fast food

i love gourmet meals, but i go out for them. here's my guide to eating healthy at home without the stress, prep, or clean up. all recipes (if you can even call them that) can be prepared in 5 minutes or less. holler!

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Cheesy quinoa

Ingredients
  • Quinoa
  • Parmesan
  • Frozen vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, peas, corn are all great options) of choice

Rinse and cook quinoa in a microwave (or stovetop if you have more than 5 minutes to spare; I actually find the stovetop to be less work) according to package instructions, usually 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. You can add the frozen vegetables in the beginning too.
 
Transfer to serving bowl and mix in parmesan to desired creaminess. 

This may not be as quick of a dish as some of the others, but it’s REALLY easy to dump quinoa, water, and entire bags of frozen vegetables into a saucepan and then have a bunch for leftovers.

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shrimp ‘taco’ salad

Ingredients

  • Frozen pre-cooked shrimp, peeled/deveined/tail-off
  • Trader Joe’s taco seasoning
  • Fresh arugula
Rinse desired amount of frozen shrimp (4-8 oz) under tap water, then microwave 30 sec - 1 minute, drain any excess water. Fill a salad bowl with arugula, top with shrimp, and mix in 1 to 2 teaspoons of taco seasoning, according to taste. (The moisture from the shrimp and greens should be enough to absorb the seasoning, but you can squeeze some lemon juice in as well if it’s feeling dry). Cotija cheese would also be a nice addition!
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beets & goat cheese

Ingredients

  • Pre-cooked beets (Trader Joe’s sells these for $1.99 / 8oz package)
  • Goat cheese

Slice up the beets (take care to avoid getting the juices on your clothes, it can stain!) and top with desired amount of goat cheese. I prefer not to mix it in too much. Feel free to add fresh spinach and croutons to make it a salad!

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arugula with hummus

Pretty self-explanatory. This is great as a side salad or a snack.

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tomato slices with hummus

Pretty self-explanatory. Eat it like a salad, or dip the tomatoes in a tub of hummus, whatever your heart desires! 

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peas

Ingredients

  • Frozen green peas
  • Parmesan

Microwave a bowl of peas to desired temperature. If you don’t like the parmesan to be super melty (I personally don’t, it takes away much of the flavor) then warm as opposed to hot is good. Toss with parmesan. This is better than it sounds. One of my favorites.

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pizza bread

Ingredients

  • Sliced bread of choice
  • Tomato sauce
  • Shredded mozzarella (goat’s cheese would also be delicious)

Toast bread and heat up tomato sauce. Spread tomato sauce on toasted bread and sprinkle cheese on top. Feel free to add fresh garlic or herbs to the tomato sauce if you’re using a canned one. I wouldn’t suggest adding many more ingredients than listed unless you’re using a sturdier bread.

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kind of like a chicken enchilada

Ingredients

  • Enchilada sauce
  • Frozen chicken* 

Cook desired amount of chicken (this can be done in under 5 min in my microwave, ymmv). Before fully cooked, cut up the chicken, pour over a generous amount of enchilada sauce, and heat up til sauce is hot and chicken is cooked. I like to add cheese, but it tastes great without as well.

* I get Trader Joe’s individually frozen chicken breast tenderloins, which has a very low sodium content.

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tastes like lasagna

Ingredients

  • Tomato sauce
  • Parmesan
  • Frozen spinach

Heat up the spinach, mix in the tomato sauce and heat up some more. Stir in parmesan at the end. You could also add mushrooms, bell peppers, or other ingredients you like to eat in a lasagna!

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mango lassi

Ingredients

  • 2 parts frozen mangoes
  • 3 parts nonfat greek yogurt (or whatever yogurt you want)
  • 1 part water

Blend water and yogurt first, then blend in mangoes til smooth and no remaining chunks.