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Back when I worked in a traditional office, I brought my lunch to work a lot. Mostly sandwiches and leftovers. The term meal prep wasn’t really a thing. I just made extra every now and then ate it for lunch too.
Meal prep can be a huge time-saver for those of us with super busy lives. Yes I still love my leftovers and now I do a it of meal prep by cooking for more than one meal at once. This is one of those recipes.
We’re making all the ingredients for a wonderful ramen soup and placing them in a jar, waiting for the hot liquid. We’ve created 4 lunches at once. Depending on the size of your jars, you may have some remaining for a dinner or 5th lunch. You can absolutely double this recipe and enjoy it for dinner for two too. You can use shrimp instead of chicken. You can use no meat at all, you can very easily (and deliciously) use cubes of tofu. You can make a different version of noodles every day by varying the protein you use.
We start with a bit of prep, lots of diced veggies in here. Then we’re using gluten free ramen noodles made from brown rice. A bit of our Sweet & Spicy cayenne sauce and some seasoned chicken and it’s an amazing lunch.
Meal prep lunch inspired by the flavors of Asia. We are using our Award-wining Sweet & Spicy Cayenne grilling sauce because it doesn't have any smokey flavor so it's the flavors of the far east very easily.
If you like lemongrass, you can add that. If you'd like it more spicy, add Thai chiles.
This is a start for some great infusions of flavor.
Notes
If you're in a crunch for time, a lot of these veggies (broccoli and mushrooms) are also already prepped in the grocery store. The only ones you'd have to chop would be onions, garlic and peppers.
The other note is that putting a lid on the pan after you add the garlic will speed up the final cooking time.
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced thin
- 2 cups chopped broccoli
- 2 stems of bok choy, sliced thin
- 3 celery stalks, sliced thin
- 2 carrot, sliced thin
- 3 cloves of garlic sliced thin or minced
- 4 green onions, sliced thin
- 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
- 3 cups mushrooms (white or crimini are fine) sliced
- 1 Tbsp Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp roasted sesame oil
- Sauce Goddess Sweet & Spicy Cayenne sauce
- Sauce Goddess Sweet Heat seasoning
- 1 lb chicken tenders, diced into bite-sized pieces
- or
- 1 pkg of extra firm tofu, diced
- or
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, cut into 2 pieces
- 2-4 jars - 12-16 oz size (depending on how much is for dinner vs lunch)
- optional toppings include lime wedges, and chopped peanuts or cashews
Instructions
Cook
- Heat the oils in a very large pan or wok.
- Add all the veggies except green onion, cilantro and garlic.
- Add Sweet Heat seasoning and Tamari.
- Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and continuing cooking until almost done. The onions should be soft but not floppy.
- Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Season the chicken with Sweet Heat and sauté in the same pan you used for the veggies.
- Set aside.
- Break the noodle bundle in half lengthwise now you're ready to assemble.
Assembly
- Pour a Tbsp or two of sauce into the bottom of your jar.
- Add 6-8 chunks of chicken.
- Add half the noodle bundle standing it upright in the jar.
- Fill the jar with veggies leaving 1/2 inch at the top.
- Pack in 1/4 of cilantro and green onions.
- Put on the lid and you're ready to take it to go.
Chow time
- Take the lid off the jar and fill it with very hot water. Boiling hot is best.
- Wait 1 minute.
- Using a fork loosen the noodle bundle to make sure all of them are getting the hot water.
- Now place the lid on tightly. Makes sure it's on there good because we're turning it over.
- Now let it sit upside down for 5 minutes. The sauce will fill the jar.
- Turn it back right-side up and carefully remove the lid.
- Get out your fork and enjoy from the jar or place everything in a big bowl and top with nuts and a squeeze of lime. Lunch is served.
