Tag Archives: lettuce

#444 – Nectarine and Chevin Salad Lunch

#444 - Nectarine and Chevin Salad

Hello out there! Is there anyone out there? I really hope so, it’s been way too long since there was a new post around here. With this post (and more to come) I’m hoping to revive my dear blog and also healthier lunchtimes for me. So without further ado, here is what’s in today’s lunch box.

Today’s Lunch:

  • A salad of nectarine slices and goats milk chevin
  • on a bed of mixed salad leaves, red cabbage, sugar snap peas, shaved carrot and baby tomatoes .

#437 – Lentil and Bacon Salad Lunch

#437 - Lentil and Bacon Salad

As much as I try to keep my lunches healthy and lean sometimes it’s nice to break the rules a little. Who can resist a piece of yummy bacon anyway? I think I struck a nice balance between the sweet, smoky, crispy bacon and the lentils and other crunchy veggies in this salad.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Lentil and bacon salad with mixed lettuce leaves, red onion, carrot, mange tout and baby tomato,
  • some grapes and
  • a plum.

#435 – Quinoa Salad Lunch

#436 - Quinoa Salad

Last week a group of friends and I had dinner at Keenwä, a newish Peruvian restaurant situated on the Cape Town fan walk in Waterkant Street. We where one of a handful of tables in the restaurant that evening and thus got to speak with the hostess and owner at length about the menu and general intricacies of running the first Peruvian restaurant in South Africa. An interesting example being the two staple and readily available ingredients in Peru, limes and quinoa, are the two most expensive ingredients for them to source in South Africa.

We tasted dishes including Cerviche, Tiradito, a reinterpretation of Aji de Gallina and of course quinoa. Today’s lunch is inspired by the quinoa salad we shared, although I used the vegetables I had on hand instead of trying to recreate the dish we had that evening.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Quinoa with mixed salad leaves, red peppers, spring onions, pomegranate arils and mange tout.

#433 – Caprese Wrap Lunch

#434 - Caprese Wrap

So here we are, a couple of weeks into 2011 and probably just getting the hang of writing 1 and the end of the year instead of that mischievous 0. By now we are all trying to make the transition from holiday mode to work mode whether we had an end of year break or not. For me work mode also includes getting back into my routine of packing lunches for myself. For the first packed lunch of the year I chose a basic almost school lunch combo of tortilla wraps and fruit. Perhaps not very exciting but it fulfilled it’s destiny of filling my tummy and helping me stay awake during the late afternoon slump.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Caprese wraps – tortillas filled with baby tomatoes, slices of mozzarella cheese and lettuce,
  • a grape, apple & rooibos juice box,
  • a doughnut peach and
  • some grapes.

#429 – Gammon Sandwich Lunch

#429 - Gammon Sandwich

Sandwich and salad. It’s the combo I usually fall back on when I don’t have sufficeint leftovers to fill my lunch box. I try to keep the flavours interesting so that I’m not too tempted to head down the road to Cookshop for a plate from the daily buffet.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Gammon steak and wholegrain mustard on brown sead loaf with lettuce and radicchio and
  • some cabbage, carrot, fennel and orange salad.

#434 – Smoked Chicken Salad Lunch

#424 - Smoked Chicken Salad

This past weekend I had the privilege of watching Christine Stevens prepare a few recipes from her book Harvest at the Cape Town Book Fair.  One of the dishes she prepared was a winter salad containing cabbage, carrot, celery and onion dressed with an orange juice vinaigrette. She explained that she thought cooking was all about adapting and that the original recipe in her book used fennel, but since she had none on hand she’d substituted onion instead.  The combination of fennel and orange was the inspirational springboard for this salad lunch.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Mixed salad leaves topped with
  • carrot, red onion and fennel marinated in a little orange juice topped with
  • sliced smoked chicken and
  • orange segments with feta cheese.

#415 – Stacked Enchilada Lunch

#415 - Stacked Enchilada

Guess what’s for lunch today?  Leftovers from this month’s daring cooks challenge.

Today’s Lunch:

  • A slice of green chile and grilled chicken stacked enchilada,
  • refried beans and
  • a salad with lettuce, onion, baby tomatoes and avocado.

#414 – Broccoli Blue Cheese Soup Lunch

#414 - Broccoli Blue Cheese Soup

Awhile back Sigrid from Cooking and Eating with Polkadotcupcake and Marisa from The Creative Pot where chatting about Mexican food on Twitter.  Their conversation escalated into a cheese slut confessional and the creation of the #cheeseslut tag. Soon bloggers started coming out of the woodwork (including myself) declaring their love for all things cheesy.  Check out Browniegirl, Cook sister! and My easy cooking for more #cheeseslut posts.

#cheeseslut

This soup was my contribution to a weekend #cheeseslut cooking challenge and also to Mothers’ Day lunch. I made sure I had some leftover for lunch the next day too though.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Broccoli and blue cheese soup,
  • an avocado sandwich with red pepper and lettuce and
  • an apple.

Here is my recipe for the soup

Ingredients:

  • 1l vegetable stock,
  • 300g broccoli florets,
  • 2 small potatoes peeled and cubed,
  • 125g creamy blue cheese,
  • 125ml milk

Method:

  1. Place vegetable stock, broccoli and potato in a pot, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is tender.
  2. Crumble blue cheese into pot, add milk and blend till smooth.
  3. Serve immediately with warm slices of toasted bread or croutons.

#413 – Chili Con Carne Lunch

#413 - Chili Con Carne

This chili con carne  is one of my go to meals and there is always some hanging out in the freezer patiently waiting for it’s time to shine. It has made many appearences in my lunch box over the last few years so I thought it was about time I shared my recipe with you.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Chili con carne,
  • basmati rice and
  • a mixed salad with lettuce, cucumber, yellow peppers and baby tomatoes.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
  • 1 onion – finely chopped
  • 500g ostrich mince
  • 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp dried crushed chillies
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 250ml beef stock
  • 10g dark chocolate (this is a rough estimate I usually use two blocks of a Lindt 35g chocolate bar)
  • 400g can red kidney beans

Method:

  1. Heat oil, add onion and garlic and cook till browned.
  2. Add mince to the pot and stir to brown breaking up any clumps that form.
  3. Stir through the paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander and crushed chillies.
  4. Add chopped tomatoes and stock and let simmer for about half an hour or until liquids are reduced
  5. Add chocolate and red kidney beans and cook for a further five minutes or so to heat beans and allow chocolate to meld into the chili.
  6. Serve on rice or tortillas accompanied with tomato salad, sliced avocado and sour cream or plain yoghurt.

Makes 4-6 servings

#405 – Risotto Lunch

#405 - Risotto

I have plenty of leftovers from this month’s daring cooks challenge, so you know some inevitably land up in my lunch box.  Both versions seemed more tasty after sitting over night letting all the flavours mingle.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Mushroom risotto,
  • sausage, pea and red pepper risotto and
  • a salad with lettuce, cucumber, baby tomatoes, red pepper and spring onions.