EASY VEGAN LUNCH IDEAS | Vegetables for Health

Welcome back to Rainbow Plant Life. If you're new here, my name is Nisha and I share easy vegan recipes and healthy how-tos. Today I'm going to be sharing with you some back-to-school easy vegan lunch ideas. Since it's almost September, I thought it would be fun to do a series on back-to- school ideas. I've also done a back-to-school vegan snack idea video. If you haven't seen it yet, I'll link to it at the end of this video. I myself have come a long way since my days of school lunches. In elementary school, I used to eat Lunchables, which are those big yellow boxes full of processed meats and cheeses and sugary desserts. And then in middle school and early high school, it didn't get much better. I often ate chocolate chip cookies or Twinkies for lunch. So not exactly the healthiest lunches. But since I've gotten a little older, okay, a lot older, and a little wiser, I now have some really great ideas for healthy vegan lunches that you can take to school. They're going to be easy, they're fun, and they're hearty. These lunch ideas don't require you to reheat them at school, and you can pack them in any kind of container you like. I'm using bento boxes today. And you can take them to school, to college, or even to work because they're great for adults as well as kids. That's all I have to say, so let's get into the recipes. Our first back-to-school easy vegan lunch idea is a Thai noodle salad. We'll start with rice noodles. Just check the package instructions for cooking. Usually you'll soak them in boiling water for a few minutes and then drain. You can use any kind of noodles you like though. Then we'll get started on our mix-ins. We have some purple cabbage, which I thinly sliced, some broccoli sprouts or any sprouts you like, shredded carrots. These are from a pre-packaged mix in order to save time. A few basil leaves for freshness, edamame or soybeans, and some extra firm tofu. Make sure you drain your tofu and press out any excess water. Then slice it up into cubes. If you don't like raw tofu, you can bake it or fry it, but I wanted to keep these meals simple. Plus the peanut sauce we're making is incredibly flavorful, so you won't even notice that you're eating raw tofu. To make the peanut sauce, we need two tablespoons of natural peanut butter, a half tablespoon of maple syrup, a half tablespoon of soy sauce or tamari, which is gluten-free soy sauce, a generous squeeze of lime juice, a few squirts of sriracha or any other chili sauce, freshly cracked black pepper, and a few pinches of garlic powder, about a fourth of a teaspoon. Whisk all of that together until you have a smooth creamy sauce. When you're ready to fill your lunchbox, mix all of those veggies, edamame, and tofu with the drained rice noodles. When you drain the rice noodles, you might want to add some olive oil or sesame oil so they don't stick together. You can dress the noodle mixture with the peanut sauce now or serve the sauce separately and mix it in when it's time for lunch. Finally, we'll garnish our meal with some chopped peanuts and sesame seeds. To serve on the side of our Thai noodle salad, we'll have some fruit skewers. The skewers are totally optional. You can just have a fruit salad instead, but I think they make lunchbox a little more fun than ordinary. Today, I'm using strawberries, apricots, blackberries, and grapes, but of course, use whatever fruits you like best. And finally, we'll add some trail mix to our fruit just as an extra snack to keep our meal very hearty and delicious. Our next bento box back-to-school lunch is a Greek couscous salad. I like to saute the couscous in olive oil for five minutes until it's lightly browned, then add in some water and cook on low heat for about 10 to 12 minutes. I find this way adds a little more flavor than just boiling the couscous. Next, for our Greek salad, I've sliced some cherry tomatoes in half, then we'll dice a cucumber. I'm using about a quarter of a cucumber. We'll also dice a quarter of a red bell pepper and a quarter of a red onion. Then we'll slice some pitted olives and add in a tablespoon or two of capers. Finally, I'm adding about three-fourths of a cup of white beans so that we have some protein. We'll mix all of those veggies together and then drizzle in a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Season with black pepper and just a little bit of salt since the olives and capers are already pretty salty. Next, add in your drained pearl couscous, or you might see it in the store as Israeli couscous, and I'm serving this mixture over a bed of mixed greens so that I can get my leafy greens in for the day. To serve alongside our Greek couscous salad, we'll have some fresh veggies and hummus. I sliced the rest of that red bell pepper that we used in the couscous into strips, and then I chopped a couple of carrots into strips as well. This is my favorite store-bought hummus. You should use whatever you like, and to round out our meal with a little sweetness, we'll add some dates, which is nature's candy. Our last back-to-school vegan lunch idea is an avocado chickpea sandwich, which is my favorite sandwich ever. To make the sandwich filling, we'll need one cup of canned chickpeas, one very ripe avocado, the juice of half of a lemon, four teaspoons of nutritional yeast, a generous amount of sea salt, a tablespoon of tahini, black pepper, and red chili flakes if you want it spicy. You'll want to mash up the flesh of the avocado just a little, then add in the chickpeas and mash it up some more. You can use a fork, but a potato masher will make your job a lot easier. You want to retain some whole chickpeas for texture though. Then add in the tahini, lemon juice, black pepper, chili flakes, salt, and nutritional yeast. Mix all of that up until it's well combined, and taste for seasoning. For our sandwich toppings, I'm making cucumber ribbons. Just use a vegetable peeler and peel down the length of a cucumber, and you'll get these really pretty wide strips of cucumber ribbons. I'm also adding pickled onions for a bit of a salty bite, as well as some of those broccoli sprouts. Then spread the avocado chickpea mixture onto two slices of bread. I'm using whole grain bread, but you can use whichever bread you like, including gluten-free bread. This mixture is really hearty, so you can make two sandwiches with this spread. Top your sandwiches with the cucumber ribbons, pickled onions, and sprouts. To serve on the side of our avocado chickpea sandwich, we're making a super simple salad that uses some of the ingredients from our sandwich. For the salad dressing, you'll need a tablespoon of tahini, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and a tablespoon of water to thin out. Just whisk that until you have a creamy dressing. Then add in some pre-packaged mixed greens, and some of the remaining cucumber ribbons and sprouts. And for extra protein, you can sprinkle in some hemp seeds. Finally, we'll finish our meal with some fresh fruit. I'm using cherries and figs because they're in season and delicious. I hope you enjoyed these back-to-school, easy vegan lunch ideas. If you did, please hit that thumbs up button, and don't forget to subscribe. And of course, if you make one of these recipes, let me know in the comments below. Thanks guys! Bye!