Healthy Lunches and Snacks

1/2 a cantaloupe with the hollow stuffed with cottage cheese and sprinkled with sunflower seeds or other nuts. Portable with a metal spoon you can eat it out of the rind. Somewhere between a meal and a snack. You get protein, and cantaloupe is extremely nutritious (large amt Vit A and C, good B-6 and some iron and magnesium, fiber)

Soup is always nutritious. Hot homemade soup is pretty easy, can freeze in individual portions. My favorite summer soup is Zucchini, green chile and cilantro soup from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors cookbook, quite delicious hot or cold. That with a square of cornbread which is easy is a good meal.
http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/625663-Zucchini-and-Cilantro-Soup-with-Chile-and-Mint

In a pinch I make egg rolls with a bag of cabbage based Asian salad mix (mine has shredded carrot, green onion and cilantro), saute in a pan with a tiny bit oil or sesame oil, add soy sauce, dash hot sauce, chopped cooked chicken, couple handfuls of bean sprouts till wilted. Roll up in egg roll wrappers and fry (I keep meaning to experiment with oven frying–so it’s fried but I’m eating cabbage) Could use this mix over noodles or rice too but you’d need to add some sauce. Use the Asian salad dressing packet, Thai style sweet chile sauce or Trader Joe’s gyoza dipping sauce for the egg rolls. (As a matter of fact, I got hungry while writing this and put 1/2 bag of cabbage mix in a pan while I defrosted a small container of chicken chunks which I minced. Added a Tbsp of spicy stir fry sauce, no beansprouts because they go bad fast–and it is still good and took me 15 minutes tops.)

Sauteed beef or chicken and spinach, green beans or broccoli over rice. Very simple peanut sauce made with: 1/2 c peanut butter, 1/2 cup hot water, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 T soy sauce, 1 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp brown sugar. Blend and let sit for 1/2 hour for flavors to develop. (can enhance with ginger, maybe coconut milk and lime juice.)

Black bean turkey chili, a one pot meal and freezes very well in individual containers. I make mine with a lot of bell peppers esp red ones (rich in vit c, a, b6, phytochemicals carotenoids and enzymes like lutein.)

Salmon for dinner, leftover piece taken to work on top of a bagged Asian salad, the dressing will be good on the salmon too. Even if you dress it ahead it should hold up okay if you use a cabbage based one.

Pasta with a no cook sauce. Either chopped tomatoes marinated in garlic, olive oil and basil with diced fresh mozzarella. Or canned tuna with lemon juice, olive oil, capers or kalamata olives, diced red onion, minced parsley. Toss with hot pasta, use leftovers cold.

I love Dave’s bread too but I haven’t looked how healthy it is. And Kind bars are so perfect, my favorite is the almond and coconut, not too sweet as dried fruit and love the honey flavor. Also the roasted jalapeno is good for savory. Whoever thinks commercial rice pudding is healthy meal is delusional, lol.

The other day, I saw red lentil pasta at Sam’s and almost bought it. You could use it to make the pasta portion of your dish–all protein. I’m not sure H likes lentils, so I didn’t buy it but may go back and get it tomorrow. It really intrigued me and seems like it would be good hot or cold. I’m looking forward to trying to apple chips that I’m patiently waiting to share with D and S.

abasket! Come back & let me know if the salad from Costco was spicy or not! (reference post #57) Thanks!

I’m here!!! Sorry I was out of town EATING that salad!

I would have to say it was NOT spicy. Now, I do love spicy but just did not pick up on the chili flavoring that much. My son and his fiance who do not like things spicy ate it and loved it. I would buy it again especially if I had people to share with (so it doesn’t last too long!)

Thanks, abasket. It sounds yummy, but I didn’t want to buy a big container and then not be able to eat it. I’ll look for it the next time I’m at Costco! Thanks so much!

I doubt red lentil pasta tastes like lentil, I wouldn’t mention it. Anyway red lentils are very mild.

D and I bought the red lentil pasta at Costco. I made it once and haven’t made it again.It was okay but I felt it was gummy. Does not taste like lentils. I happen to like lentils but the pasta was just fair. I rarely eat pasta and I would rather use a better quality product on the occasions I make a pasta dish.

I just liked that it was protein source for those who are trying to avoid meat as their protein. If it tastes halfway decent, it will be a win–just need to figure out the right sauce to serve it with. :wink: I found it at Sam’s and didn’t look or see it at Costco.

I made the quinoa Parmesan dish that North Minn recommended. My spinach was slimy so I used arugula. I also had a bunch of basil that was going to go bad so made a couple of versions of pesto within the pamesan. One batch with walnuts and the other with pepitas( D is allergic to most nuts). I just added a small amount of pesto to the quinoa. My D said it was an absolutely yummy lunch.

Wow, this is a great thread - so many good ideas. Keep 'em coming!

Regarding lentils… has anyone mentioned lentil soup? It’s pretty easy to make, though you should have one of those boat motor things.

  • Saute some diced onion, carrot and celery in olive oil -- medium heat, about 8 minutes.
  • Add some chicken or vegetable broth, canned diced tomatoes, dry lentils, a bay leaf or two. Also add some salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin. If you have a ham bone, add that too. Give it a good stir, keeping it on Medium heat.
  • Once this mixture begins to simmer, cut the heat to med-low (or low), cover the pan and let it simmer 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft/cooked, stirring occasionally.
  • Remove the bay leaves (and ham bone...) and, with your boat motor in the pan (*and with the blade of mixing attachment completely submerged!), pulse-puree the soup until it is your desired consistency. I like it creamy but still with some chunks of lentil and veggies in it.
  • Taste it, adjust the seasoning as you see fit, and enjoy!

This recipe also works for Split Pea – just don’t add the tomatoes and probably not the cumin. Add some diced ham instead, after you have pureed the soup.