Recipe: Super Simple Egg White & Veggie Salad

It happened like this: There used to be this great little veggie blend that was available in most grocery stores’ freezers. They called it the “Fiesta Blend”, possibly because it was so darn fun. It had the usual frozen veggie suspects like broccoli, carrots, and peppers, but it also had garbanzos, kidney beans, and other legumes that pretty much made it a solid meal on its own.

One day when I was hastily trying to figure out when I was going to fit in eating with everything else I had to do, I quickly checked my “pantry bag” I kept in our break room fridge and noted all I had left were two hard-boiled eggs and about 1/4 bottle of Italian salad dressing. Panicked, I checked the freezer to see if I’d stashed anything there, and sure enough, I had a bag of said Fiesta Blend hanging out behind someone’s Hot Pockets. It seemed like an odd combo at first, but I was pressed for time and so hungry I was ready to eat the toaster oven. So I bit the bullet, hacked up my egg whites, tossed them in with the thawed veggies and some salad dressing, and took it back to my desk to chow down.
And it wasn’t half bad.

It’s a protein lover’s dream, what with all the beans and eggs, and when you’re super busy, you want a meal that will fill you up for a while, without sitting like a brick in your stomach. All those veggies definitely help pack in a lot of fiber and nutrients (frozen veggies are, contrary to popular belief, oft’ times more nutritious than the “fresh” vegetables you’ll get in your grocer’s produce section, as those can sit on a truck for weeks, while most frozen veggies are picked when ripe and flash frozen). And it’s so quick to make, it’s not even funny.

I’ve fallen back on this dish several times throughout the year because of its simplicity, and the fact that it’s so filling and nutritious. Sometime in the spring, I realized that the fiesta blend was no longer being sold at Safeway. Or at Save Mart. Or at Raley’s or any other store I tried, desperately hunting for the darn bag of goods. But it’s not the end of the world. Really, this is best when you use all those odds & ends veggies that you might be tempted to toss, but will hopefully turn into stock instead.

You can use any veggie combo you can imagine in this; whatever suits your tastes and current inventory. You can also do what I did and make your own “fiesta blend” to portion out into different bags or containers that you can freeze later. Because of its flexibility, this salad definitely falls under the whole “ingredient assembly” category vs. an actual recipe, but it works either way. And since this is one of my famous chopped salads, a few ingredients can go a long, long way.

So I dedicate this one to you, my fellow I’m-too-busy-to-think guys and gals, for all those harried, frazzled days when you know you should eat something better than some Fritos but don’t really have the time or money to go grab a healthier alternative (and we all know those are few & far between at fast food joints). And at just $0.95 per serving, you can get back to work without worrying about your waistline or your wallet. : )