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.
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.
Happy Friday! This Friday lunch has tons of fruits and veggies, so I decided to add in a special treat. Teddy Grahams have been a Chip favorite for years. We never buy them, and I'm not really sure why. But I picked some up the other day and Chip had a huge smile on his face when I pulled them out of the grocery bag.
In other news, Roxie went back home to her family today. She was SO excited to see her dad when he arrived. She was jumping all over him, which I have absolutely never seen her do. It was adorable. And our little Heidi went to her forever home tonight. Her family is super excited about adopting her, and they are wonderful people. And how could they resist this face?
Cal is mystified as to where his buddies have gone, and he's been curled up on the couch in a little ball all evening.
And lunch. I squeezed a little bit of lemon juice onto the apple because it started to turn brown as soon as I cut it.
Sandwich on local whole wheat bread with roasted portobello, Cheddar, organic spring mix, and spices, watermelon, Teddy Grahams, banana, and an organic Rainier apple.
I think I'm in a lunch rut again. I haven't been cooking so much for dinner, and I've been slacking on the grocery shopping, so making lunch hasn't been very fun. I need to get out and get some good food in the house again. The crappy weather has been deterring me, but now that it's sunny, I have no excuse!
Organic quinoa with organic carrot (with vegetable broth, cumin, garlic, and black pepper), Navel orange, fair trade organic dark chocolate, banana, and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic spring mix, Campari tomato, organic peas, organic corn, and avocado.
I did a very bad/good thing this weekend. It's bad because it is unhealthy, but it's good because it's delicious. For some reason, I've had cake on my mind. My mom made me a recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook a few times when I was growing up: Bonnie Butter Cake with French Silk frosting. I was able to find a recipe online (since Mom and her cookbook are in Maryland), and decided to whip up a batch of cupcakes. We've eaten far too many of them already. Starting Monday I will attempt to give them away to friends because no two people need to eat this much butter and sugar!
Funny story: Chip took his first bite of one of these and we had the following exchange.
Chip: I thought these were all organic.
Katie: They are.
Chip: But they don't taste healthy.
Katie: They aren't healthy.
(Moral of the story: organic does not necessarily = healthy!)
Organic Gala apple, homemade cupcake, organic fair trade dark chocolate, organic flame raisins, organic cashews, organic roasted & salted sunflower seeds, almonds, banana, and a whole wheat wrap with avocado, Cheddar, organic carrot, Newman's Own salsa, organic spring mix, and organic redleaf lettuce.
We've been having such beautiful weather here all week (around 70* and sunny every day), and this just feels like a nice, light, colorful, spring lunch.
Tillamook cheddar cheese, Ancient Grains crackers, banana, organic flame raisins, organic fair trade dark chocolate, organic applesauce, and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic spring mix, organic carrot, Campari tomato, and avocado. I included a little cup of hummus for salad dressing, per Chip's request.
I feel like I've been slacking on lunches lately. I didn't make one for Tuesday, and Monday's was thrown together really quickly in the morning. I took a few extra minutes to make this one, and Chip approves of it in advance. And as will many lunches in the near future, it includes spring mix. We've barely made a dent in that stuff since I bought it last week! I love Costco, but I guess it's not necessary for just two people.
In other news, I found this in a hanging fern on our front porch two Fridays ago. In the time since, the speckled egg died and two more blueish ones were laid. Tonight I discovered that one of the baby birds hatched! I can't wait to watch them grow up!
And lunch:
Organic quinoa with organic vegetable broth and organic garlic, whole wheat rollups with hummus, Cheddar, Campari tomato, and organic spring mix, fair trade organic dark chocolate with almonds, organic flame raisins, organic unsweetened applesauce, and a whole Navel orange.
So my camera deleted all its files, and this lunch's picture was lost. It was beautiful too; I threw together lunch this morning, so I got a great photo of it outdoors with good light. Oh well.
Whole wheat wrap with roasted portobellos, roasted red onion, organic spring mix, organic redleaf lettuce, cheddar cheese, and salsa, banana, Clif Z Bar, organic Michigan applesauce, and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic spring mix, and organic carrot.
I managed to pull off another springy, colorful, vegan lunch today! And I'm exhausted. I'm finally back into running, after eight weeks of nothing but terrible, painful, breathless, awful runs. I set out to run 5 today and did 7 because I felt so good! Time to go rest those legs.
Salad with organic spring mix, organic redleaf lettuce, organic carrot, Campari tomato, and organic peas, Gardein "Santa Fe Good Stuff"* (vegan chicken stuffed with black beans and corn with a roasted tomato sauce), Clif Z Bar, Navel orange, and an organic Braeburn apple.
*I wouldn't think this would be clean, but it's featured in this month's Clean Eating Magazine.
Yum! A nice fresh vegan lunch for a beautiful spring day. I picked up THREE pounds of organic spring mix at Costco this weekend, and I'll be attempting to use it up for at least two weeks. Fortunately I also got a salad spinner on Saturday. I've been keeping it in the fridge, filled with clean salad, so it makes grabbing a salad really easy. I hope that helps us burn through this spring mix! So far we've each had two salads, and this lunch includes some spring mix as well.
In other news, Kendrick went to his forever home today. We're a little nervous to see how things go (he gets some serious separation anxiety), but we're definitely optimistic. His new family is lovely, and they have another greyhound to keep Ken company. Yay for Kendrick! I miss him already.
Here he is in his new family's car, ready to head home from a long walk at Highbanks Metro Park. He's one of the happiest dogs I've ever met. Love that smiling face!
And of course, lunch:
Sandwich on local whole wheat bread with hummus, organic carrot, organic redleaf lettuce, organic spring mix, and black pepper, organic Braeburn apple with natural peanut butter, organic flame raisins, organic fair trade dark chocolate with almonds, saffron rice, and a whole banana.
