I don’t have the bandwidth right now to create cute posts on some of the noshes we’ve been having regularly but want to share / remember them myself. So, I’m stealing a nap session to jot down a few easy meals we’ve been enjoying:
Arugula and sugar snap pea salad – I love arugula probably the most of the lettuce fam. It is peppery, has a bite, and I feel like I get the most of it compared to other bagged lettuce. Sugar snap peas are also almost always in stock at our house. They are a quick snack and Cam loves them. Lately I’ve been combining these two top-picks with a creamy dressing (the VEGAN CREAMY DILL DRESSING from Trader Joe’s is another number one). Sometimes I’ll add some cherry toms and sliced cukes if I have them on hand or, more importantly, have the time to do so. I can see bell peppers and carrots being nice here too. Maybe some chickpeas for protein.
Sweet potato and black bean quesadillas – Cam loves black beans but interestingly seems to eat more of them when they are straight out of the can and strained vs. the leftover refrigerated ones I try to get him to eat over the next few days. This means we end up with 1/2 cans of black beans in our fridge often. The creative juices were flowing one day when I combined the leftover BBs (probably ~3/4 cup) and smashed a sweet potato I had (just peeled, chopped, boiled, and smashed the thing) with a small amount of cheddar cheese. I actually then froze this mixture and used it a few weeks later when we had tortillas. Defrosting it the night before and then scoping between 2 torts and pan frying in a bit of oil. They turned out way better than I imagined and had a boost of protein from the beans and whatever is good from sweet potatoes (vitamins? fiber?) so it wasn’t just a meal of cheese and carbs (which I can get behind too). I can see a world where I batch make the mixture and freeze as a friendly gesture for my future self to make a very quick dinner. 🙂 Also, serve with salsa and guac!
Cozy or chilled chamomile – I love Philz, the Bay Area coffee chain. There is a location walking distance from my house, you can pre-order your beverage, and I like that they use mint in some of their drinks. My afternoon go-to (when I have to avoid caffeine so I can sleep) is a medium chamomile tea with medium oat milk and medium honey, add mint please. I like this one hot or iced. Either way it cost be $6 for every cup. Usually I just spend the $6 (my credit card charges are like Philz, Philz, therapy charge, Philz, Philz, Amazon, therapy…) but I have once or twice had it so together that I’ve made a batch of this on my own and it actually tasted as good as the Philz version. In a dream state, I have a pitcher of this in my fridge at all times and people know to except a glass when they come over; with freshly picked mint from my organic herb garden (one day…!).
Caesar salad wraps – this is the easiest! Buy a Caesar salad kit and some wraps (I like lavash wraps), mix salad, scoop onto wraps – consider adding chicken or beans, if you’d like – and wrap it all up. Slice in half and serve. We like to eat these with chips and guac or salsa too (mmm mango salsa would be real nice)!
Goat cheese wraps with whatever veg you have – same idea here. Take your wrap of choice, spread goat cheese on it, add veg (I usually have arugula and bell peppers and have considered adding sliced turkey but get weird about lunch meat sometimes), and wrap.it.up. Bonus points for a chilled chamomile accompanying it on a warm spring day.
Goat cheese on crackers – my go-to snack right now; specifically the “ritz” crackers at Trader Joes. Ugh so good.
Mezcal and grapefruit sparkling water – I’m don’t drink a ton anymore but if I want something easy and refreshing, I pop open a spindrift grapefruit sparkling and add a shot of mezcal. I can see elevating it with maybe some muddled jalapeño and a salt or Tajin rim, garnished with cucumber maybe?
VEG VIBES 