The Lunch Edit
My all time favorite lunches
The Breakfast Edit was so thoroughly enjoyed that I'm now bringing you The Lunch Edit! This email will be fully focused on some lunch ideas I think you will love, including the most incredible, versatile salad.
In the following weeks, we will focus on dinner, dessert, snacks, and a kid-friendly roundup. Let's dig in (hehe)!
Orange carrot ginger soup
The back story: Circa 2009, I got the cookbook Love Soup and quickly fell in love with the orange carrot ginger soup recipe in the book. It has now been made many, many times and my mom recently made it for a French chef who asked for the recipe!
The recipe: Take about 6-8 carrots and peel them (I don't bother if they're organic) then chop them. Toss them in a pot with some olive oil over medium heat, add 3 stalks chopped celery. Cook for five minutes then add 4 cups veggie broth, one inch piece of zested ginger, and salt. Cook until veggies are soft, grate in peel of one orange then add the juice. Immersion blend and enjoy with some lemon juice and more salt. Full recipe is in the book, and there's delicious coconut options too.
The Best Salad
The back story: Last summer, we spent some time in a gorgeous garden filled with all the greens you could imagine. The woman who lives there made amazing salads, which I started riffing on. Best with fresh summer greens, but delicious with grocery store greens too.
The recipe: Add your favorite greens to a bowl, along with all your favorite toppings (I favor blueberries, walnuts, apple slices, avocado, pomegranate seeds, maybe some pecans?). Then you need to add nutritional yeast, pesto, shredded raw beet, sauerkraut, olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar of choice, and salt and pepper. SO GOOD.
Photo by Odiseo Castrejon on Unsplash Bagel Sandwiches
The back story: It's 2012, I'm in college and my favorite breakfast is getting a bagel at the shop across from campus in Raleigh, NC. I love poppyseed bagels with cream cheese.
The recipe: These days, we beef it up with high protein, super easy to make, Greek yogurt bagels for lunch. We are going to add a bodega egg (scramble two eggs in a bowl, add to hot oil in a *hot* pan, cook for like thirty seconds, add cheese and lots of it, then fold it up and add to bagel), avocado, bell pepper, cucumber, and maybe some sausage or bacon.
Photo by Erwan NONON on Unsplash Any Easy, One Pot Meal
The back story: Honestly? I just love one pot meals. They're so easy to make, they're delicious, and can boast a heavy nutritional profile.
The recipe: try a delicious curry over jasmine rice, a chili with cornbread on the side, or a beef and rice skillet.
A Snack Plate
Back story: I really love boards. My all time favorite board place is The Rind in Sacramento, if you go to Sac you must go there. I love having lots of options for lunch, and now that I have a toddler it's so nice to just serve a bunch of (easy!) stuff and see what he goes for.
The recipe: just pull out whatever you have that's super easy, like olives, pickles, smoked salmon, some crackers, apples, hard boiled eggs. It doesn't have to look fancy. I like to focus on protein, a carb, and some produce. We've been doing crispy tofu lately and then we cook mushrooms in the pan after and serve it with whatever else we have on hand. For the tofu: toss extra firm, sliced up tofu with flour and pan fry over medium high heat in your favorite pan until crispy on all sides. Pull it, add more fat, and cook mushrooms until soft. Add soy sauce to the tofu and mushrooms.
And if all else fails? Tacos.
xo Daniela