My lunch: June 15, 2011

Similar to Chip's from the same day, with a few little tweaks. We've tried kiwi twice, and he just can't like it. So I guess I'll have to eat all the kiwis in the family! I found out recently that I'm no longer allergic, so I've been trying to make up for lost time. Yes, kiwi allergies exist, I swear.



Salad with organic local redleaf lettuce, organic local salad mix, organic corn, and spiced black beans, organic carrots, raw almonds, organic kiwi, homemade guacamole, and salsa.

Chip's lunch: June 15, 2011

Chip and I had homemade Chipotle-style burritos the night before this lunch, with some spiced black beans (cumin, garlic, lime, and chili powder) in lieu of meat. I couldn't figure out a way to get a burrito in these lunchboxes. It was the first time I'd been really stumped, and I started to get really frustrated! Eventually I gave up and turned it into a sort of southwestern salad. Similar to the original ingredients, with more lettuce, and no tortilla. I whipped up the guac myself for dinner. It turned out really well this time...it's always different since I just throw ingredients together and cross my fingers. As usual, it was just avocado, red onion, tomato, a small amount of garlic, salt, pepper, and lime juice. It got a little brown while waiting for lunch time, but that was to be expected.



Salad with organic local redleaf lettuce, organic local salad mix, spiced black beans, organic corn, and Tillamook Cheddar cheese, banana, Kashi trail mix bar, organic applesauce, homemade guacamole, and salsa.

Chip's lunch: March 8, 2011

Who doesn't love quesadillas? We had some red onion and green pepper on hand (which we don't usually have; usually I use a whole onion or whole bell pepper when I have one), so I made them into a quesadilla. Some local pepper jack cheese added some spice, and black beans added lean protein. Topped off with some Newman's Own salsa..yum!



Quesadilla on whole grain tortilla with local pepper jack cheese, reduced fat Colby cheese, organic black beans, organic green bell pepper, red onion, Campari tomato, and organic corn, banana, organic flame raisins, homemade vegan tapioca pudding, and salsa.

Chip's lunch: February 4, 2011

I invented this pizza for dinner last night, and kept calling it "Mexican pizza"...until I looked up what Mexican pizza actually is. This isn't it. But it's modeled after the Southwestern Pizza from Whole World Natural Restaurant. I haven't actually been there, but since it's a vegetarian restaurant, and it's so close by, we are hoping to go soon. Chip and I have a deal that every time one of our fosters is adopted, we go out to dinner. So as soon as Hendrix is adopted (I picked him up last night), we'll be headed up the street to Whole World!

I made this crust with the usual recipe, with whole wheat flour. This was the third time I'd made it, and it turned out better than ever! I made a double recipe, and used half right away while freezing the other half for later. I cooked up some black beans with cumin, garlic, and chipotle, then mashed them and used them as the sauce. I topped Chip's half with local pepper jack cheese, and then added some organic corn, Campari tomato, and chopped organic yellow bell pepper. We topped it all off with salsa and avocado and YUM! We both enjoyed it, and are glad that we have plenty of leftovers for both of our lunches.



Homemade southwestern pizza with local pepper jack cheese, spiced organic black beans, organic corn, Campari tomato, and organic yellow bell pepper, banana, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dark chocolate chips, avocado, Newman's Own salsa, and an organic Jonagold apple.

Chip's lunch: January 5, 2011

Reason number 45839472897 that we love Hawaii: macadamia nuts. I know you can get them everywhere, but it was neat to buy them where they're grown. They're a lot less expensive in Hawaii, too! We brought home a big canister of them. Yum!



Organic honeycrisp apple, steamed organic broccoli, raw almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, macadamia nuts, homemade banana bread, and whole wheat rollups with Boca black bean burger, organic salsa, Tillamook Cheddar cheese, and organic Boston lettuce.

Chip's lunch: November 17, 2010

It was really gross here on Tuesday: foggy, misty, rainy, icky, chilly. Chip and I both wanted some dinner that would keep us warm and fill us up. I surprised Chip with quesadillas...quesadillas that I attempted to make as healthy as possible. Whole wheat tortillas, reduced fat cheese, black beans, and veggies, plus plenty of salsa and avocado. It hit the spot perfectly, and fortunately, these quesadillas warm up pretty well, so in the lunch they went!



Quesadilla with whole wheat tortilla, reduced fat Cheddar Jack cheese, organic black beans, organic corn, green bell pepper from our garden, and Roma tomato from our garden, Newman's Own salsa, Navel orange, raw organic cashews, and a banana.

Chip's lunch: October 29, 2010

Another side effect of drooling over Tasha's blog was that I remembered how much I love avocado. We bought a few and promptly ate them. Chip had them on Wednesday's salad and today's sandwich, while I had them on a salad and spread on toast with some sea salt and black pepper. YUM! The toast idea is also Tasha's; it had never occurred to me to try that until I saw a picture of one of her delicious breakfasts. In any event, I made Chip one of his favorite sandwiches today: avocado. It's really versatile and works well with whatever we've got in the fridge. It's like a little taste of one of our favorite lunch places in California, Erik's Deli Cafe. The Del Monte Special was pretty much the only sandwich we could eat there, but that's OK with us...it's delicious!



Sandwich on organic whole wheat bread with organic avocado, Roma tomato from our garden, organic carrots, locally-made salsa, and CSA kale, banana, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, organic raw cashews, homemade vegan chili, and a CSA Northern Spy apple.

Chip's lunch: September 22, 2010

Who doesn't love a delicious grilled cheese? A few months ago, we had a big tomato on hand, and I decided to try grilled cheese with it. It was way more amazing than I expected! My mom has always done grilled cheese (plain) with some tomato soup. I always thought it was a Philadelphia thing, but maybe it's just a thing thing. Anyway, with all the tomatoes overflowing in our garden still, I figured I'd try to use some up again. I can't guarantee that this will be perfectly delicious by lunchtime, but my fingers are crossed.



Grilled cheese on organic whole wheat bread with Tillamook Cheddar and Roma tomates from our garden, steamed asparagus, Kashi granola bar, whole wheat rollups with hummus, local salsa, organic carrot, and CSA kale, and a CSA apple (no idea what kind...it's not Red Delicious like yesterday, and I can't remember what they told me this is...maybe Gala).

Chip's lunch: September 1, 2010

I hate being the guy who says obvious and boring things, but I can't believe it's September. Last September here was beautiful: low humidity, cool temperatures, and little rain. This September appears to be opposite, considering today is supposed to be 92* and humid. This weather makes me want fall to get here now, but I know we'll be missing the summer food soon enough.

Tonight's dinner was Southwestern egg rolls, from a recipe recommended by a friend. Back in the day, I worked at the Hard Times Cafe and couldn't get enough of their Santa Fe egg rolls. Chicken, black beans, corn, cheese...yum! I haven't yet found a tasty vegetarian substitute...til now. This recipe was so satisfying! Easy to make, ridiculously tasty, reasonably healthy, and plenty of leftovers. We both enjoyed these for dinner, and are both looking forward to having more for lunch. We will definitely make this again (though we may reduce the salt...it was a bit much).



Southwestern egg rolls with organic black beans, organic spinach, organic corn, and organic cheese, banana, Clif Z Bar (S'mores flavor), local salsa, guacamole, and a CSA apple.

Chip's lunch: August 11, 2010

Today was another ridiculous day with the animals, and I spent a few hours with Jack at the emergency vet. It appears he was stung by something (bee? spider? wasp?) and it caused an allergic reaction. He was covered in hives, his face was all swollen and lumpy, and his eyes were swelling shut. It came on really quickly and got worse and worse. So...to the e-vet we went.




I got back kind of late, and just threw lunch together. Dinner had no leftovers, so I didn't have a good starting off point. It took me a solid half hour to make this lunch; that is far longer than usual, and reminded me why I usually try to have leftovers with our dinner.



Organic steamed cauliflower and broccoli with Smart balance, sea salt, and black pepper, hummus with organic pine nuts and organic spices, Stacy's pita chips, raw almonds, raw organic cashews, Kashi apple cereal bar, organic applesauce, and whole wheat rollups with avocado, organic greenleaf lettuce, organic baby spinach, local organic grape tomatoes from the farmers' market, organic carrot, and Newman's Own salsa.

Chip's lunch: August 3, 2010

So we got a new fridge today. It's pretty much the most exciting (house-related) thing that's happened to us this year. Our house is 102 years old, so we've done a lot of preventative maintenance, as well as repairs. None of this has been particularly fun. And while we'd prefer to continue using our 20-some-year-old refrigerator, it is time to part ways with it. The repairman says it's on its last legs, and our home warranty helped us buy a new one. And it is beautiful. Everything in our kitchen is fairly old (though functional), and it's really exciting to have something so new and pretty. We've really agonized over our kitchen, and we never hesitate to make fun of the people on HGTV who are all, "oh, this kitchen is a gut job," just because there's no stainless steel or granite. Do laminate counter tops not hold your stuff as well as granite does? Does a stainless steel fridge make your food taste better? (In all fairness, though, we did go with stainless steel. Not our first choice, but since we're not staying in this house for more than five years or so, we figured we should go with what others prefer.)

Anyway...in taking items out of Old Fridge, I attempted to use up whatever I could so it wouldn't take up space in New Fridge. Hence the soup, applesauce, and guac. I realized once lunch was done that it's vegan, which is a nice bonus.

Goodbye, Old Fridge. You had a nice, multi-decade run. We will not miss you. We also will not miss covering the floor around you with rags to soak up all the water you leaked.



Hello, New Fridge. You are beautiful and new, and we love you already.









Whole wheat rollups with guacamole, organic greenleaf lettuce, organic spinach, organic grape tomatoes, and Newman's Own salsa, organic applesauce, raw almonds, organic dark chocolate, homemade lentil soup, and watermelon.

Chip's lunch: July 20, 2010

Another Clean Eating Magazine lunch left over from dinner...yum! (recipe here) The latest addition to Chip's diet is grape tomatoes. He has insisted for years that he hates tiny tomatoes. We went out to basi italia last week and had a caprese salad. It was made with pea sprouts, pesto, housemade mozzarella, and...grape tomatoes! And Chip loved it. He housed tonight's dinner that was covered with grape tomatoes, and even said they tasted good. It's ridiculous how happy this makes me. Later this week we'll be trying kiwi again. It didn't go over so well last summer.

Also, speaking of basi italia...I haven't yet mentioned fudha. Fudha (pronounced like "buddha") is an organization that launched in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this year. They partner with locally owned restaurants, particularly those that focus on local ingredients. Twice a week, they offer a "fudha:" a coupon to one of these local restaurants. Each time someone purchases a fudha (i.e. pay $10 and get a $20 coupon to Betty's), $1 is donated to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. It's awesome all around: I save money, some money goes to a good cause, I get to go out to dinner, and I get to vote with my wallet by patronizing cool local places. If you are in the area, you should definitely sign up! Chip and I have been able to go to a lot of cool places: Betty's, basi italia, Tip Top, Mozart's, Haiku, and Late Night Slice (which we both agree is the best pizza we've ever had...we had a long discussion about it during one of our fifteen hours in the car this past week).

And since this post is long enough already, check back tomorrow and I'll introduce Frank, our latest foster.

Here's what tonight's dinner looked like as dinner:



And crammed into the lunchbox:



Whole banana, half of an organic Fuji apple, oganic corn, organic spiced black beans, raw almonds, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic dried cranberries, grape tomatoes, organic redleaf lettuce, whole wheat pita, and salsa.

Chip's lunch: June 23, 2010

I am so glad I decided to subscribe to Clean Eating Magazine. There are lots of great ideas in it, and though they're not all vegetarian, they can often be tweaked. This recipe was full of flavor, and even Chip liked it! He's not too big on carrots (though he has come a LONG way from his days of removing even a molecule of carrot from his foods) and he hates vinegar, but the asparagus primavera got great reviews from him.




Whole wheat rollups with Boca black bean burger, organic spinach, CSA lettuce, organic red pepper, salsa, and local Cheddar jack cheese, pretzels, natural peanut butter, organic Sultana golden raisins, organic fair trade milk chocolate with hazelnuts, asparagus primavera with organic quinoa (asparagus, organic corn, CSA peas, organic carrot), and watermelon.

Chip's lunch: April 29, 2010

Yikes...this lunch is low on fruits and veggies, but I guess that goes along with the whole, "needing to go grocery shopping" thing. I made these quesadillas for dinner tonight, and Chip said, "this is why we never go out to dinner. Because this tastes better than going out, and it's cheaper and it's in reasonable portions." I took that as a request to make it again, so here it is!

Also, by request, here's how I made this guac:
2 large avocados
1/4 red onion, chopped
5 or 6 Campari tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 large lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste



Quesadilla with cheddar jack cheese, organic black beans, and red onion, homemade cornbread, organic fair trade dark and milk chocolate, raw almonds, organic Fuji apple, Newman's Own salsa, and homemade guacamole (avocado, Campari tomato, red onion, garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper).

Chip's lunch: April 26, 2010

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.

Chip's lunch: April 19, 2010

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.

My lunch: April 10, 2010

Today my friend Lori and I drove 3 pups from Columbus to Mansfield, OH. This was one leg of a long transport from somewhere in Tennessee to Ontario to a cattle dog rescue. All three dogs were adorable, but one of them (Whiskey) really stole my heart. She was a little bit shy at first, but all she wanted was attention and love. She snuggled with me in the car and was such a little love. And she has pointy ears like my Cal. I hope she gets the best home in the world, because she totally deserves it.

Here she is in the back of the car:


And when I tried to pose for a picture with her, she did this instead:


I packed some snacks for the drive, since I'm always hungry. In the interest of full disclosure, we didn't eat all of this on the drive. We were delayed an hour, and while we waited, we went into a restaurant and ate grilled cheese. I know. So not clean or healthy. But it was so delicious. Chip finished off the rest of the snacks when I got home.



Whole wheat rollups with organic avocado, local cheddar jack cheese, salsa, and organic redleaf lettuce, organic Braeburn apple, natural Fruit Roll-Ups, organic baby carrots, and whole wheat rollups with natural peanut butter and jelly.

Chip's lunch: April 8, 2010

One of my friends from California mentioned a burrito in her facebook status yesterday. It wasn't just any burrito, though. It was a burrito from Super Taqueria (or "Super Taq"). These burritos are not very good for you. But...they are extremely cheap, they're full of good stuff, they come with all the fresh salsa you can eat, and they are authentically Mexican (as approved by some visiting co-workers from Mexico last year). I used to eat one for lunch often: pinto beans, cheese, tons of avocado, and lots of salsa for under $3!

So I decided to make some burritos for tonight's dinner. I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, then added about a tablespoon of cumin, a teaspoon of chili powder, some sea salt, and a can of organic black beans (rinsed). I simmered til the beans started to fall apart. We put the beans on the tortillas and added some local cheddar/jack cheese. Then we microwaved for a few seconds so it would all be nice and melty. We threw in some veggies and YUM! These were amazing. This is a lunch of leftovers, but I know Chip is really going to love it.

Also, I took this photo on the deck this evening while it was still light out. I think it looks much better than a photo taken with a flash at 11 pm in my kitchen.



Organic medium salsa, avocado, two flour tortillas, organic black beans, organic fair trade 55% dark chocolate with almonds, organic flame raisins, organic Michigan applesauce, local Cheddar/jack cheese, organic redleaf lettuce, and diced Campari tomatoes.

Chip's lunch: March 29, 2010

I had to ruin the surprise of this lunch for Chip while I was preparing it. Usually he's off in Chip-land playing with his motorcycle, responding to work e-mails, working on the house, etc. while I am packing lunch. He loves surprises, so he often intentionally tries not to see what I'm packing. He walked in today while I was making it and I felt compelled to explain the ridiculous pile of lettuce in the top right corner. It was a messy attempt at a sort of lettuce wrap. I wrapped redleaf lettuce around a Boca black bean burger, a spoonful of organic salsa, and a tomato slice. There are three "wraps" in there, but it's pretty sloppy. I explained what I was going for, and how he could attempt to eat it. I'm sure it'll taste delicious, even if it is really sloppy.



Organic Cameo apple, lettuce rollups stuffed with black bean burger, organic salsa, and tomato, organic macadamias, organic almonds, organic Thompson raisins, organic roasted and salted sunflower seeds, homemade oatmeal cookie crumbles, and homemade white bean and spinach soup.

Chip's lunch: March 24, 2010

So close! After I packed this lunch I realized it was almost vegan. If I went back and took out that slice of cheese, it would be the third vegan lunch in a row. Shoot!

Oh well. This one has a brownie in it, which I hope makes up for the non-veganness. It's made from a gluten free and vegan mix sent to me by one of my bff's from California. She's a celiac and has helped me understand this condition a lot more. While you'll never find me anywhere near tapioca bread or rice pasta, I do think these brownies are tasty. They've very crumbly, but the flavor is awesome.



Whole Navel orange, organic edamame with sea salt, organic Thompson flame raisins, organic raw almonds, gluten free and vegan brownie, and a sandwich on local whole wheat bread with hummus, organic salsa, organic redleaf lettuce, organic carrot, red onion, and local American cheese.