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 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 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: January 24, 2011

Once again, we're back from a hiatus due to a business trip. Chip spent 9 days in Calpe, Spain, as well as Mallorca. I went home to Maryland while he was away, since I hadn't seen my family over Christmas.

As usual, I made soup while he was gone. I bought some celery, which we both absolutely hate raw. We don't mind it in soup, but rarely does one recipe of soup require an entire package of celery. So I found two soup recipes that would use up the celery, and both turned out so well!

Here is the tofu noodle soup. I found the recipe on the side of a jar of Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken Base, which is a vegan soup base. It is so delicious...I've never tasted anything (vegetarian) quite like it. This tofu noodle soup is a lot like chicken noodle, which is something I'd venture to guess that most vegetarians miss.



Tofu noodle soup with organic spinach noodles, organic tofu, organic carrots, and organic celery, banana, organic Sultana golden raisins, and a whole wheat roll with margarine.

Chip's lunch: August 9, 2010

I spent some time gardening this weekend. We've got a watermelon growing, along with zucchini, green beans, a red pepper, and tons of Roma tomatoes. I bought some grape tomatoes at the farmers' market this weekend, and now we're swimming in tomatoes. I tried to think of a good dish that includes tomatoes, and I came up with bruschetta. Chip insisted on buying this whole wheat bread, and while it's delicious, it's worthless for sandwiches. I was glad to be able to use some of the bread and many of the tomatoes.

I just made up the topping myself. I used about 15 grape tomatoes, diced, and threw in about a teaspoon of very finely chopped onion. In a separate bowl, I whisked together about 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, plus a tiny clove of crushed garlic, some sea salt, and black pepper. I added the tomatoes and onion to the liquid, and then mixed in some fresh chopped basil from our garden. It looks and smells amazing. The photo doesn't do the beautiful tomatoes justice.



Organic local (ingredients and production) whole wheat bread from the farmers' market, bruschetta topping (organic grape tomatoes, CSA onion, organic garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil from our garden), organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, homemade lentil soup, and an organic Braeburn apple.

Chip's lunch: July 28, 2010

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.