3 Plant-Based Meal Prep Ideas

I try my best to eat meat-free for lunch. Here are three of my recent favorite plant-based meal preps!

Idea #1: Chickpea Curry
Ingredients
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
12oz can of curry sauce (I used green with bamboo shoots)
1 15.5 oz can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
A few handfuls of spinach (I store mine in the freezer)
1 cup of rice cooked according to package directions (I used basmati in my rice cooker)

Step 1: Chop the onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Saute in some olive oil.
Step 2: Add chickpeas and curry sauce. My trick to get everything out of the jar is to add some water, shake it up, and pour everything in. Bring to a simmer.
Step 3: Remove from heat. Stir in spinach until wilted.
Step 4: Assemble your rice and curry into bowls.

Idea #2: Mediterranean Quinoa Bowls
Ingredients
1 cups uncooked quinoa
Veggies for roasting- I used broccoli, squash, and grape tomatoes
4 tablespoons of hummus
1 sliced cucumber
2 roasted red peppers
4 tablespoons of kalamata olives
1/2 cup of cheese- I used a mozzarella because I had it on-hand, but feta would be have been better.

Step 1: Cook quinoa. My favorite method is to use my rice cooker.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop veggies. Place in baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (optional). Season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Assemble bowls starting with a base of quinoa, adding roasted vegetables, fresh cucumber, olives, roasted red pepper, cheese, and hummus.

Idea #3: Mexican Sweet Potato Bowls
Ingredients
1 cup of brown rice
Veggies for roasting- sweet potato, broccoli, squash, grape tomatoes, whatever you have lying around…
1 cup of queso fresco cheese (or cheddar if you prefer)

Step 1: Cook rice. Again, I use my rice cooker.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel/chop sweet potato. Place sweet potato in baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
Step 3: While the sweet potato is cooking chop the rest of your veggies. Once sweet potato has cooked, turn pieces over. Add in remaining veggies. Season everything with a blend of Mexican spices to your liking such as cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cajun seasoning, oregano. Don’t forget the salt and pepper. Add a bit more olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes.
Step 4: Drain black beans, heat in microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute.
Step 5: Assemble bowls with base of rice, adding vegetables, black beans, and queso fresco.

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January Reads

Emily’s Pick
A Cottage by the Sea by Debbie Macomber
Oh yes I did read another Debbie Macomber book this month. What can I say? I enjoy the books. They are easy enjoyable reads okay? This book specifically was pretty good. The plot was actually a lot heavier than I thought (family death), and the sub plot contained two abusive situations (people and animals). I almost stopped reading it because of this but I powered through and finished it. I will say the author never went into great detail about any of the abuse. It was more “this person is abused” and then just kind of moved on. The fact that there wasn’t a lot of detail made it easier for me to finish the book. I will also say I loved the beach my vibe of the book.

Maddie’s Pick
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
This book was an amazing January read. It is part memoir and part study on winter and those who cope with it best including animals and humans in certain parts of the world. Katherine May stresses the importance of dealing head-on with both the season of winter and our personal winters (challenging seasons in our lives). I listened to this as an audio book while walking my dog in the worst of winter on the East Coast (also, side note, my dog’s name is Winter so there is already some synergy there). We had several weeks of 10-20 degree weather days and it STILL gave me all of the cozy vibes. After those long, cold walks I was inspired to bake bread, cakes, warm up with tea, and really REST on my weekends at home!