HEALTHY VEGAN LUNCH RECIPES ‣‣ quick & easy

Hi friends, welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Alyssa. Today I have got three delicious plant-based lunches for you. These are healthy. They are fairly simple to make, great for meal prep, and super, super delicious. So all of these recipes are up on the blog as always, so if you do want to make them, you can find those links right down in the description box. And you guys asked for lunches, so I want to continue to share healthy lunch ideas because I for one struggle with lunch the most out of all of my meals, and I'm sure many of you feel the same way. So before we dive in, I would love to encourage you to subscribe if you are not yet part of our community here on YouTube. There's a red button right below this video that says subscribe. You can just tap that button and that will subscribe you. Otherwise, let's go ahead and dive in. So the first recipe that we're going to make are Mediterranean quinoa bowls. We're going to start by chopping up our eggplant, and I like to do like half-moon slices. So I cut the ends off the eggplant, slice the eggplant in half lengthwise, and then cut it into half-moon shapes. From there, I just place them onto a greased baking sheet. I just spray the baking sheet with cooking spray, and then I actually just spray the eggplant with cooking spray as well. I like to use avocado oil cooking spray. And for seasoning, keeping things super simple, just salt and pepper. And then you can bake this at 425 degrees for a good 20 to 25 minutes until the eggplant is nice and soft. And I actually like to flip it halfway through as well. So once your eggplant is done, you're pretty much ready to make your bowls, and you just assemble. So this is very, very meal prep friendly. So I like to do arugula here, and you could do kale, you could do spinach, you could just do mixed greens, remains, et cetera, whatever you want to do. Then the quinoa, and quinoa is one of those ingredients that I recommend you meal prep and just have on hand. It should last in the fridge for a good four to five days. And then we will add in our sliced tomatoes. I just did chopped cherry tomatoes. And for protein, I'm doing chickpeas and then also hummus. So the chickpeas are just crispy chickpeas that I bought at the grocery store. You could either serve regular chickpeas, or you could make your own, or you could buy them. And then our roasted eggplant. And the last two things are hummus and olives. And the hummus obviously is going to add even more protein, and it also is really good texture wise. It kind of adds like a creaminess to the bowl. And then the olives are there for a little bit of healthy fats, but also the flavor is just so good. Salty, briny, and it really kind of ties everything together. Since this is kind of Mediterranean inspired, I'm also going to be doing some tahini on top. You could do like a tahini dressing. I just did regular drizzled tahini, and it was the perfect topping to a delicious bowl. So that's it for these bowls. They are so delicious, so easy to make, and like I said, really great for meal prep and should last you a good four to five days in the fridge. Next up is my best ever massaged kale salad, and I actually can't take credit for this recipe. This is my cousin's recipe that I shared in my latest what I eat in a day video. But anyway, we are going to strip the kale off the stem. So you can just do that by kind of pinching lightly and then gripping against the stem, and the leaves should come right off. And then tear the leaves into bite sized pieces and add them into a bowl. And this recipe is about a whole bunch of kale, and it serves two people. So if you were going to make it for more people, then do like two bunches of kale. Once you have all of your kale in the bowl, we're going to just add the rest of our ingredients, and the base is olive oil. You're also going to add in the juice of one lemon, which is about two tablespoons of lemon juice. Then you will season it with a little bit of sea salt and some garlic powder if you wanted. Garlic powder is optional, but I think that it adds a really nice flavor. And then if you've never made a massaged kale salad before, all you do is get in there with your hands. You just basically rub the oil and the lemon and all of that seasoning into the kale with your hands. And I do it pretty firmly, and the goal is that you're going to try to break down the cellular walls a little bit, and it really starts to soften the kale, and the kale kind of gets almost marinated, and it gets really flavorful, has a really nice texture, and it ends up being easier on your system to adjust. So I really think that this is one of the best ways to make kale if you don't want to cook it. And this keeps really well in the fridge as well. So then the final step, which is what makes this salad so good, is adding nutritional yeast. And you just basically add a whole quarter cup of nutritional yeast, and you definitely have to like nutritional yeast to like this recipe, but this is going to add a really, really, really nice flavor. It adds, again, a little bit of saltiness, but also nutritional yeast is really high in protein, so that's a really great option for sneaking in a little bit of protein. And plus, like I said, it just tastes really good. So you're going to use your hands again to massage that nutritional yeast into the kale, and that's pretty much it. So you could enjoy this as a side if you wanted. If you do want to make it more of a meal, I'm just going to show you like what I decided to do for lunch. And that was to sprinkle it with a little bit of scallions. I just thinly sliced some green onions. And then I made some crispy tofu, but I just wanted to add a little bit of extra protein, so tofu on top, sprinkled it with hemp seeds, and called it a day. This is a really easy and simple base salad, so you really could jazz it up with anything you wanted, and it tastes so dang good. And then last but not least is our orzo pasta salad, and all you have to do is start by cooking your orzo pasta. I will link this one down below. It's a grain-free variety, so it's gluten-free and vegan. But we are going to first make our dressing while it is cooking. So the dressing is olive oil, as well as some lemon juice, some red wine vinegar, a little bit of mustard, and some salt and pepper. And then you can just whisk that all together until it is combined, and set that aside while we make the salad. Once your orzo pasta has chilled and it's cooled to the touch, you can add it into your bowl. To that, you will also add your chopped cucumber, as well as your chopped up cherry tomatoes, your chopped up red onion, or shallots if you wanted, some chopped up kalamata olives, as well as some parsley, and some vegan feta. And this feta that I bought is so good, so if I can find it online, I will link the brand down below. I highly recommend it. And then you are just going to pour the dressing all over the salad, and stir it up. And this is basically just a pasta salad. If you can't find orzo pasta, or you don't have it on hand and you want to make this, you can just use whatever type of pasta you want. And if you don't want to do the feta, or you can't find the feta, you can also sub the feta with chickpeas, which would make it higher protein. So this salad is super, super good. I loved it. I have been having it for lunch like every day this week, and it is delicious. So I highly recommend you give it a try. I know you guys have been asking for pasta salad recipes, so this is one of more to come, and I hope you love it. And there you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed today's delicious vegan lunches. I love all three. All three of them are super delicious. My personal favorite is probably the kale salad, just because it is very customizable based on what you like. It's also something that can be added to. It could be used with a variety of different kale, and it's just super easy and so good. So if you do try any of these recipes, I would love to know what you think. You can come back to this video. Let us know down in the comments. And as always, all of the recipes are already up and ready for you on the blog, so you can find those links right down below. Otherwise, I just want to thank you, as always, for being here. You guys are the best. I really appreciate you taking your time to watch my videos. If you do like this type of video, please give it a thumbs up, and also don't forget to subscribe. There is a red button right below this video. That says subscribe. All you got to do is tap that button. Otherwise, I hope you have an awesome rest of your day, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.