SNAP Challenge Part 4: Bring on the Meals
The delicious factor of these meals is off the charts. I will admit, I was worried that only have three spices besides salt and peppers was going to make things boring. But I didn’t take into account the fact that the onions/peppers/salsa/sour cream/veggie stock all contribute to making mix and match flavors which are really good. It also has put my creativity on high alert and I am super excited to show you some of the meals I concocted!
Breakfast:
Quick Breakfast: Eggs, quinoa and side of roasted peppers and onion with some of that italian seasoning.
Creative Breakfast: These breakfast mini burritos and roasted sweet carrots!
Start with the side. You’ll need to slice up your carrots (I used 5) and toss them in olive oil and a some brown sugar. Place on a baking pan and broil in the oven for about 10 minutes.
While that cooks you can saute onions, peppers and black beans with a little bit of veggie stock. Then in another pan scramble a few eggs. I did four between two people and we were more than full. Then toss these together when everything is cooked and hot.
Warm an empty pan on the stove and start filling small tortillas with your egg and veggie mix. Then place the seam side down in the pan and toast the mini burritos for a few minutes. Serve with your side of salsa and sour cream and the carrots when they come out.
Lunch:
Quick Lunch: This one was super easy for Matt to grab and go in a container. Just take your chicken breast from the batch cooking from the beginning of the week, seasoned rice, and sauteed asparagus and place in a togo container. This is such a quick, delicious and well rounded meal.
Creative Lunch: Veggie Patties with Asparagus and Fresh Veggies.
These veggie patties were super simple. Use ½ cup rice, ½ cup smashed up black beans and 1 egg and mix together really well in a bowl. Then season with salt and pepper. In a frying pan put 1 tbsp of olive oil in the bottom, then turn the pan to med high heat. Once oil is hot, using a ¼ cup scoop pack in the patty mixture tightly and place mixture into the pan. Gently press down a little (don’t do it too hard or you’ll break apart the patty. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes on one side without moving the patty around. Then after 5 minutes flip patties carefully and let cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.
While your patties cook, in a frying pan coat a bunch of asparagus with 1 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and cook over high heat covered for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and cook until desired tenderness.
Then plate all your ingredients and enjoy with a side of cut up veggies. I’ve been using a mix of salsa and sour cream for toppings and it’s just delicious.
Dinner:
Quick Dinner: You can go off the easy lunch ideas as well for dinner and switch up your starches and veggies with the different meats you cooked off. I love batch cooking because it allows for mix and match meals.
Creative Dinner: Baked Potato Tacos.
These were easy and delicious because everything gets piled on one base – the potato. Heat the oven to 450 degree and poke a few fork holes in your potatoes. Put on a baking sheet with tin foil and a sprinkle of salt ( I didn’t rub my potato skins down with any oil, but you can if you’d like to) and bake for 40-60 mins or until your potatoes are fork tender.
During the last 15 minutes of cooking throw in some veggies (we had more asparagus to roast) as a side with a tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Then cut these bad boys open and top with cut up chicken, beans, onions, salsa, peppers, sour cream, cilantro or anything else you can think of. The best part of these is everyone can grab their own toppings and make it their own meal.
Being limited on spices and ingredients really pushes you to get creative. And in doing so, I’ve found some simple meals that were not only cheap, they will be making their way back onto my table very soon!
And I wanted to share with you Lauren’s meals as well! She’s the master of the 1 person platters and of course, she likes fast and easy dinners like everyone else.
Yes, that girl budgeted well enough to have steak! Lol and I’m about to try to do her tostadas tonight.
I hope you’ll tune into the last part of the challenge, where I share a few more meal ideas as well as give you the rundown on what was left over (if anything is) and of course if I was able to stay under budget because I did have to grab one more thing!