Friday, August 26, 2011

Summer Lunches

Once I knew I was going to be working at the library again this summer, I knew I had to make some changes. Last summer, the utter misery of that place took me to a pretty awful mental state. But this summer, I was determined to enjoy myself. One of the ways I was going to try to keep a positive attitude was with food. My hope was that being able to look forward to awesome lunches would keep me in a positive mood all morning. :)

I suppose I was highly inspired by Mrs. Q. She posts photos of her son's lunches, as well as her own lunches, every week. I loved seeing how she could pull together such enticing, well-balanced meals to send in a lunchbox. I wanted to do the same thing.

So I purchased my BPA-free Laptop Lunch bento boxes. And I got creative. Well, sometimes. By the end of the summer, I was getting pretty redundant. And I didn't take photos every day. In fact, despite working five days a week for nearly four months, I ended the summer with a total of ELEVEN pictures. Fail? Well...eleven is more than zero. :)

Items are listed clockwise from the top left corner.


  • half a (very ripe) banana and trail mix (for mid-morning snack)
  • watermelon cubes
  • mashed sweet potatoes
  • PB&J&banana sandwich
And you're probably thinking, what's exciting about PB&J? Um...have you had a PB&J&banana sandwich? If you haven't...don't judge. Because it's fantastic. You will quickly notice in these pictures that I'm obsessed.





  • Oven-roasted cauliflower
  • orange
  • seasoned sweet potato puree for dipping the cauliflower
  • PB&J sandwich (no banana...but still wonderful)









  • Broccoli and rice
  • Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
  • Diced mango
  • Organic yellow carrots; hard-boiled egg











Falafel day!

  • Spinach, mozzarella cheese, and julienned yellow carrots for stuffing in my pitas!
  • Diced mango
  • Baked falafel
  • Pita pockets
Enough materials to make two falafel pitas.





I would just like to say that these waffles ROCK. Whenever I make them, my apartment smells like banana bread. It's an absolutely divine recipe.






  • Broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and hard-boiled egg
  • Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
  • Diced mango
  • PB&J&banana :)










  • Diced mango (again)
  • Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
  • Yellow carrots (again)
  • Tuna noodle casserole with broccoli
Yes, that's tuna noodle. I used angel hair pasta (because it was all I had on hand), and the thickness of the casserole made the pasta break up into rice-sized pieces. I make this from scratch, using this concoction to replace the traditional Cream of Chicken/Mushroom monstrosity.



  • Vegan quinoa and pinto bean salad (which I chose to eat warm, not cold)
  • Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
  • Yellow carrots (I got SO sick of these frickin' carrots! I've barely touched a carrot since.)
  • Apple and peanut butter








  • Baked kale chips
  • Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
  • Hard-boiled egg
  • Pizza on pita bread with homemade pizza sauce, broccoli, and chickpeas










  • Cantaloupe and raspberries from the farmers market :)
  • Leftover Hawaiian pizza













  • Sweet corn from the farmers market; grilled brussel sprouts
  • Cantaloupe and raspberries
  • Pinto beans with homemade taco seasoning
  • Whole wheat tortilla with spinach, avocado, and cheese
I heated up the bean mixture separately, then added it to the tortilla.




And that's it. And I'm a little disappointed in myself, because I know I had some cooler lunches that I just didn't have the ambition to take a picture of. ;) But that's a glimpse of what I was eating this summer.

Buon appetito!

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