00:01Hi, Libby. I'm Carly and I'm here with Refinery29. I am extremely grateful to still be able to work
00:09from home during COVID-19, but it has definitely been a little bit of an adjustment. Before this
00:15pandemic, I was on a very personal journey to better myself both mentally and physically.
00:21Every Sunday I had this ritual, I would go to the grocery store and I would buy everything for my
00:26meals, my snacks, and I'd come home and meal prep the entire week. Now I go to the grocery store
00:31about every other week, mainly to be practicing social distancing, but I still want to have about
00:36like four lunches packed and ready to go. Because for me, I find it's easier and more convenient just
00:41to have my lunches packed even when I'm working from home. All right, so let's see what I have in
00:47the fridge to work with. Some zucchini. Oh, a lot of zucchini fives. Pepperoni, because I'm always
00:53craving pizza, I will definitely find a way to use all this cheese. Eggs, garbage on, granara sauce.
01:01I've got a lot of stuff to work with. First thing I wanted to make is a zucchini grilled cheese.
01:07The second thing I want to make is a spaghetti squash pizza. I am first going to start with my
01:14spaghetti
01:15squash because it takes a little bit longer to make. So first I'm going to slice it in half. I've
01:22never
01:22done it that quickly before. I'm very impressed. So I am scooping out all of these seeds.
01:32Amazing. Now I am just going to line the insides with olive oil, salt and pepper just to have a
01:40little bit of taste to them while they're baking and roasted in the oven. We're going to put these
01:46babies in the oven for about 30, 45 minutes. I'm thinking about these recipes that I really like is
01:52that they're super low lift. They don't really require a lot of time, especially on my busy days
01:57working from home. I don't want to spend my whole lunch hour in the kitchen. Very ideal. So while
02:02those are roasting, I'm going to start on my zucchini grilled cheese. It is exactly how it sounds. Instead
02:08of bread, we're going to use zucchini mixed with chives and Parmesan. It is so good. Oh my god,
02:16I'm so excited. First, we are going to shred the zucchini. Oh my god, this is a workout.
02:29This should about do it. Should look a little something like that. So the next step is draining
02:37the excess water from the zucchini. I'm going to use a paper towel. You got to cleanse out any of
02:43the
02:43excess water so you don't have a wet and sloppy grilled cheese. So now I'm going to chop up some
02:54chives. It gives it a really nice oniony flavor, I guess. Perfect. The next thing is adding an egg.
03:04Next, we are going to add a fourth a cup of cornstarch. And you're just going to add salt and
03:08peppered eggs. And the last thing you want to do is add some Parmesan. All right. And now we mix.
03:18Okay, so the squash is ready to be taken out of the oven. Those need to cool off for a
03:26bit before we
03:27even think about touching them. So in the meantime, I am going to start with these zucchini
03:32grilled cheese. I'm going to make four little patties with this. A little bit. So I have four minutes
03:39before I need to flip the patties for the zucchini grilled cheese. So I'm going to go film my TikTok
03:44bands.
03:50It's time to flip. Two, three, four. Yum. Next up, I am adding some sharp cheddar. I'm going to top
04:02these
04:03making our little sandwiches. They look perfect. That's really all there is to it.
04:11So now I'm going to pack them away. Super easy during my lunch break. Just toss these onto the
04:17skillet. Get them nice and melty again. So we don't have any chips here, but I did want to pair
04:23the grilled cheese with something. So carrots. So that is the final product. Now that the squash
04:29has cooled off, we are going to pull the strands to really make this into spaghetti. We're going to
04:36mix these in some marinara sauce. Now we're going to sprinkle on some cheese. Got this Italian blend.
04:43The last step is to add some pepperoni. Now I'm going to package these up and put them in the
04:49fridge.
04:50Think of it as like buying a store-bought frozen pizza. You cook it when you're ready. So with these,
04:56you'll just want to put them in the oven and broil them for about five minutes. For me, it's perfect.
05:02It doesn't take up much of my lunchtime. Throw them in the oven, come out looking so good. Tasting just
05:08like pizza. So aside from having some meals ready to go instead of ordering ingredients, I wanted to
05:19have something that would be like a healthy dessert option as well. Got this. One of those like zero fat,
05:30zero carbs, zero sugar, zero taste things. In an effort to make these like extra healthy,
05:37we're going to see how it works. Sip of wine first. Let's go.
06:00Okay pause. This fake syrup stuff actually smells really good. It should look something like that.
06:07Naturally, the TikTok did not leave many instructions. So I'm going to bake these at 350.
06:13I don't even know how long to bake these because it did not say in the video, but I'm thinking
06:19maybe
06:19a solid five. I figured now's a good time to talk about social distancing. No, this is not a PSA.
06:25Truly just find something, one like beacon of hope, of happiness, whatever during this time every day.
06:33And I promise we will pull through this. Cookies are done. These are my babies.
06:49At first, I was like, no. But now,
06:57I mean, it's not right. If you have a sweet tooth, this is a good alternative.
07:04That was a lot. The thing that I have discovered from avoiding the store as much as I can is
07:10that
07:11you can get really creative with what you have in your kitchen right now. But at the same time,
07:16I do understand if, you know, looking from home is just not in the cards for you right now.
07:21Another way to create your meals is to reach out to local businesses and order takeout or delivery
07:26from them. Just know that if you do order takeout or delivery, just take some precautionary measures,
07:32always wipe things down and throw away any bags or containers. This pandemic has been teaching me a
07:38lot about my mind and body journey. And I realized that even the simplest tasks can feel so draining,
07:44but I really hope that these little things that I'm doing while staying inside can help inspire you
07:49to find something, a little positivity to help you keep grounded. And if you need to kill time while
07:56the things are cooking in the oven, you can do what I always do and learn the TikTok dance.
08:02They're so fun. Just try it.
08:05Bye.
08:06Bye.
08:06Bye.
