1. It takes less than 10 minutes to whip up.

2. It’s super satisfying — not just for me but my big strong husband, too.

3. You can make it with any kind of light, white fish you have on hand. I prefer it with tilapia, but you can use sole, flounder, mahi mahi, etc…

4. You can make the dressing as spicy or creamy as you like by varying the amounts of sriracha and Vegenaise, respectively.

5. Did I mention it takes less than 10 minutes to make? I’m all about a quick, healthy meal.

1. We want it to be healthy.

2. We want it to fill us up and be satisfying.

3. We don’t want it to weigh us down.

4. We don’t want it to cost as much as dinner.

We all on the same page? Cool. What I started doing — when I have the time on Sunday afternoon — is to make a giant portion of something I’ve wanted to make for dinner, then bring it with me to work and eat it for lunch the next few days. Granted, you have to be down with eating the same thing for lunch days in a row, which I have no problem doing. I think I ate a tuna wrap everyday for lunch my freshman year of college, but that’s a story for another time. You also have to be cool with bringing your own food to work. That means there needs to be a refrigerator, plates, utensils, etc…

Enter this farro salad with chickpeas and leeks, which fits all our criteria from above. (If you’re not familiar with farro, it’s an easy-to-make grain and a fantastic alternative to rice and quinoa.) It’s healthy, light but filling, and easy to dish out and shovel in as you type away at your desk. Add more lemon and/or chili pepper flakes to your tasting, and when your stomach starts growling halfway through the day tomorrow at lunch, you can smile knowing you have a delicious lunch waiting for you in the fridge.

This was the inspiration to the documentary “A Place at the Table” and by proxy, the Food Bloggers Against Hunger Challenge. I signed up to help spread the word by creating a recipe that cost less than $4 a serving, the amount of money food stamp participants are allocated each day. While I understand that feeding a family on this budget day in, day out is much different than making one meal for that price, I was determined to make one using only healthy, fresh food. I know canned goods are often easier and less expensive — I use canned beans, tuna and corn all the time — but I wanted this post to showcase a fresh, vegetarian meal.

I came across this recipe on The First Mess a few weeks ago when a friend of mine tweeted about the blog. Twenty minutes later, I was more than a dozen pages deep. I was salivating, and at the same time I was calculating if I could whip this up for the challenge. I didn’t use celery root because they didn’t have it at my local produce stand, but I did use maple syrup even though I was tempted to swap it for my usual go-to, raw agave nectar. I’ve been reading a lot about the pros/cons of each lately, and am trying to incorporate both into my recipes now. [More on The Great Agave Debate another time.]

Back to the challenge now, and the very easy ways you can help:

1. See “A Place at the Table” — it’s in theaters and on iTunes and Amazon — then tell everyone you know to see it too. B and I watched it last night and while it simultaneously broke our hearts and enraged us, it’s an important film to watch. When most people think hunger — as B and I did — they picture frail, starving children. But it’s not like that at all. Many are overweight, if not obese with numerous health and cognitive issues, because they aren’t getting the proper nutrition. And it’s not for lack of food in this country, because there’s plenty of that. It’s lack of access and money, lack of education, lack of government subsidies… the list goes on. The kids in the film, including an adorable 5th grader named Rosie, can’t focus and do well in school because they’re always hungry. As Jeff Bridges (creator of The End Hunger Network) says in the documentary, “If we discovered that another country was doing this to our children, we would declare war.”

2. Which brings me to his network, and others which would love for us to get involved. I know we all have so many causes we want to support, and not enough time or money to give — but we need food to live, and some kids (and many adults too!) in this country have food insecurity, which means they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. The End Hunger Network and City Harvest (locally in NY) are two I am reading about this morning, figuring out what I can do to help.

3. Send a message to Congress that federal nutrition programs are crucial. All you have to do is click here, fill out your information, then copy/paste the pre-written email.

4. Share this post with your friends, family and social networks — then take a second to be grateful when you sit down for your next meal. Millions of other people aren’t as lucky as you and I are.

Then I got a little stomach bug, and our plan went right out the window. That’s when Master Chef Mindy took over, and I became her sous chef. And you know what? She killed it. Turns out Mindy makes this all the time for her husband Matt — I should add all-star wife to her resume — and even had the legit Korean bibimbap sauce, which I didn’t even know existed.

She whipped out her rice cooker — something I had never used before — which was perfect cause it gave the quinoa that sticky rice texture that  I love. The greatest thing about this dish is that not only is it so healthy, but you can use whatever veggies you have in the fridge. We had planned to use avocado, but they weren’t ripe yet, and instead of just carrots, we used part of a bag of broccoli slaw from Trader Joe’s, which had thinly sliced carrots and other greens. So just use our recipe below as a guide.

The only drawback of bibimbap is the timing. Not just in preparation — cause there can be a lot of chopping — but also in assembling. [See photo below] We cooked each veggie and covered its plate with tin foil while so it wouldn’t get cold while we cooked the rest. Then once the bowls are assembled, she had to fry an egg for each person — so there was a slight risk of it getting cold again — but that’s where the hot sauce can be of service. (That and liquoring up your guests, always helps.)

I now really do think almost anything tastes better with a fried egg on top — and when prepared with an old friend.

PS can we please marvel for a moment at Matt and Mindy’s gorgeous marble dining room table at the top? It photographs so well. Then one more time for good measure, their beautiful daughter Jordy below? K thanks, now go make your bibimbap!

I scoured for recipes until I found this delightful one — with a super helpful step-by-step photo tutorial — on White on Rice Couple‘s blog. [I’ve bookmarked a number of their other recipes as well — so it’s worth clicking around their site.] I followed their instructions to a T, and you should too.

I asked the guys at the Whole Foods sushi counter which rice papers they use to wrap their spring rolls, and one of them walked me to the Asian food aisle where I picked up the ones pictured below. You can make two rolls from each paper, and since there are about 100 papers in the package, you will have plenty to test on/mess up/throw away (as I did) and still have plenty to store in a ziploc bag for another night of spring roll making (as I also did). The other beauty of making your own spring rolls is that you can put whatever you want in them, and there is no exact math. You want some loaded with peppers and others with cucumbers? Knock yourself out. Want to add shrimp? Go for it.

And what’s that delectable looking sauce in the center of the tray? Why that’s Noah’s Knockout Sweet Chili Drizzle — you remember that one, right?!

Your turn now! The ultimate stuffed veggie spring roll recipe: White on Rice Couple

That’s what Phil, one of my dinner guests, told me after scarfing down these delicious veggie balls. B said the same… and I was thrilled, because I definitely want to make these again soon. Next time, maybe I’ll try ’em with pasta, in a sandwich, or over a salad. The best part is, they’re hearty enough to be a meal all their own. And they’re healthy! It’s lentils, veggies, herbs, walnuts and eggs.

So where did I find the recipe?

Instagram, naturally. My little brother Brian posted a picture of the meal he cooked with his girlfriend Tiffany and straight away I asked him about in an email. He sent me the link to The New York Times Thanksgiving special where she found it and I was off to the races.

He said next time he’s gonna try it with different vegetables — zucchini perhaps? — but the ones in this recipe were perfect. If you have a meat-eater at home — someone you’re trying to win over with the goodness of the veggie life — make these. They are the most meatball tasting meatless meatballs they’ll ever have.

Since B is at work writing his second Page One story in two days (I know, he’s somethin) I’m testing out  a new veggie recipe here in the lovenest. My mom cut this out of the Philadelphia Inquirer for me while I was home last week and I’ve been wanting to adapt it a bit — more veggies, more flavor — so tonight’s the night. If B were here, I would’ve cooked a piece of fish alongside this — any kind, really — so my man gets his protein. But it’s just me! No one else to worry about! So you know what that means, right? While he’s hunkered down writing a follow up to this Al Gore/Al Jazeera story [feign your intrigue here] it’s time for me to live on the edge. And what says wild, crazy, sexy more than a girl home alone, in her sweaty Lululemon, oven-braising some veggies? Exactly. Best part about this recipe is that you really can’t screw it up — it’s so simple — and so healthy, too.

I love spicy food — like, mouth-watering, tongue-tingling, ohmygod-I-need-water-NOW spicy. Though we all know water doesn’t help when your taste buds are on fire. But I digress. I am always on the search for spice and I had never made a curry before, but always wanted to try. So I did some googling, some label-reading, some experimenting and this — THIS — is what I came up with. I’m still training B to like things as hot as me, but if whomever you’re cooking for can handle it, try some habaneros or thai chili peppers. We’re working up to those in the lovenest. As B is famous for saying, “standby.”

Mmmmm… he likes it!

His only complaint: the quinoa could use a little seasoning.

He asked for some salt. I asked for him to cut me a break. Guess who got what they wanted.

Even though she cooks meat 99% of the time (and I don’t cook or eat meat), one of my most favorite food bloggers is Chrissy Teigen. You may know her as the supermodel fiance of John Legend, but I know her as one of the most entertaining people I follow on Twitter. She’s gorgeous, she’s hilarious and homegirl can cook like a rockstar. Imagine my excitement when she finally – FINALLY – posted a fish recipe. It looked so delushious (as she says) that I had to try it. But while she made one large portion, I decided to make 8 individual portions for my best friends from overnight camp who were coming over with their husbands for dinner.

I served it alongside cauliflower mash, but you can try any kind of rice/grain/veggie. We already had greens for our first course — the brussels sprout salad — so decided to mix it up and serve a little mashed potato lookalike.

This is the most delicious, most simple, most I-look-fancy-but-I’m-really-not salad.

And how gorgeous are those salad plates? This was our first time using them. I am so in love.

For the record I wasn’t going to serve bread of any kind at this meal, but since we already had a few drinks I called an audible and added a rando package of garlic croutons I had stashed in the cupboard — needed some carbs to soak up some of the tequila.

I’m going to make this another night as an entree, perhaps with a lovely piece of grilled fish on top.