Any good lunch ideas? (vegetarian)

I'm not a vegetarian (although I don't eat a lot of meat) but this quinoa salad was very cheap and absolutely amazing and would make enough for probably 4 days of lunches or 1 dinner followed by 2 lunches. It also improves the next day, which is a nice bonus. Obviously you'd have to use vegetable broth, but I'd encourage you to try it.

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/saladrecipes/r/Southwestern-Quinoa-Salad.htm

Last week for lunch I ate on various days:

1. baby carrots and red pepper slices with half a container of hummus; apple
2. two hard boiled eggs; baby carrots with ff ranch dressing; grapes
3. celery and natural peanut butter; banana, strawberries
4. cottage cheese with diced red bell pepper and green onions, baby carrots, 1/4 cup pecan halves, 1/2 an apple

I try to keep my lunches centered around fruits and veggies but get some protein in there and enough fat that I'm not starving before dinnertime.

Edit: here's the recipe from the above link. Also, fyi, there was some kind of problem with the lime crop this year, and all the limes in my area at least were the saddest puniest little things, so I had to use 3 instead of 2 to get enough juice for the dressing.

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups fat-free, low-sodium gluten-free chicken broth
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn
1 15 ounce can low-sodium black beans
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 large lime or 2 small ones (about 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin

Preparation:

Rinse quinoa thoroughly to rid it of its bitter coating.

Place in a 2 quart saucepan with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy. Allow to cool.

Place cooled cooked quinoa in a salad bowl with the corn, black beans, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno pepper and cilantro.

Whisk lime juice, oil, and cumin in a small bowl. Drizzle over quinoa salad, then toss.

Per Serving: Calories 181, Calories from Fat 34, Total Fat 3.8g (sat 0.4g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 94mg, Carbohydrate 29.8g, Fiber 4.4g, Protein 7g

Lunches have recently become and issue for me as well since I just went back to work after mat. leave and for the life of me, I can't seem to remember what I used to pack!

Here's what I've been doing:

Salad (spinach, strawberries, shredded cheese, cucumber, egg, dressing of choice)
Sandwiches (boiled egg, cucumber and hummus, or Tofurkey sandwich slices with cheese, deli mustard, and spinach)
Three bean salad
Snacks: Snow peas and dip, granola bars, apple and peanut butter.

Tonight I think I'm going to cook some quinoa to use for a couple days.

For lunch I usually have Greek yogurt, protein bar, clementines, cheese stick, avocado. I basically eat a quick and easy lunch because I'm working, so I pair things together and kinda make a meal out of it.

Thank you so much for the ideas! Definitely looking like veggies and quinoa are favourites - really like the idea of a lunch being made at the beginning of the week to keep for a few days, just makes everything so much easier! I really love eggs so maybe I should start doing something more with them too?!

If you're an egg lover, I can vouch for this recipe, and it's good warm, cold, or at room temperature. I've never used muenster cheese, I just use cheddar or sometimes swiss or parmesan. You can replace half the cheese with cottage cheese also and save some fat and calories. You can also make in muffin cups as individual quiches. If you'd like more/other vegetables, there are dozens of crustless vegetable quiche recipes online, there's one at Cooking Light that looks pretty good. Or you can just hardboil however many eggs you like on the weekend and then grab and go when you want a fast lunch with some fruit and veg.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/crustless-spinach-quiche/

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
5 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded Muenster cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan.
Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings at 309 cals/23 grams fat/20 grams protein/1.6 grams fiber.

I just made a Grilled Porabella Mushroom Greek Wrap:

Grilled Portabella Mushrooms
Spinach
Roasted Red Pepper
Balsamic Vinagrette
Feta Cheese
100 Calorie Low carb wrap

Oh my gosh. So good.

When i'm in a hurry i make toast with sliced fruit on eg peach, made it for my sons friend and he loved it too. Or greek yogurt with honey, a banana and chopped almonds.
How about getting a juicer? perfect for this weather & they taste lovely but I did pay £60 for mine and there's a lot of washing up

Hummus

This sample meal plan from slenderkitchen.com has been one of my favorite vegetarian weeks. Maybe it'll give you some ideas? Here's the pdf: http://www.slenderkitchen.com/pdf/slender-kitchen-vegetarian-meal-plan-sample.pdf
Here's the website to download the pdf if that link didn't work (at the bottom of the page is the sample meal plan you can use): http://www.slenderkitchen.com/slender-kitchen-members/meal-plans/

I just bought Portobello Mushrooms and can't wait to try out this recipe!

I'm also gluten intolerant and follow Kathy Smart's fabulous recipes and ideas. The most recent kick I'm on is the meals in a mason jar. It's quick to enter in the food diary once you've gotten the ingredients into a regular Recipe. You can make them ahead for the week. She also does a similar one for breakfast that can be made overnight and ready in the morning. I've swapped out lower calorie yogurt to keep my numbers down. Here is a link to the recipes and a video on how to prepare. WARNING: Kathy is a high energy bubbly lady!

http://www.thesocial.ca/food/recipes/meals-in-a-mason-jar

Bump for future reference.

Whenever I have time, I make a big pot of soup or chili (vegetarian) and freeze it in individual portions. Makes lunch life easy and healthy. This is one of my favorites. Makes 8 1.5 cup servings that are chock full of nutrition.

http://www.runtothefinish.com/2012/11/hearty-vegetable-chili.html