So, since my first ever blog post, I have been to the supposed (I say supposed as I have been to no less than three and have on Thursday been invited to a fourth) opening of the new Marco Pierre White restaurant at The Cube, met MPW himself and have pondered the best way to devour some delicious venison sausages purchased at the Harborne Farmer’s Market. Two very bloggable subjects, I do believe. So, which one am I going to write about today, I hear you cry in your thousands? *cough* Neither. I am instead going to turn this blog post into an urgent appeal for help over the sad state of affairs that is my daily lunch.
Now, I consider myself to be acceptably handy in the kitchen. Hell, I even got through to the final round of auditions for Masterchef this year (take that Miss Quinn, Year 7 Home Economics teacher). I have a good understanding of what flavours go together and which absolutely, categorically do not, I can’t think of any food that I will not eat, I have a knack for knowing when things are cooked just right, and I have the good fortune to eat out fairly often and can therefore be inspired by some wonderful professionals. This all dictates that I must have a carb-free, healthy lunch Monday to Friday so as not to turn into a bed-ridden whale of a woman in a shockingly short time period. But, it therefore should also dictate that my daily salad consists of something slightly more creative that the continual bore of:
- Bagged lettuce. Mainly spinach, sometimes lambs lettuce, occasionally pea shoots. Crazy town right there…
- Chopped red pepper. Have a slight phobia (yes a phobia) of green peppers so will only venture as far down the colour spectrum as yellow
- Halved baby tomatoes
- Sliced cucumber
- Pumpkin seeds. New addition for 2012 after reading a Men’s Health magazine about how they are, like, totally and utterly brilliant for building muscle and stuff if you are a big burly bloke. I’m a 27.5 year old girl but guessing that the principle is the same. This is why I am manically sprinkling chilli powder on my salad too. Totally speeds up your metabolism if you consume about a kilo of the red stuff, per day.
- Some protein in the form of egg, sardines or chicken
- Avocado
- Drizzle of hemp oil.
This is not exactly going to win Britain
They say that the first step to solving a problem is to admit that you need help. I NEED HELP. Now, any ideas on where to start?
Welcome to the blogosphere!
ReplyDeleteI fully empathise with your lunch dilemma which I share.
I know you said carb-free, but if you can bear to eat a tortilla, how about carnitas with pico de gallo and guacamole? Or fish tacos?
Oh I can certainly bear to eat a tortilla; it's my militant personal trainer that might disagree! Mexican for lunch is sounding very appealing...
DeleteI wrote lots of recipes for Jane last week as she's starting a masters in London and needs cheap healthy lunches in a tupperware box twice a week. We came up with green lentil roasted veg and feta salad, fruit and nut rice, carrot and cumin salad, humous, quinoa and courgette salad, and greek salad for starters. Some obviously have carbs, but isn't that the half point of lunch...?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration Tom - I've just got back from good ol' Waitrose with some feta cheese (adore adore adore) and some pomegranate seeds. So, about to ferret around in the bottom of the fridge to see what else I have to go with it...
Deletearr, 'half the' not 'the half'.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I can rustle up a few suggestions for you, having been taking my own lunch to work most days for the past 8 or 9 years now - but first some questions:
ReplyDelete- does it have to be salad?
- is carb always out?
- do you have any access to a fridge & microwave?
- do you have any storage space (e.g. a drawer or locker) to keep a few kitchen things in work? (cling film, small sharp knife, seasoning, lemon juice?)
I pay a small fortune for a personal fitness trainer, so I suppose I should be sensible and answer as follows:
Delete- yes, has to be salad with a good dose of protein. Apparently, good cheese and even better bread meets none of these requirements...
- no carbs for lunch
- have fridge, microwave and storage.
It sounds so boring in writing!
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ReplyDeleteMy suggestions so far - you may need to ignore any cheese-related ones but I left them in anyway in case someone else takes inspiration:
ReplyDelete- Tasty protein. Make this your basis for each variation on a salad – it should be filling & well-flavoured to satisfy:
o Tuna mixed with some finely chopped pepper & red onion & chilli, in a small amount of vinaigrette; mixed with a tin of bean salad (or make your own); with low-fat mayo, scallions & sweetcorn; or if good quality tuna (albacore), great on it’s own
o Smoked sardines – you can get these in a tin from Waitrose – they’re divine if served with a couscous & veg salad. Use some of the oil from the can as your dressing to get all the flavour out of it. Either roast veg chopped into the couscous, or tomato & avocado chopped & added, with a bit of little gem lettuce. Also works well with those yellow tins of spicy Jamaican sardines that have hot peppers in them.
o Peppered mackerel – it’s cheap, full of flavour, and goes very well with a mixed tomato and roast pepper salad. Even better if you can heat it gently then flake large chunks into the salad, but that depends on microwave availability and understanding workmates ;-)
o Shrimp (little grey or brown shrimp, you can get from Waitrose) – as a treat – serve Belgian-style, mixed with a little low-fat mayo, paprika & seasoning, fill a couple of large scooped-out tomatoes with them, serve with salad leaves and grated carrot
o Chicken – baste and bake in various hot sauces, spiced rubs & marinades. Shouldn’t add much calories but will make it v tasty, and you can do various things with it – one of our favourites is to take a tortilla to work, heat for 20 secs on low (just to make it pliable), then spread with a little low-fat hummus, grated carrot, then fill it with marinated chicken and roast veg (peppers, courgette & red onion). If you prep this one night, you can make enough for 3 lunches. I don’t get bored of eating this 3 days in a row cause it’s so damn good
- Vary your salad veg ingredients so they’re a bit more filling and exciting, and they can be stuff you can keep in work or your fridge – grated carrot, bean salad, roast veg (those jars of roast red peppers are great, can get them cheap in Lidl & Aldi), beetroot, tinned sweetcorn, sprouted pulses.
- Avocado – great served with a little lemon or lime juice, salt & pepper, and a good sprinkling of something spicy like Nanami Togarashi (Japanese pepper which I get through in droves!). It’s also great in a Caesar-style salad with chicken – you don’t have to add the Parmesan and croutons, just find a good low-fat Caesar dressing you like.
- Last tip for now – theme your lunch, it's more mentally satisfying – e.g.
o Japanese: Miso soup to go with it; yakitori (chicken & scallion skewers) or teriyaki salmon, with lettuce, peppers, tsukemono (pickles), grated carrot & daikon, edamame beans, thinly-sliced deseeded cucumber, goma (sesame no-oil) dressing – Seoul Plaza in Selly Oak is a good source of ingredients
o Belgian: goat’s cheese drizzled with a little honey & pine nuts, chicory (endive) either as a crispy lettuce or braised and served on top of other salad
o French – a classic Nicoise, with tuna, boiled eggs, black olives, vinagrette and fine green beans
o Spanish – so many variations; one of my favourites (a bit indulgent) involves chorizo and Picos de Europa blue cheese, but could just as easily be Manchego and steamed asparagus with a red pepper dressing – plenty to play around with!
- I could go on ad infinitum once started on the subject of lunches – with access to a microwave I often take in homemade veg & pulse packed casserole dishes rather than salad, and chunky soup of course is a great tasty way of getting low-fat nutrients into you at lunch, but I’ll stop here otherwise I’ll take over your post entirely! Maybe I should blog on different lunchtime variations…