Hey! During quarantine I’ve come up with a few go-to lunches that are somewhat healthy and are pretty easy to make. They fill me up and taste good to me, so I make them a lot. They’re also vegetarian, which wasn’t intentional because I’m not a vegetarian, but hey if you are then these meals can be good for you, too.
Final thing before I start: feel free to adjust the ingredients to what you have or your own personal tastes.
1. Pasta thing. I don’t know what to call it but its main seasoning is soy sauce. I eat this at least twice a week, probably more like 3-4 times a week.
pasta (I like thin spaghetti noodles. Angel hair is also good.)
soy sauce (I like the low sodium type because the regular type tastes to salty in my opinion.)
other seasonings: tajín and ground ginger
Start boiling your pasta water. While you wait for it to boil, prep your vegetable.
I microwave my edamame, because I buy the frozen, shelled type. Anyways, put it in the bowl you’re going to use.
Clean your carrot and peel the outermost layer off. Now you’re gonna keep peeling into the bowl. The peeled strips of carrot end up being kind of like noodles. I generally use a whole carrot. (Note: use a large bowl, because the carrot takes up a lot of room)
Put the cooked pasta on top of the vegetables.
Seasoning time! Add a whole punch of soy sauce, a little bit of rice vinegar, and lots of tajín and ground ginger.
1. Pan Roasted Vegetable Sandwich. I first had something similar at a restaurant near where I live, but it’s no longer on the menu, so I decided to make it myself. So now I have this frustration-fueled sandwich.
(This picture honestly doesn’t show it to you very well.)
vegetables: red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms
bread (I used buttermilk bread because it seemed the best out of what I had to work with.)
seasoning: salt, pepper, smoked paprika, tajín, garlic powder (or garlic in whatever form you want)
oil (Any oil is fine. I think I used canola oil, but it was solely for the fact it was the first oil I saw in the cupboard.)
Cut you’re vegetables so that they’ll lie well on the bread. I’d recommend longer/wider pieces so they stay on it better.
Pan roast your vegetables, which basically means stick the oil in a pan (just enough so that it covers the bottom of the pan) and put the vegetables in the oil. Flip them once so but sides get cooked. Cook to your liking.
While you cook them, sprinkle the seasoning on top. I waited to add the tajín until later, but you can add it at this step if you want.
Put the vegetables on the bread. Add more salt (if you think it needs it) and the tajín. You now have a tasty sandwich, congrats.
3. Don’t want a sandwich? Well, the previous dish comes in fun salad form!
same vegetables as sandwich
seasoning: same as sandwich (this time I used minced garlic)
rice/quinoa/whatever you want as a base (I used a frozen brown rice and quinoa bag)
oil (doesn’t matter what type, this time I used olive oil)
Cut up your veggies into small pieces, then pan roast them.
Add your seasonings while cooking.
Make whatever your base is.
Add the vegetable to the base. The oil and seasoning that coats the vegetables from cooking also ends up coating the base, which is good.
I hope that you like these recipes if you decide to use them! Please tell me what you think if you do!