Simple Weekday Meals

These are a few of the meals I made this week that I had not planned out. It was a couple days where I was busy or outside planting  and when dinner rolled around I had to decide what I could make with what was on hand. These were pulled together in under thirty minutes each. I also made them on separate days. (I’m actually more comfortable making up meals with what I have than planning out a shopping list for specific recipes.) So I had a variety of fruits and vegetables and greens, a bag of kelp noodles, a can each of fire roasted tomatoes, artichokes and chickpeas, and some Sami’s Bakery Lavash which is like flatbread, but GF.

This is what I ate:

• Veggie Roasted Flatbread – lavash topped with pesto, onion, mushroom, peppers, artichokes and spinach – Roasted for 10 minutes (not pictured)
• Large mixed green salad with pineapple, orange, almonds and pumpkin seeds
• Orange, pineapple, banana, mixed greens and protein smoothie with granola and seeds on top (not pictured)
• Cold tomato soup with zucchini noodles & Hummus lettuce boats on the side
• Asian Peanut Kelp Noodles (Raw Pad Thai)
• You wont believe it – Ice “cream”

Tomato Soup with Zucchini Noodles

• 1/2 large zucchini, spiralized or sliced lengthwise and then cut into noodles
• I can fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth or water
• 1 tablespoon of tamari or Braggs Aminos
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of honey

Blend everything except zucchini in a blender and pour into serving bowls. Top with zucchini noodles.

Hummus

• 1 can chickpeas, pour the chickpea water into a bowl and save for “ice cream”
• 3 tablespoons of tahini
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon of coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons water

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and mix until a smooth paste is formed. Scoop onto a plate and drizzle with a little more olive oil and grind some black pepper over the top. Serve with lettuce leaves. (you could add assorted vegetables and chips to the plate for dipping.)

Asian Peanut Kelp Noodles

• Use a variety of vegetables and slice thin. I used, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, jicama, spinach and broccoli stems.
• 1 bag kelp noodles

For the peanut sauce, combine the following in a bowl and stir well or blend together and pour over veggies and noodles:

• 1/2 cup organic peanut butter, I had crunchy (sub in almond or tahini)
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
• 1/4 cup water, maybe more
• 1 teaspoon honey (optional)

You Won’t Believe It – Ice “Cream”  – This is pretty amazing and delicious, but hard to wrap your head around. The base of this dessert is chickpea water! also known now as Aquafaba, (water of the bean)

I made a large batch with about 2 cups of the chickpea water, but if you just have the water from one can these amounts should work.

• 1/2 -3/4 cup chickpea water
• 3 tablspoons xylitol or raw sugar, ground fine
• 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar or guar gum
• 5 drops of vanilla stevia, optional
• Flavoring: freeze dried strawberries, crushed and chopped dark chocolate  (add in your own favorite flavors – water content of fruit may cause crystals to form and stiffen up the texture. May be better to add fruit after base is frozen)

The chickpea water needs to be placed in a med to large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix/whip the water until it becomes creamy white like whipped egg whites. The volume will about double. Add in your fine ground sugar/xylitol and guar gum and continue to whip until you reach a shiny white merengue with soft peaks. At this point, I stirred in my crushed strawberry powder and chocolate, and then poured it into a tight sealing container and put it in the freezer for at least four hours. OMGoodness! It is the lightest, creamiest ice cream ever and plant-based without nuts!