Most people say that a lack of time is the main obstacle to preparing something whole and nutritious to eat. This gets even more complicated when you are at work or on the road. We’re always trying to whittle down the amount of time we need to make meals, while at the same time keeping it real. So if you regularly find yourself in an office or a lunch room or a hotel room that has a microwave oven, I’ve come up with a few unusual and creative meal ideas for when you are away from home. Transportation security will not stop you for traveling with quinoa or sweet potatoes or a spork.

Each of these recipes takes just one minute to gather the ingredients, but read the instructions carefully, because preparation and cooking times vary greatly. Actual cooking times range from 30 seconds to 20 minutes. All these recipes are designed to serve just one.

Idea #1:  Sweet potatoes and peanut butter. 10 minutes from start to finish.

• Ingredient gathering: Rinse a small-medium sweet potato and wrap it in a paper towel. Pack it up along with a jar of peanut butter (unless you already keep one at your office like I do), or spoon some peanut butter into a small container suitable for travel.
• Preparation/Cooking:  Dampen the paper towel in which your sweet potato is wrapped, and place it in the microwave oven. Cook at 100% power for 5-6 minutes, and go check your messages. Once the potato is soft, remove it from the oven, slice it open, and spoon into it 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter. If the potato is hot enough, sometimes the peanut butter melts a little and gives it an extra layer of added flavor.

Idea #2:  Red quinoa with raisins and almonds. 25-30 minutes from start to finish.

• Ingredient gathering: Measure 1 /2 cup quinoa into a microwave-friendly (e.g., glass) jar with at least a 2-cup capacity, along with 1 tablespoon each raisins and almonds. Close tightly, and pack it up to take on the road.
• Preparation/Cooking:  Fill the jar with approx. 1 cup water. Do not replace the jar lid. Cover with a paper towel, and cook in a microwave oven at 100% power for 5 minutes. Now the quinoa must rest for 15 minutes to absorb the water. If you are staying at a hotel, this is the time to brush your teeth, practice a few yoga positions, and shower. Then check your meal. Except for the very top layer, which will remain dark, almost all the grains will have turned translucent with a visible white ring. If they have not, cook it for 3 more minutes, let it sit for 5 more minutes, and get dressed in the meantime. Now you can enjoy your quinoa. Just one word of warning: If you use white quinoa, be prepared for it to cook a lot faster.

Idea #3:  Oatmeal (steel-cut). 8 hours (all day or all night) from start to finish, but with the least prep/cook time.

• Ingredient gathering: Measure 1 /2 cup steel cut oats into a microwave-friendly (e.g., glass) jar. Add any of these, as you like: 1 tablespoon of dried apples or apricots, 1 teaspoon of chia or flax seed, one shake of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon peanuts. Pack it up to take on the road. Take along a restaurant packet of white or cider vinegar, or measure a very small amount into a very small travel-friendly container. You must REMEMBER TO TAKE the vinegar.
• Preparation/Cooking: If you would like to eat your oatmeal for breakfast, then do this next part the previous evening, before you go to bed. If you plan to have it for dinner, then do it in the morning before you leave your hotel room. Add 1 cup water to the jar, along with approximately 1 /4 teaspoon of vinegar. Let it sit uncovered at room temperature all night (or all day) long. The acid in the vinegar will cook the oats without any need for heat. The sugars in the dried fruit will slowly seep into and sweeten the oats. When you are ready to eat, heat up your oatmeal in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, and enjoy. You can add more sweetener if you like.

If you have other ideas, please share them below!

It is my pleasure to share this incredibly delicious sauce adapted from fellow Cleveland blogger, Healthy Girls Kitchen. You know, you can make a nice brown rice bowl with steamed vegetables and cubes of tofu or chicken, and then sprinkled with a little sea salt.  Or you can turn it from great to unforgettable with this unbelievable sauce. The sauce is also great on salad. Or straight from a spoon if you’re desperate.

• 1/3 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 3 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 1/2″ piece of raw ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 Tbsp tamari
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup water

Put the dates in a shallow bowl, cover them with warm water, and allow to soak for 10-30 minutes. Then put all the ingredients, including the date liquid, into a blender or food processor and liquefy. If necessary, add more water by the teaspoonful to thin the sauce to the desired consistency.

This sauce is just incredible. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s sour, it’s spicy, it’s umami, it’s everything.

I found an amazingly unusual recipe on the Blendtec website last week.  I would never have thought of a peanut butter and jelly smoothie.  It would make a great snack, a great breakfast, a great treat, and even a great dessert.

Add to your blender in the following order:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 /2 a frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon strawberry preserves
• 3 strawberries

Add a few ice cubes for more freeze if you choose.

Tell me this isn’t awesome!

A couple of years ago, while standing on line in a grocery store, I saw the man in front of me place a huge sack of dried mung beans on the belt. The thick, white bean sprouts seen on salads in restaurants, salad bars, and so on are grown from mung beans.

I had never before seen so many mung beans in one place. You can make a big jarful with 2 tablespoons. “What are you going to do with all those mung beans?” I asked. He said he had seven kids. Oh.

The cost of nutritious food is an ongoing concern, and here is a great solution. You can cook little green mung beans like any other bean, in a pot of hot water or in a crockpot all day long with vegetables. You can mash them up a bit and pour them over grains, including brown rice, or roasted vegetables, like spaghetti squash. Or you can sprout them.

There are a few significant misconceptions about sprouting, and I’m about to dispel them. First, you don’t need a special expensive jar with a special, equally expensive lid. A few days ago I poured a couple of tablespoons of dry mung beans into a clear, medium-large glass jar. A recycled spaghetti sauce jar is perfect. You just want the jar to be clear so you can see the sprouting progress. Kids love this, by the way.

I filled the jar with water, and left it to sit on the kitchen counter all day (or all night if you prefer).

At the end of the day (or the next morning), I drained out the water through my fingers, filled it with fresh water and emptied it out again a few times. Then I turned the jar on its side with the damp, swollen beans spread out along the bottom of the jar. I returned it to its spot on the kitchen counter. The primary consideration is to place it where it won’t roll off the counter. You could use a kitchen towel for this, but there are plenty of other options.

Also, you don’t need to sprout beans in the dark. They don’t know if it’s dark or not. The plant won’t care about light until it sprouts its first leaves, which will not happen before it sprouts. Over the years, before I had this realization, I found many jars of moldy sprouts in the cabinet days to weeks after I had carefully placed them there. No more. I never forget now, because the jars are right in front of me, on the kitchen counter.

Next step: Twice a day, morning and evening, I rinse the beans, drain them through my fingers, and replace them on the counter. If you forget one time, or even two, don’t worry. Just fill the beans with water again for a few hours to rehydrate them, and then keep going.

Within 2 days, I see tiny white tails beginning to emerge from some of the beans. You can eat them raw now if you’d like, while they are still mostly bean. Within 3 days, the tails are really growing, and in 4 days, they are a couple of inches long. Now they are mostly sprout, and the jar is filling quickly. You can eat them at any of these stages.

I like to sprinkle bean sprouts on salads of course, but I also like to consider the sprouts the main part of the salad and add a few other simple salad veggies, like tomatoes or cucumbers. A sprinkle of salt and a splash of olive oil, and you’re good to go.

By the way, you can make the salad right inside the glass jar you used to sprout your mung beans, wrap it up, and take it to work for lunch. The sprouts won’t wilt like lettuce does. Cheap, delicious, nutritious, and filling. What more can you ask?

Simple, yet elegant.  

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 2 large onions, chopped 
• 1 cup walnuts, toasted
• 8-12 oz mushrooms 
• 1 /2 tsp salt 
• 1 /4 tsp ground pepper

Saute the onions in 2 Tbsp. olive oil until very, very soft and turning caramel in color. Rinse the mushrooms well, and add all ingredients to a food processor.

Pulse the mixture in the food processor several times until very well mixed but not pulverized. Serve on individual salad plates as follows: Scoop a couple of heaping tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto a large green lettuce leaf with a few whole-grain crackers on the side. And maybe a grape tomato or two, if you have. Looks fancy, tastes scrumptious.

I don’t post too many desserts on the blog, not least because I’m always trying to think of strategies for decreasing, and not increasing, the amount of sugar in what we eat. But it’s a special occasion! And the almond flour and coconut have the benefit of decreasing the rate of absorption of the sugar in this recipe. But enough of that. I have always loved Passover. One of these days, after you make your own macaroons for the first time, you will NEVER — and I mean NEVER — again buy a can of those tasteless cardboard macaroons.

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 1/2 cup dried, shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup plus 1-2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, gently melted
• 35 drops organic, food-grade lemon essential oil
• Pinch of sea salt

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set oven to 200 F.

Combine almond flour, coconut, salt, honey, coconut oil, and lemon oil, and mix well. Form the macaroons by gently pressing the dough into a tablespoon, and then tapping the raw macaroon dough out of the upside-down spoon into your hand. Place each macaroon on the baking sheet.

Bake 45-50 min, and then allow to sit for 15-20 min. The outsides will be slightly dry and the insides will be soft and chewy. Makes about 18.

Thank you to www.mommypotamus.com for this recipe.

Arugula is quite possibly my favorite food.  For sure it’s my favorite green food.  I can’t get enough, and I can’t wait for it to start to grow in the garden.  Also, I love beets, so this salad was a natural for me. Nutrition-wise, this dish truly has everything. The dressing is absolutely scrumptious.  Here’s the recipe for you to think about tonight while it’s snowing outside (again) in Cleveland on the first day of spring.

• 3 large beets
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup walnuts, divided
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 /2 lb. arugula

Peel scrubbed beets, cut into 1-inch chunks, and roast at 400F in 1 t. olive oil for approx. 30 min.  You can do this the day before if you want.

Process the balsamic vinegar, water, 1/4 cup walnuts, raisins, mustard, garlic and thyme in a high-powered blender until smooth.

In a large bowl, combine roasted beets, chickpeas, arugula and about 3/4 cup of dressing, or more. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts.

I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to eat hummus, also known as garbanzo beans or chickpeas. Here’s a great onion version. Really good. You can serve it as an appetizer at a party in a big, scooped out, sweet Vidalia onion sitting in a bed of greens. You can try making Red Pepper Hummus, too. Same idea, just with red peppers. This is a wonderful version for people who are allergic to sesame seeds, which (as tahini, or sesame paste) are in virtually all the commercial brands.

1 large onion, sliced thickly

1/4 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons water

1. Mix onion slices into olive oil until well coated, sprinkle with salt. 

2. Grill 7-10 min; flip to other side for approx 5 min more, until onions begin to soften and caramelize.

3. Combine chickpeas, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, parsley, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp water in food processor or high-speed blender and puree until smooth. 

4. Add grilled onions and process again until smooth. Add a bit more water if necessary to get the right texture.

Happily adapted from Let Them Eat Vegan by Dreena Burton.

When my kids were little they went through a phase where they wouldn’t eat chicken with bones in it.  It used to drive me crazy, mostly because I thought (and still do) that skinless, boneless chicken tends toward the dry and tasteless side.  So I fooled around with a few ingredients and, over time, came up with this, which turned into one of my children’s favorite dinners.  I ended up making it many times while they were growing up.  It’s moist, flavorful, delicious, and anything but dry or tasteless.

To move things along, if you chop up the vegetables over the weekend and bag them in the refrigerator, or maybe buy them already chopped if you can find, it takes five minutes to throw together, and about half an hour to cook, which is just enough time to throw together a salad, sign a permission slip, review a couple of pages of arithmetic homework, and set the table.

If you’ve never visited “Your Health is on Your Plate” before, visit Lets Start at the Very Beginning to get a jumpstart protecting the health and well-being of the ones you love!! Then check out “A Milestone Celebration — Your Favorite Posts” and “The Most Popular Blog Posts of All” for more great ideas and recipes! Wondering why I capitalize the “f” in Food? See Food with a Capital F.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, diced very small

3 celery stalks, rinsed, chopped finely

2 carrots, peeled, chopped finely

1 /2 teaspoon salt

1 /2 teaspoon pepper

3 cups chicken broth

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Fry the onion, celery and carrots in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions and celery are translucent and difficult to tell apart.  Lay the chicken pieces on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover with chicken broth, and cover the skillet.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to low.  

Allow to cook approximately 30 minutes, until chicken is well done, broth is partially evaporated, and the vegetables have formed a thick chunky mixture, the mirepoix (MI-reh-pwah). Remove the chicken breasts to a serving plate, and pour the mirepoix over the chicken breasts as a sauce.

Bon appétit!