Light Lunch!

Mr. L and I partake in the Weight Watchers lifestyle.  We go to our meeting and weigh in on Wednesday evenings, so we both try to eat lightly during the day, so it doesn't show up on the scale.

I packed myself a banana and a red naval orange (so amazing, but almost out of season...) for lunch and Mr. L had a Myoplex shake.  Boring, right?

What a Slacker!

I've totally fallen off the face of the blogging planet since the summer, but I've been reading lots lately and have been inspired to get back to blogging about lunch.

So here's an update of what has been keeping me so busy.  I'm a part-time Education graduate student working to get my NJ Teaching certification.  I currently work as a food service manager at a college and as a substitute teacher in 5 different districts.  In 2 very short weeks, my life will changing drastically.  I'm QUITTING my JOB to student teach!!! This is the last step in getting my certification!!! In other words, my four year path to a career change is almost over!  But the reality is that my husband and I will be living off of his salary and a small trust that his parents have set up to help us finish school and be happy and fulfilled in our careers.  Needless to say, we will be on a very tight budget and I will be a lunch-packing, budget-shopping, home-cooking machine.

Stay tuned for more!  I promise I'll be packing, posting, and sharing my lunch creations!

Lunch for Mr. L

The weekend is getting closer, so I'm trying to use up leftovers.

Here's the menu for tomorrow.

Breakfast: Raspberry Greek Yogurt and Homemade Law Fat, Whole Wheat Banana Bread.

Lunch: A-1 Dijon Steak from A Year of Slow Cooking with Santa Barbara Lettuce mix, baby carrots, and Newman's Own Lighten Up! Honey Mustard Dressing, Waffle Pretzels, a peanut butter granola bar, and 2 packages of dark cocoa almonds.

Mr. L goes to kickboxing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as soon as he gets off of the bus from the city, so I try to pack him a bit more because he won't have dinner until after 9pm.

Tasty, but not picture-worthy.

I am a HUGE fan of dinner leftovers for lunch because making dinner for 2 usually produces lots of leftovers.

Today's lunch was leftover Barbecued Pulled Pork from A Year of Slow Cooking blog.  It is even better than it was fresh out of the crockpot and there are 3 more huge containers in the freezer for later!  As a lunch appetizer, I also had some waffle pretzels and a Laughing Cow Chipotle Queso Fresco cheese.

I was laid off from work for the last few weeks for a seasonal shut down, but tomorrow I'm going back to work.  Since I work in a dining hall at a college, I get to eat for free at work.  Unfortunately, college food (especially college food during summer camp season) is not the healthiest.  So, I'll be back to my old ways of packing some parts of my lunch (or dinner or both depending on my shift) and using the salad bar, deli, and vegan section at work.  Stay tuned for what I come up with!

Tomorrow's lunch for my Hubby

My hubby works in NYC right now.  He leaves early in the morning to make his commute.  So, I usually pack breakfast and lunch for him.  If he grabbed breakfast and lunch from a fast food place, he would easily spend more than $20 a day on food. My hubby isn't quite as adventurous with food as I am, but I try to give him a little variety.  This is what a typical lunch for Mr. L looks like.  (Notice my lovely 1950s formica countertop.)

For breakfast, a Chobani 0% Fat Raspberry Greek Yogurt and a slice of homemade low fat, whole wheat banana bread.

For lunch, Oven Roasted Turkey with Kitchen Kettle Village Horseradish Mustard on Alvarado Street Bakery Essential Flax Seed Bread with Santa Barbara Lettuce mix, petite carrots,  a Quaker dark chocolate cherry granola bar, and 2 100 calorie packs of dark cocoa roasted almonds.

I wish I could use more eco-friendly packaging, but my tupperware doesn't always come home from the city.

Here We Go!

For busy worker bees like me, lunch is (hopefully) the break in the work day to turn off my work engine for a few minutes and refuel.  Going out for lunch can get expensive, sometimes you are so busy you can't go out, and it is so easy to get into a rut when making your own lunch.  

This blog will chronicle my attempt to break the boring lunch cycle!

Today, I'm eating lunch at home.  I made a Summer Strawberry Salad using some leftover items in the fridge.

Santa Barbara Salad Mix with Endive, Radicchio, and Escarole,

Sliced Strawberries,

Haricot Vert,

Smoked Turkey Breast,

Walnuts, 

and Trader Joe's Light Champagne Vinaigrette.