Happy Monday, friends! I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves, especially any BIPOC readers, and that we’re all doing the work – attending protests, donating to your local organization, donating to nationwide organizations, speaking up and sharing BIPOC’s work. Black Lives Matter’s website is a great place to start for resources if you don’t know where to start!
In the midst of this, we’re really getting ready for our big move! We have very different tastes in furniture, so agreeing on things is quite a process for us but we’re getting there. We still have to find a dresser that matches with the bed and that’s somehow been harder than I ever would’ve guessed. I’m sure we’ll find one though, eventually! I’ve cleaned out a bunch of stuff from my apartment, so all that’s left is packing. My goal is to make some progress this week and attempt to not leave it all until the last minute.
To help with that goal, I’ve made a low-effort meal prep that will hopefully leave me some time during the work day to get a bit of packing in! I’ve gone back to one of my old standbys – a quinoa salad over spinach. Yum! This time I wanted to use up the black beans I had and take advantage of the fresh corn, and I’ve paired that with a zingy lime jalapeno dressing and threw in some parsley for some freshness. If cilantro doesn’t taste like soap to you, that would be a great substitution for the spinach. And my fav way to store any leafy things to make sure they last all week for your prep is to wash them, dry them completely, then store in an airtight bag or container with a paper towel. Add some chicken to the salad for extra protein, and it’s the perfect fresh, no-reheat lunch!
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1/4 C oil
- 1 lime, zested
- 2 limes, juiced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
Quinoa Salad
- 1/3 C quinoa
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 ears of corn, shucked, or 1 can of corn
- 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
- salt and pepper
- 1 bunch parsley, cleaned and roughly chopped
- spinach, for serving
- 1 batch of vinaigrette, below
Garlic Jalapeno Lime Vinaigrette
- 1/3 C oil, olive or another light oil
- 2 limes, juiced and zested
- 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
- 1 large jalapeno, minced finely
- salt and pepper
How to do it
- combine the marinade ingredients and marinade the chicken in a covered bowl or ziplock bag for at least one hour, or overnight
- combine the quinoa, 2/3 C water, and 1 tsp salt. bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. simmer for ~20 minutes, or until all water has been absorbed. transfer to a large bowl
- while the quinoa is cooking, boil a large pot of water with a large amount of salt (several tablespoons). once boiling, add the corn. boil for 5 minutes, then drain and let cool. If using canned corn, simply drain and rinse, then add to the quinoa
- add the black beans, red onion, and salt and pepper to taste to the quinoa mixture
- make the vinaigrette by combining all ingredients. add to quinoa and mix well. taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. store in it’s own container until ready to eat
- preheat a skillet over medium heat. cook chicken, turning often, until it reaches an internal temp of 160*. let rest before cutting into pieces. store in it’s own container until ready to eat
- to serve, create a bed of spinach and parsley. top with 1/5th of quinoa mixture and 1/5th of the chicken. squeeze some extra lime juice on top or add additional seasoning if desired
- enjoy!