Dinner on the Go: Summer Panzanella

This semester, I have two evening classes that run right through dinner time. And right before those classes I have to be at work.

I find it very hard to focus when I have no food in my stomach and thankfully, both professors allow us to have food in class.

But I've been struggling to find recipes that fill me up (at least until class lets out, around 9 pm), are easy to prepare, and don't require me to heat it up. There is no microwave nearby, and in my mad dash from work to class, I don't have time to stop at my apartment and nuke any food before I have to be in the classroom.

I like tuna, especially the Bumble lemon and black pepper flavor. But I worry about the smell and if my classmates will be offended by the fact that I'm eating canned tuna (let's be honest, it can smell funny) during class.

I like salad, but salad doesn't fill you up. And sandwiches get old. Fast.

So my criteria for a "Dinner on the Go" is as follows:

-not too smelly

-inexpensive

-does not need to be microwaved

-easy to pack in a lunch box

-filling & tasty

I found a fantastic option that fits my criteria in Summer Panzanella.

To be honest, when I'm just cooking something for myself, I rarely follow a recipe. My cooking/baking process goes a little bit more like this: I have all these veggies. And I have bread. Veggies and bread. Hmmm...if I cut all these veggies up and add a bunch of balsamic that would probably be really tasty. Porportions? Measurements? Ah, who cares? 

So that's what I did, I chopped up these veggies:

Onion
Yellow Tomatoes
Red Peppers
Yellow Peppers
Basil

And added balsamic vinegar, sunflower seed oil, salt, and pepper to taste, poured them over homemade croutons (day old bread cut up into cubes and baked at 275ish until they were crouton-y) and had a fantastic dinner that night, lunch the next day, and the day after that. This dish keeps really well because the longer it's in the fridge, the more the veggies marinate in the balsamic.

(that being said, leaving it in the fridge for two weeks probably won't do you any favors...)

If the lack of recipe-ness freaks you out, here's some recipe ideas:

Summer Panzanella Salad

Another Summer Panzanella Salad

And, a delicious variation that my roommate Hayley and I are currently drooling over:

Sweet Panzanella

Happy Sunday everyone! 

x M