Silly Lunch

Silly Lunch

I’ve never been a huge fan of lunch. I can easily rotate through three or four quick dishes for breakfast and I take a certain delight in planning delicious dinners, but lunch is just that inconvenient-meal-in-the-middle-of-the-day. When I was in grade school I generally brought a lunch from home, but I made things complicated by refusing to eat sandwiches. My poor mother nearly went crazy trying to come up with ideas of what she could pack that I might actually eat. In college I often counted a granola bar on the go as lunch and only once I was pregnant with Cooper did I actually make lunch a priority. Now that I’m a mom, lunch seems to sneak up on me every day. Things are going just fine, I’m getting things done,  and then someone has a hunger meltdown. If there aren’t any leftovers in the fridge, I run through the rolodex of ideas in my head. Apparently, that rolodex is pretty empty because nine times out of ten we eat nachos. (It doesn’t help that we buy Costco sized portions of tortilla chips, salsa, and cheddar cheese.)

Today, lunch snuck up on me again. I’d even spent my entire morning thinking about food. Planning dinner and baking bread and muffins for an upcoming baby shower. I had an entire counter full of baked goods, but not a single idea about what to eat. There weren’t any leftovers from dinner and the stash of nacho ingredients needs to be replenished. Noel had baked a loaf of sandwich bread last night slating it for PB&Js (He knows of my struggles with lunch.), but my sandwich stigma lingers and I just couldn’t talk myself into it. So we nibbled on muffins and snarfed some blue cheese garlic dip. Maybe some day I’ll get out of my pathetic lunch rut, but at least dinner is going to be amazing!

4 thoughts on “Silly Lunch

  1. I have something great that I do for myself: quiche-on-the-go.

    On a day when I don’t have to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. I make quiche to last several days as a way to get my needed protein and veggies and keep my blood sugar leveled which is especially important mid day.

    I bake it in a big casserole pan and reheat a square at a time, or better yet, sometimes I bake it in my new muffin tins.

    I don’t really have a set recipe but here goes my attempt at the basic ingredients.

    several eggs … like 12.

    1 cup or less of milk or buttermilk or sour cream or plain yougurt (or heavy cream works and tastes best to me).

    less than 1/4 cup of bisquick or flour.

    lots of whatever seasonings you like.

    I like season salt, black pepper and basil, sometimes curry, whatever you like.

    You mix all these above ingredients well in a blender or mixer and pour over the ingredients listed below that are tossed or layered in either pan choice sprayed with non-stick spray (or olive oil and water in a spray bottle).

    The other ingredients:

    grated cheeses or Parmesan.

    lots of chopped veggies; your choice and favorites.

    I use spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, or cauliflower. Whatever combos you like and want to experiment with. You can use them raw, sauteed, or a little nuked or steamed, they all work.

    If you like meats you can add chopped ham, cooked bacon, cooked sausage, browned ground moose here in Alaska, or anything else to boost the nutrition like maybe even tofu, or chia seeds which I highly recommend.

    Bake at 350. You really have to test with a toothpick or knife in the middle the first time to figure out when these are done because it varies with ingredients and altitudes (I am at sea level). I’m guessing about an hour for the large casserole pan or about 20+ minutes for the muffin tins.

    And, if you have little ones who are touchy about food textures like Noel was as a tot, you can put most of the chopped veggies in the egg mix in the blender and make more of a puree that makes a very bright green muffin when baked if spinach is one of the ingredients! A flavorful cream cheese spread would make fun icing on cooled quiche muffins. And yes, sometimes I eat them cool or most often reheated a bit.

    I tried a Mexican twist once with green chilies, corn, onions, bell peppers, and jalapeno peppers, and cheese with a side of salsa.

    I am thinking of you all. I love you so!

  2. I’ve never liked sandwiches either. Granola bars are pretty much my standard for lunch. Cooper looks happy, and that’s all that really matters. Right? 🙂

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