A make-ahead dinner recipe!

Hello folks, how are we all going today?

Good to hear!

If you remember back to last week you may recall a post I did on a make-ahead lunch, that can be prepped in advance, popped in the fridge and enjoys heated up or cold (how I prefer it!) whenever you get back from wherever it is you were. 

With the busy season of life upon me (senior school homework, tests, exams, a job and all the extra stuff on top of that) I do not and will not let my nutrition suffer because I know what happens when I do.

And the solution to this? Make-ahead meals!

At first when I started prepping some meals in advance it was kind of strange and challenging. I had to think about the future, not the food I felt like in that moment. I would be simultaneously cooking some sweet oats for breakfast whilst sauteing some onions next door on the stove top for lunch that day. Quite confusing for the old stomach. 

If I'd just eaten a sandwich and wasn't feeling like savoury foods, it was often hard to roast up some extra veggies/ cook a grain/ fry off some tofu. My brain associated cooking with eating whatever I was cooking as soon as it was done. So creating a soup at 6:30am in the morning was quite the challenge.

However, as time wore on I grew used to it and my mind and stomach seemed to accept that not all the food I was cooking was going to be eaten in the near future.

All that to say, I have another recipe for you! This is a make-ahead dinner, or even lunch, heck this would be a great savoury breakfast... so let's just call it another make-ahead meal! Cous cous, Mexican spices, veggies, beans... it's a good one!

Baked Mexican Cous Cous bowl:

 Ingredients:
1/3 cup cous cous (I used wholemeal)
1/3 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon chopped brown onion
1 medium mushroom chopped
handful chopped eggplant
handful chopped zuchini
1/2 cup chopped capsicum
3-4 chopped cherry tomatoes
teaspoon olive oil
125g tin mixed four beans
2 heaped tablespoons lentils
handful spinach
taco seasoning (to taste- I used about 1/2-1 tablespoons)
nutritional yeast
vegan cheese
extra water

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Find a single serving bake dish.
2. Heat the oil in a medium fry pan over medium heat and add the onion, cooking for a few minutes until browned slightly. Add in the eggplant, zucchini and capsicum and cook for a further 2-5 mins until slightly brown and tender.
3. Toss in the mushroom, cherry tomatoes and cook for another few minutes.
4. Add in the beans and lentils and stir to combine:

 5. Next thrown in the seasoning to taste, nutritional yeast as well as 1/2 cup water (maybe more if it gets soaked up instantly) and the spinach:

 6. Cook for a few minutes until most of the water is absorbed.
7. Meanwhile add the boiling water to the cous cous in a shallow bowl and cover with a plate for five mins.
8. Remove plate and fluff with a fork:

 9. Prepare vegan cheese (stirring water, hommus and nutritional yeast together

 10. Add the cooked cous cous to the pan and stir to combine:

 11. Transfer contents of pan to baking dish and flatten slightly:

 12. Top with vegan cheese:

 13. Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins until the 'cheese' turns golden brown on top:

 14. Leave to cool, cover and then place in fridge until required!

 So much flavour, so many textures and once again, tastes 10x better a few hours later and eaten cold (but feel free to warm up again!)

Feel free to top with salsa or guac, or anything you like to freshen this bad boy up again and I hope you give it a go and enjoy it! Filling, full of good stuff- a great meal for when you're short on time!

That's it from me today folks, I hope you all have a lovely day, do something that makes you happy and as always, eat something delicious!! Bye for now! :D