Ladies Who Lunch

Or, in this case, lady who lunches, I guess.  It’s finals time.  My last finals time ever (hallelujah!).  While the light at the end of the tunnel (I’m done at noon tomorrow!!!) certainly helps, nothing can truly ease the pain and irritation caused by this time of the semester.  Except perhaps some fabulous eats.

For some reason, breakfast is always a chore for me and lunch is kind of take-what-you-get, while dinner is the main event meal of each day.  The last two weeks however have been filled with some of the most delectable lunches I’ve ever had.  I have tons of photos of them so I hope you like photos.

1) Gardein crispy tenders on a whole wheat sandwich thin with honey mustard, and kale and spinach sauteed with garlic and olive oil:

By the way, this is the kale and spinach in the pan when I first put them in (kale on the right, spinach on the left):

And this is after a minute or so…amazing how much spinach wilts down in a hot pan!

2) Gardein crispy tenders on a whole wheat sandwich thin with barbecue sauce and kale sauteed with garlic:

3) WildWood southwest flavor sprouted tofu burger on a whole wheat sandwich thin with lettuce, tomato, and avocado, with a side of Sabra roasted pine nut hummus and organic cucumber slices:

4) WildWood original flavor sprouted tofu burger on a whole wheat sandwich thin with lettuce, tomato, and BBQ sauce, with a garlic dill pickle (because when is a pickle ever not the solution to all your problems?  All this time, I should have been writing “pickle” on my exams when I didn’t know the answer.)

5) ED&BV Lemon Chickpea Lentil soup with rustic bread and Smart Balance light:

6) ED&BV Lemon Chickpea Lentil soup with a beet medley (roasted bulbs; stalks and greens sauteed with garlic):


I had never eaten beet stalks before and let me tell you, they are a delight.

7) Flat bread with Sabra pine nut hummus, cucumber, and tomato, with the fava beans from my last post, sauteed with garlic and olive oil:

The fava beans were SO GOOD! I wished I had more.

8– Leftover Ancho Lentil mix from this recipe, on a whole wheat sandwich thin, with lettuce and a swirl of dijon mustard, a side of kale sauteed with garlic, and a pickle (duh):

9) Leftover Ancho Lentil mix on a whole wheat sandwich thin, with lettuce, chopped tomato, and a side of roasted beets:

I should have had a pickle.

Some of these were repeated one or more times. Ya know…lather, rinse, repeat.  Plus, when something’s this tasty, why change anything about it? I have to say, #3 might have been the best lunch I’ve ever had.  The WildWood southwest flavor is my favorite by far (I’ve also had shiitake and original), and my avocado was heavenly.

So ripe and creamy.

Also, how much do you love Sabra hummus?  I’m not plugging them for any reason other than that I love them…I mean, look at this perfection:

I loved this lunch so much that I took a couple extra beauty shots:

A perfect burger

MMM sabra sabrosa…sorry it’s a little blurry, I was too hungry to focus, I guess.

The next time I post, it will be posting as a non-law student! Woo!!

Me:  Someone found my blog yesterday by searching for “deformed chocolate chip cookies.”
H:  That’s a funny way to spell delicious.

Great Green Glob of Garden Goodness

Sorry that my “I’ll post tomorrow” became “I’ll post a week later”…it’s been a crazy week!  I am trying to get myself organized to move up to Boston next weekend, plus my parents and sister were away for a few days so I was the woman of the house–I spent tons of time cleaning, taking care of Farley and Bailey, and cooking up a storm!  I will have to do a separate update with all of that good stuff 🙂  Alot of it involved the use of our garden jewels, so you see, it all ties together!

The stars of our garden this summer are definitely the cucumbers, but the tomatoes which are now proliferating will soon give them a run for their money!  Here are some pics of our beautiful cucumbers:

Dad cutting from the vine (look how big the leaves are!!)

A beauty

A basket of goodness

These cucumbers are delicious!  We’ve actually found that the smaller ones are yummier because the bigger ones have alot more seed density.  But yesterday I made a fantastic snack out of one of these; I just sliced it up and tossed the slices with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, and salt.  Soooooo good!

On to the tomatoes!  We have a few different varieties and have already had a bunch of ripe ones, but right now most of the crop is green, and I have a feeling within a few weeks we are going to be inundated all at once…but I’m not complaining!

A lovely cluster on the vine, almost ready for picking

A beefsteak, which still has some growing to do…it’s going to be huge!

We also have been feasting on our Swiss chard!  Our favorite way to prepare it is sauteed with a drop of olive oil and some roasted garlic.  Oh, I just love it and can’t get enough of it!  Here is Dad snipping some for one dinner last week:

And lastly, or should I say, soon to come, is our squash.  The leaves are gigantic and we have lots of flowering going on (see picture below) but the plants have yet to produce any fruit, so we shall see!

The garden makes me so happy! 🙂