Chip's lunch: October 5, 2010

W got some blueberries in our CSA share this week, so I decided to make some blueberry pancakes. Except once I'd mixed up the batter, I took the blueberries out of the fridge and realized...they're grapes! They are so delicious too. But they're definitely not interchangeable with blueberries for pancake purposes. So I mixed in some cranberries instead. Chip was so excited to see these in his lunch until he realized the cranberries weren't chocolate chips. Apparently we don't know our foods too well! He enjoyed this lunch just the same, and especially liked the scrambled egg...no surprise there.



100% pure maple syrup, homemade oatmeal pancakes with cranberries, banana, Kashi granola bar, pastured eggs with CSA Swiss chard, CSA corn, organic mushrooms, and peppers from my friend Lori's garden, and a CSA Melrose apple.

Chip's lunch: September 10, 2010

Mmmm...restaurant leftovers! We haven't had those in a really long time! My wonderful friend Lori took me out to lunch at Kogen's yesterday, and I had plenty of sesame tofu left over for Chip to have it in his lunch. And look! No banana! I'm sure they'll be back next week though. This is partly because, well, it's Chip, and bananas are what he eats, as well as the fact that there are no fewer than eleven bananas in our fruit bowl right now.



CSA watermelon, 1/2 sandwich on local organic 10-grain bread with guacamole, organic spinach, Roma tomatoes from our garden, and CSA red pepper, organic dark chocolate, organic Thompson raisins, organic macadamias, organic applesauce, and leftover sesame tofu with broccoli, water chestnuts, and fried rice.

Chip's lunch: August 23, 2010

The weather finally cooled off a bit today, and we were able to enjoy a summery dinner on the deck. Our garden and our CSA have been good to us lately, and we had some leftovers from dinner for Chip's lunch. The yellow pepper and corn (Chip refuses to eat corn on the cob; he only eats corn "off the cob") are from our CSA. The red pepper came from our garden. Our poor little red pepper plant has been hanging out in our garden since April, and has only given us one pepper. It was delicious, but that plant had better hurry up...cool weather is fast approaching!

Here's our beautiful red pepper:



And lunch:

Organic vegetable risotto, organic blackberry applesauce (Chip won't eat blackberries because of the seeds, but the flavor is OK with him), organic flame raisins, organic dark chocolate, organic dried cranberries, CSA corn "off the cob," and grilled vegetables (organic portobello mushrooms, CSA yellow pepper, red pepper from our garden).

Chip's lunch: August 6, 2010

I am too tired to write much; this has been a really busy day! I got in late this evening after running the Dublin Irish Festival 5K with Lori. And then eating some amazing cherry lambic sorbet from Jeni's.



I threw lunch together in just a few minutes, and now it's time for bed! Oh, and a few people have asked why I don't usually photograph salad dressing. One reason is because it doesn't usually fit into the lunch box. Another reason, as you'll see below, is that it doesn't photograph well. Oil looks all icky in the flash of a camera.



Salad with organic greenleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic carrot, Roma tomato from our garden, organic red pepper, organic scallions, and organic sesame seeds, little love note, watermelon, organic dried cranberries, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic raw cashews, banana, salad dressing (Newman's Own Sesame Ginger), and Newman's Own cheese pizza.

Chip's lunch: July 19, 2010

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).

Chip's lunch: June 24, 2010

Here we go again. Chip leaves tomorrow afternoon for Holland, so this is the last lunch I'll pack for a while. I might be able to pack him some snacks for the plane, but I'm not sure yet if I'll do that. If not, I'll see you in two weeks! I'm hoping that Chip will come back with some treats that may make appearances in some lunches...or in my belly. Last year he brought back chocolate and waffles from Belgium, and on a different trip he brought back butter cookies from Holland. And after a trip to Spain he brought me back some regaliz. Oh man...Spanish licorice. One kind is red licorice filled with vanilla stuff, and the other kind is vanilla stuff wrapped around red licorice. I ate it all and then realized it's made with gelatin. I felt terrible. But it's so delicious.


OK anyway...back to lunch...



Salad with CSA lettuce, organic baby spinach, organic cucumber, organic red pepper, and Roma tomato from our garden, watermelon, organic Sultana golden raisins, locally made organic whole wheat bagel with natural peanut butter, and local green beans/green beans from our garden (steamed with Smart Balance, sea salt, and black pepper).

Chip's lunch: June 22, 2010

We had a terribly sad day today. One of our former fosters, Roxie, became very ill recently, and she died today. She was only with her forever family for three months - not nearly long enough. She was a beautiful, spunky girl, who had a very tough life. Run free, sweet Roxie. You were dearly loved by so many.

Okie Galena, aka "Roxie" September 27, 2002 - June 21, 2010







Tuesday's lunch:



Salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic baby spinach, organic cucumber, Campari tomato, and local cheddar jack cheese, homemade banana bread, organic string cheese, organic fair trade milk chocolate with hazelnuts, organic Sultana golden raisins, raw almonds, hummus, and blanched vegetables (organic red pepper, local green beans, asparagus).

Chip's lunch: June 17, 2010

OK, so I know there's a lot of sugar here. But it's a special lunch. For a special man. Who's having a really rough time at work. He has earned these cookies and this chocolate! I don't think we've ever bought Milanos since we've been together (five years), but they are one of Chip's favorites. I picked him up a pack while he was at work yesterday and sneaked some into his lunch. They really made his day, and I'm glad to be able to do that with his lunch!

In all seriousness, though, I have been packing some sugary lunches. Even though it's from natural sources (raisins, fruit, etc.), it probably is a bit much. Though you can't tell from this lunch or the next one, I'm trying to be cognizant of the sugar content of Chip's lunches, and hope to reduce it a bit.



Homemade banana bread, raw almonds, Godiva extra dark chocolate truffle, organic Sultana golden raisins, Annie's mac and cheese, Milano cookies, banana, sandwich on local whole wheat bread with Tofurkey deli slices, organic local pepper jack cheese, organic red pepper, and organic redleaf lettuce.

Chip's lunch: June 14, 2010

Week one of our CSA was a success! We picked up our share on Saturday morning. We got: lettuce, peas, chard, fresh sage, and massive amounts of strawberries. Shelling peas by hand (which I'd never done before Saturday) really makes you appreciate every last pea when you're cooking! We're enjoying everything so far, and a few things have made their way into this lunch. Too bad Chip will never eat a strawberry...we've got plenty of them!



Organic Fuji apple, whole wheat wraps with hummus, local Cheddar/jack cheese, CSA lettuce, organic red pepper, and cucumber, Kashi trail mix chewy granola bar, CSA peas with local butter, sea salt, and pepper, local honey, and Gardein 7-Grain Crispy Tenders.

Chip's lunch: June 11, 2010

We've made it to another Friday! I was really excited to get this lunch packed while it was still light outside, so I got a beautiful photo. The salad in particular looks so pretty! Once again, I used a bunch of the veggies from our Nature's Garden box. We don't usually keep so many different vegetables on hand, so it was nice to be able to make such a colorful salad.

We will get our first CSA box on Saturday, and I'm hoping to whip up some new and different recipes next week with what's inside. It looks like it'll just be a surprise every other week, and the contents will probably take us out of our veggie comfort zone (aka bananas, apples, and lettuce). I'm excited, and hope that Chip will be adventurous with a few new foods!

I'm hoping there's more cucumber in our CSA future. I've been on a cucumber kick lately, and I put it in everything. I especially like a few thin slices in a glass of water. It's cool and refreshing, and that hint of flavor makes it easier to drink more water. I had cucumber water at my monthly Red Door Spa appointments in Baltimore back in the day (oh, the days pre-home ownership...when I had $80+ a month to spend on waxing). A friend from California was always drinking water with all kinds of stuff in it (strawberries, raspberries, citrus, etc), and I guess I just picked it up.



Leftover Newman's Own pizza, organic banana, Double Stuf Oreos, organic trail mix (all organic: raw almonds, cashews, roasted & salted sunflower seeds, and Sultana golden raisins), and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic cucumber, Campari tomato, organic red pepper, and organic carrot.

Chip's lunch: June 10, 2010

This lunch features leftovers from tonight's dinner. I got this month's Clean Eating Magazine last week, and finally cracked it open yesterday. There are several vegetarian recipes that look tasty, and a few more that can be vegetarianized. I decided to make the Ginger Tofu Stir-fry Rice Bowl, and it turned out way better than I expected! We both loved the delicate flavor and the spices with the tofu.

Some of the veggies we used came from Nature's Garden Delivered. This is a pretty neat service. They call themselves an online farmers' market. You sign up to have produce delivered weekly or bi-weekly, and a few days before the delivery, you get a list of what will be in your box. This week we got 5 potatoes, 2 bunches of lettuce, 3 limes, 4 huge apples, 5 carrots, 4 bananas, 1 cucumber, 1 tomato, and 2 Valencia oranges (everything is organic). They do their best to source local produce, and everything that's not local is organic. It was really convenient to do everything online, and this morning when we woke up, our box was on our front porch. We got a coupon to try this out once, and while we enjoyed it, we won't do it again since we already signed up for a CSA (and we get our first box of that on Saturday). But for those who don't have time to go to farmers' markets or shop around, I think this is a great service.

Here's the recipe for the stir-fry (Clean Eating Magazine, July/August 2010, page 69):
-1 1/2 cups brown rice
-4 tbsp whole wheat flour
-1 1/2 tsp onion powder
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
-2 tsp ginger powder, divided
-14 oz. extra firm tofu, cubed
-Olive oil cooking spray
-1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
-1 carrot, peeled and julienned
-1 stalk celery, chopped (I subbed in asparagus)
-1 yellow onion, diced (I cut it in 1" squares instead of dicing)
-6 ounces snow peas (I used regular frozen peas and corn)
-2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
-1 tbsp rice vinegar

1. Cook brown rice according to package directions.
2. In a shallow bowl, stir together second through fourth ingredients, plus 1 tsp of ginger powder. Dredge each tofu cube in this mixture and set aside.
3. Briefly heat large nonstick skillet (I used a wok) over high heat. Mist with cooking spray and heat for one minute. Reduce heat to medium high and saute tofu until lightly browned. Remove tofu and set aside.
4. Mist same pan with cooking spray, saute veggies until cooked.
5. In another bowl, whisk together 1 tsp ginger powder, soy sauce, and vinegar. Reduce heat of skillet with veggies to medium low and pour soy sauce mixture on top of vegetables. Add tofu and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve 1 cup vegetable-tofu mixture over 1/2 cup rice in individual bowls.



Ginger tofu stir-fry (with organic tofu, organic red pepper, organic carrot, organic onion, local asparagus, organic corn, and organic peas), steamed organic brown rice, half of a PB&J on local whole wheat bread, Kashi peanut butter chewy granola bar, organic banana, and an organic Fuji apple.

Sarah's lunch: April 2, 2010

You read that right. When I have guests in town, I make them eat food out of tiny little boxes. My friend from college, Sarah, is here in Columbus, and she is ridiculously enthusiastic about my lunches. So I bought her a Laptop Lunch set, and I made her first lunch! Something is telling me that the experience of eating it will be better than the food...she's beside herself with excitement.

It was really fun to pack lunch for someone besides Chip or myself, and I hope I get to do it again soon. Sarah, I hope your first Laptop Lunch is everything you want it to be. I feel like it would only be better if Mariah Carey were in one of the containers.



Organic tri-color whole wheat rotini with pesto, Parm, and crushed red pepper, white bean and spinach soup, natural Fruit Roll-Up, homemade brownie, hummus, and blanched vegetables (red pepper and asparagus) with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Chip's lunch: April 2, 2010

I feel like this is a fun springtime lunch. The weather got warm - almost hot - overnight here, and this light lunch full of vegetables feels just right for this time of year.



Organic whole wheat tri-color rotini with pesto and fresh Roma tomato, white bean and spinach soup, organic flame raisins, organic dark chocolate with almonds, homemade brownie, hummus, and blanched vegetables (red pepper and asparagus) with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Chip's lunch: March 31, 2010

This lunch contains a special request from Chip: apples with peanut butter. It's not super different or special, but apparently Chip really loves them. Another Chip favorite: pizza. This is from Whole Foods; every Tuesday their fresh pizzas are buy one get one free. We got two gigantic pizzas for $10! And we're trying something new today too: red pepper. Chip says he doesn't love it, but he's OK with it. I blanched it, which usually makes veggies more palatable to him. I sprinkled the veggies with sea salt and black pepper, and I think he'll enjoy dipping them into the hummus.

After I took this picture, I threw in some dark chocolate that I didn't realize we had. He loves something sweet at the end of his lunch. I guess that could be the muffin, but a little chocolate never hurt anyone!



Leftover Whole Foods pizza (made with local cheese), organic Cameo apple with peanut butter, hummus, homemade vegan carrot spice muffin, and blanched vegetables (red pepper, asparagus, broccoli).