by Faith Escher
Spring has sprung! The trees are bursting with buds, the hills are covered with wild flowers, and the waterfalls are celebrating a winter of precipitation. Nature though, is not the only thing that is in full bloom–my calendar is full of events, deadlines, midterms, weddings, baby showers, retreats, birthday parties, graduations, and spring break plans. But, there is one very important date that I have circled, it is Sunday, March 12, 2:00 am. This day is no one’s (that I know of) favorite holiday, but it is one that we all must observe regardless of our choice: Spring Forward.
So in a season that is already full, in which we must spring forward and lose an hour of sleep, what do we let go of? Do we skip one hour at the gym? Do we show up an hour late for class? Do we get excused from a mandatory meeting? Or do we miss our friend’s wedding? Hopefully not…so where does our spring forward hour go, and how to we prepare for it? Maybe we can spend less time cooking! But how? How do we save time cooking and keep eating healthfully so that when it comes down to crunch time, we don’t find ourselves crunching on a bag of chips rather than a healthy carrot…
This week I am going to help you save time, so that you can maybe find that hour that you’ll be missing out on due to the time change, and maybe it will give you the renewed energy to spring forward with the clock! This week I have selected all five of the recipes to have a cook time of 10-30 minutes, so that you can win back that extra hour.
Total Budget: $100 or less
All recipes serve 4
NOTE: Garlic (2) = how many recipes the ingredient garlic is used in. For example, “Garlic (2)” means we will be using garlic in two of our recipes for this week.
The Shopping List For All 5 Dinners
$70.47-72.50 *Prices may fluctuate depending on tax, store, sale and season. I paid $70.89 this week.
If you followed us last week however, if this is your first week you will need to make these additional purchases (appx $22.03) or substitute with ingredients you have in your cupboard.
Recipe No. 1
Vegan Greek Salad | Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Source: Minimal Eats | Link to Instructions
Note: The recipe above has an additional link to a recipe for “Vegan tofu Feta Cheese” that has amazing reviews, however, if you decide to do this, know that tofu would need to be added to the shopping list as well as apple cider vinegar. The reason that I have not added these items to the list is because without the tofu the recipe is a 10 minute meal, whereas with the tofu, it requires preparation the night before.
Recipe No. 2
Chipotle Roasted Corn Avocado Toast | Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Source: Vegan Richa | Link to instructions
Roasted Corn:
Toast:
Note: This recipe serves two so you will need to double the recipe and have included enough ingredients in the shopping list to serve four. Avocado toast it amazing, and much cheaper when you make it at home! You can be creative with the bread! If you are gluten free, get a gluten free brand, if you have a favorite bakery, you could pick up your favorite loaf!
Recipe No. 3
Avocado and White Bean Burritos | Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Source: Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook | Link to cookbook
In a bowl, “Add the lemon juice and mash the avocado with the back of a large spoon or fork. Add the beans; mash the mixture some more, and stir to combine. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet for 20 to 30 seconds on each side. Spoon have the avocado into each tortilla, and add the salsa. Sprinkle on the tabasco if you desire. Garnish with a generous amount of arugula” (76).
Note: Recipe made for two but ingredients list for shopping serves 4. Additionally, Note that I didn’t add the optional tabasco to the list, but feel free to add it to the list if you like to spice up your food.
Recipe No. 4
Puttanesca Sauce with Fried Capers over Linguine | Cook Time: 25-30 Minutes
Source: The Vegetarian Times | Link to instructions
Note: If you are gluten free, I suggest using quinoa grain noodles instead of the linguine.
Recipe No. 5
Easy Vegetable Teriyaki Stir Fry | Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Source: Hummusapian | Link to instructions
For the stir fry:
For the sauce:
Note: Since the chia seeds were optional, and the recipe used only a small tbsp, I left the chia seeds off the shopping list.
I hope that this week’s blog has provided you with the tools that you need to save time, so that you can wake up feeling encouraged that you didn’t ground due to the time change, and maybe it will give you the renewed energy to spring forward with the clock!
References
Hingle, R. (2016, September 2). Chipotle Roasted Corn Avocado Toast. Retrieved February
16, 2017, from VeganRicha.com website:
Chipotle Roasted Corn Avocado Toast
Joseph, A. (2016, February 22). Easy Vegetable Teriyaki Stir Fry. Retrieved February 16,
2017, from hummusapien.com website: http://www.hummusapien.com/easy-vegetable-
teriyaki-stir-fry/
Raymond, C. (2006). Avocado and White Bean Burritos. In C. Raymond (Author), Student’s
Go Vegan Cookbook (p. 76). New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
Robles, I. (2014). Vega Greek Salad. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from
SimpleVeganBlog.com website: http://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-greek-salad/
The Vegetarian Times. (2016, March). Puttanesca Sauce with Fried Capers over Linguine.
Retrieved February 16, 2017, from The Vegetarian Times website:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/puttanesca-sauce-with-fried-capers-over-linguine
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