Tag: school lunches

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

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Hello there! I see that you’ve all survived the first week of school-congratulations! Today I’m sharing another freezer friendly lunch recipe: Super Simple Tomato Sauce. One batch of this makes seven or eight servings of sauce, which freezes really well and can be heated up on hectic mornings. I usually eat this over lentil pasta, which takes about six minutes to cook (making it great to make in the morning), but any other pasta works fine too. Here’s the recipe:

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

Makes 7-8 Servings

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs olive or avocado oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 cups spinach, optional
  • 1 small can of mushroom stems and pieces (optional)
  • 2 794ml cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can of tomato paste
  • 5-6 fresh basil leaves or 1 1/2 tbs dry basil)
  • 2 tbs fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tbs dry oregano)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook onions and garlic in the oil over medium heat, until the onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
  2. Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and spinach and mushrooms if using. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour.
  3. Once done simmering, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over lentil or whole wheat pasta.
  4. To freeze, wait until the sauce has cooled completely and spoon individual servings into ziplock bags. I recommend putting the frozen sauce in the fridge to defrost the night before you want to heat it up.

 

And there you have it! I apologize for the lack of pictures; as I was making this I didn’t think that I would post about it. If you have any questions, though, leave a comment down below and I’ll be happy to answer them. The spinach and mushrooms are listed as “optional”, but I really think that they enhance the sauce. Anyways, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

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‘Sup everyone? School has started, and making lunches is a struggle once more. Fun times! In keeping with this theme, my next few posts will be simple lunch recipes that can easily be made and frozen so that you can defrost them during busy mornings. Today we’re making Black Bean Quinoa Burgers, which are delicious, easy, and freezable; important qualities for our purposes. You can whip up a big batch and have burgers for days while your friends glare at you enviously. Sounds great, right? Well, you have to make them first. Let’s do this.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Makes 5-6 burgers

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • About 3 cups fresh spinach that has been wilted (not 3 cup of wilted spinach), or 1/4 cup frozen corn, or both, or none
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne powder (add more or less to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Couple cracks o’ pepper;))

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
  2. Pat the black beans dry and dump them into a medium sized bowl. Mash them with a fork (or with your hands) until you can form a bit of a ball with them, but there’s still some whole beans in there.img_9397
  3. Add all the spices, quinoa, wilted spinach or corn if using and mix with your hands until combined.img_9398
  4. Scoop 1/3 cup of the mixture at a time and form it into patties; they should look something like this:img_9400
  5. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for about another 25 minutes.
  6. Cool completely before eating or freezing. Freeze the burgers laying flat in a sealed freezer bag.

I love eating these between two pieces of sprouted grain bread with some sliced pickles, tomatoes, spinach, and a little bit of pesto, bet heck, they’d be great in a bun or a wrap with veggies and tzatziki. MMMMMMM! Hopefully these burgers help you out in a pinch, or just give you something great to munch on. Stay tuned for more freezable school lunch recipes coming soon!

Yours truly, MyDayIsBooked;))