Fit Fare

What’s for lunch?   For many people it’s a snack out of a vending machine or a high calorie meal from a restaurant.  Bringing lunch from home often seems a little too complicated and gets lost in the shuffle of morning activities.  In fact, that was the situation for my husband. He skipped lunch unless it was part of a business meeting.   On the days he didn’t go to a restaurant, he wound up eating snacks from machines. I wasn’t much better.  I usually skipped lunch and was hungrier later in the day.  It wasn’t hard to see that taking lunch to work would be healthier and cheaper. 

Almost five years ago, I decide to change things for both of us.  The first thing I did was buy a lunch box.  It’s more formal than using a brown bag and seemed to have a psychological effect signifying that I was getting serious about lunch.  However, I soon learned that lunch from home could be boring, with predictable fare such as yogurt and an apple making far too frequent appearances. 

I wanted to have good lunches, made quickly.  And that required planning–buying ingredients that could be quickly assembled into good tasting lunches.  It’s very easy to make a peanut butter sandwich, but that gets mundane. Instead, I like to buy whole wheat tortillas and wrap chicken or cheese, with pesto or chutney instead of mayonnaise.  One favorite is whole wheat pita bread in the lunch box, with a separate container of Caesar salad. Keeping the salad separate and stuffing it into the bread just before eating, prevents the pita from getting soggy.  

I always make lunches the night before.  Assembling a lunch in the morning is almost guaranteed to produce a boring result. Things are too hectic to be creative.  So, I look for interesting recipes that can be pulled together quickly the night before. One of my favorite ingredients for many lunches is a spicy chickpea puree. The puree takes me five minutes to make and can be stored in the fridge.  It can be carried to work in a container with vegetables or chips for dipping.  My favorite is homemade pita chips, which take less than 5 minutes to make. They’re delicious and can be made with stale pitas.  

The puree has a wonderful fresh taste and makes a great filling for sandwiches.  Simply  spread it on two slices of toasted whole wheat bread with thin slices of cucumber on top of the puree.  

Making the decision to take his lunch to work had a dramatic effect on my husband. He no longer eats high calorie, sugar laden food at work.  He lost weight too, aided by increased exercise.      

Spicy Chickpea Puree

(Adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone)

1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1 to 2 cloves garlic
salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained
2 Tb olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro
juice of 1 lemon

Toast the cumin, coriander, and fennel in a dry skillet over low heat, shaking the pan.  As soon as they release their aroma, after a few minutes, turn them into a plate to cool.

Process the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cayenne, oil, and cilantro with the 1/4 cup water in a food processor or blender.  Add the spices, chickpeas and puree until smooth.

Pita Crisps

serves 1

1 whole wheat pita bread (stale is good)
sesame seeds
olive oil

Separate the pita bread into two circles.  Brush the rough side of the bread and then cut each circle into wedges. Sprinkle the wedges with sesame seeds.  Broil for about 1 minute or until the wedges are browned.