Burrito Week
My quest for easy to make, lasting, and healthy lunches continues this week with burritos. On Monday I added corn, spinach and bell peppers to a can of Amy’s low sodium chili and cooked it in a saute pan for 20 minutes. I made some brown rice to go along.
Now when I leave for school, I just assemble! Tortilla, brown rice, filling, CHEESE, and salsa. I bring it in a tupperware container and heat it up in the gross microwave in the cafeteria.
I really love burrito week.
Fried Eggs, Wild Rice & Kale
Remember me? One time frequent blogger who’s been sucked into the Columbia postbac pre-med program, swallowed by terrifying Physics tests and crippling amounts of work?
I’m alive! I’m eating all the things! Today I added some kale to leftover wild rice and poured a glug of soy sauce and a squirt of sricacha in the pan. Once the kale was wilted, I set the rice and greens aside and fried up two eggs. A hearty lunch is necessary to make it through my classes today, which end at 10:30pm.
Please accept this photo of Emily Dickinson acting like Emily Dickinson as an apology for my absence.
Today I was craving color.
Along with some edamame hummus for added protein and flax seed chips for omega-3 fatty acids and carbs.
Abundance of color = abundance of nutrients. (Fruit Loops don’t count!)
Today’s Lunch: Ciabatta roll with grilled eggplant, sliced mozzarella, mashed chickpeas, and cherry tomatoes.
Another excellent vegetarian sandwich.
![GRILLED MOZZARELLA & APPLE SANDWICH (with caramelized onions!)
I’ll post a more interesting recipe about what I did with the majority of the apples now in my possession from yesterday’s trip upstate, but I STILL have a ton of apples left and I’m trying to figure out how to use them here and there.
Today I put them in a grilled cheese sandwich! Some notes if you plan to make this:
I used mozzarella because it was what I had, but normally I’d go for some sharp cheddar.
Recently I learned that you should caramelize onions in butter, NOT oil. This is because the proteins in butter assist the process and interact better with the onion’s carbohydrates. [Thanks, Saveur Mag!]
Crunchy, buttery, and savory. I loved eating the extra apple slices on the side!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltkyrmlKF61qzb72no1_1280.jpg)
GRILLED MOZZARELLA & APPLE SANDWICH (with caramelized onions!)
I’ll post a more interesting recipe about what I did with the majority of the apples now in my possession from yesterday’s trip upstate, but I STILL have a ton of apples left and I’m trying to figure out how to use them here and there.
Today I put them in a grilled cheese sandwich! Some notes if you plan to make this:
Crunchy, buttery, and savory. I loved eating the extra apple slices on the side!
Perfecting the Vegetarian Sandwich: Part 3
Unlike Parts I & II, I did not make this sandwich myself. I’ve been spending a significant amount of time (and cash) at Plenty, a brand new cafe in the Upper East Side which was seriously necessary. This place has amazing coffee and pastries, as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I’ve been eyeing their veggie sandwich and today I gave it a try. I don’t have the menu in front of me, but from what i can tell it has cheddar, tomato, avocado, sprouts, mixed greens, SWEET POTATO, and some sort of aioli on multigrain/seeded bread.
I love this sandwich. It is nearly perfect. I didn’t care too much for the bread - I’d like it on something a bit sturdier - but the cheddar/sweet potato/avocado combo plus the crunch of the sprouts was everything I want in a vegetarian sandwich.
My favorite vegetarian sandwich? It’s still the pickled beet and goat cheese sammy at Lafayette Marketplace. There is no other.
Who’s says a salad has to have lettuce?
It’s clean-out-the-fridge-Friday over here and I put all the things into my salad:
This was AWESOME. And that tofu has been a great snack or meal addition all week. I simply cut a piece of PRESSED tofu into 10 slices. I coated each slice in a bit of tamari and sesame oil and then baked them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Crazy good.
I continue my research into the most delicious homemade vegetarian sandwich. In the first installment, I paired raw tempeh with smoked gouda. This sandwich is REALLY good… but I wouldn’t call it the best.
Today, I put lots of things between two slices of bread and tried to call it a sandwich. It was tasty… but again I have failed at finding the BEST. This one is worth trying though…unless the thought of pairing cottage cheese and egg whites grosses you out. Odd combination, but it really tasted good.
For the record, my favorite store-bought veg sandwich is probably the goat cheese & pickled beet sandwich at Lafayette Marketplace in NYC.
Today’s Lunch: Nothing Exciting.
I think this has been the longest stretch of non-blogging I’ve had in a year. You can all thank Statistics for my absence, as I’ve spent the last several days churning out a giant report and studying for tomorrow’s final exam. This has definitely been one of the hardest classes I’ve ever had to take, but by this time tomorrow I’ll be DONE.
I’ve been surviving on basics over the last week and my typical lunch salad has made an appearance more than once.
I had a slice of toast on the side with a schmear of babaghanoush.
I promise I’ll be back to regularly-scheduled blogging. George and I are preparing for a trip to Scotland & London! We leave on Friday evening and I plan to blog as many things I eat there as possible. The best way to see a country is through it’s food!
If anyone would like to recommend some awesome restaurants in Edinburgh or London, pleeeease send them my way.
Cheers!
I declare this week in the name of KALE SALAD. I often eat the same thing for lunch 4 or 5 days in a row and this week it’s all about kale salad. When food is tasty, I don’t get bored and I want it repeatedly!
I’ve made this recipe for kale salad several times now and I’m in love. It makes for a hearty, nutritious and filling salad or side dish that never needs any dressing.
My version adapted from 101 Cookbooks:
I added tofu chunks, tomatoes and cucumber to my salad. Kale salad is a great thing to have around because it gets MORE delicious over the next couple days.
Along side I snacked on babaghanoush and tortilla crackers. Sometimes when I have too many whole wheat tortillas lying around I’ll tear them up and put them in the oven for 10 minutes until crispy. They serve as the perfect edible utensil! Love me some babaghanoush…
This lunch has been the highlight of my day. I have 5 days of summer classes left so now it’s back to the grind. And then I’ll never need to take statistics again. :)
I often hear, “tofu doesn’t taste like anything,” which always makes me think that person is eating the wrong type of tofu. I like EXTRA SUPER FIRM tofu, the kind that cuts cleanly like butter and doesn’t easily break apart. I find that asian grocery stores have the best tofu, and also Trader Joe’s Sprouted Tofu is super tough stuff.
In addition to tofu, picked up some edamame hummus at TJ’s today to go with my lunch this week.
Highly recommended.
In my wrap:
I snuck in some extra veggies on the side. I love the creamy combo of hummus, tofu and feta cheese, and the additional edamame flavor makes this wrap super satisfying.
Toothpicks are the key to holding wraps together, especially when you’re not a wrap rolling expert. Plus they look fancy!
Nom, nom.
Accent theme by Handsome Code
Welcome to my blog! I’m Michelle, a 26 year old vegetarian, runner, future doctor, and healthy-living enthusiast. My life revolves around food. Cooking food, eating food, discussing the politics of food. We’re surrounded by so many false advertisements and misconceptions about nutrition, its difficult to know where the truth lies. This is my attempt to make everything a bit clearer.
Follow me while I eat delicious food, cook healthy meals, run marathons, and strive to separate the food truths from lies, while living an exciting life in the Big Apple.
Questions/Comments? Send me an email! Michelle@thehonestpalate.com
