My Thursday lunch was the best yet.  Things finally fell into place, and I felt 100% satisfied after eating.

On the menu: egg salad sandwich and cabbage slaw over kale.

The egg salad was ridiculously easy.  Ingredients:

• 2 peeled hard-boiled eggs
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• the tiniest bit of light mayo, just to bind the eggs (maybe a quarter teaspoon to a half teaspoon?)
• a “spicy” seasoning mix with cumin, coriander, chili powder and cayenne, to taste (use your favorite spice blend)

I also made the cabbage slaw Wednesday night.  This is one of my favorite recipes, and it works really well to let it sit overnight  because the acid from the vinegar pulls the moisture from the cabbage and makes a tasty dressing.  I used:

• 1 head napa cabbage, thinly sliced (I used savoy cabbage, but napa cabbage is far superior in this mix)
• 1 head fennel, thinly sliced
• apple cider vinegar (guesstimate: quarter cup – enough to loosen the mixture, but not so much it’s swimming)
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• the tiniest bit of sugar (1/4 teaspooon or less)
• a drizzle of olive oil

I hard-boiled the eggs Wednesday night and stuck them in the fridge.  On Thursday morning, I peeled and shoved two eggs in a tupperware container with the rest of the ingredients.  I didn’t even bother mashing or mixing.  I threw the tupperware in my purse with two slices of whole wheat bread in a baggie.  Then, I tore up some kale, spooned the cabbage slaw over it and sealed the entire mixture in another tupperware container.  This all took less than five minutes, and the results were fab.

When it came time for lunch, I shook the salad in the tupperware container and ate straight out of it.  I also mashed the eggs and other ingredients together with a fork and spooned the mixture atop toasted whole wheat bread slathered with whole grain dijon mustard. 

It was the perfect mixture of spicy from the eggs, sweet from the fennel and zesty from the apple cider vinegar.  The crust on the toasted bread contrasted nicely with the soft egg salad, and the crunchy kale and cabbage complemented it perfectly.

All in all, the perfect take-to-work lunch.

For today’s lunch (Friday, the last day of Week 1 of the KATR “I’m Poor” Lunch Challenge), I just had another samosa burrito and the remainder of the cabbage slaw.

Question: Do you have any favorite cheap and easy lunch recipes for the office professional?

• 25th February 2011 at 2:25 pm
• About Me, Lunch Recipes, Recipes
• 2 comments

Ohhhh Wednesday.  It all started with an innocent trip to the grocery store.  The grumpy seed was implanted in my brain.

Cut to this morning, a morning when I had an early meeting on the other side of Boston (lengthening my commute by an extra hour).  This early morning was made especially horrendous by staying up too late and watching too much Lost, because KnightlyBoyfriend and I are now completely addicted.  After two other mornings similar to this one, I knew that getting coffee on the way to the meeting would not be a possibility, so I was determined to insert a caffeine IV make some before leaving the house.

(From Randomn3ss)

As KnightlyBoyfriend is ushering me out the door, I am simultaneously stuffing my face with Cheerios until I resemble an obese chipmunk while dumping cream into my coffee.  Then, the following events take place:

I grumble because I’m worried I’m going to be late.

As I grumble, I go to take a sip of my coffee, which leaks from the bottom, scorching my chin and dousing my light blue silk scarf and most professional-looking pencil skirt.  Before my big, fancy meeting.  Nice.

As I fight back tears, KnightlyBoyfriend assures me I’m overreacting.  Then, I slap my hand to my head, realizing that I forgot my gloves and, as per usual, it’s freezing outside…it does that sometimes in February, especially in the Northeast.

As the realization sinks in that my fingers will undoubtedly fall off due to frostbite, I realize something else…

DAMMIT!  I FORGOT MY FREAKING LUNCH!!! 

Can I start this day over?  Pretty please?

Resolution to the worse morning ever?  I said screw it and got Foumami for lunch

When life hands you lemons, chuck ‘em at life’s stupid head and eat something tasty.

Question: What’s your go-to food on bad days?

• 24th February 2011 at 7:23 pm
• About Me, Discussion
• Leave a comments