Lunch ideas

Since this blog is about packed lunches, I thought I'd share some of the ones I took to work over the last couple of weeks. Tips and tricks? Buy dry foods in bulk if you can, they don't go bad and they're excellent for lunches: filling & healthy.

One thing I include in almost all my lunches is goji berries. They have a sticky sweetness to them, almost like a mini cross between raisins and dates. According to the Internet, they're a superfood that can treat a whole slew of medical issues and they're packed with vitamin C. Unfortunately, they're a little bit expensive but I'm still running off a bag from when my mom became obsessed with every health fad that's ever existed. I'll probably buy another bag only because I think they're delicious.

• Ginger shrimp stirfry with radish, red pepper, broccoli, onion, and eggplant (leftovers!)
• Strawberry yogurt with hemp seeds
• Raw almonds and goji berries
• 1 banana
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 chocolate banana cookie

• 1/2 a can of tuna with raw dandelion greens
• 1/2 of grapes
• 1 avocado
• Cucumber slices, goat cheese, and olives
• Greek yogurt with honey, walnuts, goji berries, and raisins

• Arugula, radish and ground beef with goat cheese and a roasted potato
• Walnuts and goji berries
• Olives, goat cheese and basil
• Rice crackers and grapes

Roasted cauliflower pie with spicy chicken

When are weekends not so busy that you need a weekend to recover from your weekend? And how many times can I say weekend in one sentence? Anyway, this was one of those and it involved a dozen or so toddlers on massive candy highs, Princess Belle, and way way way too much food.

My little sisters celebrating their 3rd birthday! (You can get banners like those made here)

Castle cake by mom

Thankfully Sunday night was a little bit less crazy and since we somehow ran out of party food, I decided to head into the kitchen and play around with what we had.

This dish turned out similar to a shepherd's pie, with a cauliflower mash on the bottom and top and a mix of vegetables in between. It was also a good excuse to use up a some of the vegetables that were left over from my little sisters' birthday party and to use my new mini loaf pans and the arrabiata spices I picked up from Winners. Best part? It took less than 45 minutes from start to finish.

Quick, easy, delicious: chick peas

For whatever reason, there's a never ending supply of chickpeas in my house. My mom refuses to let us buy canned ones so she we have gigantic bins of dried chickpeas in the basement which we then have to soak and boil. Personally, I'd rather my preparation of a chickpea meal include a can opener but it is what it is. Now it's already a well-known fact that these beans are amazing. Hello, hummus anyone? Definitely my number one favorite meal (yes, I can eat a bowl of it for dinner). Since they're easy to cook and fill me up fast, I love making dishes that involve them. Even if it means sprinkling them with cumin and salt and calling it a day.

Here's a list of some chickpea dishes I've put together over the last couple of weeks. And don't forget to check out my chickpea & fish stirfry!

Lunch: Mint & cinnamon chickpeas, grapes, carrots & cucumber with hummus, and greek yogurt with goji berries, raisins, walnuts & honey

Roasted pumpkin & acorn squash soup

Now that fall is almost over, I've decided to get my act together and post about this yummy fall soup I made. Because this morning I scraped ice off my car and it reminded me that this is happening soon:

And I want to enjoy as many pumpkin and squash recipes as I can until then!

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 small pumpkin
• 1 small acorn squash (I had a gigantic one so I had a lot of leftover roasted squash to eat)
• Dry or fresh rosemary, basil, oregano (I used dry rosemary and oregano but fresh basil)
• Pine nuts
• 1 apple
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Butter
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Black rice & quinoa spinach salad

I love salads as meals in every way shape and form and they're even better when they include my two favourite ingredients: spinach and radish. Here's one that I threw together after another crazy Bulk Barn trip where I found some black rice. I wasn't really sure how to cook the black rice properly, it took me so much time because I'm the worst. But it worked out in the end and it turns out that black rice is actually really tasty and good for you (similar to brown rice but even BETTER). 

Ingredients: 
1/2 black rice
1/2 quinoa
3 green onions
5 radishes
2 small cucumbers
1/2 cup spinach (I used regular spinach but baby spinach works too)
crushed garlic (I used 4 cloves but I love a lot of garlic)
olive oil
lemon juice
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
feta cheese
olives

1. Prepare the quinoa and the rice.
2. Chop up the vegetables, crush the garlic.
3. Mix vegetables with lemon juice, balsamic, salt and pepper, olive oil, and garlic.
4. Add rice and quinoa, mix again. 
5. Add feta cheese and olives on top when you're ready to serve.

It made enough to feed 5 people with leftovers for lunch! And it still tasted great the next day.

Lunch: salad; Snacks: walnuts feta cheese, & olives; kiwi, banana, and guava with some Nutella