I’m excited about the meal ideas that I have for you today! Like I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been feeling inspired to get into the kitchen lately and the result of that has been a lot of delicious meals.

Here’s a look! Get ready to be hungry! 🙂

LUNCH

I have eaten this exact salad combo the last two days in a row and it’s perfection! Here’s what’s in the bowl:

• chopped baby spinach
• steamed and cooled quinoa and lentils (I made a big batch to have on had for the week, I just cooked 1/2 cup of quinoa and 1/2 cup of green lentils and a splash of avocado oil with 2 cups of water for 20 minutes and seasoned with salt)
• hearts of palm
• half an avocado
• dried cranberries
• feta
• pepitas
• sungold cherry tomatoes

I really enjoy vegetarian protein sources, especially at lunch. The quinoa/lentil combo provides a nice amount of protein and fiber!

Here’s another plant-based lunch bowl! I made this coconut lime noodle bowl as part of the brand immersion that I did with NOW Foods and it was fresh, light and flavorful.

The noodles in the bowl were these quinoa spaghetti noodles from NOW. They are organic and gluten-free. The bowl also included their raw almonds, coconut milk powder and avocado oil. This was my first time using NOW’s coconut milk powder and I am 100% a fan! It dissolves easily in hot water (you can also use it in your coffee!). It’s great to have on hand because it has a longer shelf life than liquid coconut milk and doesn’t require refrigeration. You can use it in sauces, smoothies, dressings, desserts, etc.

Here’s the noodle bowl recipe if you want to try it at home. The dressing is soooo good and a breeze to prepare.

Finally, still keeping it simple many days with sandwiches. This is a turkey sandwich with mayo, avocado, tomatoes and cheese on Dave’s Killer Bread White Done Right.

DINNER

I recently cooked tempeh for the first time in years and it was delicious! I followed a cooking method where you cube and steam the tempeh before marinating it. The steaming allows the tempeh to soak up so much more flavor and also yields a nicer texture when you’re ready to cook it. I marinated my tempeh in Trader Joe’s Soyaki Sauce and baked it for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. It was slightly crispy on then outside and softer on the inside.

I sautéed some eggplant on the side and used the same Soyaki sauce to season it. I let the eggplant cook on low heat for quite a while to really get it to soften and break down.

I served the tempeh and eggplant over a frozen stir fry style cauliflower rice mix from Whole Foods and topped it with sriracha and cilantro.

This was a fun dinner! I had chicken thighs and a whole bunch of cherry tomatoes so off to Epicurious I went in search of inspiration. I found this recipe for Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes and Feta and modified it for my taste/what I had on hand. I did not have the harissa so I omitted that. I used dried oregano instead of fresh and balsamic instead of red wine vinegar. I also found that as my tomato sauce was cooking, I needed to add water to keep it saucy and not getting overly thick or burning/sticking at the bottom of the pan. I think I added somewhere between 1/2-1 cup of water. Lastly, I used goat cheese instead of feta!

I served the chicken over rice with roasted okra.

TOMATO PIE!!!! I am not a skilled pie crust maker. I need a serious one-on-one lesson with my dad. I also need to get a food processor because I think it would help matters greatly. Despite the less than lovely appearance of my crust, this tomato pie tasted great! I used a blend between my tomato pie recipe and this tomato pie recipe.

This was a Whole Foods Southwestern Chopped Salad kit to which I added avocado, shredded cheese, tomatoes and chicken nuggets.

This is my last dinner and it was one of my favorites. Chicken and rice will forever be a comforting combo for me. I seasoned thin cut chicken breasts with Dizzy Pig’s Wonder Bird seasoning and sautéed them in avocado oil for about 3-5 minutes per side. For the veggies, I sautéed squash, zucchini, peppers and Vidalia sweet onion. I topped it all off with Cedar’s new Feta Dip and their lemon hummus.

DESSERT

I baked this peach cobbler on the same night that I made the tomato pie. Let’s just say there was a LOT of butter used in my kitchen that evening. I’m not going to share the recipe link for this peach cobbler because while it was good, it wasn’t the best I’ve tried. But let me just state for the record that I complained zero about eating it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream! Honestly, I think I’m more of a crisp kind of girl than cobbler.

I’ll have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen this coming weekend so if you guys have any recipe requests, let me know! I’d love to get back in a groove of sharing them more regularly.

QUESTIONS

Any pie crust tips for me? It’s one of my culinary weaknesses.

Do you prefer cobbler or crisp? What is your favorite fruit? 

Have you ever tried tempeh? Are you interested in more plant-based recipes?