Ingredients:
Spray butter or non-stick cooking spray
Salt and Pepper
Portobella mushroom cap, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 whole chopped tomato
1/2 avacado
salsa
1 egg
Directions:
Spray the bottom of a microwave safe bowl with butter or cooking spray. Place the bell pepper, mushroom, and onion in the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Microwave for 1 minute. Add the egg, break the yolk with a fork and stir in with the veggies. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir one more time. Microwave for 1 minute. Top with tomato, salsa, and avacado.
Soup for a Week
Ingredients:
5 or 6 carrots
2 zucchini
1 big can of diced tomatoes
1 32 ounce carton of chicken broth
1 cup dried lentils
1 onion
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
Directions:
Chop the carrots, onion, and zucchini and put them in a large soup pot. Add the lentils. Add the tomatos, including the juice. Add the chicken broth. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower it to a simmer. Cover, and walk away. Let this cook for at least an hour, while you study or do your laundry.
Done! Taste a few lentils to make sure they're soft. Add more seasoning if you need to.
Extra Credit: Let the soup cool and divide it into individual containers so you'll have "grab & go" lunches all week.
Make it fancier: Add frozen chopped spinach, corn, rice, chopped celery, Morningstar Meal Starters veggie crumbles, or leftover cooked chicken.
Five Breakfasts in Five Minutes
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Study time: 40 minutesIngredients:
3 cups of Brown Rice (or try barley, quinoa, or any combination of whole grains)
Pancake Syrup
Dried Cranberries
Nuts
Directions:
Cook the rice according to the package directions. I have a rice cooker (which I got at Target for about $15) but you can certainly do this on the stovetop. I like the rice cooker because it senses when the rice is done and turns off automatically, so in case I fall asleep at my desk waiting for the rice to cook, it's not dangerous or wasteful.
Scoop the rice into five separate storage containers. You might have a little bit of rice leftover.
While the rice is warm, squirt pancake syrup into each container to saturate the rice. This keeps the rice from getting dry and crunchy in the fridge, and is delicious.
Let the rice cool and top with cranberries and nuts.
Put lids on the containers and put them in the fridge. You'll have a fancy, wholesome breakfast every day this week.
Smart Snacks
 |
| Did your mom make you this nurturing after-school snack? No! But I bet she'd be happy to see you eating your vegetables. |
An after-school snack is nurturing and necessary, even if "after school" technically doesn't exist in your world right now becuase your school work is never done. Invest in some compartmentalized plastic containers (mine are by Ziplock) and make yourself some outstanding snacks. It takes only marginally more time to make five snacks than to make one, so plan ahead. Stack five snacks boxes in the fridge and you'll be nourished all week. This week I put together cut up veggies (cut up bell peppers, carrots, and celery keep well in my fridge, but cucumbers and squash seem to get yucky after a couple of days), hummus, and "superfood cookies" I had in the freezer (see recipe). No more trips to the vending machine or drive-through.
Extra Credit:
Impress your friends with these other winning snack combinations:
- Peanut butter, crackers, and celery
- Cottage cheese, orange slices, and nuts
- Grapes, cheese, and whole grain pretzels
- DIY bean dip, whole grain tortilla chips, and bell pepper slices
- Yogurt, fruit salad, and granola (keep the granola and yogurt separated until you're ready to eat)
