I’m back on my salad kick using a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the kitchen. The baby spinach and arugula mix from Aldi is my favorite, and a nearby Middle Eastern grocery sells the best falafel. It’s a really filling lunch mixed all together.
Over the last two weeks we’ve had covid, flu, stomach bug, allergies, and an arthritis flare up in the family. Not much meal prep has taken place. Luckily Aldi has the makings for easy snack lunches. This week I’ve been eating well with minimal effort.
This week’s lunch was a kind of throw together minestrone soup. I simmered carrots, potatoes, chickpeas, and kale in a couple of cans of diced tomatoes and some veggie broth. About 45 minutes before we ate I threw in some pasta shells to thicken it up. We had this for Sunday dinner with rolls, and then I ate it for lunch all week with crackers. Winter isn’t over yet so it was nice to have a hot lunch this week!
It warmed up a little this week and melons and pineapple were on sale so we had fruit for lunch. For fruit weeks I chop half on Sunday and half on Wednesday. That way it doesn’t get too mushy. We ate our fruit with muffins and yogurt this week. Sounds more like breakfast when I type it, but it made a good lunch!
With grocery prices rising by the hour (or so it seems) I wanted to start sharing some of my lunch meal prep practices. Having lunch made for the week saves me time and money, and keeps me from eating chips or poptarts instead of a meal. Sometimes this will look like recipes from one of my many cookbooks and sometimes this will look like a bunch of stuff I threw together.
This week was definitely a throw together week. I love salads for lunch, so I make those a lot. They keep well for the week in a closed container, but I don’t add cheese, dressing, or croutons until the last minute.
This week’s salad was mixed greens, leftover roasted asparagus, chopped apple, about a cup of leftover pasta shells, goat cheese, vinaigrette from Aldi, and some of the microgreens I grow in my kitchen. I got a package of seeds from the dollar store and they are growing well!
The bonus to having my lunch already made is I get to spend my whole break reading and walking instead of scrounging for food!
Happy weekend all! I took a little screen break last weekend. I needed a break from headlines, so I shut down my laptop and cleaned out closets instead. This weekend I’m doing some meal prep for the busy weeks ahead, cleaning some more closets, and probably not watching the Superbowl but maybe eating snacks and watching the commercials.
We’re expecting snow this afternoon so I’m really hoping all of my chores will be done so I can hunker down with a bowl of chili and a good book.
“Is your book a good one?
Nancy inquired.
Bess made a face.
The title sounded great, but it turned out to be about medieval history.”
Kindle - Night Shift by Stephen King - At first I was going to read a short story every few days in between other things, but my mood this morning is telling me to binge them all at once. Preferably after dark. In the middle of a storm. Just before the power goes out.
Audiobook - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - I had been reading this on paper, but I kept falling asleep so I switched to audio. I love Jane Austen and I love this book, but this time of year I’m just too tired at night.
In Print - Love and Death in Kathmandu by Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker - I don’t know why I’m thinking this will keep me awake any more than Sense and Sensibility did, but I’m going to give it a shot since it’s for a book club.
This post is linked to The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Reviewer.
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The Complete Italian Cookbook by Manuela Anelli Mazzocco hit all of my quarantine food longing buttons just right. This is a great book for browsing, with enough every day recipes that you probably have ingredients for even during Covid-19 lock downs.
The soup section in particular kept me dreaming of big bows of deliciousness served with bread. I can’t wait to cook my way through the chapter. I also appreciated the dessert and drinks chapter. I always feel cheated when I get a cookbook and the author says they didn’t include a dessert chapter because they feel just as satisfied with a piece of fruit after dinner. That is definitely not me.
I made the Hunter’s Chicken Stew with just a few adjustments to make it a pantry meal. It was so good! Even my picky eater ate two plates. I’ll be returning to this feel good cookbook often.
Note: The publisher sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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