Confession time: I've never been a lunch girl. I love having a break from work or school in the middle of the day and I love that it exists for us to eat but there's just something about the stereotypical lunch foods that just never got me excited for the meal. I also think it has something to do with lunch having some big shoes to fill because it's the first meal after breakfast. Luckily I've found my glass slipper in a few different recipes that are easy for me to batch cook, store in the fridge, and take with me as I need during the week.
One of my newly discovered and favorites being these vegan burrito bowls. They're packed with roughly 20g of plant based protein and about half your recommended daily allowance of fiber, so they're sure to keep you full and fueled for the whole afternoon. These bowls are composed of a three different recipes then served with greens and avocado. We have a corn and bean salad + cilantro lime tofu + sweet potato chips. Bonus: the corn and bean salad is budget friendly thanks to how cheap canned corn, beans, and rice are. Without further ado here they are!
Corn and Bean Salad
Ingredients (4 servings)
1 can corn, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed (sub: any beans or lentils)
1 cup cooked + cooled brown rice
1 medium tomato, chopped
Juice of 1/2-1 lime
Chopped cilantro to taste
1/2-1 tsp chili lime seasoning (sub: chili powder + extra lime juice)
***Optional: 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (gives it a cheesy flavor)
Recipe
Cook your brown rice and store in the fridge to cool
Drain corn + beans
Chop tomato
Combine rice, corn, beans, + tomato in a large bowl and mix
Add lime juice + cilantro + chili seasoning to bowl and mix again until everything is evenly coated
***Optional: add nutritional yeast and mix until fully combined (gives it a nice cheesy flavor)
Store in the fridge until you're ready to eat
I used the same recipe as here but since I was making 4 servings I multiplied everything by 4
You can do this to any number so the recipe lasts as many days as you need
Sweet Potato Chips
Ingredients
1 medium sweet potato
1 tbsp avocado oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Recipe
Very thinly slice sweet potato
Heavily coat sweet potato slices in oil and seasonings
Bake on parchment paper or tin foil @ 400ºF until crispy
Let cool and store in the fridge
Serve all of the above over an optional bed of greens with green onion, more cilantro, and the non optional avocado because what is a burrito bowl without avocado.
This meal is so great because it was relatively cheap, very easy and quick to prepare, and packed to the brim with plant based goodness. It could probably even give your favorite overpriced burrito bowl joint a run for its money. The corn and bean salad in this meal makes it full of iron, fiber, complete protein thanks to the combination of beans with brown rice, and many other nutrients. The tofu in this meal packs a great punch of protein, calcium, and magnesium just to name a few. The sweet potato adds yet another vegetable to the meal and brings lots of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium as well as other nutrients. Sweet potatoes are also super high in the antioxidant beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body to help our eyesight, immune system, bone health, skin, and possibly lower our risk for certain cancers. Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin so pairing the vitamin A rich food with healthy fats like avocado and avocado oil helps our bodies out with absorption. Most importantly food should taste good and make you feel good and this meal passes both of those requirements with flying colors. Make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it or send me a picture of it. Enjoy!