I pulled off this lunch with the last of the veggies in the house (minus some spinach). Seems like our CSA and our farmers' market finds were just perfect for this week. This chocolate (Newman's Own organic) was on sale at Kroger this week, and I couldn't pass it up. Fortunately, it's Chip's new favorite thing, and a square here and there makes him so happy!
We have a busy weekend planned with greyhound events, house stuff, and...the Ohio State Fair! The only state fair I've ever experienced was in Maryland, and it was about ten years ago. I'm interested to see how the Midwest does it up. As my friend Lori told me today, "the Ohio State Fair...where they'll dip anything in batter and fry it." She says they do battered and fried funnel cake. Funnel cake. Which is batter that has been fried. They batter it and fry it more?! The only thing worse might be deep fried butter, which, apparently, is actually a thing that someone invented.
Vegan hot dog with Cheddar on whole wheat roll, steamed broccoli, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, organic dark chocolate, organic applesauce, and organic peas and corn with margarine and spices.
Chip nixed the idea of more soup this week, since temps are back in the 90s and the humidity is above 90% every day. Yuck! So this is a nice, fresh, summery lunch. Oh, and the cucumber? It's from a friend (a fellow greyhound volunteer). Her garden mass produces cucumbers and she passes them out to anyone she sees. This sucker is 17" long and 10" around. Yeah. It's far more cucumber than I know what to do with! I've been putting it on my eyes, slicing it into glasses of water, throwing it into salads...what the heck else can I do with it?!
Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic Boston lettuce, farmers' market cherry tomatoes, organic carrots, and Tracy's cucumber, banana, Kashi granola bar, organic applesauce with organic cinnamon, local organic pepper jack cheese, and Ancient Grains crackers.
I know that July in Ohio is not really the ideal time for hot, hearty soup, but I was really in the mood for this stuff yesterday. It's so easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I just went for it. When Chip arrived home, he took off his motorcycle helmet in the (detached) garage and could already smell the soup. He walked in the back door (into the kitchen) and said, "I was hoping I was smelling our house! Yum!" We both enjoyed the soup but agreed that perhaps we should save the rest for some cooler weather. So in the freezer the leftovers went.
Homemade lentil soup (with organic lentils, CSA onions, and organic carrots), organic local whole wheat bread from the farmers' market, organic dark chocolate, raw almonds, banana, and an organic Braeburn apple.
We've been having dinners with no leftovers lately, which means that lunches have required some extra work. This one feels a little uninspired, but Chip was pretty excited about the rice. It's modified from a recipe my mom used to make growing up, called Browned Rice in Bouillon. It's pretty easy: saute some garlic and chopped onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add rice and saute for five minutes. Add broth, cover, and simmer until done. It's a really basic recipe, but with some peas added in, it's got plenty of protein, veggies, and flavor.
Organic brown rice with CSA onion, organic garlic, organic vegetable broth, and organic peas, organic edamame with sea salt, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic applesauce with organic vanilla, and grilled sesame asparagus.
Chip let me go grocery shopping and to Costco this weekend, while he went to the farmers' market. I came back with tons of fruit, and he came back with tons of veggies. It worked out pretty nicely...our fridge and kitchen are filled with beautiful produce, as are our bellies (and our lunches)! We are still really enjoying the little tomatoes, and it's been great to have so much awesome produce on hand. I'm going to miss summer when it's over!
Watermelon, local cherry tomatoes with basil from our garden and shaved Parmesan, organic dried cranberries, organic Sultana golden raisins, pretzel snaps, natural peanut butter, and a sandwich on sprouted grain bread with hummus, organic spinach, CSA cucumber, Cheddar, and red onion.
I was out of the house for a while on Saturday, so I packed a few things to take with me. We had another great week with our CSA, and I was able to pack a few items from it.
Ancient Grains crackers, organic local pepper Jack cheese, CSA Mirabelle plums, organic dried cranberries, CSA cucumber with lemon pepper seasoning, and organic baby carrots.
Oh, breakfast for lunch. We've had a crazy past 36 hours, including a dog fight in our house, two trips to the emergency vet, and surgery and stitches for poor little Emmy. I didn't get to sleep on Wednesday night at all, so I woke up from a nap on Thursday at 10 p.m.(!!!) and threw this together. Breakfast for lunch is often quicker to throw together than lunch for lunch, and that was the idea here. While the omelet cooked, I made everything else, and all in all it only took about ten minutes. And then I went back to bed!
Organic Fuji apple, Navel orange, raw almonds, organic creamy wheat cereal with organic vanilla and a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar, and a pastured egg omelet with Cheddar and asparagus.
This lunch was all requested by Chip. As we were eating dinner (the fried rice), I asked him what he wanted for lunch. He came up with everything you see here, except the pita. We wandered around the kitchen, the pantry, the fridge, for about 10 minutes, trying to figure out what to put in the side. Finally we decided to leave it empty. Then I saw the pitas in the fridge and a light bulb went off. I was really excited that I'd found something vegan to put in the side area, and was so proud of my vegan lunch. Eh, not so much. I forgot about that milk chocolate. So close! Maybe tomorrow.
Homemade fried rice with organic tofu, broccoli, and organic cauliflower, trail mix with milk chocolate from Holland, raw almonds, organic raw cashews, organic Sultana golden raisins, and organic dried cranberries, whole wheat pita with natural peanut butter, half of a banana (the other half had gone bad), and an organic Fuji apple with organic cinnamon.
This lunch is a first, in that I needed a lidded container for each part of the meal. It is also the first time that I offered Chip a sandwich or a salad and he picked salad. I was so sure he'd want an avocado sandwich! This is our second time trying kiwi fruit. Last time, he ate it, but wasn't thrilled with the consistency. Maybe this time he'll like it a little better.
Also, meet Frank! He's a beautiful young boy who retired at an early age from racing. He's a big dumb lug, and I just love him.
We were also surprised today with another foster: WWW Kojak ("Jack"). He's an owner surrender, and has not been well taken care of for the past few years. I hope I can love him back to health and help him put on a few pounds. He's a very sweet guy who seems really confused as to why his previous owner tied him to a man's front porch and then drove away.
And here's lunch:
All packed up (the utensils are under the dried fruit):
Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic carrot, grape tomato, local Cheddar/jack cheese, and avocado, organic quinoa with vegetable broth, garlic, cumin, and chipotle, organic dried cranberries, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic kiwi fruit, and steamed broccoli and organic cauliflower with butter and sea salt.
Another Clean Eating Magazine lunch left over from dinner...yum! (recipe here) The latest addition to Chip's diet is grape tomatoes. He has insisted for years that he hates tiny tomatoes. We went out to basi italia last week and had a caprese salad. It was made with pea sprouts, pesto, housemade mozzarella, and...grape tomatoes! And Chip loved it. He housed tonight's dinner that was covered with grape tomatoes, and even said they tasted good. It's ridiculous how happy this makes me. Later this week we'll be trying kiwi again. It didn't go over so well last summer.
Also, speaking of basi italia...I haven't yet mentioned fudha. Fudha (pronounced like "buddha") is an organization that launched in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this year. They partner with locally owned restaurants, particularly those that focus on local ingredients. Twice a week, they offer a "fudha:" a coupon to one of these local restaurants. Each time someone purchases a fudha (i.e. pay $10 and get a $20 coupon to Betty's), $1 is donated to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. It's awesome all around: I save money, some money goes to a good cause, I get to go out to dinner, and I get to vote with my wallet by patronizing cool local places. If you are in the area, you should definitely sign up! Chip and I have been able to go to a lot of cool places: Betty's, basi italia, Tip Top, Mozart's, Haiku, and Late Night Slice (which we both agree is the best pizza we've ever had...we had a long discussion about it during one of our fifteen hours in the car this past week).
And since this post is long enough already, check back tomorrow and I'll introduce Frank, our latest foster.
Here's what tonight's dinner looked like as dinner:
And crammed into the lunchbox:
Whole banana, half of an organic Fuji apple, oganic corn, organic spiced black beans, raw almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, grape tomatoes, organic redleaf lettuce, whole wheat pita, and salsa.
We're back! We had a wonderful trip and got to see many of our friends and family members. Emmy and Cal did really well in the car, and on the way home, we got a call from Emmy's rescue. An approved adopter has selected her, and it looks like she'll be adopted in two weeks. Yay for Emmy!
When we returned home, we found that our garden had gotten even more out of hand. The zucchini plant that had had only flowers on it when we left had two huge fruits. One of our purple bell peppers had ripened also. Very exciting times! We grilled both up with dinner tonight, and the leftovers are in Chip's lunch. We also made a huge grocery shopping trip and picked up tons of fresh fruits, so I'm hoping this will be a colorful week.
Whole wheat pita with hummus, organic carrot, grape tomato, and organic redleaf lettuce, organic Fuji apple, Kashi granola bar, milk chocolate from Holland, raw almonds, raw organic cashews, and grilled veggies (zucchini and purple bell pepper from our garden, and asparagus).
I was really excited to make lunch for myself. Not so I could eat it (though it does look tasty), but so I could get some new stuff on the old blog. You know...yogurt, blueberries, carrots, etc. We got a great haul from the CSA this weekend, and I am glad I was able to use some things in my lunch here.
I don't think we'll be packing lunches while we're home in Maryland, so this will be it for this week. Catch you next Monday!
Organic raspberry soy yogurt with wheat germ and CSA blueberries, CSA carrots (white and orange!!), Kashi strawberry cereal bar, Yummy Earth organic lollipop, organic crispy almonds, organic raw cashews, organic Sultana golden raisins, and natural peanut butter on local organic whole wheat bread.
Happy birthday Chip! Chip will be 25 on the day he eats this lunch. I can't believe it! He's younger than I, and I've always felt like he was really young. Eh, someday (too soon) I'll be 30 and he'll still be 27. That will make him seem really young again to me.
Anyway, we have two more "cleaning out the fridge" lunches. Whatever fruits and veggies we weren't able to finish, we've packed up to take to my parents' house. They'll enjoy the squash, zucchini, and carrots from our CSA, and I will take advantage of the strawberries, blueberries, and chard for some breakfast smoothies.
We'll snack on this in the car, though Chip will probably need to not be driving when he eats, since he'll need utensils. I was planning on driving most of the way anyway, so he can take advantage of the movies and such on his new iPod Touch (Flight of the Conchords, Psych, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall will be entertaining us on this trip, it seems).
Whole wheat rollups with natural peanut butter and grape jelly, milk chocolate from Europe, organic raw cashews, organic crispy almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, Kashi apple cereal bar, organic Michigan applesauce, and organic whole wheat tri-color cavatappi with pesto and marinara sauces mixed together.
Chip worked from home on Friday morning. We share one car, and he has a motorcycle that he takes to work when the weather is conducive. We got some rain on Friday, and we had annual vet appointments for all of our pets, so we needed the car at home. When we got back from the vet, Chip ate his lunch before he headed out to work. And I sneaked a photo! Well, I sneaked one photo, and then he noticed what I was doing and I got the one below. I always imagined it was pretty adorable to see him eating his little lunchbox, and it really was!
The verdict on this lunch was that it was great! The cookies went first, and the sandwich went last. Chip said he saved the best for last. I was surprised that he thought the sandwich was the best!
In other news, Queenly was adopted today! We are so happy for her, and know she's going to a wonderful home. We'll miss her silly face!
We'll be taking another break from the blog this coming week. We're headed to Maryland for the week on Tuesday to visit our families. We'll pack some snacks for the road, but probably no lunches. We'll be back in action on July 19th (and with a new foster in tow: Soy Franco, aka "Frank").
Another "cleaning out the refrigerator" kind of lunch here. The only thing we didn't have on hand already is the bread. I don't eat much bread, so I don't keep any around while Chip is out of town. I bought a small loaf today and if we have too much by the time we're supposed to leave for Maryland, perhaps we'll have some sandwiches in the car!
This is another lunch that I got completely assembled except for one container that I just couldn't fill! I gave Chip the option of peanut butter and pretzels or quinoa. You can see what he picked!
Sandwich on local organic whole wheat bread, organic avocado, organic tomato, lettuce from our garden, and organic baby spinach, organic Fuji apple, Speculaas, milk chocolate from the Netherlands, organic raw cashews, organic crispy almonds, pretzel snaps, natural peanut butter, organic corn, and local green beans.
Breakfast for lunch! We have eggs to use up , so I decided to make an omelet. Then I read this post about making your own instant oatmeal, so I whipped up some of that (I skipped the salt though). I haven't included oatmeal in a lunch before because we don't buy the instant kind, and cooking the regular kind can get messy in a microwave. Chip will just add some boiling water to this and be done with it! Once I had those two things made, I added the apple. And then I nearly drove myself insane trying to figure out what else I could pack. I begged Chip to take some mandarin oranges. "I hate those things." Come on, Chip! "Why? It's not hurting you." Um, yes it is hurting me.
Chip saved the day, however, when I asked him if he liked cherries. "Well, I like cherry pie." Done. We have tons of cherries from our CSA, and while I eat white cherries like candy (and have pit-spitting contests with my dad), I'm not so into the red ones. Though they are really beautiful. I looked up a quick and easy recipe for cherry pie filling, which confirmed that it's really basic and easy. So I pitted a bunch of cherries, then added a pinch of evaporated cane juice and some flour to thicken. He can either dip the bits of bagel in the cherries, or spread the cherries on the bagel. It's ridiculous how excited I get when I learn that Chip secretly likes a fruit or vegetable.
Oh, and because everyone always wants to know about the apples: I squeezed a little bit of fresh lime juice on these apple slices. They were beginning to turn brown within about 10 minutes of cutting them.
Homemade instant oatmeal with organic local oats, organic Sultana golden raisins, evaporated cane juice, and cinnamon, organic Pink Lady apple, organic locally-made bagel, CSA cherries, and an omelet with pastured eggs, Cheddar, and organic baby spinach.
We're back! Chip returned safe and sound from the Netherlands. He got to be at the first stage of the Tour de France, which was an awesome experience. He had a productive and exhausting trip. He saw lots of bikes, ate tons of tasty food, visited his uncles (who live in Den Haag), and even met a greyhound!
Which reminds me. While Chip was gone, another foster fell into my lap (meaning: Chip wasn't here to tell me no). Meet PTL Black Prize. He is a big, gentle, sweet boy, and he fits in here so well. He came to our house last Saturday, and it was the first time I'd had four dogs here. He's really easy, and I think Cal likes having a male buddy around. In other greyhound news, our foster Queenly will be adopted this weekend, and we're really excited about it!
Here's tomorrow's lunch. For the next few days I imagine things will be pretty boring here, because Chip and I are headed to Maryland next week to visit our families. Impending vacation = eating the perishable food that's around and not buying more. The one wrench in these plans is that we pick up our CSA this Saturday. Perhaps Monday we'll have a lunch full of apricots, cherries, lettuce, chard, and sage. Unfortunately there's only one thing on that list that Chip eats. Then again, Branny hides foods her husband doesn't like...maybe I could make some kind of smoothie out of those things? I'm sure it would taste awesome. Ha!
Local green beans, organic steamed edamame with sea salt, Kashi trail mix bar, organic "crispy almonds," organic Sultana golden raisins, organic raw cashews, Speculaas (Dutch cookies that Chip absolutely loves), barbecue sauce, and Gardein 7-Grain Crispy Tenders.
