Lunches: fifteen minutes and it’s ready!

Preparing tasty and nutritious lunches for the whole family in a quarter of an hour? It’s entirely possible. Three stove specialists have proven it to us with these practical recipes that are super easy to adapt depending on what you have in the fridge.

Long live leftovers!

The concept behind this recipe is simple: “We cook rice and roast for dinner, and we cook some more for lunches. It’s a good shortcut, so we have almost nothing to do for lunch, ”advises Geneviève O’Gleman, nutritionist and host of the show. Enjoy.

This pork and apple rice salad, from his book Lunchesis full of contrasts: both fresh and comforting, tender and crunchy, sweet and salty… In addition, it can be kept for two days in the refrigerator.

“I think it’s even better the next day because the rice will soak up the vinaigrette, which will protect the apple from oxidation,” says Geneviève O’Gleman.

But its greatest asset is undoubtedly its adaptability: once you have acquired the recipe, you can have fun replacing the brown rice with any other rice (since the salad is already rich in fiber) or even couscous ; pork can be replaced with grilled chicken; apples, by pears; spinach, with arugula or another green; cranberries, with chopped dried apricots…

You can also vary the dressings and add cubes of cheese, such as a strong cheddar.

“I’ve made it so many times at home with different ingredients. We go with what we have; it’s really an easy-to-adapt canvas,” points out Geneviève O’Gleman.

Pork and Apple Rice Salad

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 apple
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1/2 French shallot
• 500 ml (2 cups) cooked brown rice
• 500 ml (2 cups) cooked roast pork, diced
• 250 ml (1 cup) baby spinach
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) dried cranberries
• 160 ml (2/3 cup) maple vinaigrette (see recipe below)
• Pepper and salt

Preparation

• 1. Dice the apple, thinly slice the celery and finely chop the shallot.
• 2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Pepper generously and add a pinch of salt.
• 3. Divide into 4 airtight containers. Refrigerate.

Maple vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) apple juice
• 30 ml (2 tbsp.) maple syrup
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Dijon mustard
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) cider vinegar
• A pinch of salt

Preparation

• 1. Put all the ingredients in a jar.
• 2. Close lid and shake.

Keeps for five days in the refrigerator.

Freshness in a tortilla

Here’s another lunch idea that will once again make good use of the leftovers from the night before.

This four-topping tortilla served with a fruit and vegetable pudding, two recipes from the book Everything for lunch, by the founder of L’Escouade Culinaire Sonia Lizotte, can be declined in multiple versions. We will therefore not have the impression of always eating the same thing!

The technique that Sonia Lizotte uses to fold the tortilla makes it possible to isolate the vegetables and the “leaves” (spinach or lettuce) from the other ingredients; they will thus retain their freshness and crunchiness until the next day — and even until the day after.

You can use strips of beef or any other pre-cooked meat, but for a vegetarian lunch, just replace the meat with grilled tofu or pre-cooked legumes. You can also replace the bell pepper with asparagus or another grilled vegetable, or the cream cheese with hummus or spicy mayonnaise, depending on your preference.

Four Topping Tortillas

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 large tortillas
• 150 g (1 cup) leftover cooked, coarsely chopped meat (chicken, pork, beef, etc.)
• 250 ml (1 cup) cream cheese
• 30 g (1 cup) baby spinach or lettuce
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips, or leftover grilled vegetables

Preparation

• 1. Place the tortillas on the work surface.
• 2. Using a knife, make an incision from the center to the edge of each.
• 3. On a quarter of each tortilla, spread the remaining ingredients.
• 4. Fold each quarter over itself to form a triangle-shaped sandwich.

Fruit and vegetable pudding

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 150 g (1 cup) frozen fruit of your choice
• 180 g (1 cup) beets, cooked and coarsely chopped (pre-cooked beets are easily found in supermarkets) or leftover cooked carrots
• 750 ml (3 cups) vanilla Greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• 25 g (1/4 cup) ground flax seeds

Preparation

• In a blender, mix all the ingredients until you obtain a smooth and creamy consistency.

“Touski” lunch

Nancy Bordeleau created this “touski” salad at the last minute, before heading to an impromptu barbecue with friends. She used whatever she had on hand…and her dish was a hit. “Everyone loves pasta salads,” she notes.

This salad also has the advantage of being super quick to prepare even if you start from scratch, underlines the author of the blog Cinq Fourchettes and the book It’s lunch time!.

We take advantage of the cooking time of the tortellini to cut the ingredients — and all that remains is to mix. You can also use already cooked pasta (which you will take care to coat with olive oil when setting aside).

Vegetarian, since the tortellini are cheesy, this salad can also be enhanced with the addition of grilled chicken. And even though it is made up of foods that we often have in the fridge, it can easily be adjusted according to what we have in store. No bell pepper or red onion? Tomatoes and shallots are used, for example.

“The kitchen should always adapt to the tastes of the family, but also to discover new flavors,” says Nancy Bordeleau.

Greek tortellini salad

Number of servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 5 to 8 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 packs of 350 grams of cheese tortellini
• 60 to 90 ml (to taste) basil pesto
• 1 cup coarsely crumbled feta
• 1 cup Kalamata olives, halved
• 1 red bell pepper cut into cubes
• Quarter of a red onion, finely chopped
• Pepper

Preparation

• 1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Prefer al dente cooking.
• 2. Mix all the ingredients. Pepper to taste.
• 3. Leave in the fridge for a few hours for an optimal blend of flavors. However, the salad is eaten very well immediately.