Healthy Lunches

Eating lunch at work (and packing a lunch every night) can be a real drag.  I almost envy those people who are totally ok with eating fast food/unhealthy snack food for lunch everyday.  I really do envy people who can go home for lunch every day.  Packing a lunch everyday is tedious and boring. Planning has to be done, preparations have to be made, and cooking has to be done.  And, who really has the energy to do EXTRA cooking in the evening after cooking dinner and possibly making breakfast preparations for the next day??  Certainly not this girl.  So, I have devised a lunch system that has started to be fairly successful. I just stick to it everyday and the packing and prep work tends to go pretty quickly. 

Morning Snack

Fruit (apple, orange, banana, grapes, etc) or Greek Yogurt  

Lunch 

Leftover soup, half of a cheese sandwich, one orange,
greek yogurt, and coffee (not pictured: nuts) 

Main meal:  Leftovers (if it is something easily re-heatable), sandwich, pasta salad (M-W when prepared on the weekend),  or microwavable organic soup.  

Secondary: Salad, veggies and dip,  half of a sandwich (PB&J or cheese), crackers, or veggie chips.  

Dessert: Whatever baked goods I currently have (i.e. cookies, brownies, muffins, etc) 

Afternoon Snack 

Nuts, Edamame, or another protein rich food.  

**I also always bring at least one packet of herbal tea for myself.  I typically drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.  

For lunch yesterday I packed some leftover Creamy Vegetable Soup.  SUPER easy and SUPER good for lunch leftovers.  Check out the recipe.  

Creamy Vegetable Soup

5tbs flour

5tbs olive oil

4cups water 

2cups organic vegetable broth (try one of these) 

6-7cups of chopped vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, celery, onions, peppers, etc) 

1tbs chopped garlic

Seasoned Salt (to taste) 

Pepper (to taste)

Yummy :) 

Crushed red pepper (to taste) 

Onion powder (to taste) 

Directions:  In a large pan heat all ingredients except for flour and olive oil.  In a separate pan heat olive oil and flour.  Whisk the mixture until it is very smooth.  Heat on medium-high until the roux turns a reddish-brown color.  Slowly add roux to the soup mixture.  More roux and/or a "cream of"  soup can be added depending on your desired creaminess level and healthy eating level.  Let all ingredients heat until veggies are tender.  Serve! 

Finally,  I leave you with a random picture of Cody and I.  My mom has been begging me for more pictures of myself in the blog.  So, here you go mom!  

The ONLY way I could get Cody in a picture with me.