & Shopping List!) Antioxidants can help mitigate many health conditions; get your fill of them with this week’s easy recipes. By Megan Ginsberg Megan Ginsberg Megan Ginsberg is the Senior Editor for EatingWell. She has a keen eye for grammar, is always looking for new recipes to try and loves the satisfaction that comes from meal planning. Most of her 20-plus-year editing career has been focused on food-related content. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Published on October 11, 2024 Reviewed by Dietitian Annie Nguyen, M.A., RD Reviewed by Dietitian Annie Nguyen, M.A., RD Annie Nguyen is a Registered Dietitian who manages EatingWell's Pinterest page. Before EatingWell, she worked with other dietitians to write nutrition blog posts, develop recipes and create social media content. Annie went to the University of Oklahoma to complete her B.S. in Health and Exercise Science. She went on to get her M.A. in Dietetics and finish her dietetic internship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Close Our column, ThePrep, has everything you'll need to make dinner planning and grocery shopping as easy as can be. Nutritional needs differ from one individual to another, and we invite you to use these dinner plans as inspiration and adjust them as you see fit. Sign up to get a dinner plan delivered to your inbox every Saturday! I’m back from gallivanting around England! It was so much fun seeing the sights in London and exploring villages in the Cotswolds, but now I need to get back into my work routine. So this week is going to be all about easy dinners—from a hearty soup I can make in the slow cooker to an entree that comes together on a sheet pan. Plus, all of these dinners are packed with antioxidant-rich foods like dark-colored vegetables and leafy greens. Antioxidants help repair damaged cells and can reduce your risk for chronic conditions, like heart disease and inflammation. A lot of the foods I love, like beets and kale, fall into this category, so it’s easy to include them in my meal plans anyway. I hope you enjoy them too! Your Weekly Plan Sunday: Slow-Cooker Turkey & Kale Minestrone SoupMonday: Shrimp Cauliflower Fried RiceTuesday: Chickpea, Beet & Feta Salad with Lemon-Garlic VinaigretteWednesday: Roasted Salmon with Smoky Chickpeas & GreensThursday: Spaghetti Squash Nests with Sausage, Mushrooms & TomatoesFriday: Massaged Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Beans Get the Shopping List 01 of 06 Sunday: Slow-Cooker Turkey & Kale Minestrone Soup Sunday is the perfect day to put a bunch of ingredients in the slow cooker and let them simmer away for a few hours until they turn into a satisfying soup. You’ll just have to do a little prep—browning turkey sausage and veggies to build flavor—before loading everything but the pasta and kale into the slow cooker. Then you’ll add the pasta for the last hour of cooking and stir in the kale before serving. A whole-wheat baguette is perfect for serving on the side for dipping into the soup. Get the Recipe 02 of 06 Monday: Shrimp Cauliflower Fried Rice Instead of traditional rice, this dish uses riced cauliflower. You’ll start by cooking eggs and then the cauliflower, which you’ll want to avoid stirring so it gets nicely browned. Then you’ll cook the shrimp and a trio of antioxidant-rich ingredients: broccoli, bell pepper and garlic. Finally, you’ll stir it all together with a little soy sauce, water and rice vinegar. It’s quick, easy and flavorful. Serve it with the rest of Sunday’s whole-wheat baguette. Get the Recipe 03 of 06 Tuesday: Chickpea, Beet & Feta Salad with Lemon-Garlic Vinaigrette Photographer: Rachel Marek, Food stylist: Holly Dreesman, Prop stylist: Addelyn Evans To keep this salad ultrasimple, I’ll make it with precooked beets (look for packages in the produce section). Beets are high in betalains, antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and fight cancer. Paired with carrots, which have an inflammation-fighting antioxidant called luteolin, they make this salad an antioxidant powerhouse. Serve it with some roasted bone-in chicken thighs to round out the meal. Get the Recipe 04 of 06 Wednesday: Roasted Salmon with Smoky Chickpeas & Greens A simple dish of roasted salmon becomes something more exciting when it’s drizzled with an herb sauce and served with kale and chickpeas. Tossing the chickpeas with olive oil, paprika and salt and then roasting them transforms them into a crunchy topping for the wilted kale. Like other dark leafy greens, kale offers many potential health benefits, including antioxidants. Get the Recipe 05 of 06 Thursday: Spaghetti Squash Nests with Sausage, Mushrooms & Tomatoes Jacob Fox You’re probably used to halving spaghetti squash lengthwise, but for this recipe, the squash is sliced into rings that get shredded into nests after roasting. You’ll roast tomatoes, chicken sausage and mushrooms alongside the squash rounds and then pile them on top after shredding the squash. I think it’s a really fun way to serve the vegetable. Toss together our Leafy Green Salad to have on the side. Get the Recipe 06 of 06 Friday: Massaged Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Beans Jacob Fox This dinner salad is an ultra-satisfying combination of protein-rich quinoa and black beans, antioxidant-rich sweet potatoes and kale, and calcium-packed feta cheese. A lemon-garlic dressing gives it punchy flavor, and pepitas add crunch. It is the heartiest of salads—and it’s vegetarian. Get the Recipe I wish you all a great week, and I hope you enjoy this dinner plan. If you try a recipe, remember to add a review. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit