It’s 4:00 and you realize you haven’t even begun to think about dinner. And to be honest, it’s probably too late to start making anything.  But you can’t do nuggets and mac AGAIN!  (Hey – nothing wrong with it sometimes, but 3 nights in a row?  Now you’re pushin’ it.)

So what is a person to do?  Spend another $40 on take out for the whole family?  Switch it up by serving the parmesan mac and cheese as opposed to the cheddar mac and cheese?  Pray that tonight is the night the magical dinner fairy will deliver a healthy, home cooked meal to your home?  (And then also clean up after you eat??)

You COULD do those things, or you could fall back on your ‘go to, no time to cook, or not in the mood to cook’ meals.     You CAN make a dinner that is (almost) as easy as ordering in, and feel good about putting a (mostly) home cooked meal on the table.

And here is the secret….

Part of the dinner is store bought and part of it is prepared fresh.  It doesn’t have to be all or nothing!

Check out this recipe for Falafel Tortillas.  It’s my favorite ‘quickie.’

FALAFEL  TORTILLAS

Ingredients:

• Frozen falafel balls (Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods has them)
• Hummus (Cedars has a delicious organic line and can be found at Whole Foods)
• Whole wheat tortilla
• Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce

Directions:

1. Bake the frozen falafel balls according to package instructions.
2. While they are heating, chop up some lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.  This chopping process CAN be done quite quickly.  First, use cherry tomatoes because you can cut them up with one slice down the middle.  Second, use prewashed bagged lettuce.  I like getting romaine hearts because they literally take one second to chop.
3. Take a whole wheat tortilla and warm it in the microwave for 10 seconds
4. Spread hummus on the tortilla, and add falafel balls, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

That’s it!  And just that one falafel tortilla has everything you need nutrition wise:

~The falafel balls are an excellent plant based protein.

~The hummus contains many nutrients including copper, manganese, calcium iron, magnesium, and zinc.  It also is a great source of Vitamin C and B6 and contains around 20 amino acids.

~The vegetables are a fantastic source of fiber.

I have lots of other quickies up my sleeve and will share them with you in the coming weeks, some on my blog and some on facebook, so be sure to like me!

Do you have any go to quickies?  If so, please share the love (no pun intended) in the comment section below!