Hey, hey! I have lots of delicious eats coming for you in this post but I also wanted to report on trying Factor Meals for the first time. I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been seeing Factor Meals everywhere from ads on socials to my neighbor’s front porch. A friend of mine was leaving to travel for work and offered to give me some Factor Meals that were going to go to waste. I’ll admit that I was pretty ambivalent about trying them but was pleasantly surprised.

If you’re not familiar with Factor Meals they’re a sister brand of HelloFresh, Green Chef and EveryPlate. Factor offers fresh, heat-and-eat meals that are chef-created and dietitian-approved. Meals cater to dietary preferences including keto, vegetarians and calorie smart. You can choose from a rotating menu of 35 dishes every week.

I honestly can’t believe how much I liked the meals. The first meal I tried was garlic herb salmon with celery root mash, roasted cauliflower and tomatoes. Truly couldn’t believe how buttery and flavorful the salmon was and the celery root mash was great. The second meal I tried was the roasted bell pepper and ground beef bowl with parmesan broccoli. It was served with cheesy wild rice and I added some sliced avocado to it. So good. The third meal I had was ground pork and cheddar chili mac with broccoli and garlic-chive corn. Didn’t think I’d care for this one – really enjoyed it!

I have also tried Project Lean Nation heat and eat meals in the last year and I have to say that Factor blows them out of the water. That said, I don’t think I could eat the Factor meals week-in, week-out without getting tired of them. The friend that shared these with me doesn’t love cooking the way that I do and appreciates a good heat and eat option at the end of the day. I would love Factor for weeks that I knew I was going to be super busy or to give myself a break during crazy seasons of life. One last thing to consider is that they’re pretty high in sodium.

BREAKFAST

Purely Elizabeth granola was BOGO at Publix recently so I snagged a new-to-me flavor, Berry Crisp. Purely Elizabeth is definitely my favorite brand of store-bought granola and his flavor is definitely now in my top three along with Original, Vanilla Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Peanut Butter.

This is a yogurt bowl with 5% plain greek yogurt, local honey, bananas, raspberries, blueberries, dried cranberries and almond butter.

Cottage cheese scrambled eggs, apple spice cake and raspberries. I had some extra apples on hand recently and baked my most-favorite easy apple cake. This sheet cake makes me happy year-round – not just during apple season!

If you haven’t tried this apple cake recipe yet – you must! It’s a childhood favorite of mine and delicious for breakfast with eggs and fruit, afternoon snack with tea or dessert with ice cream. Also, it freezes so well.

Post-yoga brunch of two eggs scrambled with cottage cheese, red peppers, rainbow chard, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Roasted orange and white Japanese sweet potatoes, turkey sausage and grapes on the side. The eggs, chard, sweet potatoes and eggs were all from the farmers market that morning! 🙂

Another post-workout brunch of cottage cheese scrambled eggs with sauerkraut, half an everything bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon and berries.

And just for fun…a Finn breakfast! He also loves cottage cheese scrambled eggs (eggies) and they’re served with his favorite homemade banana oatmeal and bacon from Colfax Creek Farm.

LUNCH

Fully addicted to this sandwich combo. Turkey, avocado, mayo, spicy mustard, sweet pickles and pepper jack cheese made toasty in my Ninja FoodiOven on air broil. A Cleveland Kitchen pickle and mango on the side.

Just know that for how many salad combos you see below, I ate as many if not more of these sandwiches. Haha.

Salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, carrots, avocado, deli turkey, chickpeas, feta and ranch dressing.

Another salad with arugula tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and honey and topped with feta, tomatoes, avocado, deli turkey, pecans, red peppers, apples and dried cranberries with Trader Joe’s Goddess dressing.

Mixed greens tossed with balsamic, olive oil, sea salt and honey and topped with carrots, chickpeas, red peppers, avocado, feta, dried cranberries, tomatoes and leftover baked salmon.

Spinach tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and honey and topped with quinoa, apples, pickled beets, feta, avocado, carrots, pepitas, a can of Trader Joe’s lightly smoked salmon and Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing.

Everything bagel with cream cheese, avocado and smoked salmon, apple slices and a pickle.

Here’s a closer look at the Factor Meals Roasted Bell Pepper and Ground Beef Bowl with Parmesan Broccoli. I don’t usually eat a warm/big lunch like this but it really hit the spot and left me perfectly satiated and not overly full.

Finn’s lunchbox! Can’t get the kiddo to eat a sandwich in its whole form but he’ll eat it deconstructed.

DINNER

My favorite homemade spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash. I have been much more into noodles than noodle alternatives for the last few years but I was craving a hearty but veggie-forward meal this night so the spaghetti squash hit the spot.

Gnocchi skillet with Trader Joe’s gorgonzola gnocchi, frozen mixed mushroom medley, chicken sausage, cherry tomatoes and spinach. Full gnocchi skillet recipe/overview in this post.

Seared tuna bowl with seared ahi over steamed rice with edamame, avocado and wasabi aioli. I used the frozen ALDI ahi tuna steaks for this bowl. Quick and easy to defrost and great quality.

My dad’s chili recipe made with turkey instead of ground beef. Chopped salad kit on the side.

Grilled cheese and Pacific Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. The grilled cheese was homemade sourdough with fig preserves, bacon, colby-jack, pepper jack and lots of salted butter.

Air fried falafel, roasted Japanese sweet potatoes and butternut squash, quinoa, roasted cauliflower and a fired egg.

Air fried veggie burger (ALDI Earth Grown which feels like a Dr. Praeger’s copycat), roasted Brussels, rice, shredded cheese, fried egg and Trader Joe’s pepita salsa.

Salmon baked in Trader Joe’s soyaki sauce with roasted green beans, butternut squash and Japanese sweet potato.

Trader Joe’s burrata, prosciutto and arugula flatbread – currently my favorite frozen pizza/flatbread option at TJs. Drizzled this with the Trader Joe’s hot honey and dipped in ranch.

Close up of the Factor Garlic Herb Salmon. Truly a fan of this dinner!

And that wraps up this edition of recent eats!

QUESTIONS 

Have you tried Factor Meals? 

Do you use any kind of meal service? 

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to cooking, preparing, eating healthy meals?