Packed Lunch: Zucchini Pasta with Chickpea Dressing and Roasted Soy Beans. And a Smattering of Healthy Snacks.

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Where on earth did this week go? I feel as though Monday was yesterday, but somehow it’s Friday and I’m heading into a long weekend. Phew.

As part of my effort to showcase more of my everyday, simple, packable food, I wanted to give you a glimpse into today’s lunchbox. Before I do that, however, it’s my duty to tell you that strawberries and apples make for one fantastic smoothie. No, they’re not a standard pair, and I wasn’t actually planning on blending them up until I realized this morning that they were the only fruits in my house. Necessity is the mother of invention.

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That’s a mix of a gala apple, strawberries, avocado, chia seed gel (basically, chia seeds soaked in water to make a gel, rather than straight from the bag), almond milk, and spinach. Fantastic. I enjoyed this over morning studies.

On Fridays, I head to campus for lecture and typically stay until the science library closes, so it’s a packed lunch and snack day for sure. Today, I got to include some recent gifts and current favorite products into my meal!

A few days ago, I received a care package from a former client (and friend) who is also a frequent CR commenter. She had heard me mention that I love savory snacks (I think bars and fruit are easiest and most portable, but do crave something salty once in a while), so she sent me a few of the savory snacks she likes most from the UK, which is where she lives. So I guess I should say “savoury”.

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Those are tasty mung bean chips, along with roasted nuts from The Food Doctor (love the name!). I really enjoyed all three of them (the mixed nuts, the chips, and the soy nuts). She also sent me a chocolate bar with hemp, which I polished off so quickly that I totally forgot to save it for a photo/review. Oops. Next time.

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It occurred to me that the soy beans would make a great salad or pasta topper; fitting, given that we’re all about roast chickpeas here lately! Today, I packed up a mixture of spiralized zucchini and kale, and I topped it with the roasted soy beans and some of Dreena Burton’s DJ’s hummus dressing, to which I added extra tahini!

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Extra veggies on the side, for crunching throughout the day! As well as some Flackers crackers. I’ve been on the quest to perfect baked flax crackers of my own lately, and I’m getting closer, but right now I’m taking inspiration from Dr. Allison Levitt and her fantastic, crunchy, flax seed snacks. Funny my beans were from a company called “the food doctor”; Allison’s brand is “Doctor in the Kitchen.” I guess the idea of letting food be thy medicine is more and more popular these days.

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For afternoon snackage, I had a banana and a snack bar from Caleb’s company, Bearded Brothers! I love these guys, and have reviewed their snack bars in the past.

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This was a gift from the lovely Hannah, who is visiting DC and charming me half to death. I’ll recap our lunches on Sunday.

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Tasty, easy, and portable vegan eats. Of course, any crackers and any snack bars will do; I’ve just been lucky to receive some excellent food presents lately.

Speaking of lucky, I’m so grateful for so many great remarks on Tuesday’s post. There was so much rich commentary that I’d actually like to circle back to a few of the themes that emerged. If you haven’t checked the post out, I definitely encourage you to.

And that, friends, is that. Happy long weekend!

xo

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    18 Comments
  1. Hey Gena, thanks for the mention on our bars! Those mug beans and roasted chickpeas sound awesome! Hope you are doing well!

  2. That looks so delicious, almost makes me want to go back to work so I can copy it! 🙂

    I have been wanting a spiralizer, what brand would you recommend?

  3. i am the queen of savory snacks…have you seen the kale trips at trader joes? yes please AND at a fraction of the price at whole foods. i do make my own but sometimes it’s just great to have someone do it for you ;p

  4. Oh yay, Hannah! Can’t wait to hear what you gals got up to (and ate, of course!) – you have lovely friends to send you such goodies 🙂

    • Ha, my comment doesn’t make sense, does it? I mean, yay that you got to meet Hannah ( hooray for fellow Aussies – and lovely ones at that!)

  5. Thank you for some awesome ideas! I am going to try strawberries and apples together in a smoothie now. Also I love the idea of combing zucchini and shredded kale in a salad. And I just bought that cookbook from Dreena (based off the review you did on it) and I can’t wait to try that dressing! Thanks! I love these posts! They are awesome! I just live simple ideas like pairing two things that don’t normally go together.

  6. Thanks for sharing how EASY it is to pack vegan and healthy!! There are SO many packaged treats out there now-it is easier to be vegan these days but harder to be a healthy vegan as now there are maybe “too” many choices. As old school, we just didn’t have all those options, so we kind of were stuck with whole grains, basic food stuffs like grains, legumes, tofus & tempehs, fruits & veggies & nuts & seeds, ya know?? I am thrilled that there are V’s on so much stuff now-for the animals, for sure!!!!! But if peeps are wanting to really get healthy, they still have to read labels :(((((( But happy that there are still great companies out there making packable stuffs. AND for stuff like zucchini pastas, which are cheaper, easier, and healthier than gluten free pastas!! So simple!!!!

  7. I obviously need to reevaluate my friendships, as no one has ever sent me anything half that delicious 😉

  8. I’ve been wanting to make “vegetable pasta” like your spiralized zuchinni since I started reading your blog back in 2010 and I still haven’t gone out there and picked up a spiralizer yet! That’s on my to-do list now because that lunch looks really good.

    Good luck with your studies! I’m going to be in the UK next week so now I’m going to keep an eye out for those snacks!

    • You can make a version of zucchini pasta (wide, thin strips) with just a vegetable peeler if you don’t have a spiralizer. That’s what I do!

    • I have a spiralizer but use my veggie peeler anyway because it’s less to clean up 🙂

  9. Not if you charm me first!

    P.S. I would happily go back in time to steal your lunch from today for tomorrow, just so you know. But I’m sure our cafe will be *almost* as lovely. x