These humus bowls were a fun change up for lunch. They were also delicious cold which meant I didn’t need to wait in line for the microwaves and could eat right away! With the addition of hummus, these bowls have a lot of flavor and are great if you need to pull something together quickly for lunch!
Mediterranean Hummus Bowls
Ingredient List:
1.5 cups brown rice or quinoa
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
Feta cheese
8 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp garlic powder
Hummus
Recipe Directions:
Coat chickpeas in garlic powder and roast for 20-25 minutes at 425°
Cook rice/quinoa according to package instructions
Prep bowls:
Top rice with tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, feta cheese, chickpeas, and hummus
Serve!
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This Baja Mac n Cheese is a duplicate of a Mac n Cheese that used to be available at Panera. Funny enough, I had never tried it but I was curious a few weeks ago and decided to try and make a version of it at home. This dish was super quick and easy to make. Great for an easy dinner, quick snack, or lunches for the week. Add some chicken to increase protein.
Baja Mac n Cheese
Ingredient List:
Elbow pasta
Shredded cheese (I used provolone and mozzarella)
Milk
Mild salsa (or red onion, tomato, and green bell pepper)
Avocado
Cilantro to garnish
Recipe Directions:
Cook pasta based on package instructions.
When finished, drain and rinse.
Add 3 tbsp butter, 2tbsp milk, and cheese and mix (continue to add based on personal preference)
Serve and top with salsa mix, avocado, and cilantro.
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Last weekend I came back from California on Sunday with just enough time to get to the grocery store and get to bed on time. Since I’m not near a major airport, I have split my flight into two and have a layover. For these flights, the only layover available was for 4 hours, which is the length of one of the flights. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I was home.
Due to this, my goal was to make something very easy for lunch that required minimal prep work. For this dish, I used full broccoli heads, so that had some prep work, but for the most part, it was really straight forward.
Broccoli Salad
Recipe List:
2 heads broccoli
1 small red onion, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cheese
Handful of dried cranberries
Handful of roasted walnuts
Your favorite creamy/thick dressing
I used a Avocado Green Goddess dressing
Recipe Directions:
Cut broccoli heads and stem into bite-sized chunks
Mix ingredients in a large bowl
Add in dressing and mix until well coated
Serve and enjoy!
Other Notes:
I added rice as a base to make this a more filling dish (and it ended up being really filling)
I would recommend steaming the broccoli. It was delicious as was, but I think softer broccoli would have made it easier to eat
I would maybe add some shredded chicken next time to make this fuller
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I’ve officially relocated for my new job role! Although I didn’t do much of the packing, it was a bit exhausting seeing how much stuff I have and imagining where it would all go in the new apartment. Thankfully, most items have found their place. There are a few things to put away still, but it’s coming together nicely. The kitchen was my biggest challenge! I was worried there wouldn’t be enough cabinet space for all the kitchen equipment, but thankfully the pantry is quite large, so I was able to keep some things in there.
I’m now living in a state and a city that I’ve never been in before. I was a little nervous at first and didn’t know what to expect, but the area has really grown on me, and I like it a lot. I’m excited to be somewhere new!
Although it was beautiful for my move and a few days after, the rest of the week was cloudy, rainy and cold. So, for April, I thought I’d bring a little color back with my Color Series! For April, we’re doing the color Yellow using a bit of turmeric!
Some suggested health benefits of turmeric include reducing inflammation and neutralizing free radicals in the body.
There are 3 aspects to most of my meals: the base, the veggies, and the protein. For the veggies this week, I diced up yellow bell pepper and yellow squash and sauteed them. Check out the recipe below to bring a little yellow to your meals!
Product Recommendations:
I use large reusable storage bags which are great for marinades and cutting down on waste – Stasher 1/2 Gallon Bags
Yellow Rice with Lemon Garlic Chicken
Rice Recipe List:
2 cups long grain white rice
2 tbsp butter
1 small/medium onion, diced
1 tbsp minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to garnish
Chicken Recipe List:
1 pack boneless, skinless, chicken breast
1 lemon
1 tbsp minced garlic (4 cloves)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
Rice Recipe Directions:
Rinse rice until water runs clear
Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic until fragrant (1-2 minutes).
Add turmeric powder and combine. Stir in rice until lightly toasted and well coated.
Mix in vegetable stock, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes before fluffing. Add parsley to garnish.
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I’m hitting a point where I’m cooking more than I can post! It’s very exciting for me because it means I’m starting to build a collection of recipes. It also means I can start posting more frequently. I haven’t decided yet what the new post schedule will look like. I recently switched to posting on Saturdays instead of Fridays, so I’d have to figure out which day in the week would be best for my second post, and when I would be able to write that post based on my work schedule. This change will likely not happen soon, as I’d like to build a bit more of a recipe collection to know I have enough. I only post what I cook, and I don’t want to have to cook extra just to make a post. That seems silly. I’m looking to see if I can make this change in late June, so stay tuned!
Some other changes to the blog are that I will be adding a Series page. Although I’ve only done two months of this Color Series, I’ve had so much func coming up with creative ways to put foods together to make meals. I’d like to do some more series in the future. Like the previous change, this will not happen this month. It will probably come around the May/June timeframe simply because I’ve got to come up with some ideas! Recipes would still be stored under their corresponding category (breakfast, lunch, etc.) but would also be found in the Series tab under their corresponding series title. I hope you’ll stick around to see those changes take effect!
With that, let’s get to it!
Welcome to the Color Series for February! I’ve got three dish ideas to share for the month of February, a lunch, a breakfast, and a side salad. Today I’ll be sharing a lunch recipe. This is a Roasted Red Bell Pepper Chicken with red rice. The sauce ended up coming out more orange than red, but it uses red ingredients, so it counts! The side salad in the pictures will be shared in a later post, so make sure you check back!
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Chicken with Red Rice
Recipe List:
2 cups Red Rice
2 1/2 cups water
Boneless, skinless chicken thigh
1/2 jar of roasted red bell peppers (the thin jar!)
3-5 tbsp olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper
Recipe Directions:
Add rice and water to Instant Pot. Cook for 20 minutes on high pressure, and release for 10 minutes. Rice is ready!
Blend the roasted red bell peppers, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper for your smooth chicken cream/sauce.
In a medium skillet, add chicken with Italian seasoning, and cook until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate.
Add your blended sauce and sour cream to the skillet. Cook over medium heat until well mixed and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add your chicken back to the skillet and coat with the sauce.
Serve over rice (and add your side dish).
Enjoy! Let me know what you think.
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It’s only been about 2 weeks since I’ve been back and yet somehow it feels like it’s been longer, but I also can’t believe that January is already over. I also feel like I haven’t done very much. I’ve done some socializing with some coworkers, updated my photo albums, and played video games. That’s essentially my week’s summary. It’s been a good week, very relaxed.
I do have some exciting news. I am part of a rotational program for my job, and for the program, we complete a company sponsored project. The projects are still undecided, but I’m excited to hear what we’ll be working on, and hoping we’ll hear soon. I pitched myself as a project lead to my peers and the program’s leadership team, and I’m excited to share that I was voted for as one of our project leads! I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but I think it’s such a great opportunity. I’m really looking forward to challenging myself and learning through this process. Wish me luck!
In a second round of exciting news, which I may have shared last week, I submitted my preferences for my second location/job. The goal of this program is to help individuals develop a strong skill set to be future leaders, and so they try and rotate associates to different locations to learn the different aspects of the company, but also through different jobs. Supposedly, the leadership team met last week to discuss what was submitted, so I’m also very eager and excited to hear more news on that.
Even with my exciting news, it was still a very relaxed week.
My plan was to share this recipe last week, but I really wanted to kick off my Color Series. Making the January dish was a lot of fun. I was very nervous about it because I haven’t had much experience coming up with recipe ideas. I was worried the combination wouldn’t be good, or it wouldn’t be filling, or it wouldn’t be a good nutritious blend. The first two concerns were removed quickly. The meal was delicious. While I’m not too sure on the nutritional value of the dish, I feel that it was a good mix of different veggies, some carbs and some protein.
I loved having this chicken dish for work. The recipe was very easy, and there was minimal work on my part. I threw everything in a cast iron and essentially my job was done. This was also very filling for work which was nice. I added some rice to help the chicken and potatoes last a little longer through my week. Overall a great combination. I’m typically not a big potato person (I know, a crime), but I do really like red potatoes.
The skin of red potato is filled with fiber, vitamin B, iron, and potassium.
I found this recipe in one of my many cooking magazine: delish Chicken Dinners. Although this recipe was not used for dinner, I’ve found that many of the recipes in this magazine can be modified to be lunch or dinner.
Rating
9/10
Recipe
Balsamic Glazed Chicken
This is a dish where, once again, I forgot to take photos. If you are interested in seeing more of the process, check out my Instagram page! Some notes and lessons learned:
Adding rice was a great idea. This would not have lasted me the week otherwise.
I doubled the potatoes. I did one batch on Sunday with the chicken, and a second batch on Wednesday, which didn’t have as much flavor because I wanted it to be quick. However doing the two batches made sure I had enough to eat and meant I could add a little more to each dish.
I wish I had doubled the chicken. Maybe not fully double, but I wish I made more. I felt I had a good amount of rice and a good amount of potato, but I also felt like the chicken went so quickly. If I had made more chicken, I would have made less potato.
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The days have truest been flying by and I’m amazed that today is already December 24th! I believe I posted two weeks ago. After that, I went on a day trip to Disneyland which was so much fun! It was colder than we were anticipating but we warmed up by midday. After Disney, I flew from California to New Jersey to spend a few days with my parents, then drove back to my current state, picked up my boyfriend from the airport, and then we drove back to New Jersey a few days later. And now, I’m in Spain!
With all the travel, plus work, plus cooking, it’s actually been difficult to find a few moments to sit down and write a blog post to send an update and a new recipe. Yesterday we busy because we landed in Spain in the morning and then spent the remainder of the day with my boyfriends family. We were both exhausted and so this morning we ended up sleeping in until 1pm (which was about an hour ago).
This week I thought I’d share an oldie, but a goodie. This is recipe from when I was still living in Kansas City, MO which was a little more than a year ago. I wanted to make something filling and work friendly, but also healthy. So I thought a twist on a burrito bowl would be a great option, substituting sweet potato for the ground beef.
These are a great base if you want to then branch off to tacos instead. Simply cut the sweet potato into smaller cubes, and some lettuce, cheese, and other favorite toppings, and you’re all set.
I sued minimal seasoning this time around to try and minimize smell. The site I’m currently at has about 4 microwaves upstairs, more downstairs, and more in the other building. At the Kansas City site, there were only 2 microwaves in the kitchen upstairs and they were in high demand!
Based on that, feel free to adjust based on what works best for you to make this delicious 🙂
Recipe List:
Sweet potato
1 pack grapes/cherry tomatoes
1 can sweet corn (or fire roasted corn)
1 can black beans
2 cups white rice
1 pack of fresh cilantro
Recipe Directions:
Cook rice based on your preferred method
I use an Instant Pot: 2 cups rice, 2 cups water. Pressure cook on high for 5 minutes, and let pressure release for 12 minutes.
I then let the rice sit in “Keep warm” until I’m ready to use it.
Preheat oven to 400° and prepare sweet potatoes.
Remove skin from sweet potato*
Slice sweet potatoes into thin halves.
Cook sweet potato in a single sheet for about 22-30 minutes, until tender.
When the rice is completed, chop up cilantro and mix in.*
*The steps are optional depending on preference
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The first half of this week was very busy at work, and the second half of this week picked up in my personal life. My sister, mom, and aunt came for a visit so my usual weekly writing in preparation for a Friday afternoon post was postponed to prioritize cleaning, cooking, and freeing up time to spend time with my family. Next week I will be posting on Friday!
We’re trying to get an early start to the Christmas shopping to beat out some of the crowds and any last minute “out of stock.” I had to work Thursday and Friday while they were here, but Friday afternoon I was able to join them for a trip to Macy’s and Barnes & Noble.
This is one of the first weekends in a while that I’m staying home. Normally, I take a trip to my parents house to spend some time with them, which is always a nice time, but I’m really looking forward to not driving anywhere this weekend.
This week’s lunch was so yummy and full of fall and winter mixes! I tried a Vegan Fall Pasta Salad. I found this recipe on Pinterest from the blog Rabbit & Wolves. For a vegan page, I thought this was an interesting choice to name a blog. In reading the home page, the name is such a unique and smart choice! They’ve got a few other recipes I’m itching to try!
Poppyseeds are rich in manganese which is important for bone health and blood-clotting. They are also rich in fiber, healthy fats, and several other micronutrients.
Pulled from Healthline
Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the version I made was Vegan. I used a Poppyseed dressing from the store and didn’t check the ingredients, however if you are looking to follow a vegan recipe, the blog Rabbit & Wolves lists directions for making your own poppyseed dressing topping.
This recipe was delicious, but definitely had quite a bit of prep work. Good thing is that after the prep work, all of the work is essentially done. The veggies go straight in the oven, and the pasta essentially cooks itself! So I think it was a fair trade off. I cook lunches for work pretty regularly and this was the first recipe that I’ve had several comments on! “That looks so good,” or “that smells great!”
Let the prep work begin!
Check out my notes below, and head over to the blog Rabbit & Wolves to try it out for yourself!
So yummy and so filling! Some days I brought a side salad and would decide to have it later as a snack instead. This was easy to make and even easier to pack for work. Some notes and things I learned:
I didn’t make the poppyseed dressing from the recipe. Instead I bought a poppyseed dressing from the store, but did not check if it was vegan or not
If you are looking to stay strictly vegan, the poppyseed recipe from the blog seemed very easy to follow and looks like it would taste even more delicious than the store-bought
I underestimated how much food this would make and bought 2 bags of brussel sprouts just in case
1 bag was more than enough, especially mixed in with everything else
I added shrimp to this on my work-from-home day, and that was a great addition!
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This week really picked up at work. We have a mix of project components all due by November 10th. Some components we can complete without roadblocks, but others are data-based, and so we can only progress based on how much data has already been compiled. I added formulas to the spreadsheet we’ve been working on to try and make the process less manual, but to also minimize how many times we have to go back into the spreadsheet. It’s definitely saved us some time overall to commit to other project components. As we enter Version 2 of our project, I’m curious to see if there will be a Version 3, and if not, what my involvement will be in the next steps of the project. I’m excited to see it!
Halloween this past “weekend” was a lot of fun! I spent it with my family and we ordered matching skeleton onesies to make it easier. Although we ended up not going trick-or-treating, we had a lot of fun setting up the candy table for the trick-or-treaters. My dad has a great set-up going with a skeleton who sits behind the table with blinking eyes, bats and ghosts flying in from a nearby pole, and a remote controlled spider/skeleton hybrid. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks dressed in our costumes. It was a fun night!
I was feeling a bit lazy this past weekend so I tried to opt for something that could be very mindless. I didn’t want to have to worry about how long an ingredient was being cooked for or having to add certain ingredients at a certain point in time. I wanted to be able to put everything in the pan and call it a day.
Some of the ingredients for this dish. Placed on a cutting board that was handmade by my dad! They were great Christmas presents from a few years ago!
This week I made a Kale and Sausage Stir Fry which was great to have for work. The skillet I have is large, but not large enough for the quantities I was making. Unfortunately that meant that I couldn’t throw everything in the pan and call it a day, but it was still a very straight forward meal. Cooked red onions tend to lose their strong flavor and add a nice subtlety to the recipe. They also don’t have that distinct onion smell when you re-heat them in the office microwave.
Kale is not an ingredient that most people like. I personally do not like kale. However, when it’s cooked and mixed with other ingredients, I really don’t mind the taste of it at all. The downside to cooking kale is that many of the high nutritional benefits are lost or minimized. In contrast, cooked bell peppers apparently help you absorb the vitamins better. I’m not sure how true that is, but if you’d like to read more on it, here’s the article I found. And finally, there was the asparagus.
Asparagus is low in calories and a great source of vitamins A, C, and K
Mixed with the sweet potatoes and the sausage, I found this to be an easy but filling recipe. I love adding sweet potato to my recipes. I find to to be a great fall ingredient, it’s always easy to prepare, and there are many ways to make it! I did have a minor cooking accident which made the prep time much longer than anticipated, but all is well and my minor wound healed fine. Check out the recipe below and let me know what you think!
Recipe List below:
1 Bundle Fresh Kale
1 Bundle Asparagus
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
Can also substitute for other colors depending on what you prefer
1 Red Onion
3 Small/Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 Pack Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage*
I use pre-cooked sausage that takes much less time to prepare
This is another ingredient that can be substituted for what you prefer
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Medium Sprinkle Garlic Powder
Medium Sprinkle Onion Powder
Light Sprinkle Salt
Medium Sprinkle Black Pepper
Medium Sprinkle Sesame Seeds
Light Sprinkle Red Pepper Flakes*
Recipe Directions below:
Prep veggies and goodies:
Peel and cube sweet potato
Separate and slice kale
Dice red onion
Cut up asparagus
In a large skillet, add 1 tbsp Olive Oil and sweet potatoes
Cook sweet potatoes on medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown
Add 1 tbsp Olive Oil, bell pepper, onion , and asparagus
Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sesame seed, and red pepper flakes*
Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender
Remove ingredients from skillet and add to large mixing bowl
Add kale to skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes or until kale is wilted
Add kale to large mixing bowl and add pre-cooked sausage* to skillet
Cook for 8-10 minutes
Mix ingredients together and serve.
The final product. This was a great mix of veggies and a filling dish for a busy day at work.
*Optional additions. This sausage addition helps make the recipe a bit more filling. I add the red pepper flakes because they’re one of my favorite additions to any meal.
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I don’t know how you all feel, but this has been a LONG week. I’m feeling very worn out. And this weekend only has more in store for me! I have two tests on Monday and homework, but I also feel like I still have a lot of catching up to do. But I’ll get there. Slowly powering through.
I will say, something that has really helped me stay sane is sticking to my eating and workout schedule. It’s very tempting when I get up, to go right to my desk and get some work done so I feel caught up. But I think that burns me out even more. Doing my workouts in the morning helps me start off the day feeling accomplished, and eating healthy and regularly helps me keep up my energy.
This week I’m going to share what I ate for this week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although, I can’t share photos of my dinner because I forgot to take them 🙂 but it was really good! Plus, the blog I got the recipe from has a better picture which makes it look even better.
Quinoa Fruit Salad
Okay, first thoughts: interesting combination…. Second thoughts: wow, this is delicious.
Unfortunately I’m not going to share the recipe because I got it through my fitness app which is paid. The app I use is called We Glow. I personally really like this app, I really like the workout programs, and of the recipes I have tried, I’ve really liked all of them and they’ve been very simple, easy to follow. Added bonus: this dish looks pretty, so I feel like it already gives a boost to my morning. I cooked the quinoa on the weekend, and would cut the fruits in the morning. Sometimes once you cut fruit, it doesn’t last very long in the fridge. It only took a few minutes to cut, so it wasn’t a big deal. 10/10 recommend (also recommend the app or any paid fitness program if your motivation is low, or if you don’t really know what to do/where to start. Paying motivates me because I’m losing money, so I better be using it!).
Buffalo Shrimp Salad
This salad was a winner. This was actually supposed to be buffalo shrimp lettuce wraps, like lunch burritos, except the ~healthy~ version. Yeah. I tried them! They were….boring. And tasted like a mouthful of lettuce. So, I converted this into a big salad instead because I felt that the lunch needed more color and excitement. This turned out really good. I don’t typically finish salads because I get bored while eating them and tend to eat all the goodies first. This is probably the first time that I devoured a salad. 10/10. I also don’t usually like iceberg lettuce because, well, it’s iceberg lettuce, but I think it was actually the better choice for this salad because it let all the other flavors really show. SO this salad was a mix of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, buffalo shrimp, cranberries, strawberries(!!!), olives and balsamic vinaigrette for the salad dressing. it was an interesting mix but such a good mix. It was also a good opportunity to use some ingredients in my fridge that were probably going to go bad soon. Great way to just combine everything and enjoy.
Easy, Creamy Beef and Shells
Yes. This was easy, creamy, and delicious. I found the recipe on Pinterest, from the blog Kitchn. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures! This also didn’t last me very long because it was so good that I just kept eating it. I loved this dinner. It was so so easy to make and it was one of the few recipes that didn’t have a mile long ingredient list or instruction list. There were a few big differences between mine and the recipe I followed. For starters, the recipe calls for a 15-oz. can of tomato sauce, and I bought pasta sauce (which to me is tomato sauce). Looking at the photos in the Kitchn blog, there are smaller cans of tomato sauce that are literal cans. I don’t think there’s a big differences between the two, but mine was a little hard to measure out because it was a full jar of sauce. So I think this made my finished dish more liquidy, but it was still really good. I also didn’t include as much cheese. The recipe calls for 2 cups of cheese, which I had. But after the first cup of shredding, I felt lazy, so my dinner only had one cup of cheese. For me it didn’t make a huge difference, but I’m also not a big cheese lover. if you love cheese, definitely do the full 2 cups. I also used half and half instead of heavy cream, mostly because I couldn’t find heavy cream. This was such an easy and cozy meal. Great to have after a very long day of sitting in front of the computer. It was also nice to have something a little heavier after a lighter breakfast and lunch.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I’ve got a lot of work to do…but I also bought a new Switch game soooo, we’ll see. Looking forward to at least taking a mini break today, even if it’s just for an hour. In other news, I hosted champagne tasting with some of the girls last weekend. I think we were all caught off guard by how quickly the champagne hit us but it was still a lot of fun! I also made my first cheeseboard! And to be honest, I’m really proud of it, so I thought I’d share a picture 🙂
Gabriela Maria 