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.
Aaaaaannnnnd...we're back! Chip took a two-week business trip to Belgium and the Netherlands, and I wasn't making lunches. So, he's back, and we're back to the blog, and back to making some tasty lunches!
Here's one from before he left. I found this amazing ravioli at the grocery store here. It's all super wholesome ingredients, nothing artificial, and it's made in Italy. It was really expensive, but man, was it delicious! I also got to use up the last of my homemade marinara sauce.
Spinach ravioli with homemade marinara sauce, banana, Kashi granola bar, organic applesauce, and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, Roma tomato from our garden, organic pine nuts, and organic mushrooms.
Happy summer! Summer is definitely apparent in this lunch; it includes basil and tomatoes from our backyard garden! The garden is still a work in progress, but we're seeing lots of lettuce (Bibb and Wildfire Mix), some green beans, and a few Roma tomatoes.
Chip and I were laughing tonight about all the money we've put into this garden. I decided that if we were going to do it, we'd do it right! We bought a bunch of organic dirt (and our awesome next door neighbor gave us several bags too), and I spent money on good seeds and some seedlings. All in all, we've spent at least $100 getting this garden started, and considering that we've so far only picked three tomatoes, that means that the two that are in this lunch cost us about $66. I know it'll even out as we get more veggies, and we can use the same dirt next year, but still...these are the most expensive tomatoes we've ever eaten! Chip thinks this is hilarious.
Organic whole wheat spinach ravioli with half marinara sauce and half pesto sauce, organic Michigan applesauce, organic fair trade milk chocolate with hazelnuts, organic lollipop, homemade banana bread, Caprese salad with Roma tomatoes from our garden, basil from our garden, and local mozzarella
Oops! I fell asleep last night before I could make lunch! I threw this together quickly this morning. I love keeping ravioli on hand in the fridge for a quick easy lunch. I was able to make the rest of the lunch in the time it took the ravioli to cook. All in all, it was less than 10 minutes!
Gala apple, 1/2 of a PB&J on locally made organic 10-grain bread, Nature Valley granola bar, banana, and organic spinach ravioli with cabernet marinara sauce.
I'm going to let you in on a secret. It's how I get people to like me. I give them my famous almond bread. My mom has made this every year for the holidays since I was 5, and two years ago I started making it too. I made a loaf for each of my friends, and it was unanimous: this stuff is incredible. I mean...it's made of oil, sugar, flour, and eggs...how could it be bad, right? I've even successfully made it gluten free for a celiac friend.
If you'd like to make a few friends, I will share this recipe with you:
Ingredients:
2 1/3 c sugar
1 1/8 c oil
1 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp melted butter
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp salt (I use less)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 c flour
Sliced almonds
Instructions:
In a large bowl, combine sugar, beaten eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, almond, and butter. Beat at medium speed as you add the remaining ingredients except almonds.
Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans (9 x 5), or 5 - 6 mini loaf pans (I get better results with the little ones). Sprinkle almonds on top of each loaf.
Bake at 350 for 45 - 60 minutes.
Organic four cheese ravioli with pomodoro sauce, farmers' market winesap apple, homemade almond bread, and a salad with organic redleaf lettuce, organic spinach, and tomato.
I don't remember this lunch...at all. I have no idea where the ravioli came from. I might've gotten them from Whole Foods...but I feel like I didn't. I guess this lunch was just not very memorable. Healthy, but not memorable.
Mushroom ravioli with vegan marinara sauce, farmers' market apple with cinnamon, reduced fat cheddar cheese stick, and farmers' market green beans.
For some reason, this post is out of order. Oh well...
Here are two more local items in a very hearty lunch. If I remember correctly, this is another day that Chip went out for a bike ride at lunch, so I included some heavier, more filling food. When that guy exercises, all he wants to do afterward is eat, eat, eat!
Organic spinach ravioli with pomodoro sauce, farmers' market Gala apple, Quaker reduced sugar granola bar, reduced fat Chips Ahoy, peanut M&Ms, and PB&J on farmers' market organic whole wheat bread.
I have a confession. While I love healthy, local, and wholesome food, sometimes (like once every 3 or 4 years) I start wanting to eat a salad from Olive Garden. It's somehow all I want, and it's an itch that just can't be scratched without hanging my head and going to a not very good chain restaurant. Oh well...at least we got some leftovers out of it.
Olive Garden mushroom ravioli with marinara sauce, farmers' market Gala apple, peanut M&Ms, homemade brownie, and PB&J on a potato hot dog roll.
