Chip's lunch: June 11, 2012

We're back in action!  For now, I suppose.  Apparently I'm not very good at keeping up with this thing, so we'll see how long this lasts.

I start a new job tomorrow, and I'm extremely excited.  In my excitement, I did a meal plan for the week, which I haven't done since, oh, October.  This means I have lunches planned for the rest of the week.  Usually if I have a plan like this, I stick to it, so I might go on a week-long blogging binge.  I have no idea what my motivation will look like next week.

I made this week's meal plan by looking up the one I did for this week last year.  I modified it a little bit, and noticed that vegan coffee cake was in a few of the lunches I packed.  Since I didn't happen to make that this week, and since I wanted something a little healthier, I decided to finally try black bean brownies.  I used this recipe, minus the chocolate chips, plus probably a teaspoon of baking soda, and they turned out fantastically!  They're not super fudgy, but they have great texture and flavor, and Chip actually likes them.  I was seriously shocked.  Because really.  Beans + chocolate = delicious?  I wasn't so sure beforehand, but now I think I'll be making these again.



Fried rice with organic tofu and organic broccoli, homemade black bean brownies, organic raisins, raw almonds, macadamias, Honeycrisp apple, and a salad with organic lettuce, organic spinach, organic carrot, and plum tomato.

My lunch: September 27, 2011

My version of this lunch has a perfect little plum from our CSA. Unfortunately, we can't eat these before they go bad, but the ones we get are awesome! I also packed some Cajun cashews. These are sold in bulk at the co-op down the street from us. I have no idea what's on them, but it's mild, lightly salty, and has just a tiny hint of sweetness. They are a great snack when I want something salty and spicy and can convince myself to lay off the crab chips.



CSA apple, CSA plum, organic Cajun cashews, homemade vegan pumpkin bread, and homemade pizza with whole wheat crust.

Chip's lunch: September 27, 2011

The latest Clean Eating Magazine has a really tempting photo of a pizza taking up two pages...I couldn't resist. I used my usual crust recipe (doubled of course, so I froze half for later), and their sauce recipe. It was really easy: strained tomatoes, garlic, onion powder, red wine vinegar, and spices. This is a super easy recipe, inexpensive per serving, and very tasty!



CSA apple, banana, dried cranberries, pecans, homemade vegan pumpkin bread, and homemade pizza with whole wheat crust.

My lunch: September 26, 2011

When we got a pumpkin in our CSA, I was excited to make my own pumpkin puree. I'd meant to do it last year, and I just never got around to it. This time, I did it right, and it turned out so well! I halved the pumpkin and scooped out the seeds and pulp. I baked the two pieces for almost an hour. When it was done, I just scooped out the flesh and tossed it in the food processor. It turned out lighter in color and it smelled less strongly than the stuff from a can, but it tasted divine. I used it in this pumpkin bread and froze the rest (to be used in another tasty pumpkin recipe next week).



Pineapple cashew quinoa with organic quinoa, organic edamame, organic local red bell pepper, and organic broccoli, organic kiwi, organic Cajun cashews, homemade vegan pumpkin bread, and an apple from our CSA

Chip's lunch: September 26, 2011

I hate apologizing for my crap camera, but here I go again. It takes really unfortunate pictures indoors, but I didn't have daylight to take this photo!

This stir fry was really good, and it got me to break out the quinoa, which I had sort of forgotten about. A little bit of blog browsing the other day brought me to this recipe: Pineapple Cashew Quinoa. I discovered over Christmas last year that not only am I no longer allergic to pineapple, but it is DELICIOUS! I am so in love with pineapple now! I love sweet and salty things too (thank you, Jeni's salty caramel ice cream), and this seemed like the perfect way to do it. We both liked it a lot, and it was a nice, summery, packed-with-protein meal.



Pineapple cashew quinoa with organic quinoa, organic edamame, organic local red bell pepper, and organic broccoli, banana, organic macadamia nuts, organic Sultana golden raisins, homemade vegan pumpkin bread, and an apple from our CSA.

My lunch: July 19, 2011

My version of this lunch has some local blackberries in it instead of the cauliflower (which is delicious, by the way). I never really ate blackberries growing up, and have learned to love them in the past two years as an Ohioan. They're really prevalent here in the summer, and they've become one of my favorite local fruits.



Ginger soy tofu and edamame stir fry with organic tofu, organic edamame, organic cashews, local green beans, and organic bell pepper, organic brown rice, pecans, organic Sultana golden raisins, local blackberries, and a CSA apple.

Chip's lunch: July 19, 2011

This is another recipe that we've tried from Clean Eating Magazine. I've found that most stir fries seem to taste the same after a while...soy sauce, garlic, ginger, veggies. So what's new? This one includes a few unusual ingredients that make it unique (honey and mustard, for example), and we both appreciated the change. Of course, I didn't tell Chip this one has mustard in it until after he ate it, because he thinks he hates mustard, but he might have to reconsider now!

Since I started working, I've been doing my best to plan meals for the week each Sunday. It's a lot of work, both in the planning part (leafing through blogs, cookbooks, etc) and the preparation part. But it makes life so much easier during the week, that it's absolutely worth it. I think part of what makes it so helpful is that I do some prep work on Sunday (i.e. for this recipe, I chopped veggies, pressed tofu, and made the sauce), but also that I just don't have to think about things during the week. I've got my little list of lunches and dinners for each day, and I can just fly through it all without a second thought.



Ginger soy tofu and edamame stir fry with organic tofu, organic edamame, organic cashews, local green beans, and organic bell pepper, organic brown rice, pecans, organic Sultana golden raisins, local graffiti cauliflower, and a CSA apple.

Chip's lunch: July 18, 2011

OK so it has been forever. Life has gotten crazy, in ways good and bad, and blogging (and even making lunches) has taken a back seat. We're doing some catch up here for now, and I hope to be better at keeping up with this, as long as more things don't come up. You know, things like...

-Chip traveling for work

-Fostering massive quantities of kittens (they were returned to the shelter 3 weeks ago so they could be adopted)



-Renovating the (only) bathroom (which means using the toilet at the market down the street, showering at the gym, washing my hair in the kitchen sink, etc)



-Our cat, Max, being diagnosed with Feline Interstitial Cystitis



-Fostering lots of dogs, like these guys:

Darcass the Nite ("Nite")



Woody the cocker spaniel mix:



JA's Omar ("Alonzo")



-Throwing a 4-day long wedding at our house over Labor Day



-Cal getting half of his left ear bitten off in a freak accident (this required two nights at the vet and two surgeries)



So yeah. Things have been busy! We're hoping that life takes it easy on us for a while now; we're eager to get back to normal.

Here is Chip's lunch from July 18. On the 17th, we had dinner at our friends' house, and they sent some leftovers home with us, including this amazing homemade pesto pasta, with basil from the CSA we share with them. Yum!



Rotini with homemade pesto and squash/zucchini from Laura's garden, CSA cherries, raw almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, local apple, and a salad with CSA lettuce, organic mushrooms, and local pea sprouts.

My lunch: June 22, 2011

The farmers' market has been so good to us this summer! While our garden has gotten huge without producing any fruit, the farmers' market is always full of tasty local treats, like this cucumber, the pepper jack cheese, and the raspberries in the scone. In attempting a garden for the second year in a row (and seeming to fail again...but we'll see about that in time), I have such an appreciation for the farmers at our market. I guess next year I will either need to commit and spend some time learning to garden (and actually gardening), or skip it altogether.



Organic Gala apple, CSA cucumber, fruit leather, homemade raspberry scone with lemon icing, local pepper Jack cheese, and whole grain crackers.

Chip's lunch: June 13, 2011

Sometimes, I think my lunches are really pretty. This is one of those times. It's so colorful, and the picture turned out great (I have a crappy regular camera, and approximately zero photography skills). It looks tasty and healthy, and when Chip sneaked a peek, he was excited to get to eat it.

We have a few pieces of non-lunch-related news here. The more fun news is that our foster cat, Naomi, finally gave birth this weekend. She saw a vet in mid-May who estimated she was due June 1. When June 10 rolled around, we took her to a vet, who did an X-ray. The vet told us that she saw the most kittens she'd ever seen on an X-ray: 9 to 11. Average litter size is 5! We were shocked, and very upset, but hopeful that things would turn out OK. Naomi began labor this Saturday morning, and as of now, we have 7 kittens and she seems to be done. Whew! We are so glad the vet was mistaken, and all the little ones are healthy and strong. There's one calico, three orange and whites, and three torbies.

Here is one of the torbies, nursing herself into a milk coma:



Here's Naomi with all 7:



Check out my next entry for our other big news!



Homemade fried rice with local organic broccoli and organic tofu, homemade vegan coffee cake, raw almonds, dried cherries, organic Gala apple, and a salad with organic local redleaf lettuce, organic local salad mix, organic mushrooms, organic carrot, and Campari tomato.

Chip's lunch: June 8, 2011

I made a pledge about two months ago that I would eat a salad a day. I realized that without any planning around food, I would just graze on all the easy stuff in the kitchen: diet soda, candy, chips, crackers, cookies, etc. I wasn't taking the (small amount of) time to put together decent meals for myself, and I was paying for it for sure!

In keeping with this, I have been making sure to keep the fridge full of lettuce, salad, hardboiled eggs, and other salad ingredients. I wash and prepare some things ahead of time, but I still have to assemble it when it's salad time. The salad mix here came from the farmers' market this weekend. It's been plenty rainy and overcast, which is perfect for lettuce, and there's been a ton of it at the market. Our lettuce in our garden is growing like crazy, and I can't wait to put it in some lunches soon!



Salad with local organic salad mix, organic corn, organic bell pepper, and avocado, organic Gala apple, pecans, dried cranberries, and Rising Moon organic spinach florentine vegan ravioli with organic marinara sauce.

Chip's lunch: June 6, 2011

Over the weekend I grilled up some sausages from the Grain Meat Co. We love their Italian sausages: they're fairly authentic and nice and spicy, with plenty of salt. With some sauteed peppers and onions on a whole wheat roll, it's a nice complete meal that tastes like something you'd get at a ballpark or a backyard barbecue.



Grain Meat Co. Italian sausage with sauteed onions and organic bell pepper, steamed broccoli, raw almonds, dried cherries, locally produced pesto with homemade whole wheat herb focaccia, and an organic Gala apple.

Chip's lunch: May 26, 2011

Every week, yahoo! publishes a list of seven dinner recipes. I browse through them sometimes, even though the vegetarian recipes are few and far between. I saw this one, and was shocked that it didn't include chicken. I adapted in a little to fit our needs (skipped the prosciutto, used vegan "heavy cream" instead of dairy heavy cream, used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock), and it turned out great. Satisfyingly creamy, with tons of protein and even some veggies. I froze some of the leftovers, and it is great reheated.



Organic whole wheat rotini with organic mushrooms, organic mushrooms, and vegan white wine cream sauce, banana, pita chips, raw vegan taco dip, and an organic Gala apple.

Chip's lunch: May 5, 2011

I have been on a Mandarin orange kick lately, and thought I'd have Chip give them one more shot. And...they came back home with him after work. I don't get what's not to like! They're sweet, a little sour, bite-sized, and mild. I love them. Chip is just not a fan, and I guess it's time to accept it.

He did, however, enjoy the vegan Snickerdoodles I packed. I've been making lots of sweets, and while I'm not sure what's prompting it, Chip sure isn't complaining. I used this recipe, and while I followed it exactly, it didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped. They were tasty, but they were a tad on the salty side, and did have that floury, chewy texture like my mom's Snickerdoodles. I mean, it's not like we didn't eat them; they're long gone now :)



Homemade fried rice with organic broccoli and organic tofu, homemade vegan Snickerdoodles, pecans, dried cranberries, Mandarin oranges, and an organic Gala apple.

Chip's lunch: May 2, 2011

In my latest adventures in breadmaking, I decided to try focaccia. A friend told me about this amazing focaccia she'd gotten at Costco. I saw it there, and put it in my cart. As I was walking through the store, I said to myself, "wait...maybe I could make that myself." I replaced it on the shelf, and when I got home, I got right to work. As before, my stand mixer did the kneading, so I got to do the fun parts (brushing on the olive oil and herbs, and then eating the finished product).

The focaccia tasted awesome, and I might never forget it. As soon as it came out of the oven, I sliced up a few pieces, and got out some marinara sauce to dip it in. While I was doing this, the President came on TV to announce that Osama bin Laden had been killed. We munched on focaccia and were glued to the news for hours. Funny how some things just get burned into your memory.



Organic Gala apple, banana, pecans, dried cherries, organic marinara sauce, veggie pepperoni, and homemade whole wheat focaccia.

Chip's lunch: April 27, 2011

So somehow, I made it to 28 years old without ever having stromboli. Chip is always telling me about how he used to eat it in high school, bought from the school cafeteria. I had a frozen homemade pizza dough in the freezer, and decided to find a stromboli recipe online. I actually didn't really know what stromboli was, except that it was kind of like pizza. So once I found this recipe, I was able to adapt it a bit. I filled my half with sauteed mushrooms and spinach, plus some marinara sauce. I added organic mozzarella to Chip's half. He came home from work and it was in the oven and he was so surprised! He's been talking about stromboli for years, so to finally have it was out of the ordinary. We both really liked it, and the leftovers kept really well.



Homemade stromboli with whole wheat crust, organic spinach, organic portobellos, organic mozzarella, and Newman's Own marinara sauce, homemade split pea soup, organic raw cashews, raw almonds, homemade vegan key lime pie, and an organic Fuji apple.

Chip's lunch: April 25, 2011

For some reason this weekend, I decided I needed key lime pie. I decided to make one, and this recipe looked delicious, and, more importantly, easy. I (not surprisingly) couldn't find key limes in Ohio, so I used regular ones: five of them (much more than the recipe called for). It tasted fantastic, and was so easy! Next time, I will try the homemade crust too.



Sandwich on organic whole wheat bread with spicy red pepper hummus, organic redleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic red bell pepper, red onion, and organic portobellos, banana, Veggie booty, homemade vegan key lime pie, and an organic Fuji apple.

Chip's lunch: April 20, 2011

Last night I was leafing through Terry Walters' cookbook, Clean Start, to get some inspiration. I've felt really blah about cooking lately, and needed something to get my butt back in the kitchen. I leafed through the Spring section of the book (it's divided into seasons, as it focuses on eating seasonally), and found a delicious-looking recipe for split pea soup. I've never really had split pea soup, though it is traditionally part of Slovak Christmas Eve dinner. I decided to give it a shot, and wow! I thought it would taste or feel like it was lacking something, like salty smoky ham, or some kind of creaminess, but this stuff was amazing. Low fat, high in protein, full of veggies (onion, celery, and I added 2 cups of chopped carrots), and delicious. And plenty of leftovers for the freezer.

We ate our soup with some homemade bread. I finally got a stand mixer, and have been trying to take full advantage of it. I made bread for the first time ever, from a really basic recipe, and it turned out surprisingly well! I used 5 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of ground flax seed. Chip has been enjoying it with PB&J, and it also went really well with this soup.



Homemade split pea soup, homemade whole wheat flax seed bread, organic dark chocolate chips, almonds, banana, and an organic Fuji apple.

Chip's lunch: April 13, 2011

One thing that Chip has been a fan of for many years is a good breakfast sandwich. When he worked at a bike shop as a teenager, he would stop at Dunkin Donuts every morning, and they'd have his breakfast ready for him: a large coffee with cream and sugar, and a bagel with sausage, egg, and cheese. He ate this pretty much every day, along with plenty of Ho Hos, pizza, and frozen chicken nuggets. When we were bike messengers, we would stop at Song's Deli in Baltimore, this tiny little hole in the wall on the ground floor of 10 S Charles Street. We would get bagels with egg and cheese, and Mrs. Song mixed the eggs in a bowl and microwaved them to cook them. So...taking a cue from Mrs. Song, I made this bagel sandwich with two big pastured eggs, and a big handful of chopped veggies. Two minutes in the microwave, and lunch was quick, easy, and healthy.

Here it is all scrambled up:



And as lunch:



Whole wheat bagel with pastured local eggs, organic spinach, red onion, organic tomato, and organic red bell pepper, organic Fuji apple, organic raw cashews, dried cherries, and Annie's whole wheat pretzels.

Chip's lunch: April 12, 2011

Last week I had Chip stop at Whole Foods on his way home from work. I forget now what I sent him for, but I did tell him to feel free to pick up some of their house-made pesto if he wanted to. He did buy some, and told me how much he likes it; I had always thought he just kind of tolerates it. So, I whipped that pesto out on a busy morning, and ended up with this creation.

On a non-lunch-related note, I had the spinach on hand because I've been drinking a green monster every day for breakfast or lunch. A green monster is a smoothie with pretty much whatever ingredients you want, plus a big handful of spinach. You can't taste the spinach, but it adds some neat color, and more importantly, lots of nutrients. I make mine with a banana, a scoop of protein powder, ice, spinach, and some organic frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). Yum!



Organic Fuji apple, organic red bell pepper with spicy red pepper hummus, raw almonds, dried cranberries, Kashi oatmeal dark chocolate cookies, and organic whole wheat tri-color noodles with pesto, organic spinach, and organic tomato.