Who Cares, It's FRIDAY!!!

Dude! For real? This week was nutzo freako. But now it's O-V-E-R! My Friday farewell meal specs below:

• turkey and light harvarti cheese sandwich with CSA lettuce and tinch of light mayo
• frozen pineapple
• pita chips
• cucumber slices with salad dressing for dipping

I'm feeling so elated for making it through this week being sick and handling the piles of work that faced me after taking 1 measly day off that I don't really feel like discussing my lunch tonight.

However, can we discuss this:MY NEW NEPHEW!!!

My sister and her husband made this little guy and he was born yesterday afternoon! So, you know, what do I really have to complain about?! Have a great weekend folks!

Sick Food

I'm still sick but I went to work anyway. My lunch was a comfort to me and my aching bones.

• smoked salmon and light havarti cheese sandwich on one of those sandwich flats
• frozen pineapple
• pita chip
• hummus

I don't even know why I put the hummus in there. Actually, I do know...I thought it would make a better picture. I don't really like hummus and I didn't even consider eating it. But, it seemed like I should put something to go with the pita chips. Anyway, I'm going to bed now. No more fever, just a cough and headache with a lot of joint pain. Fun!

That's More Like It

Today's lunch was gorgeous and still pretty simple. The humbly elegant details below:

• salad (romaine, arugula, cucumber, bell peppers, carrots, and some sort of radish)
• smoked salmon and lite havarti cheese sandwich on this
• frozen pineapple

I struggled to eat all of it because I most definitely coming down with a cold/flu thing. So, I won't be writing much here tonight. Just checked my temperature and it's 102.4 Not life threatening but high enough to warrant me going to bed a bit early. As my designated lifetime nursemaid said: "We can watch Undercovers under covers."

Expect a similar lunch situation tomorrow.

Slim Pickins

Isn't this a sorry state of affairs! The pitiful details below:

• a tin of sardines
• the last of the sugar snap peas
• a piece of cheese
• some raisins

This meal was straight up lame. I supplemented it with a packet of Go Lean oatmeal that I keep at my desk and some prunes that someone left in the office kitchen. Oh, FYI, a lunch featuring high fiber cereal, raw vegetables and PRUNES does not make for a settling afternoon, gastrointestinally speaking.

Anyboo, we got our last CSA share tonight (I'm too tired to take a picture right now) and I bought a couple of staple items from the store so hopefully tomorrow's lunch won't be so pathetic.

Hello, again!

The week has begun again and it looks like it's going to be another Doozy! Some old standards for today's lunch:

• homemade chicken fried rice (with spinach, peppers, snap peas, onions, carrots, etc.)
• fat-free vanilla yogurt
• carrots
• snap peas

I went out of town last week and over the weekend so my lunch/life routine was all over the place. When I got back home last night there was nothing special or new in the fridge to eat for today's lunch. It was the last of everything: the last of Thursday night's dinner; the last of the yummy CSA carrots; the bottom of the yogurt tub and almost the last of the snap peas. Anyway, now I'm home and everything is back to normal but I still haven't had a chance to whip up anything special for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow. Heaven's knows what going to wind up in my lunchbox.

Fah Fah Fah Fresh!

Today's lunch was crisp and cool.

• salad (lettuce, arugula, purple carrots, red pepper)
• salad dressing (2 servings)
• sugar snap peas
• kiwis
  

Too bad I didn't get to actually eat any of this today! I got weak today and bought an entirely different lunch from Au Bon Pain (soup and pita chips). Yesterday woke up too late to make lunch and I had to buy lunch for the first time in months. Now it seems I've lost my mind and become addicted to spending $7.11 on inferior food. I put today's lunch in the work fridge and will have it tomorrow. I'm so disappointed in myself. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

And, We're Back!

There were some hits and some misses in today's lunch. The rundown below:

• roast pork tenderloin with garlic, rosemary, sage, lemon peel on a bed of brown rice
• delicata squash and leek soup (also with rosemary and sage)
• homemade garlic croutons
  
• whole wheat banana bread with chocolate chips and ginger
• sugar snap peas

Clearly, this was originally a dinner. In fact, it was the leftovers from our big Sunday dinner last night. I used up almost all of the vegetables from last week's CSA!
I made the squash and leek soup with every intention of pushing through my mushy, yellow food aversion. I even made some delicious garlicky croutons to add some much need crunch and firmness to the soup. But, I regret to report, I couldn't get the whole thing down this afternoon. After about 4 or 5 difficult, angst laden swallows I gave up. I felt every atom of it slither down my throat and, although it was perfectly seasoned and flovared, it was agony. You'll be happy to hear that I had no problem with the chocolate chip ginger banana bread. Surprise. Surprise. The best part of today lunch, however, was definitely the sugar snap peas. I discovered that I can pack them in my box raw and then just put a tiny bit of water in the little removable compartment and nuke it for 60 seconds. Win!

Done Deezy

I made it, but just barely. My Friday feast below:

• salad (lettuce, arugula, carrots, grilled pesto chicken)
• fat-free vanilla yogurt with cranberries
• no pudge brownie with mixed berry compote

It's Friday night and I just got home from having a great night out with my girlfriend. Yay! Have a great weekend! I've already started mine.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

One of these dishes may not appear as appetizing as the other. But, believe me, today's lunch tasted splendid. The sumptuous details below:

• salad (lettuce, arugula, purple carrots, sweet peppers)
• salad dressing
  
• homemade chicken fried rice with diced purple onions (bok choy, spinach, peppers, carrots)
  
• fat-free vanilla yogurt with dried cranberries
• no pudge brownie
  
• mixed berry compote

Oh heavens, work was a killer today! I didn't even have a chance to eat my desert. In fact, once I saw the way the tide was turning (in the direction of more work chaos) I decided to save it until I got home. I'm savoring it as I type this.

Anybenny, my S.O. rustled up a spectacular fried rice last night so we could use up some frozen veggies and our fading bok choy from our CSA haul almost a month ago. We use the frozen brown rice from Whole Foods for all our rice dishes. Have I mentioned that before? Sheesh! I sound like someone from those old time tv and radio show commercials. Just casually dropping product placements in the middle of a conversation. But I bring up the rice because it is really convenient but I'm not sure it's so cost effective. It takes a hundred years to make brown rice the normal way. So the frozen stuff is definitely saves us time. But would it be a helluva lot cheaper to do it the long way? The stuff I get from Whole Foods is $2.99 for a 20 oz. bag. I wonder if I could make a big pot of rice and freeze it for like $0.89. Aww, the musings of a cheapskate!

Mambo Italiano

Back in the saddle again with fresh veggies. Also, today's lunch was another inadvertent completely vegetarian meal. The ovo-lacto details below:

• kale, zucchini and portobello mushroom lasagna
• salad (red romaine lettuce, arugula, sweet peppers, purple carrots)
• salad dressing
  
• more carrots (they're fantastic!)
• no pudge brownie
• mixed berry compote

The lasagna was our dinner for the past couple nights and it made a great lunch. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles. I hear a lot of people complaining about whole wheat pasta, but I've never had a problem with it. Maybe that's because I'm not really a big pasta eater. I could take of leave it. I do like to get my gob around anything that is a carrier of cheesy goodness and pasta usually aids in that pursuit. Anyway, I'm burying the lede here.

I made tomato sauce!

It took a long time and it was very messy but I made a delicious slow roasted tomato sauce with most of the tomatoes from our last CSA haul. I'm going to do the same thing with the tomatoes we got in yesterday's haul too! Since we got little yellow tomatoes and medium sized green tomatoes I'm doubly excited to see what they taste like in a sauce. Any suggestions?

Yes, Ice Cube, Today Was A Good Day

Another great lunch today. I solved the rich brownie issue in a brilliant way. The genius details below:

• pressed tuna sandwich
• roasted brussell sprouts
• carrots
• no pudge brownie
• special sauce

The second day of this pressed tuna sandwich and it was even better! The pesto soaked into the crusty french bread a lot deeper and the tuna was still really moist. It is kind of hard to eat because the bread is tough and the contents are loose so there ends up being a lot of fallen tuna and veggies in my dish at the end. It's okay, I just scoop it up with the spoon and shovel it in my cake hole. Cuz, I'm classy like that. Anyway, the big news is: MIXED BERRY COMPOTE! I stewed up some frozen berries last night and poured them over my brownie today. It was like a restaurant dessert and it really cut the chocolatey richness. Winner!

Speaking of winning . . . we got our CSA share tonight. Nothing bloody or too squishy. Lots of deliciousness.
See, not scary at all.

• arugula
• leeks
• kale
• chili peppers
• lettuce
• potatoes
• delicata squashes
• red sweet peppers
• tomatoes (big reds and little yellows)
• carrots (purple, yellow, and orange)

I was so relieved and thrilled at the same time. I've already got a bunch of ideas for using most of this haul.
Seriously, what can we do with all those chilies? I'm not a fan of spicy food and neither is my co-habitant. We've already got 2 habaneros and a jalapeno sitting in our freezer from the last CSA share! Oh well, I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, we'll be cooking up a storm this week. It is on like Donkey Kong!

Spot On Monday

Today's lunch was right on target. It satisfied all my cravings: crunchy, chewy, sweet, savory, garlicky. The bull's eye details below.

• pressed tuna sandwich
• garlic roasted brussell sprouts
• corn on the cob
• fudge brownie with dried cranberries

The best part of lunch was definitely the sandwich. It's a super simple, fancy sounding French thing called a Pan Bagnat.
I mixed 3 cans of unsalted white albacore tuna and mixed diced red onion and the last of the CSA bell peppers and parsley, a handful of chopped up steamed brussell sprouts, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. The kicker is that I smeared some pesto on the bread. I pressed it overnight in the fridge. The Mister and I are probably going to be having this for lunch for the rest of the week. I made a lot of it.
I was missing a homemade dessert last week but I got too lazy to make something good from scratch. I saw this No Pudge brownie mix and Whole Foods and the ingredient list was short and made up of things I could recognize as food, so I figured it was worth a try. But they are kind of a flop. Or, I guess I should say, I forgot I don't really like brownies. They are too rich and chocolatey. I can't believe I just wrote that. Maybe I am growing up. Anyway, I couldn't mix cranberries into the batter because of my fella's berry allergy so I sprinkled some on top to add some tartness to it. I think I'm going to have to fix it up with something even more dramatic and sharp tomorrow.

It's Friday Baby!

I made it! Another week of work is behind me and hopefully the food I ate won't be stuck on my behind for too long. Ugh, that was so corny. Sorry folks, it's been a long week. Here's the details of today's lunch:

• sardines with lemon juice and parsley
• bread
• vanilla yogurt
• honeydew melon balls
• sugar snap peas

Sardines! I bought a tin a couple of weeks ago and I was saving it for a Friday treat. I toasted the bread at work and snuggled those little fishies in between. Yummers tummers. Isn't it crazy, I can totally enjoy something as gross as sardines (someone at work said it looked like I was eating bait!) yet the mere IDEA of eating sweet potatoes or raw tomatoes can bring me to tears? I'm a complicated woman. But, I'm working on it.

If you can believe it, I actually eat so many things that I would've never dreamed of putting in my mouth as a child. Yogurt, mayonnaise, salsa, mushrooms, goat cheese, dates . . . I could go on and on. Mayonnaise is a particular feat because I remember the first time I saw it in 3rd grade when a friend's mom was spreading it on a slice of white bread (another thing I'd never seen before). I thought it was butter and was impressed with the spreadability. But, once I was informed that it was not butter I got totally freaked out and never tried it again until I about 15 or 16. I have similar memories and associations with all the other foods I currently don't eat. Hopefully they will slowly fade away so I can stop seeing baby diaper contents in every pumpkin pie or bowl of guacamole. And with that, HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Longest Day Ever

What a day! Another go-go day that ended too late and started too early. It seemed endless and I'm pooped. At least the food was good. The energizing details below.

• chicken enchiladas sitting on a pile of homemade refried beans
• cucumber and pepper spears with salad dressing dipper
• honeydew melon balls
• fruit & grain bar

I found a can of pinto beans in the cupboard and set to mashing and frying them with olive oil and onions in no time. The decorative parsley sprig was a last minute addition after seeing the insanely cute and artistic bento box lunches on some other blogs. I think I'm going to try to start making more effort with the aesthetics of my lunch box. I'm not saying I'm going to be up all night rolling rice into the shape of a polar bear, but I might add a bit more flair here and there.

Anyway, I knew I was in for a long day so I also packed a hearty breakfast. It helped a lot. I didn't get hungry for lunch until almost 2:oo and I could focus on all the work that was burying me.

I'm dead tired. Tomorrow is Friday!!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

We're getting cooler weather here these days and I'm compensating for it with hot and comforting dinners. Last night was Mexican, which means that today's lunch was too. The spicy details below:

• Chicken enchilada
• cucumber and pepper spears with salad dressing dipper
• corn on the cob
• honeydew melon balls

My only complaint is that low fat cheese sucks on hot food. There's really no other way to say it. It doesn't really melt! Even when we had it for dinner last night, fresh out of the oven there was like a 6 minute window of meltiness that we enjoyed before the cheese got hard. Oh well. It was still so tasty and exciting for lunch today. It's going to be in tomorrow's lunch box too, so I think I'll try to come up with a way to make it even more Mexican.

We're out of lettuce and I'm really missing my little side salads. It's coming next week in the CSA so I'm not about to go out and buy any from the Stupid Market (that's what I call the overpriced grocery store around the corner from my apartment). I think this is another example of how growing up in a California agricultural city has jaded me. I can't deal with the produce prices and limited options in New York City. And, don't even get me started on the lack of produce/outrageous pricing for what little is actually offered in Harlem! Man, how did I get up on this soap box? I'll climb down now and move on to other matters.

Oh! This is long overdue, but I want to say a big THANK YOU to Lou for tagging me for a Versatile Blogger Award. It makes me so happy that she liked my blog enough to include in on her list. Thanks again, Lou!

Fake It 'Til You Make It

My lunch looks positively ghostly! I should probably take pictures at lunchtime when all the frozen stuff has thawed and been properly nuked. Next time, I promise. The frigid details below:

• grilled albacore tuna with a teaspoon of pesto
• frozen brown rice
• roasted acorn squash
• frozen corn on the cob
• honeydew melon balls

Here's the part where I make a confession: I didn't eat the squash. It's one of my problem foods (squishy, slimy, and somewhat baby poopish). The only reason I packed it was because I was hoping I'd be hungry enough to just eat it. No such luck. I took 1 bite and promptly tried to palm it off to the receptionist at work. There is still some more of it left here on the premises and I suppose I'll just have to keep serving it to myself and pretending like I'm going to eat it. I'll try some tonight for dinner. Jeez, I wish I had a dog to feed under the table!

I got the list for next week's CSA haul and I saw 2 offenders: beets and "winter squash." I know there are real food problems in the world, but seriously...I can't face another load of evil blood bulbs and baby diaper contents winter squash! There is no way I can eat these things in there whole form, like God (or more likely, Satan) intended. Expect to see some winter squash cupcakes and beet brownies up in this blog!

Light Green Monday

Today's lunch was somewhat uninspiring. No homemade (semi-healthy) dessert and there were no good left overs from the weekend either. So, the mundane details are below:

• Salad (lettuce, cucumber, peppers, grilled albacore tuna)
• honeydew melon balls
• Kashi fruit & grain bar

See, kind of boring. The melon was perfect though. Also, I really love these Kashi Fruit & Grain Bars. They are delicious and not too unhealthy.
Sorry for the blurry picture. Anyway, I have a ton of cooking to do this week. So hopefully I'll have some yummy lunches in the coming days. It's cold and rainy here and I'm really looking forward hot lunches.

Strong Friday Finish

It was the end of the line for a lot of my featured players this week. Take a look at this afternoon's Last Supper:

• cantaloupe balls (finished the entire cantaloupe)
  
• turkey wrap (final whole wheat wrap, turkey cold cuts, low fat cheese, lettuce, mayo)
• cranberry oatmeal cookies (last of the batch)
• carrots (end of the purple ones)

I'm almost embarrassed to say how exciting it is for me to finish all the food I bought for lunches and dinners this week. It makes me feel like I'm being so economically efficient. Not to mention, I'm a bit redeemed and restored after the poor planning of my meatless lunch. This clean finish has got me inspired for next week's lunches. I intend to put all of the CSA bounty to use and keep all my meals interesting, efficient and cheap!