As promised, I wanted to throw a post out there about how to throw together a great dinner with no recipe. Although I love cooking, in law school there are inevitably times when I don't have time to cook. You know those people who say, "Oh I just cook 4 meals on the weekend and throw them in the fridge/freezer for eating during the week!"? Yes. I hate them too. Although I've done that occasionally, I have a hard time thinking there are people who can actually do that every weekend. I certainly can't. I can, however, do a few things ahead of time, and I've started building these simple habits.
THE VEGAN MOTTO: a grain, a green, a bean.
Many of you may have heard it before, but it's the rule of thumb for a whole meal. ["A bean" just really means any form of protein.] This helps make things pretty easy for throwing together a bowl of vegan goodness, but it's even easier if you have things prepped beforehand.
The other night, while I was studying, I just threw some quinoa on the stove, let it simmer for 15 minutes, popped it in a tupperware, and threw it in the fridge. All week I've been adding 1/2 c. of quinoa to my salads and using quinoa as the grain base for my dinners. A few days earlier, I woke up first thing in the morning, sliced up the sweet potatoes that had been sitting in our fridge for over a week, cut a few slits in them, baked them at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes as I was getting ready, pulled them out, popped them in a tupperware, and threw them in the fridge. All week I've been having diced sweet potato topped with a teaspoon of coconut oil for my snacks. AMAZING, by the way.
Tonight for dinner, I'll chomped on tri-color quinoa, sweet potatoes, black beans, and some veggies along with a "homemade" sauce. I just threw on fresh broccoli and tomatoes, but making sure we have steamed veggies on hand is also something we often do.
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| Diced sweet potato, black beans, quinoa, raw broccoli, raw tomatoes, roasted red pepper hummus, Trader Joes' eggplant garlic spread, coconut oil |
If you don't have steamed veggies, and the idea of microwaving raw veggies turns you off, just heat the bowl of grains and protein, and then add a big handful of spring mix or lettuce to make a "taco salad" style bowl.
THIS WAS UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS. It even warranted a text message from the hubby telling me how good it was :)
Having lots of "sauce" options in your fridge is great for this. I never realized how versatile things like soy sauce and salad dressing were until I started creating these crazy vegan bowls. This one consists of 1 tsp. coconut oil, 2 tbsp. kalmata olive hummus, and 2 tbsp. Trader Joes' Eggplant Garlic Spread. YUM! It's super hearty and tops out at 425 calories and 15 grams protein. If I feel like something extra savory or an extra kick of protein, I might also add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. If bowls like this ever get too thick, I just drizzle in a little unsweetened almond milk.
So, there you have it people. A grain, a green, a bean. Eat up.
Cheers,
Vegan [Wanna-Be] Housewife
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