Lunchtime

I know the club will not regularly do a lunch meal for its members, however, sometimes lunch food can be the best kind!  And you never know, maybe one Saturday we will substitute a co-op dinner with lunch.  With both my parents working, I have to fend for myself for lunch, which gives me the best opportunity to experiment!  (But, I am a creature of habit, so I tend to have very similar things each day)  Here are a few of the lunches I have prepared for myself, and hopefully everyone can learn from them!

Here is a picture of my salad. They are so easy to make and you have UNLIMITED amounts of vegetables (and other ingredients!) to choose from.  I have used this summer cucumbers, beets, chick peas, artichokes, peppers, onions, tomatoes, dates, raisins, dried apricots, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds and celery, just to name a few. THEN! You can choose from tons of dressings-I personally just like vinegar, which brings out the natural flavor of the veggies- tons of types of meat to go on top (salmon, skirt steak, grilled chicken, etc.) AND tons of lettuce (I generally like spinach, but you could go with bib lettuce (a sweeter flavor) red leaf (a little more bitter) iceberg, and many more!

Here are cut up dates with cashews on top of cottage cheese.  I would recommend cottage cheese with any type of trail mix.  It is a lean protein that requires an acquired taste, but I feel that it "skinnies" up any fruit-nut combo that I like (and its delicious!)

Okay, soup from a can-boring right? NO!  You can totally call yourself a chef with a few additions to canned soup.  This is split pea, so I added mint, a flavor which is traditionally paired with peas, and a few tortilla chips to add some textures.  I also often add diced mushrooms, spinach, and oregano to my tomato soup.  This spices it up quite a bit.

This is what I call the everything sandwich.  I'm sure you can see why.  This sandwich had garlic hummus on toasted 7-grain bread with spinach, sliced tomatoes, bread-and-butter pickles, sliced turkey, smoked salmon and a fried egg right on top.  It was also the MESSIEST sandwich I've ever eaten!  Being gluten intolerant, I don't have much practice eating a sandwich anyway-but the fried egg and the slippery smoked salmon definitely didn't help. (Tip: when adding a fried egg, make sure most things are warm-it tends to lose flavor as it cools)

As always, I'll leave you with something a little sweet.  This is SO simple-vanilla greek yogurt topped with sliced bananas and some of my homemade granola (which the co-op will hopefully be selling in the fall!). As you can tell, I couldn't resist and took a few bites before I took the photo!

Enjoy! Keep cooking!