A Lunch At Home

This was one at home, yesterday. It would pack easily, though, and reheat well.

Broccoli, steamed. Corn, boiled on cob exactly four minutes and cut off when cool enough. Cabbage, sliced and sauteed at medium high heat in EV Olive Oil with water as needed.

But what are the festive doodley-whoppers? They're Bean Croquettes adapted from Vegan Planet. She has them with canned black beans, but I used what we had, which were pretty well cooked aduki beans, drained. I replaced her shallots with red onion and a clove of garlic, kept the parsley, but switched her bread crumbs with oatmeal and a little oat bran. I contemplated replacing the potatoes with yam, and next time I may. I think some scallions would also be good. Also, I baked mine, she fries hers.

On top is a couli of red peppers, purple onions, a touch of garlic and some lemon juice, all sauteed, then run through the food processor, which was out anyway because of the croquettes.

Lemon can be drizzled over everything but the corn. This was all awesome at dinner the night before, when we had kabocha squash as well. The baked croquettes are not storing as well as I'd like them to, but I'm willing to bet that a reheat involving frying in good oil would restore them beautifully.

The lunch was filling and satisfying. We started with a mushroom soup, and ended with maple sweetened Sun Drop oat cookies. Those were a hit, so I'll post the recipe soon.

Brief Hiatus

T was home last week and is out of town this week, so posting is exceedingly unlikely. As soon as he's back in production, I will be too! Thanks for visiting!

Coconut Rice & Lunch In A Pinch

Yesterday baby fever = Mom making ham, egg & cheese sandwiches, packing a little English fruit cake and a peeled tangerine.

For the rest of this week we're all home between production phases. That means lunch at home, but no less food, so I'll still be posting.

Today we're doing Indian leftovers. Coconut rice, tandoori chicken, saag panir (that's the spinach and cheese dish, we got it at Wild Oats). I'm not sure what else. This would be totally packable either in a sectioned container or an all-in-one with the rice on the bottom.

Coconut rice is easy and incredibly delicious.

Use jasmine rice, white or brown. Replace water with coconut milk (not cream) found in the Asian or Latin sections of the grocery store. Add a little extra water to account for fat and solids taking up some of the measure. We use a large microwave rice steamer (found at Walmart) and make 5 1/4 c. milk, 3 3/4 c. rice and 1/2 c. water. You can't really mess it up too horribly. It will have solids on top and be quite stiff when done. It requires serious stirring. It's great with beans, meat, veggies. Everyone loves it!

Important! If you're packing it in a lunch you need to reheat it briefly with a bit of water. Again, I do this in the microwave. If you don't do this, it will be crunchy and gross. This is true of all rice packed in a lunch.

TGIF

I still have to work out some kinks regarding photography, light, and the morning rush. It's an interesting learning curve.

We make the lunches assuming T will eat some right away. Yesterday that was the Stromboli. Today he'll eat the almond butter and banana sandwich first, no doubt.

The overexposed redleaf salad has roasted chicken breast with garlic, tomato, peppers, grapes, carrots, raspberry vinaigrette and Mom's has celery where T's pasta goes.

Yesterday T was so full of Stromboli and Chili he didn't finish his salad, partly because he didn't have time. I'm thinking something with the salad in it would be good. Pita sandwiches and wraps probably. But then we'll need muffins or something to get him his carbs. I can't see him complaining about muffins. It's easy to sneak veggies into them, too.

He gets two ham sandwiches on whole wheat, Mom gets one with lowfat mayo. She may or may not eat the chicken salad and the sandwich, depending on how late they work today.

Tangerines, Milanos for T, and Bob's your uncle.

I did steam some chopped kale, but totally forgot about it, so the kids and I can have that today instead of salad. I like to steam it three minutes in the microwave steamer (stinky!) and dress it like a salad. It's good with an Asian dressing, or just some sesame oil and umeboshi plum vinegar, or even just lime juice, salt and olive oil once it's steamed. It's exceptional sauted with chunks of garlic in olive oil. We don't do the whole southern boil-to-death thing.

White Bean Chili

You'll need a slow cooker to do it easily and well, but it can be done stove top with a good pot that doesn't burn and a little attention to water levels.

Beans are outrageously good for you and really delicious. Make this with or without the hot stuff, with or without the meat (you could sub tempeh or seasoned tofu). Make it yours.

• 1 large bag navy beans, cannellini, or a mix of each (approx. 2 lbs.), picked for rocks, washed, soaked for 6 - 12 hours and drained
  
• 4 - 8 cloves garlic, whole or roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 t marjoram
  
• smoked turkey parts, usually neck or wing, 1 - 3 pieces to taste
• 1/2 lb. chicken breast or ground turkey
• 4 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  
• 2 - 3 poblano peppers, cut in chunks or strips the long way, don't worry about a few seeds
  
• 1 - 2 serrano peppers, cut in disks, with seeds
• 5 - 7 leaves fresh broad-leaf oregano, sometimes called Cuban oregano, cut into strips across the vein (chiffonade) or quadruple that for European oregano and leave whole. Don't bother with dry. You could even use a little fresh thyme instead.
  
• 1 T cumin seed, or 2 t ground cumin
• ancho chili powder to taste, if desired (it's really hot and delicious)
• 1/2 cup tomatillo sauce or canned tomatillos with the juice of 1/2 lime
• garnish with any of the following: cilantro leaves, lime, Pukka sauce, salt, avocado, cheese, blue corn tortilla chips, chopped tomato, chopped yellow or purple onion, pico de gallo, sunflower sprouts, scallions, sour cream. I've even heard some like it with sauerkraut! (Be sure the only ingredients are cabbage and salt, like this one)
  
• a health conscious but less purist recipe adds baby carrots to the cooking and chopped kale at the end, delicious!

Put the beans, garlic, marjoram, bay leaves and fresh water into the pot or slow cooker on high.

Saute the poultry in the olive oil, add the cumin and ancho (if using), set aside when done.

Saute the peppers in a splash of oil, and don't molest them! Let them roast and brown before you stir. You'll probably cough and make everyone choke and laugh. This is a good thing. They're done when they're browned and stray seeds are crispy looking. Set aside.

After the beans have been bubbling for an hour (or all day), add the smoked turkey pieces and carrots (if using). Take out the bay leaves. Add the meat, the peppers, the tomatillo sauce, simmer for at least ten minutes or another hour or two. Remove turkey parts when the carrots are soft.

Check the salt and add sea salt if needed.

It will be hot enough to cook the chopped kale directly in the bowl. Garnish the top as desired. You could also put brown rice in the bowl, or have whole grain tortillas, or make burritos. Burritos would freeze nicely.

Remember, if you have issues with beans and gas, don't eat anything sweet for an hour. Not yams, not a TicTac, not anything. After that go right ahead. Try it.

Stromboli

Witness the glory of my beautiful stromboli! And I figured out the camera! And it wasn't raining!

It was made using dough from the bread machine, turkey, Havarti, garlic, onions, Cubanito peppers and Caesar salad dressing.

It occurs to me a Cuban version would be good, as would a roasted veggie with rosemary one. Maybe with mozzarella. Maybe a touch of prosciuto.

Lunch got away from me today before I figured out the camera. It consisted of a thermos of White Bean and Turkey Chili with kale, poblanos, lime juice, Pukka sauce, and a slice of Swiss. Also a red leaf salad with tomatoes, green grapes and Annie's Naturals Raspberry Vinaigrette. More grapes, a few carrots, a couple of Milano cookies, several slices of stromboli, and a little leftover pasta alfredo filled in the box, plus a honey tangerine.

You Gotta Start Somewhere

We're on a new lunch kick. We own a young decorative painting company, and my mother and husband still do the lion's share of the production. In an effort to save money and improve our health we've started them packing. This blog is the story.