{Back to Work Lunches Part V}

Welcome to the last day of our back to work lunches feature!

Thanks for letting me indulge this week–hopefully you’ve gotten some useful ideas about how to make simple yet creative lunches to take to work/school. Our last lunch this week is pesto pasta and a spinach salad, an easy way to kick off the weekend in a somewhat healthy fashion. I’m heading home to visit family this weekend and I know a lot of eating will definitely be involved!

I love making homemade pesto, but the ingredients are a bit pricey for me to make too often (why are pine nuts so gosh darn expensive?), so this recipe features store bought pesto. In my opinion, most pestos vary quite a bit in taste, so you have to play around with different store bought brands till you find one that suits your own tastes. I just cooked a bit of the pasta I had left over from the pasta salad, added the pesto and a bit of feta cheese, and I was done!

One of my favorite things about bringing salad for lunch is taking my salad dressing along with me in this jar. It’s the perfect size and completely spill proof. I often bring almond butter or ketchup or mustard in it as well.

Plus, it contains my favorite salad dressing: peach vinegar from Whole Foods and fresh olive oil from SLO!

This spinach salad contains only 5 ingredients: spinach (bet you could’ve figured that out!), cherry tomatoes, red onion, walnuts, and feta cheese.

So there you have it, a whole week’s worth of lunches. Do you think we can keep it up?

{Back to Work Lunches Part IV}

Inspiration for today’s lunch comes from a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine–I would link this to the recipe but one, I forget where exactly I found it and two, this recipe is so far detached from the original that the only real thing in common is the name and the fact that it’s vegetarian.

Like the rest of the lunch recipes this week, this recipe is also easy to make the night before and take with you for lunch the next day. I told you that I usually get less creative as the week goes on, but I was actually surprised at my energy making this lunch–I think I spent a whole 10 minutes in the kitchen! Must have been that 12 hour work day yesterday…

I love wraps–I still get my beloved carbs, but it seems healthier with all those vegetables. And “wrap” sounds so much more sophisticated than “sandwich.” Or at least that what I tell myself.

See, look at all those veggies!

The carbs are hiding back there ;)

Without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Veggie Wrap
Makes 1 wrap

Print recipe!

Ingredients:
1 whole wheat tortilla
1/4 red bell pepper, sliced
3-4 slices red onion
1 small lemon cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup edamame, shelled

For sauce:
1 tablespoon non-fat greek yogurt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

Steps:

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients to make the sauce.

Spread a thin layer of sauce over tortilla then add the vegetables.

Fold the edges of the tortilla to create a wrap, securing with either a toothpick or aluminum foil.

Enjoy!

How many days have you brought your lunch to work this week?

{Back to School Lunches Part III}

Happy hump day everyone!

On today’s lunch menu: quick and easy pasta salad. Like yesterday’s pizza, I added ingredients for this pasta salad based on what was in my fridge; it would be easy to modify to meet your needs and tastes. I must say that I’ve been a bit  obsessed with marinated artichoke hearts lately–I think I added almost the entire container’s worth into this lunch! I also picked up some Trader Joe’s Champagne Pear Gorgonzola salad dressing to add to the pasta salad. Pre-made salad dressings are easy and add a lot of flavor to such a simple meal.

Here’s the recipe:

Pasta Salad

Makes 3 servings

Print recipe!

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked whole wheat pasta

1 tablespoon Trader Joe’s Champagne Pear Gorgonzola salad dressing

1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 cup green beans, chopped

1/2 can black olives, pre-sliced

1 tablespoon crumbled feta

Steps:

Combine all ingredients and toss in a small bowl.

Refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably over night.

Enjoy!

{Back to Work Lunches Part II}

I told you the meals would get less complicated as the week went on–it’s only Tuesday and I already broke out the pre-made pizza dough! To be fair, I have back to school night tomorrow night, so I needed to make two nights of lunches since I know I won’t want to cook anything when I get home late tomorrow night.

As amazing as homemade pizza dough is, I often buy Trader Joe’s pizza dough during our weekly shopping trip for a quick and easy meal. It helps reduce those nights when someone forgot to make the pizza dough earlier in the day and now wants to go out to eat…not that I’m naming any names ;) I also used pre-made marinara sauce to make this brown bag lunch really fast to make!

I pretty much just threw whatever was in the fridge to make this pizza, so feel free to modify with the ingredients you have on hand.

Easy Brown Bag Pizza Recipe

Makes 4 servings

Print recipe!

Ingredients:

1 Trader Joes’s pizza dough (any kind)

1/2 cup marinara or pizza sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, gratedd

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/4 can black olives, pre-sliced

1/2 cup red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 cup spinach, packed

Steps:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out pizza dough (or stretch out with your hands if you’re extra lazy like me).

Add marinara sauce, cheese, the spinach.

Cover with remaining ingredients.

Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes

Enjoy!