Pete Guzzo
Death
to Sad
Protein
Block for
Dinner
Because "I meal prepped" shouldn't mean four days of cold, grey chicken eaten standing over the sink in silence. These are real dinners. They just have a head start.
The 30/10
System
Thirty minutes Sunday. Ten minutes all week.
This isn't traditional meal prep. I'm not spending three hours on Sunday making meals that sit in containers for seven days.
Instead: prep ingredients Sunday so you can cook a fresh, healthy dinner in about ten minutes during the week.
The proteins are cooked fresh. The vegetables are finished fresh. The pasta and potatoes are partially prepared ahead and finished in the pan.
The result is an actual dinner — instead of protein blocks of sadness.
The Foundation
20 minutes. Three dinners taken care of.
Salmon or Chicken
Buy enough for three to four dinners. Portion into approximately 6–7 oz servings. Salmon is ideal — it cooks incredibly fast and is loaded with protein and healthy fats.
Marinate in the Lemon Garlic Marinade (next page). Place portions in a Ziploc bag, remove as much air as possible, refrigerate.
Par-Boiled
Boil potatoes until just tender. Drain and refrigerate. You'll finish them in a skillet during the week.
Under Al Dente
Cook gluten-free pasta or ziti slightly under al dente. Drain. Toss lightly with olive oil to prevent sticking. Refrigerate. It finishes cooking when you reheat it in the pan.
Wash, Chop & Refrigerate
Choose any combination. Mix and match across all three dinners.
- Broccoli florets
- Snow peas
- Baby corn
- Carrots, sliced on a bias
- Vidalia onions, sliced
You can also use steam-in-bag vegetables if you want maximum convenience. No judgment.
Cook wild rice on Sunday and refrigerate. Used in Dinner #2 — the Caribbean Jerk. Reheat with a splash of water and a little olive oil.
Remember These marinades are not one-time-use. Make a batch. Use it for multiple weeks. The whole point is flavor systems you build once and return to.
The Foundation Marinade
Use this on fish, vegetables, potatoes, and pasta. Make a batch and keep it in the fridge for multiple weeks. It does more work than anything else in this book.
Lemon Garlic
Marinade
The base of Dinners #1 and #3. Keeps for two weeks in the fridge.
- Extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
- Fresh lemon juice (2 lemons) ~¼ cup
- Garlic, minced 4 cloves
- Italian seasoning 2 tsp
- Kosher salt 1 tsp
- Black pepper ½ tsp
Mix together and store in a jar. Place salmon portions in a Ziploc bag with marinade, remove air, refrigerate. This marinade can be made in larger batches and used over the next couple of weeks.
Also Make: Caribbean Jerk Marinade
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Fresh lime juice (1 lime) ~2 tbsp
- Jerk seasoning 1 tbsp
- Garlic powder 1 tsp
- Onion powder ½ tsp
- Salt + black pepper 1 tsp / ½ tsp
Lemon Garlic
Salmon &
Vegetables
The flagship. Bright citrus, fresh garlic, Parmesan-finished vegetables, and perfectly cooked salmon straight from a 375° oven. Plus two built-in variations to keep it interesting all week.
Ingredients
- 1 salmon portion (6–7 oz)
- Prepared vegetables from Sunday
- ½ tablespoon butter
- Parmesan cheese
- Lemon Garlic Marinade (optional splash to finish)
Directions
Preheat convection oven to 375°F. Place salmon on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Cook salmon 7–9 minutes until just opaque through the center
- While salmon cooks — heat a skillet over medium
- Add butter and vegetables; cook 6–8 minutes
- Finish with Parmesan and a small splash of Lemon Garlic Marinade
- Plate salmon alongside. Done.
Swap or add the par-boiled potatoes from Sunday. Heat in a skillet with butter and a small amount of olive oil until warmed through and lightly browned. Add vegetables in the last few minutes. Finish with Parmesan and a splash of marinade.
Place par-cooked pasta in a skillet over low heat. Add olive oil, fresh garlic, and Parmesan. Mix until hot. Add vegetables directly into the pasta if desired. Optional: pinch of cayenne for heat. Serve alongside the salmon.
- Salmon (6–7 oz portion)
- Prepped vegetables (Sunday)
- Butter
- Parmesan cheese
- Lemon Garlic Marinade
- Optional: potatoes or pasta
Caribbean
Jerk Salmon
& Wild Rice
Same protein, completely different world. Warm jerk spices, lime, and garlic — finished with perfectly sautéed vegetables and earthy wild rice you prepped on Sunday. It's fantastic.
Ingredients
- 1 salmon portion, marinated in Caribbean Jerk Marinade
- Prepared wild rice (from Sunday)
- Prepared vegetables — broccoli, snow peas, Vidalia onions
- ½ tablespoon butter
- Small amount olive oil
- Splash of water (for rice)
- Additional jerk seasoning (optional)
Directions
- Preheat convection oven to 375°F — cook salmon 7–9 minutes
- While salmon cooks: heat a skillet, add butter and vegetables
- Cook vegetables 6–8 minutes until tender-crisp
- In a second skillet, heat wild rice with olive oil and a splash of water until warmed through
- Optional: add extra jerk seasoning to the rice for more depth
- Plate rice, vegetables, and salmon together
Caribbean Jerk Marinade — Quick Reference
- Jerk-marinated salmon
- Wild rice (Sunday prep)
- Broccoli, snow peas, onion
- Butter + olive oil
- Splash of water
- Extra jerk seasoning (opt.)
Marinate the salmon exactly as you did with the Lemon Garlic version. Same technique, entirely different flavor system.
Italian Salmon
or Chicken
with GF Ziti
One new ingredient — gluten-free ziti — and the same marinade you already made produces a completely different dinner. Garlic, Parmesan, Italian herbs, one pan. This is the one that stops feeling like prep altogether.
Ingredients
- Salmon (7–9 min) or chicken breast/tenderloins (10–12 min)
- Prepared gluten-free ziti (from Sunday)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Fresh garlic
- Parmesan cheese
- Pinch of Italian seasoning
- Optional vegetables
- Optional: pinch of cayenne
Cook the Protein
Preheat convection oven to 375°F.
- Salmon: 7–9 minutes
- Chicken: 10–12 minutes depending on thickness
Reconstitute the Ziti
Place refrigerated ziti into a skillet over low heat while protein cooks. Add:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Fresh garlic, minced
- Parmesan cheese
- Pinch of Italian seasoning
Mix until hot. The pasta should still have bite — you undercooked it on Sunday for exactly this moment.
Finish the Pan
Add prepared vegetables directly to the skillet. Cook until heated through. Finish with more Parmesan, fresh cracked pepper, and optional cayenne.
- Salmon or chicken
- GF ziti (Sunday prep)
- Lemon Garlic Marinade
- Olive oil + fresh garlic
- Parmesan cheese
- Italian seasoning
- Optional: vegetables, cayenne
This doesn't feel like meal prep. It feels like you cooked dinner. That's the entire point.
More
Coming
Soon
More meals. Same grocery list. Still no sad protein blocks.
"Thirty minutes on Sunday. Ten minutes during the week.
Fresh dinners. No protein blocks of sadness."