Fruits & Veggies Monday: What if I don't meal prep?
Happy Monday folks! It's that time again-- #fruitsandveggiesmonday with @lenasveganliving guiding the way! I look forward as always to taking a tour around to see what everyone is munching on this week. ;)
It may come as a shock for those who have followed my Monday posts for the last few weeks, but I actually do not have any meal prep photos for the week yet. We spent the whole weekend out of the house with our families celebrating the birthdays of both mine and @dksart's fathers. While I always enjoy spending time with loved ones, it does throw me off of my cooking game a bit when I am not home all weekend. I will get a chance to catch up when I go home for the afternoon in a little while, but I thought you guys might enjoy the other side of my cooking--what I do when I don't have food already prepared!
Even if I have not had a chance to cook, I always have at least a few staples around the house to put a healthy meal together. We only live a mile from the closest grocery store, as well, so if nothing else I can make a quick pop by to refresh some of my produce. Knowing that we would probably indulge a little more than usual over the weekend, I started my Saturday morning off loaded up with a big bowl of fruit topped with some hemp seeds and a drizzle of pineapple white balsamic vinegar. It was so simple and delicious!
I enjoyed it so much that I did a similar breakfast this morning to start the week off on a healthy note. You can't go wrong book-ending the weekend with a huge bowl of delicious fruit, right? Our families both cook wonderful food, but if nothing else we end up eating a good bit more than usual so it feels good to lighten it up a bit for a day or two after to let our digestive systems catch back up.
Fruit is always an easy go-to that doesn't necessarily have to be prepared ahead of time. I do cut up a whole pineapple to have ready for the week, but the rest of my fruits I usually wash and chop when I'm ready to enjoy them.
For lunch and dinner I resort to an easy skillet meal quite often. A few weeks ago I was down to just about the last little bit of my haul for the week, so I put together a lemon pepper tofu meal with red quinoa. We pretty much always have onions and lemons for good flavor, and I also keep a few bags of plain frozen veggies for a pinch meal. The lemon pepper seasoning was free with my last Penzeys purchase. :)
I just cooked a cup of the quinoa according to the package directions. Then I chopped up my onion and put that in the skillet to soften up for about 5 minutes. Next I added my frozen veggies and chopped tofu with about 2 teaspoons of the lemon pepper seasoning. I cooked it for another 10 minutes until everything was warmed through. To finish it out I used the zest and juice of the lemon to brighten up the meal!
I think I had a little bit of greens left to serve everything over to make it the perfect easy and healthy meal! I do enjoy my meal prep, but this type of meal can also be really fun to toss together. Especially when it turns out so good! ;)
I hope everyone has a fantastic week!
Nom nom nom... everything looks so good. Hope you had a great time. Birthdays and spending time with family and friends is always fun.
A little exhausted, but always fun to see family. We're lucky to have immediate family so close that we can spend the time together. :)
True.. we are happy that Skype exists hehe. My parents are coming in less than a month for 2-3 weeks.. exciting ;)
Everything looks so delicious and appealing! I can wait until next week for another round of meal prep ... 😉 Tip!
Thank you my friend! I will definitely get back to it next week! I feel all out of sorts trying to get a few things made while I have a break this afternoon! :)
Looks so delicious all of it. I really need to do Better with my eating!
You can do it! Just think how good it feels to run when you are well-fueled!! ;)
Yummy! You always make it look so good! I always look forward to the how-to's of your post!
Thank you!! Tip!
Thank you for taking the time to stop by! I'm glad I can continue to spread the yummy food love around. 😊
You definitely do!
When we don't want to cook anything, fruits are the best option to relish.
We also love to eat raw sometimes and it gives us amazing feeling and satisfaction.
Thanks for sharing beautiful photographs and post.
Thank you! Raw fruits and vegetables really are energy in the purest form!
This sounds sooo yummilicious !
Thank you Luigi! 🤗🤗
Fantastic! So many vitamins in one post! Thanks @plantstoplanks for sharing!
Thanks! Definitely eating lots of rainbows lately. ;)
I do that quite often, too :) I don't always have time and energy to prepare something fancy. I like eating fruits by themselves, too, and quinoa is a must have ingredient in my kitchen, too :) I ususally cook a big batch at once and store them in zip locks in the fridge, so I can use them anytime without spending time with cooking it every time I wanna eat it. So it can shorten the preparation time to almost zero :D
P.S. great entry to the contest again, as always :)
Great minds think alike! :) It really isn't that hard to eat well if you spend just a little time in the market and the kitchen. Little hacks like your zip lock bag quinoa trick is a great way to make sure you can always put together a quick meal!
I do cook similar versions of Tofu and veggies, always yummy, healthy and filling! :)
It's a wonderful vegan classic! :)
Yes and you never will go wrong with it! 🍄
Hi Plantstopplanks,
Love your plates full of fresh vibrant fruits!
Cu,
Chris aka smallstepschange
Thank you so much! Mother nature does most of the work, then we get the pleasure of enjoying it! :)
Yeah, that's right! But don't forget that it is also your effort that made it look so delicious! ;)
CU, Chris