You just create a sauce with ingredients like plant-based mayo, turmeric, black and celery salts, and a few other things like green onions and celery. And, although the recipes just calls for some dill pickle BRINE, I go ahead and add several Tablespoons of dill pickle relish! This addition makes it really great!
Then, crumble a big block of firm tofu, mix together, and give it some time for the flavors to meld.
It doesn’t look that great here, and the lighting and colors are off, but believe me, it’ll be delicious.
After several hours, or by tomorrow, it’s amazing!
So, I was pretty proud of myself! I’d baked the bread, used my homemade hummus as a spread on my bread, added the homemade egg salad, topped with homemade cheese, and sliced a tomato, and voila! I had an amazing lunch!
Each day I want to take a healthy, plant-based lunch to work. Lunch is my main meal of the day, after a big breakfast, and virtually no dinner. So I don’t want so skimp out on making something hearty, tasty, and delicious! But, those time constraints!
So, again, in my typical “how-to” fashion, here’s an incredibly simple, but incredibly tasty, how-ya-do-it, as fast as making a sandwich, in a 4-cup Pyrex bowl.
Easy dish for one for homemade lunches with a Mexican flair!Last updated August 8, 2019.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: lunch
Author: Plant-Based-Bear.com
Equipment
6" Pyrex Bowl
Ingredients
5corn tortillas
1canno-oil refried beans
2cupscooked riceany variety
1small canenchilada sauce or tomato sauceseasoned as you desire
pico de gallo or salsaoptional
bell peppersdiced, optional
plant-based cheese or cheese sauceshredded, optional
plant-based sour creamoptional
Instructions
If using tomato sauce, prepare with some spices and seasonings that suit you. A little chili powder, salt, and diced bell peppers such should make it more exciting! No need to heat it, unless you want to heat up the bell peppers into the sauce to better spread flavor. Green chilies would work here too!
Add a little of the enchilada or tomato sauce (the sauce) to the bottom of the bowl. This is mostly so the tortilla doesn't want to stick!
Add a corn tortilla, flat in the bottom of your Pyrex bowl. It might be slightly larger than the bowl. These are usually naturally oil-free, and are shelf stable for a long time.
Layer refried beans (I do mine in clumps), rice, salsa, peppers, and more sauce. Add plant-based cheese or sauce in each layer, if desired.
Add another corn tortilla and repeat until the bowl is filled. I like to end with a corn tortilla on top, so things don't stick to the lid.
When time to eat, heat 4-6 minutes in the microwave. This is thick and heavy, so it takes awhile to heat. Bowl will be hot when removing from microwave.
Top with plant-based shredded cheese and sour cream!
Notes
Use a glass Pyrex bowl, as tomato-based sauces and plastic bowls don’t really work too well. We also need some depth here.Because of splattering, use some sort of lid or paper towel. Don’t use the plastic Pyrex lids, as they’ll often melt and misshape with that much microwaving. I eat at the office, so can usually find a paper plate or paper towel to cover during cooking!
In my Deep Dish Enchiladas for today, I had some corn I wanted to use up, and some pico de gallo. A dollop of quacomole would’ve been great, and the shredded cheese or sauce would have been nice too, but I didn’t have any fresh in my fridge. Nonetheless, these enchiladas really hit the spot and were amazing. Also, it’s hard to “overnuke” these in the microwave, as that seems to give them more of a “baked” consistency.
Yeah, I don’t know if I can really call these “enchiladas,” as I don’t know the first thing about authentic Mexican cuisine (except how to eat it!), but, they do use the same basic ingredients, I think, so I’m sticking with it! Don’t like it? Comment below!
A simple salad, just like the title says!Last updated August 7, 2019.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: salad
Author: Plant-Based-Bear.com
Ingredients
cucumberschopped
tomatoeschopped
oniondiced, almost any variety will do
fresh dillfinely chopped, optional
fresh mintfinely chopped, optional
lemon or lime juicefresh is best!
pinchgarlic or sea salt
Instructions
Chop up some cucumber. I tend to like the Persian cucumbers for this, but I will be making it in the next few days with some huge hothouse cucumbers I got on sale. I like big servings, but have found that about 2 larger Persian cucumbers, or ⅓ to ½ of a large hothouse cucumber is about a serving.
Chop up some tomato. Usually I have some Roma tomatoes, as they're often cheap, but anything will do. I use 2 small tomatoes or one large, so I have about 80% as much tomato as cucumber.
Dice the onions. Works great with green onions from the whites to the green, or yellow or white onions, too.
Finely chopped the mint, or dill or whatever green, fresh herbs you might have around, and sprinkle on top. Sometimes if I don't have fresh dill, just dried will work great as well!
Add a pinch of garlic or sea salt.
Put a strong splash of lemon or lime juice all over the top.
Mix it all up, and store in fridge until ready to eat!
Notes
This is one of those salads that seems to improve if you let it all “marinate” together for a bit. Making it in the morning for lunch is great!
That’s it! Super simple, and delicious, and incredible on a hot summer day!
Simple Cucumber & Tomato Salad, ready to eat. This one, I got lazy and just used dried dill!
