the work lunch

Lunches had quit doing it for me.

I’d head to work with the best of intentions.

This is genuinely delicious and tastes like pie:

(baked sweet potato, cottage cheese, cinnamon)

I’d round it out with a nice healthy tasty kale salad.

     

Annnnnnnd then dive into the cupcakes Amy brought back from Taste of the Nation. (She is the QUEEN of getting free food, often HOTEL PANS FULL OF IT, at fancy events. I suspect it is because she is blonde).

Too many sweets!

  

Tangent: I get to drink liquids at work out of my forklift mug. Don’t be jealous.

 

Another unsuccessful lunch.

Edamame, yeah okay.

 

The second half of a mango, eaten with a knife and my bare hands, pirate-style.

 

Rice pudding (?) essentially leftover rice with a bunch of milk dumped on top. For “calcium.” And vanilla and stuff I think.

 

And kale.

This also didn’t do it for me, but while we’re going off on tangents let me sing the praises of this highly excellent Costco product: it’s GLASS and MICROWAVE SAFE! Everytime I microwave something in plastic (which is a lot, as I have a job and eat there) I picture extra limbs growing out of my head… slowly.

So these are swell. The lid is TOTALLY airtight. Which is great, but take caution: don’t put it on top of hot food. It creates a whole vacuum situation!

 

This lunch, yeurgh, so ugly! Freakin’ fluorescents!

     

Fortunately I ate almost the exact same salad in natural light, and you’ve all seen yogurt and bread before.

So here we have some farmer’s market greens, some beets, and some chickpeas, which paired very nicely. Plus some blackberry balsamic to bring out all that flava.

More mango, and an oatcake (the last of the swag my Mummy brought back from England)

 

And a tomato concoction.

 

On the top it just looks like tomato and basil…

    

… but what is peeking…

5

BAM! Cottage cheese! Poor woman’s Caprese salad.

  

Tasted good. Didn’t stop me from eating a whoooooooole bunch other stuff.

Also: fact.

I had been totally slacking on my veggie intake lately. You’d think naming my blog after plant-eating and all would indicate that I ate enough vegetables. Nope. It was more like come home from class, eat a whole bunch of nuts and crackers and whatever chocolate-containing items my house might consist, feel guilty, go to the gym, go to bed.

I am glad I am done with class.

The new plan: this perfect style of lunch.

Food groups complete, lotsa protein and fiber, but this lunch is amazing because

1. It contains a ton of vegetables but is not a salad. I have concluded that salads are just not doing it for me, at least right now.

2. It has lots of different colors and textures

3. I get to eat for a long, long time. You open the pea pods, eat the peas, crunch on the crunchy things, peel the egg, etc. etc. I like eating. It makes me calm and relaxed and gives me the opportunity to contemplate my day. If I’m going to sit around stuffing my face with something for half an hour, why not vegetables?

4. You can eat the same thing essentially every day and just do subtle switches of components. Yogurt one day, string cheese the next. Kiwi one day, pineapple the next. Green peas, red pepper, and jicama one day (and what a delicious day this was), fresh summer squash from the farmer’s market the next.

5. On the subject of farmers market, this uses huge quantities of vegetables, which is important, since I buy huge quantities of vegetables. Now I’m eatin’ em!