Since starting my new job at the end of August, I have been religious about bringing lunches to work. It continues to astound me at how much money I'm saving just with an hour or so of prep work on Sunday afternoon. In NYC, a standard lunch could run you $10 - $12 for a chopped salad, or a hearty sandwich, or even a soup combo with either. Take out? Possibly even more. Do that five days a week, four weeks a month, and that's $200 minimum on lunches!

One of my favorite big batch, make ahead, bring to work meals are quinoa bowls. You add in whatever protein and vegetables you want and portion it out across multiple days. The first actual recipe-based one I tried - and LOVED - was Iowa Girl Eats' Thai peanut pad thai bowls.

You'll need:

1 cup quinoa, well rinsed in cool water
1 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 teaspoons peanut oil
6 oz chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 cup coleslaw mix
1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame
2 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped

To stretch my dollars even more, I used veggies I already had in my fridge or freezer. Instead of edamame, I used frozen corn and frozen peas and swapped the coleslaw mix with 1/2 a carrot and 1/2 a radicchio head, both shredded.

For the Pad Thai sauce, you'll need:
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon peanut butter
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (I used harissa since it was in the fridge!)

You start off cooking the quinoa. Bring the stock to a boil, add the quinoa, lower the heat and simmer with the lid on until the liquid is absorbed. I also seasoned the broth with some Chinese five spice to add another layer of flavor - unnecessary, but I'd totally recommend. Just like All The Real Chefs tell you to salt your pasta water, I've started seasoning my quinoa water. Game changer, just saying.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a bowl, whisk, and zap in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Whisk again and set aside. Whisk your egg with some sesame oil and keep aside, too.

Once all of your stir fry ingredients are prepped, heat oil in your pan (I used olive instead of peanut, sue me) and cook the chicken. Once no longer pink, remove from the pan and set aside. Into the same pan, add all of your vegetables and stir fry until tender. Once they've started to soften, push everything to the outside, dump in your whisked egg and scramble it.

Add the chicken back in, the quinoa, the peanut sauce, and the peanuts. Mix until everything is coated and do your best not to immediately start scooping spoonfuls into your watering mouth.

I mean.... dang these are good. All in, this takes about 30 minutes start to finish, including prep. In those 30 minutes, I made lunch for an entire week. Once the final mixture cooled a bit, I portioned it out in to Tupperwares and stacked them in the fridge.

This has your protein from the chicken and quinoa, some sweetness from the vegetables, some heat from the peanut sauce (and a squirt of sriracha - I'm That Girl who keeps a hidden bottle at her desk!), and some crunch from the peanuts. I can't get enough of it!

Five On Friday: Lazy Food Write Ups

Happy Friday! Today is a happy one for me as I'm gearing up for a fun weekend celebrating our first year of marriage! It feels like decades and it feels like a week since we said, "I do". A little drink clinking and holding hands around Manhattan will be a nice antidote to a few crazy weeks. How crazy? Well, I have five delicious recipes for you today but could not find the time, energy, or wherewithal to turn them into full posts.

Without further ado, I give you today's Lazy Five On Friday Food Write Ups!

1. Shrimp Quinoa Bowls adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

I planned on making lettuce wraps and using the shrimp marinade from this recipe. Then, New York City spit in my face and all of the lettuce/cabbage/radicchio/etc. at my local store was nasty the day I went to shop. So, I reverted back to the original recipe and made quinoa. I cooked it in chicken stock and a few shakes of cumin - it was so fragrant and a little darker brown than usual. While Kristin's marinade worked on the shrimp, I cooked a diced shallot and corn sliced from two cobs in oil, then added two cans of roasted and chopped green chiles. Once those were heated up, I added in the marinated shrimp PLUS the marinade - it made everything saucier. Once the shrimp turned opaque and slightly pink, I dumped in the quinoa, mixed it all together, and served in bowls. With a bit of sriracha drizzled on top, this was a light yet very filling weeknight dish.

2. Curry Coconut Chicken from Half Baked Harvest

This is freaking awesome. The recipe calls it "butter chicken", but of all of the flavors you taste, butter is not even recognizable. This is spicy, this is tomato-y, this is creamy, and it is perfect. Keep this in your back pocket for when the weather gets cold and you want to heat up from the inside out! My tip? Make it easy on yourself and do the ingredient prep the night before. I had all of my spices mixed, my onion minced in the fridge, and all of my canned goods out on the countertop the morning I made this. This is one of those great slow cooker recipes where you simply pour everything into the hot tub, stir, set it, and forget it. I went a little heavy with the hot spices so used a bit more yogurt to tone it down a bit. I served it with garlic naan bread and a cool, crunchy cucumber salad. I took leftovers to work for lunch and they were super tasty.

3. One Pan Seafood & Chorizo Bake from Real Simple

Mussels take time to prep. You have to soak them and de-beard them and soak them some more. But if you're willing to put in the time and energy, the rest of this dish was really straightforward. I tossed the mussels, some sliced pre-cooked chorizo, and cleaned shrimp in a bit of oil and Old Bay and spread everything across a large sheet pan. I baked it until the mussels opened and the shrimp was opaque and served it with lemon wedges and crusty bread.

4. Savory Citrus Slow Cooker Chicken from Miss In The Kitchen

Another Pour, Mix, Start slow cooker recipe. I poured beer over Dijon mustard and whisked in the bottom of the cooker. Then I dumped in the rest of my Napa seasoning and some herbs de Provence. I added two pounds of bone in skin on chicken thighs (they were $1.97 a pound at Fairway and you better believe I have several packs in my freezer for the future!) to the seasoned liquid, topped with a sliced orange and some fresh rosemary sprigs, and set it to low for 8 hours. The chicken pulled apart with barely any fork pressure and was perfectly juicy. It soaked up all of the herbaciousness of the spice blends and the zing of the orange with a great bitter undertone from the beer. The original recipe calls for honey Dijon - I used regular Dijon and honestly would squeeze in a bit of honey the next time I make this. It was simple and fool-proof and an absolute hit.

5. Buffalo Cauliflower Chili from Kitchen Treaty

I've turned into That Girl who is close to reciting Sonnet 43 to her slow cooker. It's just so easy! This meatless chili is delicious and requires you to open cans, shake spices, and stir. Technically you need to cut up a head of cauliflower into florets, but I took 10 minutes the night before to do so (and dice up an onion). I also had a bunch of radishes sliced in my fridge and threw those in as well. Otherwise, this is spicy, it's hearty, it's comforting, but it's vegetables and beans and will fill you up without making you feel too weighed down. Topped with chopped chives and some blue cheese and you have yourself a fantastic dinner.

Have you made any quick, easy, and awesome recipes recently? I'd love for you to send them my way - I'm always on the hunt for simple and tasty.

Enjoy your weekends!




Oh and yay -- the Five On Friday girls are hosting a giveaway!

Slow Cooker Rainbow Quinoa

Happy Monday! It's Day 1 at my new job and, even though I schedule my posts, I can guarantee you I'm a jittery blend of nervous and excited at the same time. I have my outfit picked out and a positive attitude - it's a pretty winning combination, in my book.

Budget-wise, J and I are tightening the belt a bit through the end of the year to save for some bigger, 'funner' things down the line. I'm giving myself a mulligan during this First Week, but packing lunches will be the name of my game going forward. I'm a big fan of making one large lunch meal on Sunday and packing it up for each day of the week. One of my last weeks at my former job, I whipped up a rainbow veggie quinoa in the slow cooker.

I started with some farmers' market bounty: a beautiful red onion, two baby eggplant, yellow squash, and zucchini. I also used some starting-to-wilt celery from the bowels of my fridge and a yellorange (seriously, which color is it?!) pepper. I diced everything up into nice solid bite-sized chunks.

I also threw in about a tablespoon of crushed red pepper and two large garlic cloves, smashed.

Into the slow cooker, I poured one cup of rinsed quinoa. I covered the quinoa with the vegetables and poured two cups of home-made chicken stock over the whole mix.

I also threw in a Parmesan rind. I save these for slow cooker creations or for fancy tomato sauces. They add another layer of flavor and a bit of creaminess, too.

I set this to cook for 3 hours on high. I actually made this on a Sunday night AFTER I cooked dinner. It was ready just before I went to bed, so I packed everything up in Tupperwares for the week and then hit the hay.

This was exactly what I wanted. High protein, high veggie content (and prettiness!), slightly rich and creamy from the stock and Parmesan rind, with a punch of heat from the peppers. I had five solid servings come out of this and, thanks to a well-stocked fridge and pantry at my last job, was able to slightly tweak the flavors each day. One day, I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top. Another day, some sesame Asian-style dressing. Sriracha also made an appearance. The Friday of that week? I simply doused the entire thing in grated cheese. Being able to customize the exact same lunch every day saved me from palate boredom, but bringing lunch saved me from shelling out $50+ in lunches. Ah, New York City. Your prices slay me constantly.

Once I get fully up to speed with my new role, I will endeavor to show off more of my Packed Lunch creations. If you have any suggestions or go-tos that you would like to share, I would love the recommendations!!!

Citrus Thyme Salmon with Caprese Quinoa

I was discussing salmon recipes with one of my sweet coworkers recently. She hit the nail on the head when she said, "Sometimes a little lemon is really all you need." Today's salmon recipe is lemon plus some blood orange as noted on Friday. Herbs and citrus of any kind always make fish delicious and this was no exception!

I have to confess a really dorky fangirl moment. When I posted the Slow Cooker Short Ribs recipe on TCK's Instagram, I tagged Real Simple magazine. They liked the post. I had one of those squeal-and-flap-my-arms-wildly moments. Internally, of course.

Today's recipe is also inspired by Real Simple's Salmon Fillet With Citrus And Thyme, though I swapped the blood oranges for the regular oranges. The preparation is so simple - drizzle and season your fish, slice your citrus fruit, toss them and your herbs all over the top, and then bake until your salmon is done.

I paired this with a caprese-style quinoa that I saw on my girl Tess' blog. I had some of the mini mozz balls in my fridge from stuffing meatballs and went to town. You're, of course, surprised that I also had asparagus in my fridge and tossed that in as a green component of the salad.

This is one of those perfect (to me) weeknight meals - you're totally stuffed afterwards, but you're full of healthy proteins and vegetables (with a little cheese for good measure). Naturally I paired this with some chardo and had a big time with the leftovers.