Dinner

Boca Burger on a piece of whole-wheat bread with ketchup, mustard, and soy cheese, and a bowl of edamame. And water. I also had a handful of Bearitos nacho chips, but I ate those while everything was cooking.

Today's hot lunch menu is from the Greenwood School District, Greenwood, South Carolina. Hot dot with chili? I'm ebarrassed to say how long I Googled this before I realized it was probably supposed to say "hot dog." I got really excited that there may a new school food called "hot dot"! Oh well.

Seitan Stew

G made Seitan Stew yesterday so I stole a big container for lunch today. It was seitan, tomatoes, onion, basil and garlic, and he simmered it to get all the flavors going. I added some dried thyme, basil, and oregano, and black pepper and ate it over light brown rice. I had it for dinner, and will have the rest tomorrw for lunch again. I love a meal that keeps on giving!

I'm going to introduce a new feature here at Hot Lunch: real, live hot lunch menus! Today's menu comes from the Greenville School Department in Greenville, Maine. I'd love to know what "Italians" are! Are they allowed to say "Egg McMuffin?"

Best American Recipes 2005-2006

I received a copy of this in the mail at work, and when I saw the mac and cheese on the cover I knew it was going to be good. The dish on the cover is called "Overnight Macaroni and Cheese," which refers to the fact you let the pasta sit overnight in a milk and cream mixture. Never heard of that before, but it sounds good!

It has lots of other delicious sounding recipes, like Hazlenut-Brown Butter Cake, Pumpkin Eggnog Ice Cream, Tigelle, which is pancetta and parmesean stuffed english muffins, and Wild Rice and Chickpea Salad. It also has something called New England Spider Cake, which is a kind of corn bread. The word "spider," according to the book, is a colloquial term for the cast-iron skillet the bread is baked in. Who knew?

I have another of these "Best American Recipes" books, and it's really good too. So this series is recommended. I like the chapters they are broken into: starters, soups, salads, breakfast and brunch, main dishes, side dishes, breads, desserts, and drinks. They really cover all the bases, and the drinks chapter is a nice addition at the end of the book. No glossy color photos of the food inside, but it's a nice looking book regardless, and the absence of photos no doubt keeps the price down a little bit too.

Pizza

While I take pains to eat healthy during the week, on the weekend all bets are off. This is just one example of my not-so-healthy weekend eating habits, which this weekend also included M&Ms, Fritos, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I was a bit alarmed to step on the scale this morning and see that I am two pounds over my normal weight, so I'm going to have to reel it in a bit. I'm going to have to figure out how to get to the gym regularly now that I'm back in school, and try and take walks during my lunch break to discourage office butt.

This particular House of Pizza and Calzone in Brooklyn is known for their fried calzones. Good lord! That is something I know I would like way too much, so it's probably better to not ever try it all.

Turkey Sandwich

Can't tell from the pic, but this is a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with red-leaf lettuce, Cabot 50% fat-free cheddar cheese, and yellow mustard. I used Applegate Farms organic turkey slices. Two ounces of this stuff only has 50 calories and no fat! Nice! And I had half a Pom Cherry and Bearitos nacho chips. I actually had this yesterday, and had the same thing today. I'll be having the same thing tomorrow too - don't want to waste that turkey!

Soy Cheeze Pizza and Salad

This is an Amy's Kitchen Soy Cheeze pizza pocket with a carrot, spinach and green leaf lettuce salad. No, I didn't barf all over it. The problem with these pizza pockets is that they burst open in the microwave and the cheeze gushes out all over the plate, so I have to scrape it up and plop it on top of the pocket. Looks like melted cheese rubber, I know, but it has less fat and calories than the real cheese pizza pocket, and tastes really good. That beverage you see lurking in the corner is a Berry Blast Naked Juice.

Consumer Reports has a handy list of stuff you should buy organic, and stuff you shouldn't bother buying organic. Link from Kottke.org.

Take-Out Container

Tonight G and I had dinner at Wild Fusion in Jersey City, which may just be better than any Asian food I've had in NYC. When I got my leftovers home, I couldn't help but notice the take-out container. I've never seen one like this before, a total change from the iconic white box with the metal handle. The best part is it says "Microwave Safe" in that stereotypical Asian lettering. Whoever designed this container must have realized the worst part of the white containers with the metal handle wasn't that they leaked like crazy, but that you couldn't shove them in the microwave the next day. I mean, what do most people do with leftovers? They are lunch for work the next day and have to be warmed up in the office microwave! So maybe whoever designed this is a cube-dweller! I'm bursting with pride at the thought!

Split Pea Soup

This was Friday's lunch: split pea soup with whole grain bread from Hale and Hearty Soups, a chain restaurant in the city which also has a really good, but expensive, salad bar. This is a "regular" size, as opposed to a small. I don't know why I get the big size because I never finish it. I always think I'll eat the rest later, but never do. And now the rest of this has been sitting in the office fridge for three days and probably stinks!

Couscous and Salad

Today I had a two hour meeting that ran from 11am to 1pm, smack through the middle of my usual lunch time, 11:30am. Needless to say, I was quaking with hunger by the time we were done, so I inhaled half my herbed spinach couscous before I had enough energy to take a picture. "Herbed spinach couscous" is just a fancy way of saying I made couscous and dumped some dried herbs into it, which in this case was basil, oregeno, and thyme, plus olive oil, salt and pepper. It was surprisingly hearty.


But I was still hungry, so it was down to the cafeteria for a spinach, green leaf lettuce, carrot, chickpea, crouton and feta salad with olive oil and balsamic. Man, if it wasn't for the company cafeteria I don't know how I'd get my greens in. They have a really good, fresh salad bar too, for a company caf.

Doggie Doughnuts!

Burrito and Salad

I've written about this lunch so many times because I eat it so often, but this is the first time its had its picture taken. I promise I will never post about this lunch again! It's an Amy's Bean and Cheese Burrito with a spinach, green leaf, and carrot salad with olive oil and balsamic. I usually get the non-dairy bean and rice burrito as it has much less fat, but I felt like a change today. I have to say, I prefer the non-dairy burrito. The taste of the cheese burrito did not warrant the extra fat. The non-dairy burrito has a creamy texture anyway, so it's almost like eating cheese.
Also on the menu throughout the day: half an orange, three small squares of Green and Black's Organic Dark Chocolate, oatmeal with ground flaxseed and cinnamon, multivitamin, vitamin C tablet, and a piece of Arm & Hammer dental gum. Oh yeah, and a brownie nugget left over from a meeting.