meals for work

For as much as I enjoy cooking at home, I still have the horrible habit of buying meals while i'm out at work.  In many cases this is for both breakfast and lunch. People have been telling me for years that it is a huge waste of money but it it just a habit that I have not been able to break. 

Starting last week I made it a point to always have breakfast at home before heading to work, this has helped me focus in the morning and feel less rush to grab something quick.  It is also infinitely healthier to eat a bowl of cereal and have a piece of fruit than to grab a breakfast sandwich on the go.

My challenge this week is to make sure I have a different lunch item packed every day.  This is where the Zojirushi Mr. Bento comes into play.  It basically is the same idea as packing a bento every day except each stackable containter comes in a insulated carrier. I bought this a couple of months ago and have not used it a ton unfortunately,  this week I am changing that and hoping to make this a frequent routine.

The sizes of the containers are the perfect size for me to pack both breakfast and lunch while being able to stagger meals throughout the day.  This is what I brought with me to work today:

In the front right is my breakfast: steel cut oats that I simmered in some coconut milk and skim milk and added mixed frozen berries to finish.  To the left of that is a morning snack: fresh strawberries and walnuts.  In the top left container is sandwich of turkey, ham, and cheddar on whole wheat.  Finally, in the top left container I have simply mixed greens topped with a few pickles.

I've been getting ideas from the Mr. Bento Flickr group which is very active and has new interesting combinations every day.It was pretty fun and relaxing to put together the bento, it didn't take too much time and already I can see this is a very good way for me to take my lunch every day. 

a quick and healthy pudding

After trying several chia drinks at the store I wanted to by my own chia seeds.  When I got the package home one of the suggested recipes was a pudding that is made by adding the seeds to coconut milk and letting it sit in the refrigerator for several hours.  This sounded amazing so I decided to put the drink idea to the side and make a pudding.  I didn't have coconut milk on hand but I did have kefir.  I enjoy drinking this in the morning so I was hoping it would work out nicely.

I started by combining 1 cup of plain lowfat kefir with 1/4 cup of chia seeds.  I added some agave syrup and cinnamon to the mix to add some flavor.  I would imagine any flavoring as long as it doesn't change the water content would work fine.

Though it is ready in 3 hours, i didn't eat mine until the next morning and it was excellent.  Very creamy with the chia seeds popping in your mouth.  This is a very nutritious breakfast that I think I will be going back to.  This would be very nice with some berries on top.

hummus

This is a version of hummus that I've been making recently.  It is not a super smooth hummus but it is a combination I have enjoyed so I wanted to share it.

I used 2 cans (15 oz) garbanzo beans, 3 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoons tahini, juice of 2 lemons, zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 jalapeño, and 1 cup of parsley. 

I threw everything into a food processor, added salt and pepper, and blended with 2 or so tablespoons of olive oil. I blended all the ingredients for about two minutes then scraped the bowl and blended for several more minutes.  I figure that longer it goes the smoother it can potentially get.

The end result is a green hummus that I like to use for dipping vegetables or serving under roasted chicken and pita.