Challenge: Cold Lunches

Can you have dairy? Eggs?

Greek yogurt, string cheese, hard boiled eggs, chopped veggies & humus, apple & peanut butter are a few things I can think of.

Couscous Patties/Cakes - I make mine similar to the following recipe. Mine has spinach, mozzarella and seasoning although this Pepper Jack one sound delicious since I love spice. I can eat my leftovers cold right out of the refrigerator. I would love to incorporate more fiber into the recipe but not sure how.

https://www.cabotcheese.coop/crispy-jalapeno-light-couscous-cakes

Also:
Egg salad on a high fiber wrap. (I know you said no sandwich but some people use lettuce as a wrap)
Corn and black bean salad
Black Bean Quinoa Salad

I have seen recipes lately for smashed chickpea salads. Never thought of it myself but you just mash the chickpeas and use where you would use chicken or tuna in salads like curry or waldorf. Have not tried it yet but thought it would be worth mentioning.

ashleycasas0905 wrote: »

I'm very interested to try lentils--what's the flavor profile?

I find them to be almost like a cross between a bean and a pea. I make pea soup sometimes but will occasionally change it up by using lentils instead.

I love making Greek salad with romaine, arugula, feta, tomato, olives, cucumber, and red onion. I'm hooked on the Greek Feta salad dressing from Trader Joes but sometimes I'll make a dressing with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and lemon pepper. If I have goat cheese handy I'll put a little of that in the dressing too, to make it slightly creamy. If you want to add protein, bay shrimp is a safe way to go. Or chickpeas (personally I'm not a fan of chickpeas in salad but I lot of people love it). Occasionally I'll also sprinkle in some sunflower seeds.

cblue315 wrote: »

One of my favs -
Chop 1 medium tomato
1/4c canned corn
1 small chopped scallion or shallot
1/4 canned black beans
1/2 chopped avocado
juice of 1/2 lime
pepper to taste

I eat it plain but you can add any bread or crackers or what ever.

This sounds lovely wish I had read this before I had my lunch! Will try it tomorrow now.

I just put together a salad (pre-prepared or throw various leaves and vegetables together), then throw in some source of protein (meat-based or otherwise). Easy.

also, think lentils. They are good in just about any salad, they cling well to lettuce leaves (so you don't have to scoop them up from the bottom like you would other types of beans), you can boil them in 20 minutes or so and freeze individual portions in little snack baggies so that you can just take a baggie out in the morning to defrost by lunch time, and they are one of the legumes with the highest protein and fiber and lowest calories. Basically they were made for salads. You can also pay a lot more for them by finding them in fresh packs in the produce section at Trader Joes, and there are canned ones (I haven't tried the cannned ones).

My favorite current salad is "green" (those are the big, cheap dry lentils) boiled for about 20 minutes (make sure they don't cross over into mush! Mush is the death of tasty lentils). Add a lot of chopped celery and apple (a mix of red and green apple is nice); a vinegar; some lemon juice; a little oil; a drizzle of molasses, maple syrup or honey; some dried cranberries or raisins; a bit of chopped red onion; and then these spices to taste. These are the mandatory spices: salt, pepper, garlic, cumin, mustard. I usually also add a little cinnamon, curry powder, and chili powder/red pepper flakes. I like to bring this to pot lucks because 1. it's vegan and 2. gluten free and 3. nut/peanut free so most people with allergies can still eat it, 4. the ingredients are inexpensive, and 5. it's delicious and really impresses people. You know how sometimes you bring something to a pot luck and someone else brought something really similar? There's never any dish at a pot luck similar to this salad. I call it "French Moroccan Lentil Salad." You can google other lentil salads on line to get more ideas of what you can add. I know my salad above looks complicated but it's really just lentils, celery and apple with flavors. Think of it that way. Also, because of the vinegar in it, it keeps in your fridge for a full week. I've never actually seen any leftovers go bad, even after they've sat out at a pot luck.

Sometimes for lunch I have 100 grams of baby carrots or celery, 2 large hard boiled eggs, an ounce or so of cheese and some fruit. It works well for me to hold me through a highly active job.

Next week I am planning to do a pasta salad with a lot of veggies in it.

Nice light salads:

baby spinach leaves
half an avocado
cherry tomatoes
slices of bell peppers
boiled egg
smoked salmon

And if you want to bulk it up with more calories then add some rice or couscous.

I tend to mix and match this kind of range of food for lunch salads, maybe some chickpeas or sometimes tuna.

Or I buy a nice base garden salad bowl and add in my favourite added ingredients (see the 'pimping lunches' thread).

All this week at work:

1/2 can no salt added black beans (drained & rinsed)
1/2 avocado, sliced
40g pico de gallo

Right now I am eating hard boiled eggs with avocado & cottage cheese in a tortilla. I make the egg salad ahead but don't build the 'burrito' until I'm ready to eat.

I like making Orzo salads with olive oil, pine nuts, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, feta cheese , fresh basil and lemon zest. I serve that as a side dish with dinner and then usually have it cold the next day for lunch.