Easy Lunch: Amy's Pesto Tortellini

If you've got half an hour to eat, maybe you don't even want to waste time cutting up some vegetables and assembling a sandwich. For days like those, frozen meals may be the best option. A lot of frozen meals are lacking in substance, both nutritionally and in terms of flavor, but the ones from Amy's Kitchen have never disappointed me.

Amy's Kitchen Pesto Tortellini Bowl isn't exactly a diet food, at 430 calories and with 19 grams of fat. However, it's filling, quick, high in protein-- and most importantly, kosher.

Here's how I like to eat it: microwave the pasta. Then, cook a cup or so of frozen peas in a large bowl. When the peas are done cooking, empty the pasta into that bowl, leaving behind the pesto sauce that doesn't stick to the pasta. Now it's at least nominally healthier, and even more filling due to the addition of high-fiber peas.

Easy Lunch: Veggie burgers with pea and carrot chips

When your coworkers are all running off to McDonald's for a quick lunch, what's a kosher-keeping person to do? Make your own version of that ubiquitous fast food lunch, of course-- but make it kosher, vegetarian, and far healthier.

My version of the burger lunch includes a veggie patty with a bit of melted cheddar cheese, topped with sriracha. Then for a side, some sliced carrots (or baby carrots), and air-dried pea crisps in lieu of french fries.

Items that don't need a hechsher:
-Carrots

Items that do need a hechsher (aka "everything else on the plate), and brand suggestions:
- Veggie burger (Amy's All American veggie burgers)
- Cheddar cheese (if you live on the West Coast of the U.S., try Tillamook Kosher Medium Cheddar)
- Sriracha sauce
- Buns (Trader Joe's hamburger buns, white or wheat)
- Pea crisps (Trader Joe's "Inner Peas")