Archive for lunch

Chicken Noodle Soup

November 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm · Filed under dinner, lunch

Here’s what I made out of my chicken broth. I think it was one of the best things I’ve ever made. Adjust the ingredients based on your own personal preferences.

Chicken Noodle Soup

A few carrots, cut into thin slices.
A few stalks of celery, cut into slices, or diced if you aren’t a fan of celery
1/2 onion, diced
Chicken broth
Shredded or diced chicken meat
Egg noodles
Spices of choice
Salt

Put the carrots, onion, and celery into a large pot. Add chicken broth until you have a broth to veggie ratio that suits you (keep in mind you’ll be adding noodles and chicken).

Simmer until the veggies are *almost* done.

Add as many egg noodles as you’d like (remember that they’ll expand as they cook).

When the egg noodles are almost done, add the chicken.

Once it’s all cooked, add more broth if you’d like.

Then spice it up. I used some smoked paprika, a fair amount of salt, and a few dashes of garlic powder.

It was seriously delicious, and worth every minute.

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Welsh Rarebit

October 19, 2009 at 10:46 am · Filed under dinner, lunch, misc

Growing up we used to buy Welsh Rarebit frequently. We bought the kind from the freezer section, and it was really good. But when I saw Pioneer Woman post a recipe for it the other day, I knew I had to try it. The freezer stuff is bound to be full of all sorts of gross stuff, and probably loaded with sodium. This was so easy to make, and probably cost about the same as the freezer stuff.

Pioneer Woman’s Welsh Rarebit

I used a pecan ale, and I don’t know if it was the type of beer or the amount, but I found it to be a little too beer-y. There was also a touch too much cayenne for me. Next time I’d cut back just slightly on those ingredients. But it was VERY yummy, either way.

Sorry about only posting links to other blogs, but hey, at least I’m doing the dirty work for you. I’m just glad I’m feeling up to cooking a bit.

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Caprise Salad

July 24, 2009 at 9:55 am · Filed under italian, lunch, photo, side dish

Caprise salad

This is such a yummy, fresh, and cool summer lunch or dinner side dish.
Alter the amounts to suite your needs and taste.

Tomatoes, roughly chopped
Salt
Olive oil
Fresh mozzarella, roughly chopped
Basil, chopped fine
Balsamic reduction (recipe below)

Put the tomatoes in a strainer and sprinkle generously with salt. Let sit for a few minute, giving them a stir every once in a while. This will help them not make everything too runny.

Then coat them lightly with olive oil.

Layer the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil on a plate, and drizzle with the balsamic.

Balsamic Reduction:
1 c Balsamic vinegar
2 shallots, diced (or use 1/2 small onion)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Put ingredients in a small pot and boil, stirring occasionally, until it is starting to thicken up, and had reduced in amount.

Caprise salad

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Beer Boiled Beans

July 24, 2009 at 9:43 am · Filed under dinner, lunch, Uncategorized

When I am at a loss as to what I should make for lunch for the week, I usually throw some beans in a pot and heat them up with spices. This week I managed to make some that I think were actually blog worthy- as long as you really like beans.

Beer Boiled Beans

Olive oil
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1/2-1 beer (I used Newcastle. I think a nice brown nutty beer will work best.)

Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and add in the onion and garlic. Cook until golden.

Add the beans, beer, liquid smoke, and paprika. Boil until they are more chili consistency, and less soup like.

Add the tomatoes and remove from heat.

Some days I sprinkled a little grated cheese on top.

You could also add a pepper or some chili powder, if you like things hot.

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Pudding Bars

July 24, 2009 at 9:35 am · Filed under dessert, italian, lunch, photo, side dish, Uncategorized

chocolate pudding meringue shortcake bars

The other day I started craving the custard and pudding pizza from Pizza Inn. Actually, I’m still sort of craving it, because what I eventually made wasn’t the same. It was GREAT, but different.

So for those of you who are not craving custard and pudding pizza from Pizza Inn, this should satisfy cookie and chocolate cravings.

I did use some custard when I made this, but since the pudding is custard based, and there wasn’t much actual custard to begin with, you can’t taste it, and I think it’s totally unnessessary.

Pudding Bars

Double batch of short bread crust dough
1/2 batch of dark chocolate pudding (make a whole batch and eat some!)
1 batch of meringue pie topping

Preheat oven to 425.

Give a 9×13 baking dish a quick spritz with baking spray and spread the shortbread dough out. Place the dish in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Cook the crust for 13-15 minutes or until golden. Let cool.

Spread the cooled pudding out on top of the crust, and freeze for 15 more minutes.

Then spread the meringue topping out on the pudding.

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, or until meringue is golden on top.

Be careful if you’re using glass. Pyrex should transfer from the freezer to the oven without cracking, but some cheaper brands or other glassware might crack with the temperature change.

chocolate pudding meringue shortcake bars

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ABC Muffins

June 14, 2009 at 9:42 pm · Filed under breakfast, lunch, photo

The other night Zach and I went to a great little restaurant in downtown Raleigh called The Rockford. Service wasn’t great, but the food was. I got the ABC (apple, bacon, cheddar) sandwich, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten (probably helped that I was starving by the time I got my food!). It was apple, bacon, and cheddar inside french toast, essentially. Sort of a monte cristo with apple.

I really enjoyed having muffins for lunch last week, they were so easy to make and to get ready each morning. So this week I was trying to think of what kind of muffin to make, and I thought of that sandwich.

The batter for this looks WAY dry, almost more like cookie dough. My thought was that the apple would release moisture. But up until the point I bit into the muffin I was convinced that they were going to be too dry. They are dense, but they weren’t dry. I also realized after I pulled them out of the oven that I had planned to put some onion and garlic in, and forgot. I didn’t include them in the ingredients, but you could certainly add some.

So Zach was a bit hungry and decided to test one of these muffins for me. He declared that it wasn’t really the best thing ever, and I was feeling sort of dejected. But then he had the thought to dip it in some maple syrup, and suddenly a just “okay” muffin became GREAT. He said he wants to eat them for breakfast. I say that breakfast isn’t just for breakfast, so I’ll eat them for lunch.

ABC Muffins

Ingredients

1st set:
-3/4 cup whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup all purpose flour
-1/3 cup wheat germ
-1/3 cup ground flax seed
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 – 1 tsp salt

2nd set:
-1/2 Cup Egg Beaters (or other liquid egg substitute, I used the type with extra Omega 3) or 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 green apple, diced (I used one Granny Smith, and 1/2 Golden Delicious)
-1/2 stick butter, melted
-1/2 c. bacon, cooked and chopped
-1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, diced

Mix the 1st set of ingredients together and mix the second set of ingredients (make sure the butter has cooled before you add the egg) together in two separate bowls.

Mix the two sets of ingredients together.

Spoon into a buttered muffin pan

350 degrees for 20-25 minutes for regular sized muffins.

Serve with maple syrup!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ABC Muffins

Note: I actually used *slightly* less flax/wheat germ, and *slightly* more all purpose flour. But I couldn’t really come up with a measurement for that, and I think the measurements provided will work just fine. You could also just use whole wheat and all purpose flour, or completely all purpose flour. You just want 1 2/3 c of flour, total.

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Turkey and Guyere Muffins

June 8, 2009 at 1:36 pm · Filed under lunch, photo, snacks

Before I went to the store yesterday I started trying to figure out what to make myself for lunch for this week. I try to cook my lunch during the weekend so that I don’t have to deal with it on weekeday mornings.

I decided to do a turkey and cheese muffin, but I wanted it to be more healthful than most of the recipes I was finding. I wanted it to be hearty enough to be lunch. I started looking for whole wheat muffin recipes, but none were what I wanted. Then I realized that I had the answer already on my grocery list. I was making Char’s Pumpkin Chocolate chip Muffins. I adapted the recipe to be savory by lowering the all purpose flour content and upping the wheat/flax content. I cut out most of the sugar.

I packed one for lunch today topped with a bit of homemade cranberry chutney and it was DELICIOUS!

You MUST make these. It was such a great lunch! I had a cup of chocolate-vanilla light yogurt as dessert, and it was nicely filling.

I think you could make this vegetarian if you could think of a nice replacement for the heartiness of the turkey. Maybe some walnuts?

If you can’t find guyere, experiment with other cheeses. A Swiss/Parmesean mix would work well, I bet.

These are great to make at the same time as the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, becuase after you make those you’ll have aproximately 1/2 cup of pumpkin leftover.

Turkey and Guyere Muffins:

Ingredients

1st set:
-3/4 cup whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup all purpose flour
-1/3 cup wheat germ
-1/3 cup ground flax seed
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 – 1 tsp salt
-dash of garlic powder

2nd set:
-1/2 Cup Egg Beaters (or other liquid egg substitute, I used the type with extra Omega 3) or 2 eggs
-1/2 Cup pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, just straight-up pumpkin- look in the baking section, just make sure to pick up the correct can)
-1/2 Cup unsweetened apple sauce (if you buy the six-packs of personal-sized applesauce, one of those is 1/2 cup)
-2 Tbsp butter, melted
-1 cup (or 1/4 pound) diced sandwich turkey or ham (I used maple honey turkey from the deli at Harris Teeter)
-1/2 cup guyere cheese, diced
-1/3 – 1/2 small sweet yellow onion, diced

Mix the 1st set of ingredients together and mix the second set of ingredients (make sure the butter has cooled before you add the egg) together in two separate bowls.

Mix the two sets of ingredients together.

Spoon into a buttered muffin pan

350 degrees for 20-25 minutes for regular sized muffins.

Note: I actually used *slightly* less flax/wheat germ, and *slightly* more all purpose flour. But I couldn’t really come up with a measurement for that, and I think the measurements provided will work just fine.

Turkey and Guyere muffins

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Mostly-Fresh Vegitable Stew

June 1, 2009 at 11:03 am · Filed under dinner, lunch, photo

Sorry for the lack of pictures in today’s posts. I’ve been bad at taking them and worse at putting them on my computer. I’ll go back and add pictures later to the recipes I have pictures for.
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In the past I have always made vegetable soup from mostly canned veggies. Maybe stopping to dice an onion. But recently I have been really craving fresh veggies, and since I don’t like raw vegetables, some fresh vegetable soup seemed to be on order. It ended up a bit thicker than a soup, so we’ll call it mostly-fresh vegetable stew.

Mostly-fresh Vegetable Stew

2 tablespoons oil or butter
1/2 – 1 yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, roughly diced
2 bell peppers (I used a mix of yellow, red, and green), diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash, diced
1 sweet potato, roughly diced
2 cans tomato puree (you could use tomato sauce, but the puree is way better on sodium levels)
1 cup chopped spinach
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
at least 2 cups chicken stock
Salt, pepper, spices to taste
Shredded cheese (optional)

Heat the oil/butter on the stove and add the onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent and just starting to turn golden. Add the carrots and bell peppers, and cook for 5 more minutes. Add zucchini, squash, tomato puree, sweet potato, spinach, lentils, and chicken stock. Simmer on low until veggies and lentils are all tender. Add the corn and peas and heat through. Add more chicken stock if you feel it is too thick. Add spices.

I used a splash of balsamic vinegar, a bit of salt, and a bit of paprika as my spices. If I’d had more time I would’ve grabbed some fresh basil from the garden to add, as well. Then I put them in individual jars and added some shredded cheese. They were a very handy lunch.

Veggie stew

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Sweet pepper chili stew

May 3, 2009 at 6:28 pm · Filed under dinner, lunch

Is it chili? Is it a stew? I have no idea, really. It started because I wanted beans.

Sweet pepper chili stew:

1 can kidney beans (i used dark red)
1 can black beans
1 can great northern beans (or some other white beans)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow sweet onion
1 anaheim chili
1/8 cup dried lentils
at least 1 cup chicken broth (or veggie broth)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon wochestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients in a large pot and simmer on low for at least an hour. Add more broth if it looks too thick, you actually want it just a little on the thin side, because it will soak up some more liquid as it cools.

Serve with a sprinkle of cheese, a bit of minced fresh cilantro, and/or a dollop of sour cream on top.

If you don’t have all of the spices I used, just use whatever you have that sounds good. If you want a more chili taste, add more cumin.

Anaheim peppers are only slightly spicy, so feel free to use a hotter pepper if that’s what you like.

I don’t have a picture of this, because it’s kind of ugly. But it is tasty!

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Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich

May 3, 2009 at 3:19 pm · Filed under lunch, photo

This may seem like a boring topic for a cooking blog. Bacon, egg, and cheese is pretty basic, right?

Mostly I just want to show you these cool things that Char and I found at the grocery store the other night.

Sandwich thins

I’m not a huge fan of sandwiches. I don’t really like sandwich bread. But these are some sort of cross between bread, pita, and those weird cracker things that come in a pizza lunchable. I actually got these to make little pizzas, but then I got hungry at lunch yesterday and decided to make a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. The cool thing is that they seem to not be too bad for you or me. 100 calories each, whole grain, full of fiber and vitamins.

I’m not going to give you a really detailed recipe, here. But here’s the gist:

Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich:

2 slices turkey bacon
1 egg
1 slice cheese
1 sandwich thin
salt to taste.

Toast the sandwich thin. Cook the bacon (you could use veggie bacon). Cook the egg. Put the bacon, egg, and cheese on a sandwich thin.

Quick lunch.

bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich 5.2.09

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