You are here: Home / Archives for Lunch

Mission Possible: Eating Healthy At Work

July 23, 2009 by

Wow, what an afternoon! I reviewed more videotape timecodes, had a meeting, and gave a presentation to about 35 people. All in a day’s work! Luckily, in all of the chaos I was able to stop and take a break for lunch – and it was catered again – yeah for me!

Lunch salad

Lunch was salad and wraps for today. I was not in the mood for a messy wrap, so I opted for salad. It was kind of a make-your-own salad, so I added tons of greens that had carrots, peppers, and cucs mixed in, plus I added cherry tomatoes, cheese cubes, and chopped chicken, all with a little Italian vinaigrette – delicious. But, my lunch didn’t stop there…

Strawberry

There were also fruit kabobs for dessert – I just love where I work. My kebob had pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a huge strawberry on the end. Between the fruit on a stick and the salad, I had at least 4 servings of fruits and veggies – all in one sitting. I guess this shows that you really can eat healthy while at work.

By the time I arrived home around 6:30 PM, I was still not very hungry. However, I knew I had to have a little something to eat.

Dinner

My husband was working late, so I made a turkey burger for myself (only ate about 2/3 of it) with a side of grape tomatoes. It was just enough. And, because my husband and I have both been working very hard this week, I decided to surprise him and make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Won’t he be surprised? Well, he won’t be that surprise, because he knows that oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my favorite cookies to make. I make them so much that I know the recipe by heart and can make them in 45 minutes flat.

Plate of cookies

Now for the close-up…

Chocolate chip cookie

Hmmm, so goood!

Now that I have a tummy full of cookies, I’m going to catch up on my reading – my new Shape magazine just arrived! – and then I’m hitting the sack.

Have a great night everyone.

Filed Under: Lunch Tagged With: , ,

Feta Makes Everything Taste Better

July 22, 2009 by

Hello All. Hope you had an awesome day today. We’re having quite a few meetings at work this week, of which I’m only involved in one. But in our office, where there is a meeting there is always FOOD! And today was no exception. 

I originally brought leftover chicken stir fry for lunch, but was actually glad when I discovered we were having a catered lunch today. Hmmm…so many choices…what did I have?

Sandwich

Surprisingly, I chose a make-your-own sandwich over the salad. For some reason, a sandwich just sounded better today. I packed my sandwich with oven-roasted chicken, huge beefsteak tomatoes, and a couple of thin slices of cheddar cheese, all on rye bread (it was the best option available). I also added a few veggies as a side dish…Roasted Veggies

Char-grilled veggies to be exact. The veggies, including red and green peppers, asparagus, and carrots, were extremely flavorful. The sandwich was also very tasty but I ended up only eating half. I was starting to get pretty full so I thought it was best to stop.

And, I wanted to leave room for an afternoon treat…

Choc chip square

A chocolate chip square! It was about the size of a golf ball (3-4 bites) and had mini chocolate chips, finely chopped nuts, and even caramel mixed in. It was a cross between a blondie and a chocolate chip cookie. Super yum, and super sweet! I enjoyed it with some peppermint tea to balance out the sugar.

After viewing video timecodes for most of the afternoon, I decided to call it quits around 5:15 and head out. Tonight was a fast dinner. One that doesn’t take a lot of preparation or thought. But, it was still homemade and still quite tasty.

Sausage and Risotto

I prepared Italian sausage on our indoor grill (I still can’t seem to figure out how to use our Weber grill- my husband’s pride and joy). I also made a side of spinach risotto and threw in a few cherry tomatoes for myself. My husband does not care for chunks of tomatoes (yet he likes salsa, so that’s just weird) so he gives them all to me.

I added a little Trader Joe’s feta cheese to my risotto which really gave the dish some tang. Feta, a popular Greek cheese, has a ton of flavor so you don’t have to add very much to enhance your dish. And, I have to hand it to the Greeks. Feta seriously makes everything taste better. I add it to just about anything I can – salads, pastas, rice, veggies, and more. It’s also loaded with calcium which is very important for a runner – especially one who has osteoporosis running in her family.

Ok, enough with my feta fetish, I have a few more things to accomplish before bed. See you in the AM!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , ,

A Lucy Lunch – Recycle Fancy Store Bags

July 21, 2009 by

In spite of my very sparse breakfast, I did not eat lunch until around 1 PM. Somehow, my 80-calorie green apple got me through nearly 5 hours of work. I think I was so crazy busy to notice that I was hungry. I don’t recommend this long stretch of not eating, especially if you eat a very small breakfast. Eating a very light breakfast with no protein often makes you snack throughout the rest of the morning and can lead to overeating at lunchtime. Fortunately for me, this was not the case today.

Nevertheless, when 1 PM rolled around, I made myself take a break to eat. And, I was ever so happy to dig into my very substantial lunch!

Fajita salad

Lunch was a lovely chicken fajita salad, made from Sunday dinner leftovers. It included 2 medium size slices of fajita meat, grilled veggies (peppers, onions, tomatoes), all on a bed of about 2 cups of green leaf lettuce. I topped it off with about an ounce of monterrey jack cheese. No guac though – it just doesn’t travel well on my 45 minute commute. This super tasty lunch really made up for breakfast. The protein from the chicken and cheese also gave me loads of energy to start my full afternoon of work.

You could also say my lunch was very green today (and not from the lettuce). I packed most of the lunch last night and stored it in this cool bag that I saved from a Lucy store purchase. 

Lucy Lunch Bag

Reusing fun store bags (especially those with handles) can be a great way to carry your lunch and they save trees! This bag is very sturdy and is just the right size to fit my whole lunch, plus a travel plate and water bottle. Unfortunately, you can only use it so many times before it gets too dirty or rips.

No time for a post-lunch walk today, see you all tonight!

Filed Under: Lunch Tagged With: ,

Fresh Granola Is A Tropical Treat

July 19, 2009 by

Good morning everyone! My Sunday started off great with a 5 mile run followed by some strengthening exercises. I felt so energized after my workout and was super hungry. I decided to nosh on some Greek yogurt with homemade granola and fresh blueberries.

TJ's Greek Yogurt with RWC Pina Colada granola mix.

I started with a base of Trader Joe’s (or TJ’s) Organic Greek Yogurt in vanilla. If you’re a yogurt lover and have never tried Greek yogurt, you sooo need to try it. Whether it’s TJ’s or Fage, Greek yogurt is so thick and creamy, you may never want to go back to regular yogurt again. It also has a ton more protein than regular yogurt. Just be sure to buy the nonfat or lower fat kind because the full fat is just that – FULL of fat! The only downer is that it’s about 3 times the cost of regular yogurt – but it is well worth every penny!

To my creamy Greek yogurt, I added about 1/4 cup of Running with Cake granola – this time I used the RWC Pina Colada mix and it was unbelievable. It was almost a little too sweet, so I think next time, I’ll cut out the some of the brown sugar when making the base granola. I added about a cup (big handful) of fresh blueberries – my husband and I bought the industrial size blueberries from Costco so I’m adding blueberries to everything!

Trader Joe's Organic Greek Yogurt in Vanilla

The thick cream cheese-like yogurt (not watery like many regular yogurts) helps keep the granola crunchy. Although the yogurt already has plenty of protein (which is very important for breakfast) my granola mix included a few walnuts, which gave each bite an added crunch.

Super crunchy granola - yum!

And the dried pineapple and banana pieces really rounded out the taste. So yummy and super filling. Overall, breakfast came out to be about 250-275 calories (1/4 cup RWC granola only has 75 calories!) and I washed it all down with some of my favorite tea – Harney and Sons English Breakfast loose leaf tea. My husband bought the tea for me for Christmas and I’ve been savoring each cup!

My husband and I headed out to do a little shopping. I checked out Lucy – an awesome women’s yoga/running store near our house. I can honestly say I love Lucy – although she’s quite expensive so I try to only shop during the sales. Ha!

My yogurt-granola bowl can only keep me full for so long – especially when shopping. We headed into the nearby Go Roma for a little lunch.

Veggie pizza a la Go Roma

I am usually a pepperoni and cheese kind of a girl, but I’ve been trying to add more veggies to each meal. I decided to change it up by order the vegetable pizza with spinach, red peppers, mushrooms, pesto, and goat cheese. Holy yum! I’ve never had a veggie pizza taste this good – way to go Go Roma! Although the pizza was only the equivalent of two regular slices, I am so full from it. I didn’t even eat the whole thing. Now that’s good food.

I’m hoping I do not slip into a post-pizza coma because I have a ton to do today. I’m also hoping my pizza wears off in the next few hours (it’s already been 2 hours since I ate) because we’re making chicken fajitas tonight. Fajitas are one of my favorite dishes, especially in the summer when they’re made on the grill. I just can’t resist the grilled vegetables and the char-grilled chicken. Come to think of it, the only time I don’t like fajitas is when I’m too full to eat them – like now – ha!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , ,