Marisa Miller-Wolfson of Vegan At Heart shares her strategy on getting fed, in a nutritionally sound way, on the quick;
It’s true, special diets require a fair amount of planning at the beginning. Once you incorporate enough meals into your repertoire, shopping, prepping and cooking will just get easier and easier.
There are really three ways that I get fast, nourishing food:
1.) Get takeout or order in. It’s more expensive, of course, and takeout packaging is super wasteful. But if you’re super pressed for time or not feeling well, it can be a lifesaver. Miso soup and rice or Chinese veggie soup with noodles or rice are easy to digest when I don’t feel my best.
2.) Plan ahead. A 3-hour block of time on a Sunday night can give you 2-3 dishes to nosh from during the upcoming busy week. Don’t have time/energy to plan 2-3 dishes? Fine. Stick with one but double it and put the rest in the freezer. I’m on a film festival deadline this week and was delighted today when I remembered that I had an extra portion of lentil stew in the freezer. Instant lunch for 3 more days. If you do this every week, you’ll have a freezer full of extra goodies.
3.) Keep it simple. Here are a few things that I slap together when I don’t have time:
-Heat up an Amy’s Beans and Rice Burrito and top it with Tofutti Sour Supreme. To make it soy-free, top with guacamole instead.
-Quinoa and rice. Make quinoa in the rice cooker. While that’s going, chop up some onions and garlic, saute in a little olive oil. Add canned black beans and cook for 5-10 mins. Season as you like. Put it on top of quinoa. Add guacamole if you have it.
-Hummus and veggie wrap. Slather hummus on a whole wheat tortilla or flatbread, add veggies.
-Kale and kraut sandwich. Steam some kale or collards for 7 minutes. Toast some bread. Slather one side of toast with dijon mustard, slather the other with tahini. Put the greens on the sandwich with some (drained and squeezed) sauerkraut. Sounds gross, tastes great.
-Pesto pasta with sundried tomatoes and greens. If you have a blender, making pesto is a cinch. Instead of pine nuts or walnuts, you can use sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Add basil, olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a tiny bit of salt to taste. To save time during pasta prep, I put my chopped up greens (kale or spinach) in a strainer over the boiling noodles, which will naturally steam the greens.) I chop up some sundried tomatoes, drain the pasta, add the pesto, and presto! Instant dinner. I sprinkle Parma! on it, but you can make your own vegan parmesan by lightly toasting sesame seeds and adding them to the blender with an an equivalent amount of nutritional yeast and then mix. Add a little salt. Mix again. Put on your pasta.
-CSA Pizza. I belong to a Community Supported Agriculture program that fills my fridge with healthy, organic, local veggies. I take a tortilla, put some store-bought pizza sauce on it, cut up some veggies and olives and top with Daiya mozzarella style shreds. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
What are your simple, go-to’s for healthy, veggie fare?