Air Fryer Burrito

It’s been scorcher after scorcher here, so I’m looking for ways to avoid turning on the oven: salads, spiralized vegetables, overnight oats, yogurt, no or minimal bake desserts. Here’s what I prepped this weekend:

Zoodles

There was a sale on zucchini so I bought three and spiralized them. At dinner time I sautéed about half in sesame oil for 3 minutes. They were surprisingly good — still firm, but cooked and tasty. Next time I’d cut them into shorter lengths. They go with anything you’d put in pasta or noodles.

Black bean brownies with dried cherries

These required a little baking, but under 20 minutes. I followed this recipe. I didn’t have quick oats so I just pulsed regular rolled oats a few times before adding the rest of the ingredients to the food processor. I also added a half cup of dried cherries, which were delicious in the dense chocolate.

It doesn’t call for eggs, so they’re easy to make both gluten-free and vegan (with vegan chocolate chips). I’m also enjoying this chickpea cookie dough.

Balsamic farro salad with edamame and cranberries

Not gluten-free, unfortunately, but it can be if you swap out the farro for brown rice. I saw this recipe in Erin Clarke’s Well Plated cookbook and I wanted to try it out. I cooked the farro in the Instant Pot and then dressed it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Then I mixed in thawed edamame, dried cranberries, green onions, and feta. I’m eating it for lunch both by itself and in a wrap.

Blackberry-strawberry chia jam

This one was a bit of an accident. I bought blackberries and when I got them home, I realized they were quickly turning to mush. So I put them in a pot with some strawberries, water, vanilla, and maple syrup. I was planning to make them into one of Amy Chaplin’s berry compotes. I noticed a recipe note in her book about adding chia seeds to make jam, so I did that: brought it to a boil, let it simmer for 5 minutes, and then took it off the heat and stirred in a quarter cup of chia seeds. It’s a little watery to be classified as jam, but I’ve already eaten it as a jammy overnight oats topping.