This is what I packed for Chip to take on the plane. On Friday, Chip found out that he has so many frequent flier miles that he would be bumped to first class for both of his flights to San Jose. First class has so many awesome features, including amazing food on real plates with real silverware. He called a little while ago and told me he ate a salad and some ravioli on his first flight. So I guess he won't really need these snacks on the plane, but maybe he'll need them for a late dinner. He plans to grab some groceries while he's in California and pack his lunch most days. He's promised to send photos. We'll see if that actually happens. If it doesn't, this will probably be the last lunch here for a few weeks!
Organic Gala apple with natural peanut butter, banana, organic fair trade milk chocolate, organic Thompson raisins, organic raw almonds, local pepper jack cheese, natural peanut butter and jelly on local whole wheat bread, and Ancient Grains crackers.
This lunch makes me a little sad. I think it's mostly that Chip leaves on Saturday for almost three weeks and I'll miss him. This is the second to last lunch I'll be making for quite a while. I plan to pack him some snacks for the plane trip; vegetarian food on planes sucks, and it's hard to find good healthy stuff in airports.
I was really excited to have bought Chip a Clif Mojo bar (peanut butter pretzel flavor) for this lunch. I bought a pack earlier this week and sent all but one to my cousin who is deployed in Afghanistan. The one that I saved, I ate, and fell in love with. I thought Chip would love it too, so I had him try it tonight. He was not a fan. So I ate the rest of it, and sulked a little that instead of some variety, this lunch would have pretty much the same stuff he eats every day. If Chip would eat them, I'd put all kinds of fun things in that side section: Fruit Roll-Ups, Lara Bars, carrot sticks, etc. Alas, we're stuck with raisins and chocolate until I can find something else that he'll eat.
Ancient Grains crackers, local pepper jack cheese, organic Michigan applesauce, organic Thompson raisins, organic fair trade dark chocolate with almonds, banana, and whole wheat rollups with natural peanut butter and jelly.
I made this lunch wanting to fill it with love, support, and happiness for Chip. He's been having a rough week at work, and it's only going to get more stressful on Saturday, when he heads to California for three weeks. I hope the Teddy Grahams and Kool-Aid put a smile on his face and help him get through the day.
Homemade pad thai with organic tofu and broccoli, Navel orange, organic Thompson raisins, Kool-Aid singles packet, organic fair trade dark chocolate with almonds, organic cashews, raw almonds, Teddy Grahams, and an organic Gala apple.
For this lunch, I decided not to mess with success. I made the same rollups as were in Monday's lunch, but this time I added a little bit of carrot. The soup is one of my faves: Whole Foods tomato bisque. A few months ago, we discovered that Whole Foods does weekly specials. On Tuesdays, they sell their homemade pizzas 2 for 1. And on Mondays, they sell their homemade soups 2 for 1. So I picked up a bunch of tomato bisque for $7. This serving probably cost about $.30.
Seedless watermelon, organic Gala apple with natural peanut butter, organic Thompson raisins, organic fair trade milk chocolate, raw almonds, Whole Foods tomato bisque, and whole wheat rollups with vegan turkey, local organic hummus, local cheddar/jack cheese, organic spring mix, and organic carrot.
So yesterday's "turkey" rollups were such a huge hit that I decided to make another meat analogue for today's lunch. Chip liked yesterday's rollups so much that he took a photo of himself enjoying them with his cell phone and sent it to me. This lunch is mainly leftovers from tonight's dinner; we've made this exact same dinner several times, and it makes 3 perfect servings: both of us for dinner, and Chip for lunch. Having leftovers makes making lunch so easy.
Steamed broccoli, organic Golden Delicious apple, organic fair trade dark chocolate, organic Thompson raisins, Mi-Del ginger snaps, brown rice pilaf, and VegeUSA vegan pepper steak.
I can't believe it's May already! May here has been rainy so far, but I imagine some really beautiful weather is just around the corner. I knock Ohio for a lot of reasons, but the weather here is pretty awesome, I think. And I can't complain too much about the rain right now either: we got our rain barrel set up, and now it's full, plus we only have one dog in the house at the moment, so only one set of muddy paws.
This lunch includes something I haven't bought in years: vegan lunch "meat." Lunch meat never really did it for me when I was a carnivore. But I went through a phase the summer I was 21 in which my roommate and I frequently made subs with tons of lunch meat (usually ham, chicken, and turkey), provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Beano's sub dressing. They were heaven. Yesterday I decided I had to have a sandwich like this, so I bought some lunch "meat." I made some sandwich dressing myself out of a few tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and tons of parsley, basil, oregano, black pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper. It was amazing. The dressing made the sandwich, for sure. Chip is NOT a fan of this type of sandwich, so I had to make the lunch "meat" into something he would eat.
Also, the countdown has started until Chip leaves for almost 3 weeks. He'll be in California at his work's corporate office, as well as traveling throughout the state for the Tour of California. He leaves May 8 and will return on the 26th. I have to fill him with tasty healthy food now, because who knows what he'll end up eating on this trip!
Whole wheat rollup with Tofurky hickory smoked deli slices, locally made organic hummus, local cheddar/jack cheese, and organic spring mix, organic Michigan applesauce, peanut M&Ms, raw almonds, banana, and seedless watermelon.
