How to (Effortlessly) Make a Healthy, Quick Meal

As I tell my students all the time, one doesn’t have to make Julia Child’s coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon to eat well at home. Instead, constructing a delicious, nutritious and quick lunch or dinner can be as easy as putting a small amount of different foods on a plate.

Like most days, my lunch yesterday (photo, above), followed this form, using both foods I had already cooked and others I simply washed and/or cut. You do not have to work at home to make this lunch; with minimal planning, the same meal can be eaten at the office, on a park bench or on an airplane.

Starting at the top of the plate and moving clockwise, let’s again debunk the myth that eating well is difficult and expensive. Lunch, bursting with nutrients and flavor but free of pesticides, took five minutes to prepare and probably cost less than $3.

• Mizuna greens from Nevia No (torn and rinsed)
• Raw milk cheese from Bobolink Dairy (cut)
• Lentils and brown rice (leftover from a previous dinner)
• Wild Planet sardines (taken from a can)
• Half of a Japanese sweet potato from Nevia No (previously cooked)
• Turnip from Nevia No (washed and cut)
• Butternut squash from Nevia No (previously cooked)
• Whole grain bread from Bobolink (cut)
• In ramekin: sauerkraut from Eden Foods (spooned from jar)
• Dessert (not shown): small piece of Green & Black's 85% chocolate

Remember, the possibilities are endless for other foods that can be used: avocado, carrots, leftover beef or chicken, quinoa, etc.