Meal Prep Sunday: Thyroid-Boosting Asparagus Bowl Edition

Welcome to Meal Prep Sunday, where you'll make a single, healthy recipe with serious bodily benefits, whether it makes your skin glow, helps soothe your gut, boosts your immunity, or more! Because it gets boring to eat the same thing every day, you'll do the bulk of the prep on the first day—and every day after that, there will be one small, five-minute-or-less tweak that will transform the leftovers into a new, amazing meal. This recipe, from the book Nourish Bowls, calls for spring asparagus and samphire, a sea vegetable with some serious nutritional cred. If you can't find samphire, though, no worries, everything will work just fine without it. Asparagus and samphire, along with egg yolks make this a thyroid-supportive meal due to a high amount of iodine (from the samphire and eggs), selenium (from asparagus, samphire, and egg), and zinc (from asparagus) in the dish.

Method

1. FOR THE QUINOA Cook black quinoa in plenty of water for 20 minutes, then drain and return to the pan. Cover with a tea towel and the lid and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Add 1 serving to a mixing bowl and reserve the rest.

2. FOR THE ASPARAGUS & SAMPHIRE Snap off the woody ends off asparagus spears, chop into 2-inch lengths, and cut any that are thick in half lengthwise. Rinse samphire. Blanch the asparagus for 30 seconds in a pan of boiling water, then drain. Heat a pan or wok and add a little butter or olive oil. Once hot, add the drained asparagus and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the samphire. Cook for a couple of minutes more and add a portion to your bowl, reserving the rest.

3. FOR THE CHOPPED EGG & SPINACH Add 1 egg per bowl you'll be serving in its shell to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 9 minutes. Cool under running water, then peel. Chop one egg for each bowl you're making and mix it with a handful of baby spinach to the mixing.

4. FOR THE RADISHES Finely slice a handful of mixed radishes and add to the mixing bowl.

5. FOR THE MUSTARD OLIVE OIL DRESSING Mix together Dijon mustard, lime juice or balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, and plenty of seasoning. Add a couple of spoonfuls to the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix through, adding more if needed.