Lunch Today

This is the type of thing I have for lunch quite often. I don’t usually post it but in the spirit of the current challenge for Healthy Fast Food I thought I would share it just in case if gives anyone an idea to embellish or translate into something else.

I used the walnut and vegetable pate from yesterday and placed a tablespoon of that in a romaine leaf. I topped the pate or cheeze (what you prefer to call it) with fresh diced cucumbers, grape tomatoes and a few olive slices. To accompany the lettuce wraps I made a quick Mediterranean garbanzo and vegetable salad. I combined garbanzo beans, lemon zest, lemon juice, cucumber, tomatoes, grated carrot, diced onion and oregano. Since I only had to dice veggies and combine ingredients I had lunch on the table in less than 10 minutes.

This meal was more than enough for me for lunch. The hubby had the last piece of tofu lasagna to up his calories. The water content in the veggies made this a very refreshing meal. Walnuts provided healthy fat and garbanzos added a good amount of fiber and protein. This was a quick and healthy lunch.

Quick Light Lunch: Veggie Burger, Broccoli and Tropical Salsa

I have had people I know comment that I rarely post what I have for lunch and ask what type of quick meals do I make. They seem to be under the impression that healthy vegan food is time consuming and too difficult for them. Since I know at least a few people are interested I am going to try to post my lunches more often to give you ideas of what you can quickly toss together for lunch that is both healthy and vegan.

Today I grabbed a frozen veggie burger (courtesy of Costco) in a dry skillet and added broccoli and tropical salsa to it and called it a meal. Actually it is a little light on calories, but I am more of nibbler so there will be more food later this afternoon. I also put this into my hubby’s lunch today along with a couple of red potatoes (microwaved) topped with cream of cabbage and spinach, an apple with walnut butter and curried kale chips. I know it sounds like a lot of food for him but it isn’t many calories and he should have the nutrition.

My favorite part of this meal is the broccoli and tropical salsa. I love the pineapple and jalapeno with the broccoli. This is just a good cold as it is warm. It is great to have in the refrigerator for a quick healthy nibble. Here is what I made for my lunch today.

Quick Light Lunch: Veggie Burger, Broccoli and Tropical Salsa
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 Don Lee Farms Veggie Burger
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 serving tropical salsa

Directions:

Cook the veggie burger in a dry skillet over medium for 3 or 4 minutes on both sides, until it is beginning to brown.

While the burger is heating, place the broccoli in a microwave safe bowl and cook until it is defrosted.

To serve add tropical salsa to both the broccoli and veggie burger and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 283.49
Calories From Fat (24%) - 68.01

Total Fat - 6.05g
Saturated Fat - 1.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 504.47mg
Potassium - 785.51mg
Total Carbohydrates - 40.37g
Fiber - 12.81g
Sugar - 9.25g
Protein - 13.43g

Comment:

Lunch is normally a quick meal at my house. I don’t like to use many processed foods, but occasionally they come in really handy. Today I didn’t have any homemade veggie burgers in my freezer so I relied on my stash of the store bought variety.

This light lunch packs a nice amount of nutrition containing more than 3,400IU of vitamin A, 200mg of vitamin C, 190mg of calcium, 220mcg of folate, 250mcg of vitamin K, 160mcg of phosphorus, and 8mcg of selenium. Not too bad for a mere 283 calories.

Unrelated note:

Those of you that have known us for years know we haven’t always eaten this healthy. In fact, it is safe to say we gravitated toward amazing gourmet food with little concern for health. For a couple of years we would eat a healthy vegan diet at home but there were no rules when we went out to eat. We deluded ourselves into thinking that we were close to the 10% rule that Dr. Fuhrman advocates in "Eat to Live" and "Eat for Health". Had I read the books more carefully I would seen that he was advocating 10% of your calories not 10% of your food could be from those less healthy foods. Even eating only 2 meals out of 21 out of the house had to result in at least 30 of 40% of our weekly calories coming from unhealthy sources due to the calorie density of those foods.

It pains me to admit this but I don’t think my GI system can handle not eating clean anymore. I feel so much better when I eat my own healthy food that it makes the thought of eating out a little worrisome, as I know the side effects to come. After having dinner out on Friday I wanted to blame my not feeling quite myself on the wine. However, I realized that it took me almost 48 hours to feel completely like myself again. I don’t think wine could impact me for that long, at least it never has.

I am mentioning this because sometimes we don’t notice how good something is until it is gone. I was beginning to take feeling good for granted. Eating out has reminded me that what we consume has a big impact on how we feel. In other words we are what we eat. I will be paying more attention to the signals from the body and trying to feed it the healthy food it seems to now crave.

Sautéed Apple and Cabbage with Hints of Bourbon, Dijon and Maple Syrup and a Sweet Potato on the Side

As you may have guessed I purchased more apples and cabbage than I needed for dinner last night and wanted to use them today somehow. By the time lunch rolled around today I had no idea what I was going to make. This recipe is something that came out of my head while thinking about what to make. Despite the fact that the main ingredients were the same as dinner last night this dish has a very different flavor.

The bourbon inspiration came from watching “Alex’s Day Off” today on the Foodnetwork. I don’t normally get many ideas from the Foodnetwork because there are only so many variations of paella, or baked pasta I can watch without going brain dead. However, the apple and bourbon idea today I thought was genius and immediately appealing. For those of you that have been reading for a while you know that bourbon turns up occasionally in my recipes. I love the aroma of bourbon in food. If you are interested there is a nice bourbon glaze for seitan here, and a chocolate and peanut butter mousse with bourbon posted here, that you might want to check out.

I combined maple syrup with the bourbon because that is a match made in heaven. Really, why wouldn’t you combine them? Dijon was added to the recipe for a little zip. Cumin was included because it mimics the smokiness of the bourbon.

The apples were unpeeled because most of the nutrition is in and just under the skin. I lightly wilted to cabbage so it would retain most of its nutrition. Because the sweet potatoes were organic I left the skin on as well for its fiber and nutrition. Here is what I did.

Sautéed Apple and Cabbage with Hints of Bourbon, Dijon and Maple Syrup and a Sweet Potato on the Side
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large organic sweet potato (weight approximately 8 ounces), scrubbed and pierced
2 Fuji apples, cored and cut into bite sized pieces
3 cups green cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon Bourbon
½ tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch cumin seed
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 pinch kosher salt, to taste
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook the sweet potato in the microwave until tender.

While the sweet potato is cooking heat a heavy sauce pan on medium high heat. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

When the sweet potato is ready cut it into quarters and serve it with sautéed apples and cabbage on the side.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 238.99
Calories From Fat (3%) - 6.65

Total Fat - 0.81g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 323.59mg
Potassium - 784.13mg
Total Carbohydrates - 53.77g
Fiber - 10.37g
Sugar - 26.33g
Protein - 4.26g

Comments:

The bourbon was definitely a background aroma more than a flavor. The dish has a touch of heat from the red pepper flakes. There was a nice textural contrast between the apples and cabbage. Overall I thought it was a nice balance of flavors and texture.

Nutritionally this dish has a lot of punch. Each serving contains over 16,000IU of vitamin A, 108mg of calcium, 74mcg of folate, 107mcg of vitamin K, and 104mg of phosphorus. Not too shabby for a dish I had on the table in less than 10 minutes than contains less than 250 calories.

I was surprised by how filling this dish was. We had such a light lunch today there will need to be a snack tonight to make certain we have eaten enough calories.

Indian Inspired Broccoli and Potato Stir Fry

Once again I didn’t have enough leftovers in the refrigerator for my husband’s lunch today. I made this quick Indian flavored stir fry this morning while I prepared breakfast. I waited longer for the allicin to develop in the garlic then it took to make the rest of the dish.

This is something that I tossed together from what I had on hand. The seasonings are Indian inspired because I wanted to use turmeric today. Those of you that read regularly know that turmeric is a powerful antioxidant that inhibits the growth of many cancer cell lines in the laboratory. As usual I sautéed the turmeric in a little oil with a generous amount of black pepper to make it more absorbable. I combined broccoli and tomato in this dish since they have a synergistic effect and are both more effective when consumed together. Ginger is frequently used in Indian food as well as being a powerful antioxidant so it went into the dish. I also like knowing that ginger helps to reduce the formation of new blood vessels to cancerous tumors. Garlic was included for flavor and because it promotes cancer cell death in a number of different cancer cell lines.

As my husband will tell you he feels like a nutrition experiment much of the time. I think you can see why that may be. He is happy that I am sharing this information with all of you so he doesn’t “have to” hear about it at each meal. Don’t misunderstand he does appreciate that I do all of this for him; he just likes to fuss about it more. I think it must be a guy thing. Here is what I made this morning for Dan’s lunch today.

Indian Inspired Broccoli and Potato Stir Fry
Serves 1

Ingredients:

6 ounce organic Yukon gold potato, scrubbed and pierced with the tip of a paring knife
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
½ teaspoon black mustard seed
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon coriander seed
¼ teaspoon onion flakes
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
¼ inch ginger root, finely minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin with develop)
1 tomato, diced
1 tablespoon cashews

Directions:

Microwave the potato and broccoli florets and cook until done. While cooking the broccoli remember that cruciferous vegetables are more nutritious when lightly cooked. I stopped the broccoli as soon as it was no longer frozen. When the potato is cool cut it into bite sized pieces. Cut cooled broccoli into bite size pieces.

While potato and broccoli are cooking start the spice mix. Heat the oil and add the spices, ginger and garlic and sauté until fragrant and heated through. Add the cut potato and broccoli and stir to cover the vegetables with the spice mix. Turn off the heat and add the fresh diced tomato. You want the tomato to heat through so the lycopene is more bioavailable. The tomato will also help the dish to cool more quickly so it can be packed for lunch sooner.

The dish is now ready to eat or pack for lunch. Sprinkle the cashews on top the stir-fry.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 355.48
Calories From Fat (26%) - 92.99

Total Fat - 10.87g
Saturated Fat - 1.44g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 97.34mg
Potassium - 1863.82mg
Total Carbohydrates - 57.64g
Fiber - 16.29g
Sugar - 9.98g
Protein - 15.89g

Comments:

You may notice that this dish contains no added salt. The omission was intentional. You may want to add salt to this dish. I am trying to reduce our sodium intake so I left it out. This dish is packed with flavor even without the salt. In fact if you don’t like strong flavors this dish may have too much flavor for you. You can start with half of the spices if you aren’t certain about the flavors or add twice the amount of veggies. Both options would work well to reduce the spice flavor of the dish.

If you have more time to make this dish than I did you can use finely minced onion in place of the onion flakes. I might also take the sautéed spices, garlic and ginger and add that to the blender with a little reduced fat coconut milk and pour that over the potatoes, onion and tomato for a different creamy version of this dish. Fresh cilantro would also be nice in this but I didn’t think of it this morning when I was rushing to get this ready for Dan’s lunch. There are many options for changing this healthy dish.

Most important for me this dish is full of nutrition. This one serving recipe contains over 1800mg of potassium, 4300IU of vitamin A, 220mg of vitamin C, 240mg of calcium, 260mcg of folate, 270mcg of vitamin K, 360mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium and 13mcg of selenium. I love it when quick, tasty dishes like this provide so much nutrition.

In his lunch today my husband has this Indian stir fry, cold spinach and edamame soup with tofu sour cream, an apple and walnut butter, and kale chips. I like knowing that he has healthy food to eat when he is at work. This lunch combined with green tea with ginger and vitamin C and I feel like he has all he needs to keep his body functioning at peak fighting capacity. Is this all a little over the top? Maybe, but it certainly doesn't do any harm. I imagine this is more than most cancer survivors/patients do but I always strive for the best and my husband’s nutrition is no exception. If food has any benefit to keeping him healthy we should be home free.

Fast Meal from the Freezer

As you can probably tell by my lack of posts I wasn’t home much today. I finally got in a little after 10pm from cooking class and there were no leftovers in the refrigerator for my husband’s lunch tomorrow. I hate the idea of my husband ordering food from downtown because you have no control over whether it is organic not to mention the fat and sodium content. Since my being out of the house all day happens with more regularity than I would like I keep things in the freezer for times like these.

When I got home from class I immediately grabbed a 2-cup container of seitan bolognese from the freezer and tossed it into the microwave to begin defrosting. I also started ½ cup of millet to go under the bolognese because my husband loves millet. (Who is this man and what did he do with my husband? Sorry for the diversion.) To round out his lunch tomorrow I am also including a spinach and tomato salad with shelled hempseeds, an apple with walnut butter, and the last few remaining kale chips for a snack. As my hubby would say, he gets tired of chewing before he gets full. While he is right that my food does require more chewing at least I know he is getting more than adequate nutrition.

Sorry for the lack of recipes today, I was swamped and spent far too much time in my car today. I will be back in the kitchen tomorrow and have many ideas to play with from cooking class tonight. I had the best warm cabbage slaw I have ever had in my life. Cooking class was fabulous tonight.

On a somewhat unrelated note I took the dulse granules to cooking class tonight for everyone to taste since almost all of us are watching some aspect of our respective diets. Everyone that tried the dulse liked it. So for those of you that are worried how it tastes it has been very popular here. The taste is very salty but a teaspoon contains 34mg of sodium versus 2300mg for regular iodized salt, or 1880mg for kosher salt. Additionally the dulse contains trace minerals that most of us can use.

That is all I have for tonight. Have a great evening everyone.

Moroccan Lentil Burger Wrap with Muhammara

Sandwiches have been a favorite food group of mine for a very long time. I don’t know exactly what the appeal is but I love a sandwich. My favorites seem to involve being rolled in a whole-wheat wrap. The only wraps I had yesterday were in the freezer so I did a partial defrost in the microwave and them toasted one on top of the stove to finish the process. Why haven’t I been doing this with every sandwich? Warm flat bread with a little bit of a char was a revelation yesterday. I don’t think I will be making any more roll ups without charring the bread from now on.

My sandwich today came from the leftovers of Saturday’s dinner. I always intentionally make leftovers so we have lunch for a few days. When I do cook I spend so much time in the kitchen I like to have a little free time during the day to concentrate on what we will be having for dinner that night.

This sandwich today came out of leftovers but was just a good, and maybe better than the meal we had on Saturday. The flavor of the burgers and muhammara seemed to be more intense today. Whatever the reason, this sandwich was a serious winner. At the moment my tummy is very happy, and quite full.

Moroccan Lentil Burger Wrap with Muhammara
Serves 1

Ingredients:

3 Moroccan lentil burger sliders
2 cups of leafy greens
2 tablespoons of muhammara
1 whole-wheat flat bread

Directions:

Warm the lentil burgers in the microwave (this took 1 minute in my microwave). Wash and spin dry the greens. Toast the whole-wheat wrap on top your stove until you get a little char, it adds to the flavor and warms the bread.

Top the bread with the lettuce, then muhammara and finally the warm Moroccan lentil burgers. Eat warm.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 492.14
Calories From Fat (20%) - 98.97

Total Fat - 11.8g
Saturated Fat - 1.37g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1279.55mg
Potassium - 875.3mg
Total Carbohydrates - 69.78g
Fiber - 27.68g
Sugar - 9.84g
Protein - 36.32g

Comments:

I loved this sandwich today. The warmth of the soft but chewy lentils burgers, with the preserved lemons, next to the crispness of the lettuce, and the sweet and tart flavor of the muhammara with the slightly charred whole-wheat wrap, I don’t think lunch could get much better. The combination of flavors danced in my mouth. I needed that sandwich since I had a small breakfast. The fact that this sandwich has over 27 grams of fiber and 36 grams of protein makes me almost as happy as the taste.

No time to cook - no problem

If I had a dime for each time a friend said to me, “sure the way you eat is more healthy, but I don’t have time to cook like you do” I would be a very wealthy woman. It is frustrating for me to watch the people I care about do things that I believe are harmful to their health. If I could convince one person to eat a more healthy diet I would feel as though I had been successful in life. I have spent so much time reading about health and nutrition that I truly believe that the consumption of the Standard American Diet (SAD ... how appropriate) is harming this country one meal at a time.

For those of you that think I cook every meal, everyday that is absolutely not true. Yes, I do cook most days, but I don’t cook all our food fresh everyday. I use my freezer and refrigerator as repositories for quick items I can toss together and have a fast but healthy meal when I don’t have the time or inclination to cook. I always intentionally make leftovers so that I don’t have to cook every meal, every day.

Yesterday I spent a large part of the day out of the house. We went to cooking class so there was no dinner in our house. Dinner leftovers are my favorite next day lunch. This morning I had to scramble to find lunch for my precious husband before he ran out the door to work. My freezer and refrigerator inventory came to rescue, and quite beautifully I might add.

Lunch today was a whole wheat pita (from the freezer), toasted to defrost it and packed in paper towel while still warm to absorb the moisture developed from the toaster. I also added a few frozen falafel to be reheated in the microwave at lunchtime. A little lettuce, salsa fresca from yesterday, and lemon chia seed dressing and we had healthy and tasty pita pockets for lunch. An apple and peanut butter for dessert and all was right with the world, in less than 5 minutes.

Why have I posted this entry you ask? What I want everyone to realize is that you don’t have to cook constantly to have healthy meals everyday. When I cook I always make more food than we will consume in that meal. Dinner leftovers become lunch (or sometimes breakfast) the next day. If we aren’t eating leftovers for breakfast there is usually a smoothie in the blender (love that Vitamix) with a toasted Ezekiel English muffin with peanut butter and banana. As you can see I really only cook dinner each day. If you also have a pressure cooker making dinner doesn’t take much time either. I hope this has given you something to think and ideas about how to incorporate more healthy meals into your family’s diet.

What is for lunch today?

What did I pack for lunch today?

Since I know my husband is reading this I wanted to give him a heads up on what is in his lunch today. I also wanted to start a dialog on what everyone else likes to make for lunch.

I normally pack dinner leftovers with a few added items in my husband’s lunch. Today my husband is eating the last of the mushroom congee, and a small spinach salad with sherry vinaigrette along with strawberries that have been dressed with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and topped with walnuts.

When I pack lunch I like to include a raw veggie dish (normally a salad) and a fruit. I also try to include a small portion of nuts for healthy fat.

If you have some great ideas for lunch I would love to know what they are. Please post a comment if you want to share with everyone or send me an email.

Have a great day!