Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to share a round-up of my favorite/go-to simple meal and snack ideas. While cooking more involved dishes is something I do enjoy when I have time, most of the time I am thinking creatively about quick and easy ways to get nourishing, satisfying breakfasts/lunches/dinners together throughout our busy weeks. Anyone else with me???

I’m looking forward to a bit more time to make some of my favorite recipes over the Christmas season. At the same time, what I most want over my holiday time-off is downtime for reading, resting, and relaxing. That likely means a continued focus on simple, yet delicious meals and snacks.

I always find it helpful to see what other people are making throughout their weeks, and how they tend to go about getting dinner on the table on top of the busyness of regular life. Everyone’s life is unique, and thus we all may have such different preferences for going about prepping or acquiring meals and snacks, which I find fascinating!

I hope my go-to ideas inspire you as you consider ways to “navigate food less stressfully” in your life this holiday season and in the new year to come!

Breakfasts:

My favorite meal and time of day!

You all know that I tend to eat pretty much the same thing each day for breakfast… this is because I absolutely love the taste and satisfaction of my oatmeal bowls and I like to not have to make extra decisions as I start my day.

“Making a meal” involves including a fat, protein, and carbohydrate source. All are important for meeting our nutrition needs and for feeling satisfied and able to mentally move on from eating. My go-to oatmeal bowls fit the bill!

Typically eating overnight oats topped with agave syrup, peanut butter, and any sort of fresh or frozen fruit. (Favorites depending on the season include fresh or frozen berries, peaches, red pears, and honeycrisp apples). Lately, once a week, I have been bagging 14 servings of our overnight oats (one for each day for me and Alec) so that each day when I prepare it for the next day, all I need to do is add the almond milk and yogurt.

Other breakfast favorites of mine include overnight steel-cut oatmeal (can easily reheat in the morning… much easier in my opinion than making oatmeal each day and washing a pot each time…) or pancakes, which I sometimes make on the weekend or if I have a day off work!

I love these gingerbread pancakes that I will most likely be making again soon! Leftover pancakes are a great quick and easy breakfast since you can easily reheat them in the microwave or pop them in the toaster. Since it’s just the two of us, sometimes I freeze leftover pancakes and then eat them several weeks later.

Other breakfasts I might make once in a while to switch things up include baked oatmeal (another great make-ahead/easy option — make once and then slice and serve all week long), yogurt bowls w/ homemade or store-bought granola, and or a tasty breakfast bar to serve with something like a yogurt bowl.

Lunches:

In contrast to breakfast, I would get bored eating the same thing for lunch every single day. Lunches are usually a mix of tried and true salad or wrap options, random ideas I think up based on what sounds good / what is in season, and leftovers, snack plates, or smoothie bowls.

Lately I have been thinking up one lunch idea to prep (as in making a dressing or roasting some veggies…nothing too complicated because I don’t really have the time), and then we might do smoothie bowls one day, and leftovers or snack plates another day. We also have lunch at our church pretty much every Sunday which is helpful and amazing!

One of our more go-to / tried and true salad options is Greek salad. Who doesn’t love a good Greek salad?? I’ll prep the Greek salad dressing in advance, and drain/rinse the chickpeas and beets. Then I chop/add the other veggies/cheese/etc when I assemble the salad. I’ll have this with something like some tortilla chips and an apple on the side to round out my meal.

For smoothie bowls, my standard go-to is a version of my blueberry cacao smoothie. But I am also known to mix it up from time to time!

I always add some sort of carb, because a solid carbohydrate source is an important part of any meal. Usually that will entail popcorn, granola, or even some post-smoothie tortilla chips!

Lately smoothies have been a thing on Saturdays. Again, to reduce my decision making by having a routine!

Sometimes all I am wanting are some cheese and crackers — enter a snack plate!

We also have lunches like this all the time when we are traveling or camping since it’s easy to pack/prep/bag. I love the organic pepper jack or cheddar cheeses from TJ’s along with Simple Mills almond flour crackers from Costco. Then I usually add some carrots or bell peppers and an apple or grapes. I also typically finish a meal like this with an (un-pictured) coconut cacao bar, piece of dark chocolate, or handful of trail mix. Something sweet and a bit more delectable!

Other lunches // for wraps, I usually smear hummus and/or avocado on a wrap, add some cheese and fresh veggies, and roll it up. Serve with chips and a fruit!

We also sometimes do pasta salads –> boil noodles of choice in advance,  add any fresh or roasted veggies, sprinkle with your cheese of choice (feta and parmesan tend to work well) and drizzle with a favorite dressing! I love a good green goddess dressing or even some lemon juice + olive oil for this lunch.

Dinners:

We tend to not really eat out, so I am constantly thinking of ways to prepare meals that are relatively low-effort yet also nutrient-dense and delicious. All things that are important to me in any given week as far as food goes!

Dinners involving eggs are definitely one of our go-to quicker options… I tend to be more of an eggs-for-dinner sort of person compared to having them for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, frittatas, runny + sunny eggs… any and all are featured in our dinners throughout each month!

Sometimes I’ll do some sort of grain + veggie + egg bowl. This one was quinoa, broccoli + corn (previously frozen), shredded parmesan, and a sunny egg. Served with a side salad for extra greens + satisfaction. This can come together in 20 mins!

Another standard egg dish for us is scrambled eggs (always with cheese + seasoning, sometimes w/ added veggies) + some sort of carbohydrate +  some sort of roasted or steamed veggie. Plus our usual side salad.

Carbohydrate sources vary depending on what sounds good and how much time I have… Sides for a dinner like the one shown above, or really any dinner, might include: baked sweet or regular potatoes, roasted potatoes, homemade sourdough (bread or naan), quinoa, rice (regular or coconut), or cornbread.

One of my personal favorite quick and easy meals is our quinoa/hummus/veggie bowls. This is the version I typically make in the summer, with quinoa + roasted veggies (red onion + red bell pepper + zucchini), shredded parmesan, and sun-dried tomato hummus that I get at Juicy Kitchen.

I also love my fall version with pumpkin hummus!

Ways to save time on this recipe idea include using store-bought hummus and/or already chopped veggies.

Often I might make a simple meal using salmon or chicken as a main protein, a simple side such as a baked potato (just wash/put in the oven!!), and a veggie and/or side salad, like the arugula salad shown above. I love this pistachio chicken — it couldn’t be easier and tastes amazing! We always have plenty of butter + salt + pepper out for our baked potatoes!

We’ve also come to really enjoy this black bean soup recipe that is really easy to throw together on a weeknight. I make a few modifications compared to the actual recipe, but following the recipe will give you the idea! 🙂 I typically serve this with shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and/or green onion for topping (usually about 2 of those) and tortilla chips or cornbread w/ honey + butter as a side.

Other less time-consuming dinners we love include: salsa verde chicken chili (crockpot), peanut and sweet potato soup (crockpot), quesadillas or tacos (can be as simple or complicated as you want!), and salads w/ random thrown together ingredients plus a protein like chicken, burgers, or salmon.

Snacking:

My day is not complete without at least 3 snacks!

Typically I will prep a snack on the weekend, and we might have another homemade snack or two in our pantry or freezer.

I also like more “thrown together” snacks like an apple w/ peanut butter, yogurt w/ granola, DIY trail mix (usually almonds + cashews + peanuts + chocolate chips), and (in the summer) cottage cheese w/ fruit.

ALWAYS an energy bite w/ almond milk first thing when I wake up in the morning. A day not started in this way would be a very odd day indeeed.

These days, ALWAYS a couple of coconut cacao bars in the afternoon with more almond milk. I can’t not have almond milk with something so fudgy and good!

I used to experiment with other bars/bites as snacks, but these just satisfy every time and I haven’t found anything else that quite compares! Alec also eats the above bars/bites every day, so at this point having them on hand is basically a necessity / ongoing life commitment. Lol.

Once in a while, I will prep a muffin or quick bread, such as lemon poppyseed bread, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, bran muffins, or mocha chip muffins. I would like to bake some snacks to have on hand more often, but lately haven’t really had the time or energy! I like to save money by baking these sorts of things myself, but store-bought versions can also be a fabulous quick and easy option!

Desserts:

I always round out my days with something sweet… no exceptions!

I like to generally stick to my favorite dark chocolate bar, as I like the lingering taste/eating experience and it is so wonderfully good! It also is something I can eat relatively close to when I go to sleep and it doesn’t interfere with my sleep. If I don’t eat something closer to bed I will wake up hungry.

Other simple/go-to options we might have from time to time include homemade chocolate peanut butter cups, TJ’s dark chocolate almonds or cherries, lemon bars, and chocolate chip cookies.

Other tips/ideas to consider for simplifying meals + snacks:

• Consider having a list on-hand of meals/snacks that work well for you and your family. This is what I personally do, including a section of “quick and easy” meal ideas!
• Think outside the box as far as what works for you… just like my egg dinners, traditional breakfast foods don’t have to be just for breakfast, and same goes for lunch and dinner. For example, you might consider:
  • Sandwiches for dinner (even something like a PB&J and a side salad!)
  • Dinner leftovers for breakfast
  • Pancakes w/ sausage and fruit for dinner
• As finances allow, takeout, meal subscriptions, and dining out are also fabulous options for reducing meal-time stress!
• Fruits and veggies don’t need to be fresh! Use whatever works for you on any given day/week — canned, frozen, fresh, already-prepped.

Keeping meals as simple as you like or need does NOT have to sacrifice taste or nutrition! 

Have a wonderful rest of the week! I’ll be posting on the blog a couple more times to round out the year, with a December eats recap and an end-of-the-year recap. See you then!