What's in my lunchbox this week?

After a few weeks of simple (uninspiring?) lunches consisting mainly of raw fruit and vegetables I one again felt the urge to make something more interesting. I guess the slightly lower temperature don't hurt either. For the first time in a few weeks not much grown at home produce in the box, but lots of local produce in the market and shops here.

Clockwise from top left:

Buckwheat - got to eat more of this stuff it's so easy to cook and so good for you

Peas - I used to hate peas as a child because they were too sweet but I am very fond of them now and I find shelling them a very calming thing to do

TLT salad - my take on a vegan BLT without the bread. Little gem lettuce, tempeh rashers and sun dried tomatoes in oil. Very tasty.

Red fruits compote - I love cherries but they like me better if I cook them first. So here we have gently cooked cherries, strawberries and raspberries. I got to use my cherry stoner for the first time too.

By the way I was interested to hear about version 2.0 of the Bento lunch system from laptop lunchboxes. I have no plans to upgrade but I always love to hear about new lunchboxes.

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I blame the weather. Usually I have a pretty good idea what will be in my lunch by about Friday of the previous week and I do preparation on Sunday. Not this week. I just couldn't find the inspiration. Hence I feel back on this old vegan standby - peanut butter.

Clockwise from top:

Strawberries - Yes more strawberries. I'm still picking and trying to find ways to use up those I can't eat. Strawberry wine is looking quite promising in this area but it'll have to wait at least six months before I can taste test!

Radishes - From the allotment

Cucumber - Why is it so hard to buy a cucumber that isn't encased in plastic?

Crackers with peanut butter - The cucumber went really well with this.

Just realised this is my first lunch for some weeks with no Asparagus!

What's in my lunchbox this week?

This is the half home grown lunch box. Thrilled that I grew fifty percent of this box.

From top right:

Tofu - marinated in watered down dregs of BBQ sauce and then baked.

Radishes - Grown on my allotment. I've never been able to get radishes to grow before and isn't the colour divine!

Strawberries - These taste amazing. My plants are producing so many at present that we starte to make Strawberry wine on Sunday. Might try some jam next.

Pasta with peas and asparagus

A perfect lunchbox for eting in the park under a blue sky.

What's in my lunchbox this week?

A rather haphazard mix this week of combined sunday lunch leftovers and things knocking aorund the back of the cupboard.

From top right:

Aparagus - locally grown (not by me!) and baked for bit.

Cauliflower - The bits that wouldn't fit int he steamer when we were making lunch on Sunday

Rice spring roll wrappers filled with lentils mashed with various oils vinegars and spices, radishes, carrot, cucumber, white cabbage. I'm not very good at getting these to roll up. Contents were inspired by a recipe for vegan wraps from The Everyday Vegan. However I think the author had tortilla style wraps in mind, not brittle disks that need soaking and drying with a tea towel. This is the last of the packet I bought with a wheat avoiding friend in mind. I've no idea how I was intending to serve them to her but I probably won't bother - Life is too short to stuff a rice paper wrap.

Rhubarb crumble - Sweeter and runnier than I usually make it as it was served to our Sunday lunch guest. I realised that most people do not relsih the sour taste of rhubarb quite the same way as I do. I bought the rhubarb because my own plants have started to flowerand I still trying to work out if this is a good thing or not!

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I seem to be cooking far too much food then my lunchbox needs at present. I think I'll have to look at freezing some of it for days when I don't have so much time.

From top right:

Spinach (from my allotment) and radishes

Watercress toppped with roasted aspargus

Pesto and mushroom tart

Rosewater rice pudding

Who says that vegans don't eat interesting food?

What's in my lunchbox this week?

From top right:

Baked tofu (marianted in a mix of soy sauce, nutritional yeast flakes and agave syrup).

Baked Asparagus (slightly over cooked but still very good indeed)

Salad of cos lettuce, watercress, spinach (home grown!) and radishes

Quinoa dressed with olive oil, raspberry vinegar and salt/pepper.

I love it when the season foods on offer begin to expand. I'm really looking forward to the first strawberries. The plants on my allotment are all flowering at present so I'm hoping for a really good crop this year.

What's in my lunchbox this week?

I've been very busy of late. Hence the lack of blog posts. One of the more pleasing side effects of extreme occupation is that I don't plan every detail of life in an obsessive manner. So I open the fridge and find food that I bought and forgot about or ran out of time to do something with. the unexpected half cauliflower at the bottom of the fridge combined with an unexpected BBQ forcing me to remember dishes I haven't made for ages has made for a packed box this week.

Clockwise from top right:

Cos lettuce (new season) and roasted Asparagus (new season)

Boiled potatoes (from the allotment)

Easy Cauliflower dahl from a Linda McCartnery book. The spinach just keeps on coming so I threw a couple of huge handfuls into the lentils towards the end of cooking.

Buckwheat with Marinated mushrooms. The mushroom recipe is another Linda McCartney one and tastes so good BBQed. It's not bad made in the oven either.

What's in my lunchbox this week?

So what have I got this week?

Clockwise from top right:

Stewed Rhubarb - I did this in the microwave which was very easy. However there was quite a bit of liquid so I added a sample of Jordan's muesli that I had lying around that just so happened to be vegan. Very yummy and a change from pears!

Tempeh and dried apricots - I love Tempeh and had to resist eating the whole packet in one go. It's so good when it's fried. The dried apricots are the last of a bag from the stall on the market. I've got Crazy Jacks Apricots that I got at the Vitality show to move on to after these and they look totally different.

Carrots and hummus - Dear Heart and I popped into the Co-op on Sunday to buy something random and I noticed that there was a reduced pot of hummus so it came home with us to add a little something to my lunchbox.

Italian Style rice - A veganised version of a recipe from Lunchbox by Amanda Grant. It tasted a bit bland so I added some chili sauce. It reheats very well.

I seem to have been filling up the freezer a bit over the past few weeks so I'm definitely thinking that next weeks menu needs to clear things out a bit. Breakfast wise this week I've been eating leftovers (I just love it when the fridge has all kind of odds and ends in it) - Lemon spinach sandwiches, baked beans. I'm not finding that I have such a need for afternoon snacks so I guess that my body has adjusted to all the extra exercise.

Incidentally if you need inspiration to eat nice, healthy food, first lose your appetite by visiting this is why you're fat and then recover it by heading over to this is why you're thin!

What's in my lunch box this week?

Following last week's selection of foods that seemed to feature an above average amoputn of peanut butter here's the choice for new week:
(Clockwise from top right)
Tofu fish stick (from The Vegan lunch box - only I used frozen tofu whoch looked freakily like fish when I was dipping it in the mix)
Pear
Polenta fries (from The Vegan lunch box - do not make this when you are (a) tired from working and marathon training, (b) have just worn self our further bashing lumps out of white sauce and (c) without following the instructions for ratio between Polenta and water). They should be more fry shaped but they tate delicious anyway!
White cabbage, spring onions and radishes with a hint of rice wine vinegar.

Breakfast has been a bit varied this week as I was able to eat at home for two mornings and there are enough left overs in the fridge to provide me with variety. Likewise I find myself having a number of afternon appointments which distract me from the need to nibble midafternoon.

Expect something sushi like next week - I've got all the bits in the apntry jsut waiting for me to use them.

Things I love Thursday

Growing stuff – Things seem to be going quite well on my allotment. I’m doing good on preparing the ground, the spinach and celery survived the winter and I got my first lot of potatoes in the ground last week. Today I bough Raspberry canes from the market. I love raspberries and have been meaning to grow some for years so I was so pleased have purchased these. Also looking forward to laying out my seed packets and sorting out planting plan.

Lamé leggings – I bought a pair of these from American Apparel in December because my Grandma gave me some £ and wanted me to treat myself. I’ve worn them previously in a non-noticeable way as pretty much as replacement tights. Last weekend I wore them with my grey woolly pillow case top and black buckle boots and felt totally rock and roll. I’ve been doing enough exercise to justify showing off my legs after all.

Purple sprouting Broccoli – I’ve had this in my lunch box every day this week and think it is so yummy.

Vegan cheese on crackers spread with vegan mayo – Holland and Barrett had a three for two on vegan cheese which means I’ve been eating loads of this high fat stuff. I’ve been justifying it to myself that I need it to off set the broccoli and moonwalk training! The offer is now over so I might start restraining my urges for this delicious combo.

Honourable mentions: Tapas with friends, packed lunches, reading the original book the film/tv show was based on, keeping a good average time per mile while walking, cooking leftovers, a possible date for the UK Lady bloggers meet up, rearranging furniture.

Right I'm off to read other TILTs across the web

What's in my lunchbox this week?

Here we have my lunch (clockwise from top right):

Tiny tub of sesame peanut butter sauce (mix peanut butter, soy sauce, seasame oil) and two dark chocolate hearts

Pear

Steamed Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Quinoa with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Beneath the lunchbox are:

A tub of peanut butter and jelly bars - just like the mixed berry one I made the other week only with peanut butter and grape jelly in the middle. These came out a bit firmer than the previous ones; it must be all the sugar binding them together. They remind me of Pop Tarts!

Caraway scones - these came out very light and make a nice mid afternoon snack.

What's for breakfast?

Ok, it's a terrible photograph, but just try and over look that. On one side are sun dried tomato scones and looking slightly paler and just in front are plain scones. These are going to be breakfast and mid afternoon snack this week. The recipe is from Rose Elliot's Vegan Feast and they are so quick to make I'm wondering why I haven't done it before.

The plain ones are fine but I think the recipe is better with some 'bit' in the mix. There's so little in it (flour, water, baking powder and tiny amount of margarine) that it needs a bit of substance.

They've done the job today providing me with breakfast and stopping me from going on a junk food hunt mid afternoon!

What's in my lunchbox this week?

This week I have:

(clockwise from top right)

Fried Gluten mock 'chicken'

Kiwi fruit and chili chocolate penguin

Soba Noodles

Brussel sprouts

The gluten came in can. I popped in in the oven, dubious looking juices and all for a bit. After 15 minutes or so I added some BBQ sauce and a big sploge of some ancient pepper and tomato salad dressing that has been in the fridge for ever and shoved it back in until it looked a bit dried out on the top. It's very yummy indeed and I'm afraid that it might not last the week.

Additionally the kiwi will turn into an apple in a couple of days as I've only a few left from those I treated myself to last week.

What's in my lunchbox this week

If I'm going to list what I wear why not what I eat!

I I tend to make up a batch of food on Sunday and eat it (or some kind of variation on it) for the rest of the week. I'm still getting to grips with portion sizes in the laptop lunchbox. So although I'm probably eating more reasonable portion sizes (instead of eating the lot in two sitting or making a tiny portion last all week) I'm still getting used to how much food it takes to fill the various tubs. I think I'm definitely eating a more balanced lunch though.
So here we have:
raw carrots
pears (these and apples are about the only UK grown fruit that is in season)
mix of brown rice and Buckwheat – Never tried Buckwheat before but it was reduced so I bought some and I’m finding it very good.
Chickpea and spinach curry – I fried some spring onions, added a very ancient Indian Oxo cube, cooked chickpea and spinach from the freezer. It’s not very spicy but totally yum.

Walking, sewing and muffin making

What an excellent weekend

I got to experience the great outdoors on my usual Saturday walk. I was once again really thankful that I had walking boots as the snow was still quite heavy on some parts of the path. It did put a bit of time on my walk though. I’m training for the Moonwalk and really hope the snow is gone before I get to doing the longer training walks.

Following the great cardboard clear out, I got stuck into my makes, repairs and upfashions pile. I made a present bag for my Dad with a representation of the Tardis on it. He’s a big Doctor Who fan and one of his presents is related to this so it seemed appropriate. I even remembered I had a K9 brooch tucked away so I dug it out to include. Alas I forgot to take a photograph so I can’t display my handiwork here.

I repaired a skirt and a pair of leggings and altered an Icing t-shirt and an army surplus top to fit. I think I might be getting to grips with bust darts. Just doing the work on these garments has cleared part of my study. I now have two paper carrier bags of projects rather than an untidy heap. I’ve decided that I like to have my next project set up on the dress model immediately after I finish the current one. In this case it’s a pair of grey trousers that are destined to become a dress.

My search for an excellent breakfast has continued and I was totally inspired this time. I bought mushrooms for this weekend but for various reasons we didn’t end up using them. I thought about how I might incorporate them into breakfast thinking about some kind of pate and then I had the eureka moment. Savoury muffins! I did a quick google search and found a recipe. I then almost totally ignored it using my usual vegan muffin recipe and adding sun dried tomatoes. The only thing that I took from the recipe was frying the mushrooms first and adding herbs. These are totally delicious and will be making regular appearance on my breakfast menu. I’m now thinking of other vegetable combinations I could use.

Have splendid week and try not to worry too much – it’s only life

Creamy chickpea and tahini bake

It was only after I’d scoffed the last portion of this that I realised I have failed to take any photographs with which to wet your appetite.

I got the recipe from Recipezaar and was alerted to it by Kenny’s veganlunchcast (which is sadly not being updated at present). It is absolutely delicious and very filling. It also stands up well to being ‘creative’ with ingredient quantities. I mixed up a load of it and used some to stuff some courgettes. The rest has reheated brilliantly for lunch. I was also pleased that it made use of ingredients that I either had in the cupboard, fridge or freezer.

I’d forgotten what a treasure trove Recipezaar is. I’ve been tending to make use of vegweb.com (another Kenny recommendation) when I’ve needed a bit of inspiration. I’m determined that my fruit and vegetable consumption won’t tail off this winter even if the variety does. On the bus home I’m going to draw up a list of things that I can eat to get my five a day over the winter months. Then if I find my resolve and enthusiasm is wavering I’ll have something to keep me on the ‘straight and narrow’.

And how am I today?

• Craving chocolate, which is strange because I have a salt tooth rather than a sweet tooth.
• Thrilled with the variety of produce lurking in my fridge at present, a big chunk of which came from my allotment.
• Thinking that it would be a really good idea to buy some silicon cupcake cases (there’s that sweet tooth again).
• Loving green liquid eyeliner by MAC and loving it even more on someone else so I can admire it all the time.
• Gutted that the pair of non leather black boots in the charity shop didn’t fit, even thought they were my size – does the universe have a better pair waiting for me somewhere?
• Joyful how marvellous soup prepared from leftovers lurking around the kitchen can turn out so well.
• Delighted that the henna I put on my hair on Saturday has taken so well. I may never return to chemical dyes and it really is a pleasure to find out what colour my hair actually is.
  
  That’s more positives than negatives which can only be a good thing! Let the week commence.

Dinner dilemma

Clearly Dear Heart and I are reaching the age when birthdays stop being a cause for celebration. We celebrated Dear Heart’s yesterday by carrying on as normal, except for a short bout of present opening. He even decided to have cheese on toast for dinner (normal for a Thursday) despite my offers to cook something more … er... complex. No a drop of alcohol passed either of our lips.

He did indicate that Chinese food would be good tonight but prefers to get a takeaway to eating out. I pestered him about Saturday night thinking that he might want to do something then – maybe go out somewhere and met up with friends?

Negative, although he did mention buying a steak for his Saturday dinner consumption.

And this does mean that I need to do a bit of thinking. We used to quite often do ‘free choice’ evening where we’d both cook different meals but eat together. Or we’d share a portion of carbohydrate but find out own accompaniments. We haven’t done it in quite some time though so I’ve gotten out of the habit of thinking of recipes that I want to try out. I’m also quite keen to ensure that whatever I consume makes use of the food I have on hand. This is most notably courgettes, but I also have beans in the freezer, seiten, dried gluten chunks and probably a few other odds and ends.

I thinking of making stuffed courgettes with a variety of fillings that I can freeze for later consumption. I don’t want to devour all the courgettes though. I was inspired by a recipe in one of the Sarah Kramer books. Courgettes fried in sesame oil with garlic and little 5 spice are yummy and served on noodles keep well in the fridge for lunch.

Have a divine weekend and I'll try and rustle up some photographs of my creations

New blogs to devour

I’ve taken a couple of blogs that haven’t been updated in forever or have disappeared off my list. Happily I’ve discovered some new blogs to fill the gaps.

I recently came across Queen Lazy at http://stylesavvy.wordpress.com while I was searching for daily outfit type posts. I immediately added her to my favourites list and was thrilled to see that she Twitters too.

Talking of Twitter my new find of the day is Twiller. It’s a thriller written via Twitter. Visit twitter.com and have a look at mrichel and see what you think.

Then there’s queengilda. Not entirely sure how I discovered her but looks like being a blog that I will enjoy visiting regularly.

I’m still visiting littlesipsoftea, iCiNG, Brocantehome and Wardroberefashion on a daily basis. However I am badly in need of some more inspiring vegan food blogs. The ones that I have been reading regularly such as don’t get mad, get vegan and brookethevegan haven’t been posting much for various reasons. Veganlunchbox has been posting over the summer though, which has been good. I think I need a new lunchbox blog to follow into the autumn to fill me with inspiration.

Suggestions please.

Lovely lunches

I've been having the most delicious lunches this week Yummy salads with lots of spinach. Then for dessert a tub with a layer of cooked rhubarb (from the allotment), sliced strawberries and topped off with shavings of home made melon sorbet.

Tomorrow I'm going out for lunch because our staff sports and social club has a new chef. I ran into him on the way to my yoga class on Wednesday and he told me about the yummy stuff on the menu including three meat free salads. I thought it would be rude not to give it a try.

Other exciting lunch based news is that I've joined force with a couple of the girls at work and we are going to take it in turns to make each other a packed lunch on a Thursday. Results will appear on our new blog http://librarylunches.blogspot.com/ No entries yet but do visit it in a few weeks once we've got going.

Now I'm off to ice the lovely vegan cupcakes I made last night following (very loosely) the recipe from galadarling.com I think mine will be somewhat less colourful!