Weekly Lunch Preview

Our garden is officially overflowing with zucchini, swiss chard and basil! I am going to attempt to find great ways to integrate all of these ingredients into this week's menu plan! Here we go.... 

 

Snacks

Zucchini Oatmeal Muffins

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour
•  1 cup of gluten free oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini

 Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients together, set aside. Mix all wet ingredients together in a separate bowl, fold in zucchini. Make a well in your dry bowl and pour the wet into the dry. Fold the wet into the dry until incorporated. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Quinoa protein bars

Ingredients (I omitted a few things and added cranberries vs chocolate chips)

• 2 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 large banana, peeled
• 2 pitted dates
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp honey (optional)
• 1/4 cup cranberries

Instructions:
In a food processor, add peanut butter, banana, dates, cocoa powder and honey. Mix until smooth.
In a medium bowl add the cooked quinoa and peanut butter mixture together. Add chia seeds and cranberries and mix well. Line a 8×8 baking dish with plastic wrap and pour mixture into dish or you can roll into balls. Spread until evenly distributed Freeze until firm, about 2 hours
Then remove from the dish and cut into squares.

Egg Muffins 

 

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• veggies of your choice
• cheese

Instructions
Pour beaten eggs into greased muffin pan – fill 1/2 way. Add toppings directly into eggs. Bake for 375-degrees for 30 minutes

 Lunch

 Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas with Swiss Chard Pesto
Recipe Found here: Yummy Quesadillas 
I precooked the sweet potato and will add the black bean hummus to the tortilla.  

Ingredients:

• 1 10 inch tortilla (or whatever kind you have) 
• 1/2 cup cheddar
• 1/4 cup of sweet potatoes (roasted) and 1/4 cup of black beans
• 1 T of swiss chard pesto

Instructions:
Place the tortilla in the pan, sprinkle half of the cheese over half of the tortilla, then top with the roasted sweet potatoes and black beans, swiss chard pesto and the remaining cheese. Fold the tortilla in half covering the filling and cook until the quesadilla is golden brown on both sides and the cheese is melted, about 2-4 minutes per side.

Recipe for Swiss Chard Pesto found here

This is also enough to make a pasta dish for dinner! Bonus!!

 

• 3 cups green Swiss chard leaves (stems and center ribs removed), torn into large pieces.
• 3 garlic cloves
• Grated zest of 1 lemon, and juice
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• Handful of cilantro
• 2/3 cup olive oil, plus extra, if needed
• 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Instructions

 In a food processor, combine the Swiss chard, garlic, lemon zest, a big splash of lemon juice, 2 large pinches of salt, and some pepper. Pulse a few times to combine, pushing down the chard as needed. Add the sunflower seeds and cilantro and pulse until finely chopped. With the machine running, add the oil in a slow stream and process until incorporated. Add a little more oil, if needed. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl, stir in the cheese, then check the seasonings.

Gluten free tortillas

Ingredients

• 4 cups gluten free all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups water

Instructions

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the butter with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. 

Black Bean Hummus with raw veggies

 

 

• 2 15 ounce cans of black beans
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp of tahini
• 4 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 1/2 tsp of sea salt

Instructions
 Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Tuna salad with zucchini chips

Zucchini chips recipe ingredients:

 

• zucchini sliced super thin
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• paprika

Instructions:
Cut zucchini very thin. Drizzle with olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Line rimmed pan with aluminum foil. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.