I love a great Pasta Salad! Pasta Salad is the perfect dish to make for either a Summer side dish or a meal. Jimmy loves this pasta salad too! This Pasta Salad recipe is flavorful and refreshing with the delicious tastes of fresh herbs, lemon, and feta, with lots of spinach! You can make this Pasta Salad on a food prep day and enjoy it all week! It would also be a big hit at a party or picnic! I know you will love this Pasta Salad as much as we do!

Food prepping on Sundays can be a lifesaver for me to keep us eating healthy for the week! I received a lot of poblano peppers and limes for Misfits Market, so I wanted to use them within a food prep session. I put together this Black Beans Recipe and was able to use them within a variety of ways during the week. They are very delicious and made for a tasty and healthy week of meals! Hope you enjoy these as much as we did and that you try them yourself for a food prep session!

Fiesta Black Beans
Ingredients
- 2 poblano peppers chopped*
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1 T olive oil
- 1/2 teas salt
- 1/2 teas black pepper
- 2 15.5 oz cans of black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 10 oz can of mild green enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso)
- 1/4 teas cumin
- 1 teas garlic powder
- 1 Juice of a lime
Instructions
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In a medium saucepan on medium heat, sauté onions and peppers with olive oil, salt and black pepper for about 15 minutes until the onions and peppers are soft.
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Reduce heat to medium low, and add in beans, enchilada sauce, cumin, and garlic powder.
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Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Finish off with juice of a lime.
This Black Beans Recipe is perfect to make in the beginning of the week for a food prep session, as it can be used in several different variations.
You can use this delicious Black Beans Recipe over rice, over quinoa, in a burrito, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, salads, or enchiladas.
You can also make some guacamole and homemade salsa during the food prep session. For a homemade salsa recipe – try my Restaurant Style Chipotle Salsa, Fresh Corn Salsa, Fresh Pico De Gallo Salsa.
*Poblano peppers are on the spicy side (medium heat) if you don’t like spicy / are sensitive to spicy, you can use bell peppers instead. If you don’t have poblano peppers on hand, bell peppers are equally delicious. You can vary the peppers that you use each time you make this, I have and any type of peppers are great in this Black Beans Recipe!
If you are interested in receiving organic produce at your door yourself and want to order Misfits Market, email me for a discount code.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: N/A
I have been challenging myself with making more plant-based meals and oil free Vegan Salad Dressing. I used to only eat creamy salad dressings such as Ranch, Caesar, and Creamy Italian. But those dressings are usually be high in calories and fat, which kind of defeats the point of trying to be healthy and eat a salad. I have been finding that Healthy Vegan Salad Dressing can still be tasty. And doesn’t come with all that guilt. This dressing is so good, I could eat it with a spoon!
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cilantro leaves
- 1 T freshly grated ginger
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 teas of agave nectar
- 1 teas soy sauce
- 3 T Tahini
- ¼ cup of water
- ½ teas salt
Salad Ingredients:
- 4 cups of arugula
- ½ cup of baby carrots sliced
- Plum tomato diced
- ½ of a green bell pepper chopped
- 2 T of green onions chopped
- 1 T red onion chopped
- ½ cup of cucumbers chopped
Salad Directions:
- Make dressing following directions below and set aside.
- Divide arugula onto 2 salad bowls.
- Then top with remaining salad ingredients.
- Drizzle about 1-2 T of the salad dressing over each bowl.
- Extra dressing can be served on the side.
- Everyone can then add more dressing as desired, and mix dressing and salad together within each of their bowls.
Dressing Directions:
- Put garlic and cilantro in food processor and process until chopped.
- Place all other dressing ingredients in a food processor and process for a few minutes until well blended.
Notes:
Dressing can be made ahead (on a food prep Sunday) to save time to have a quick meal on a busy week night; this will keep well for a few days in the refrigerator.
For another Vegan Salad Dressing, check out the dressing in this recipe also: Kale and Quinoa Salad with Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing

Salad with Carrot Orange Ginger Miso Dressing
I LOVE getting the house salads as sushi / Japanese restaurants since the Orange Ginger Dressing is so tasty! There are several ways I have been making this Orange Ginger Dressing, and here is one of my versions that includes Miso Paste. Orange Ginger Dressing is oil free and extremely healthy. I hope you enjoy this version of Orange Ginger Dressing as much as I do!
Ingredients
Dressing Ingredients:
- 10 baby carrots
- 1 T freshly grated ginger
- 1 small yellow or white onion about size of a ½ cup quartered
- Juice of an orange 3 T
- 3 T white miso paste
- 1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 T rice vinegar
Salad Ingredients:
- 3-4 cups of Chopped Spinach
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 cucumber diced
- 1 to mato diced
- 2-3 T scallions green onions chopped
Instructions
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Make the dressing by placing all ingredients in a food processor and process for a few minutes until well blended.
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Assemble the salad by placing spinach at the bottom of individual salad bowls, and then top with the remaining salad ingredients.
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Then top the salads off with a few Table spoons of the dressing (you can also serve some of the dressing on the side).
Recipe Notes
Dressing can be made ahead (on a food prep Sunday) to save time to have a quick meal on a busy week night; this will keep well for a few days in the refrigerator.
The above salad ingredients can make about 2 large salads or 4 small salads.
You will likely have extra dressing to make more salads.
For dinner one night, try pairing this salad with one of my miso soup recipes: Miso Veggie Noodle Soup or Miso Soup with Veggies and Quinoa.

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing
Instructions
Salad Directions:
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Begin by cooking your quinoa (according to package directions).
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Then start making your dressing (See below for Dressing Directions).
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Once quinoa is done, divide quinoa into 2 salad bowls.
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Then top each with all remaining salad ingredients.
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Drizzle each salad bowl with 1 T of the dressing (or more to taste, you can also serve some dressing on the side). Each individual can then add more dressing as needed, and mix ingredients together within their own bowl.
Dressing Directions:
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Place all dressing ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk together until well blended.
Recipe Notes
Dressing can be made ahead (on a food prep Sunday) to save time to have a quick meal on a busy week night; this will keep well for a few days in the refrigerator. This dressing can be spicy to some who do not like spicy; you can always reduce the amount of sriracha or omit depending on your spice tolerance (or of course add more if you like spicy). The above salad makes 2 servings, but the dressing makes more, so you could use the dressing on another day for more of this salad or some other salad variation.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Red Pepper, Kale Bowls with Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
Roasting Pan Ingredients:
- 2 small sweet potatoes cut in ½ inch cubes
- 1 small red onion cut into thick strips
- 1 red bell pepper cut into thick strips and halved
- ½ teas salt
- ½ teas pepper
- 2 T olive oil
- 2 cups of Kale
- Olive oil cooking spray
- ½ cup quinoa cooked
Tahini Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic
- Handful of cilantro leaves
- 1/3 cup tahini sesame paste
- ½ cup water
- Juice of 2 lemons
- ¾ teas cumin
- ½ teas salt
Instructions
Veggie Directions:
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Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
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In a medium sized bowl, mix together sweet potatoes, red onions, pepper, salt, black pepper and olive oil.
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Spread out contents of mixing bowl onto a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.
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You can start to cook your quinoa at this time if you haven’t yet made it.
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Remove from oven and flip / toss around and check if sweet potatoes are mostly cooked through with a fork (if fork can go into sweet potatoes easy) (if not roast for 5 roast for 5 minutes).
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When sweet potatoes are mostly cooked (fork goes into easy), then add kale to baking sheet and roast for 5 more minutes (until kale is slightly crispy – keep monitoring the kale if you cook for longer – you don’t want to burn the kale).
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When your vegetables are roasting, you can make your Tahini Sauce (see Tahini Sauce Directions below).
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When your veggies are done, assemble your bowls (this makes 2) by placing quinoa on the bottom, then top with veggies, and drizzle tahini sauce on top. You can also serve the tahini sauce on the side and you can dip / drizzle as you eat.
Tahini Sauce Directions:
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In a food processor, chop garlic and cilantro.
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Then add all remaining ingredients until well combined.

Thai Red Curry Coconut Veggie Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 red onion chopped
- ½ cup chopped carrots
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 T freshly grated ginger
- 2 ½ T Thai red curry paste
- 2 T lemongrass paste
- 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 13.5 oz. can of unsweetened light coconut milk
- 2 T Thai sweet chili sauce
- 7.7 oz. package of brown rice noodles cooked to package directions
- ½ teas salt
- 1 teas chili powder
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- ¼ cup of basil chopped
- Juice of a small lime
Instructions
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in a Dutch oven with olive oil, over medium heat, sauté peppers, carrots, celery and onions for 5 minutes.
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Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 2 more minutes.
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Add Thai red curry paste and stir for about a minute until melted.
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Add lemongrass paste and stir for about a minute until melted.
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Add broth and coconut milk, chili powder, and salt.
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Turn heat up to medium high and cook for 15 minutes.
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Reduce heat to medium low, and add noodles, cilantro and basil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
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Add juice of lime and serve.

Broccoli Pepper Bowls with Spicy Korean Gochujang Sauce
Ingredients
Bowl Ingredients:
- 1 cup of brown rice uncooked
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 red pepper cut in medium-sized strips
- 1 Vidalia onion or yellow onion cut in medium-sized strips
- Olive oil
- 3 green onions chopped
Gochujang Sauce Ingredients:
- 4 T Gochujang paste
- 1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 T honey
- 2 T chopped green onions
- 1 clove garlic chopped
Instructions
Begin with rice:
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Cook brown rice according to package directions (the brand I used took ½ hour).
Prepare Gochujang Sauce:
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In a mixing bowl, whisk together paste, soy sauce, vinegar, and honey.
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Then add garlic and green onions.
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Prepare peppers and onions:
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With about 1 T olive oil, in sauté pan over medium high heat, sauté peppers and onions for 5 minutes, then reduce to low to keep warm until ready to use
Prepare broccoli:
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In a medium sauce pan/pot – fill up to an inch of water and bring to boil.
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Place broccoli in a steamer basket and place on top of the pan and cover, steam for 7 minutes. Note – steamer basket should be above the water, not submerged in water.
Assemble / Serve:
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When everything finishes – assemble / portion into bowls, placing rice on the bottom, and broccoli and pepper/onion mix on top.
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Drizzle sauce over top and / or serve sauce on the side.
Recipe Notes
This makes 2 big servings or 4 mid-sized servings. A little of the sauce goes a long way, so you will have extra sauce; you can save it for the weekend for a marinade or use it as a dip for dumplings or other veggies (or meat). The sauce is very spicy, but tasty!
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
I just love making Roasted Vegetable Recipes in the beginning of the week! It is a healthy food prep idea to get you ready for the week. This will be the first of many Roasted Vegetable Recipes I will post. It is a great staple to do in the beginning of the week, it is loaded with lots of veggies, and you can use it for making veggie sandwiches, wrap or salads. You can also just simply eat a bowl of these veggies, or even dip them in some fun hummus or other veggie dip! The garlic cloves give the whole dish a lot of flavor! You can use the roasted garlic cloves in other recipes during the week, like for bread spreads, hummus, sauces or aioli.
Ingredients:
- 1 red onion cut in thick strips
- 2 red bell peppers cut in thick strips and halved
- 1 cup of baby carrots
- 1 cup of broccoli cut in small florets
- 8 garlic cloves
- 3-4 T olive oil*
- ½ teas salt
- ½ teas black pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
- Transfer contents of mixing bowl to large glass baking pan.
- Put pan in oven and roast for 1 hour, taking it out every 20 minutes to stir.
Notes:
The amount of olive oil needed may vary depending on the size of your veggies. You just want to use enough to give the veggies a good coating.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
This is one of the best vegetarian recipes that will make you completely forget that there is no meat! We have yet to find a good Asian take-out place around our area. Sometimes we are really in the mood to order some good Asian noodles. This satisfies that craving, is way better and healthier too! Jimmy loves this one so much he doesn’t even believe it is healthy. But of course, it’s healthy – it is made with organic wheat noodles and lots of veggies! This is one of my favorites!
Ingredients:
- 1 large red bell pepper chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper chopped
- 8 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 T freshly grated ginger
- ¼ cup scallions chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 1 T vegetable oil (you may need a little more if your wok is not non-stick)
- 9.5 oz package of Japanese udon noodles (I used Hakubaku organic wheat – I get it at Wegman’s) (Cook noodles per package directions)
Sauce Ingredients:
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 T hoisin sauce
- 1 teas chili garlic sauce (I use Wegman’s TomTom sauce)
- 1 teas siracha
- 1 T brown sugar
- 1 T cornstarch
- 1 T rice wine vinegar
- Juice of a lime
Directions:
- Chop all your veggies (keep separated because you will add them to the wok at separate times)
- In a bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients, set aside
- In a non-stick wok, heat up oil for about a minute on medium high
- Add peppers and stir fry for 4 minutes
- Then add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 1 more minute
- Turn down heat to medium-low and add scallions, and cook for 1 minute
- Then add sauce and let simmer for 5-7 minutes (make sure you stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom)
- Add noodles to the wok and stir until well combined
- Then add cilantro and stir
Notes:
Make sure that you prep all the veggies and make sauce first! The cooking goes quick and there is not enough time to chop while you cook! You can cook the pasta during the process if you time it right; you can drop it in the boiling water while the sauce is simmering.