Jessica’s Favorite Packed Lunch: Roasted Vegetable Salad with Black Beans and Quinoa
Lately, I’ve been whipping up the ingredients for this salad every Sunday night, so there’s no excuse to eat healthy and well when I’m on the go. I keep the salad greens in separate single-serving containers, with the veggies, beans and quinoa in another. When I leave in the morning, the only thing to do is grab two containers from the fridge, add a piece of fruit and go!
Roasted Veggies (change these up as you will…I sometimes use squash or pumpkin. Whatever is on-hand.)
1 head cauliflower, chopped into roughly 1-2 in pieces
3-4 sweet potatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces
12 baby carrots, peeled
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
olive oil to drizzle
salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 400. Toss cauliflower, potatoes and garlic cloves in about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Season with roughly 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes. Let cool completely before dividing into individual portion containers. The garlic will add subtle flavor to the rest of the veggies. You can discard it after everything has cooled if you like, but I use it in the beans below.
Black Beans (You can use any bean you prefer. Shake it up! I use canned beans because they’re so simple and taste great.)
1 15oz (or similar) can of black beans
1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2-3 roasted garlic cloves (see above), chopped finely
Put everything in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 3-4 minutes. This will cook the onions every so slightly and let the onion and garlic flavor the beans without breaking the beans down. Add cooled beans to individual portions of veggies.
Quinoa (Feel free to substitute another grain. Get crazy!)
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
pinch salt
Add quinoa and water with a pinch of salt to a pot over medium high heat. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Let cool slightly and add to individual portions of veggies and beans. Cover portions and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Greens
1 bag washed baby greens, or any greens of your choice. Spinach or arugula would be nice, too!
dressing of your choice (I make a simple balsamic vinaigrette or use something store-bought.)
For this salad, I like the greens cold and the rest of the salad warm, so I store individual portions of the greens separate from the rest of the salad components. Before adding greens to each container, I coat the bottom of the container with roughly 1 tbsp of dressing, adding the greens on top of the dressing.
To serve:
Heat one individual portion of veggies, beans and quinoa in a microwave for 1-2 minutes. With lid still sealed, shake container of greens vigorously. Dressing at the bottom of the container will coat the greens uniformly. Place greens on a plate or bowl, followed by the hot ingredients. And enjoy!
