Nourishing Portable Food

I am excited to participate in today’s Nourishing Portable Food carnival, and thank our host, Kimi Harris, for planning it!

A little background info . . . . My husband works as a Research Analyst for an investment bank on the west coast. Since their clients, and their business, revolves around the New York Stock Exchange (which opens here at 6:30am) he has to be at work before that to answer any client calls and questions and to meet as a team. Their first required meeting of the day, every day, is at 5:15am.

And he generally works until at least 4:00 pm every evening.

Ouch! I know! And since we are working together to eat healthfully (meaning no eating of the “free” cereal that they provide), are both working to lose weight by eating a modified low-carb, nourishing diet, and are trying to save money to finish paying off debt and save for a home, he is taking all of his meals to work with him every day. One breakfast, one lunch and a hearty snack, every day.

My hope in writing this post is to share some recipes, share some planning ideas and encourage others! Please note, most of the recipes linked are my own, or some that I’ve adapted, but there are several in this post linked to other sites. These are my bookmarked ones (if they were in a cookbook, those pages would be full of flour and stiff with use!) and I use them all the time and wanted to give credit where credit is due!

Before I get into it, I have to admit that T. does use a microwave to heat up his food at work. Since he is there such long hours it is nearly impossible to keep anything warm enough to be palatable, and, since I still have a little one who normally nurses once in the night, I don’t wake up with T. to make him breakfast (plus he enjoys his sleep more than a hot meal at 4:30am! It is a little too early for him to eat yet!) He brings everything with him and eats at work. Though we are limiting our microwave use at home (and I’m seriously thinking of getting rid of it), there aren’t any other options for him at his work, unfortunately, at this time. It’s a bit of a touchy subject, but if you do choose to microwave, please remember to place the food on a ceramic or paper plate to heat with a paper towel on top. Do not heat your food in plastic containers nor with plastic wrap on top. If you have the option I much rather favor heating up food in a toaster oven; all of the “heatable” recipes below can be heated in that matter.

Okay, here we go!

Green Smoothies – I normally make up a double batch at a time, one for me to consume immediately, and the other I pour into a quart-size mason jar, cover and throw in the freezer. T. takes the frozen smoothie out in the morning (around 5:00am) and it is perfect consistency for his breakfast at 7:00am.

Egg pucks - Take out your muffin tin. Liberally grease each hole – liberally! – this is important or they might stick. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl (or, my favorite, a 4-cup measuring cup with pouring spout) whisk up a batch of your favorite scrambled egg/frittata/ omelet flavors. Think grated cheese, diced bacon or ham, browned sausage, fresh baby spinach, mushrooms, sliced cherry tomatoes, green onions, chives, green chiles . . . or a bit of everything (our favorite combo is green chile, cheese and bacon) and then figure about 1.5 – 2 eggs per puck (for an average sized muffin pan). Fill your preferred number of muffin openings about 3/4s full with egg mixture, making sure that ingredients are evenly distributed. (If you make less than a full pan, fill the remaining open holes up halfway with water). Bake for about twenty minutes, checking frequently, until done. They will puff up a bit during baking. Jiggle the pan a bit to make sure that the centers are fully cooked before taking out.

Let cool briefly before quickly removing pucks from the pan. They will stick if you let them cool completely in the pan.

Enjoy one or two for breakfast either on it’s own, or made into a breakfast sandwich with homemade whole wheat sourdough biscuits or english muffins. These are also great for a simple lunch or dinner on top of or next to a fresh green salad dressed with vinaigrette!

Please note, though these freeze beautifully, they defrost horribly. They become watery and mushy and in general, are unappetizing (trust me on this one!). They refrigerate great, though, so I’ll frequently make up about 10 or so and send two with my husband for breakfast a few times a week and keep the remainder for my own breakfast or snack!

Oatmeal Cranberry Muffins - These are a great, hearty muffin perfect for breakfast or a snack. Though the oats are soaked in this recipe, the flour (so far) is not. If you have suggestions for converting it, I’d certainly appreciate it!

Yogurt Cream Cheese with your favorite whole grain and/or sourdough bagel, bread or crackers. The cream cheese is easy to make and is great plain, or mixed up with garlic and chives, or fresh blueberries, or even homemade jam.

For lunch, T. normally brings leftovers of one kind of another, rarely sandwiches. I plan my menus and shop with leftovers for lunches in mind. Some ideas . . .

Roast Chicken – Normally at least once a week I either roast one or two whole chickens or roast or grill a large quantity of chicken pieces. There is one non-organic brand of chicken I trust, Foster Farms, and when their whole roast chickens come on sale (like ours are this week for 69-cents a pound, which only occurs about once every three months) I stock my freezer with four to six. Same with chicken quarters – the other week one local store had an un-advertised sale on bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, thighs and legs for 99-cents/pound. I stocked up!

We eat the chicken for dinner, and then use the remainder for lunches. Easy lunches using leftover chicken include:

• Salads, salads and more salads. This is a staple that T. eats several times a week. I send him with one large container with about 3 cups of salad greens, another small container or sandwich bag of chicken and a baby food jar of salad dressing. Our favorites are a simple dijon vinaigrette, this Caesar dressing, and a Ranch dressing similar to this one. I add a teaspoon of whey to both the Caesar and Ranch dressings and they will last in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I’ll also send him with additions to the salad depending on the topping and dressing, from dried cranberries to slivered almonds to crumbles of feta cheese (one of his favorites).
  
• If the chicken is a few days old and getting a bit dry, I often mix up a batch of chicken salad, eaten either on top of greens or with whole grain crackers or sourdough bread. Both T. and my son love this!
• If I roast a second bird, I generally use the chicken from the second bird later in the week for another dinner, like jambalaya or green chile tortilla soup, and then send those leftovers with T. for lunches.

Meatloaf Pucks – See egg pucks above, except substitute your favorite meatloaf recipe, form into balls and place into greased muffin cups, pressing lightly to fill. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. They only take about 20 minutes to cook (versus my meatloaf, in loaf form, takes about an hour) and can burn quickly if you use tomato ketchup or paste in your recipe, so keep an eye on them when they are almost done cooking, as they can quickly go from done, to burned from the sugars in the tomatoes.

Contrary to the egg pucks, these both freeze and defrost beautifully so it is an easy recipe to make a big batch of and store whenever you make meatloaf. I normally send my husband with three or four meatloaf pucks per meal along with a vegetable or salad of some kind.

Leftover Sourdough Pizza – perfect with a fresh green salad on the side. Can be eaten warmed or cold. I frequently use leftover chicken from a roast chicken earlier in the week for a topping.

Soups - I love, love, love soups for lunch. If you have a few hours between packing your soup and eating it, I highly recommend buying a thermos similar to this one. Simply pre-heat it with hot water while you are heating up your soup on the stove, and it will stay hot for several hours (four to six is best). If you have more time between packing and eating, I recommend keeping it cold and storing in a quart size jar (wide-mouth is best). It can be microwaved and eaten directly out of the jar or heated once you get to your destination on the stove. I like to send some whole grain crackers, a slice or two of cheese and/or a slice or two of sourdough bread to complete the meal.

Some of our favorite soups include French Onion, Butternut Squash and our Green Chile Chicken Tortilla soup. And don’t forget Three Bean Turkey Chili!

Wraps - We love wraps! We’ve used store-bought sprouted grain tortillas and whole wheat tortillas primarily for this purpose. Simply spread tortilla with your favorite spread (I recommend guacamole, hummus, homemade refried beans, ranch dressing, caesar dressing, flavored yogurt cheese, etc.), add in your preferred protein (leftover chicken, leftover cut up steak, tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, leftover salmon, leftover pulled pork or pot roast, etc.) and then add in a bunch of salad greens and your favorite veggies (cucumbers and bell peppers are especially nice). Roll up wrap, then roll it in foil and you’re good to go!

Breakfast Burrito wraps are also a favorite in my family!

Some advice
One thing to keep in mind when planning your dinner menu is, if your dinners are already somewhat cut-up or bite size, or at least entree size, it will make for easier lunches. For example, make inexpensive kabobs from a roast or chicken, make pot roast or pulled pork, hamburgers, meatballs or falafel. All relatively bite size, it will be easy to add on to a salad, heated up next to veggies, included in a wrap, etc. The less time you take making lunch, the more time you’ll have to spend with your hubby!

If you are interested in making sandwiches, try my Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat bread – it is soft and tasty!

Snacks
Our snacks stay pretty simple. I always try to include some good protein and either fresh fruit or vegetables. If he didn’t eat eggs for breakfast, he normally brings two to three hard boiled eggs for a snack. I often also make egg salad or hummus which he eats with whole grain crackers or even with celery or pepper sticks. Other snacks include fresh fruit and, occasionally, homemade beef jerky and homemade beef stick (sort of like salami).

Here are some ideas I’ve been collecting from other blogs . . . I haven’t tried them yet, but they look right up my alley!

Mediterranean Wheatberry Salad with Lentils and Chickpeas- Great as a complete vegetarian meal, full of whole grain and legume protein, or as a side!
Kefta and zucchini kebabs – Make these for dinner, and then bring along a skewer or two for lunch the next day! Yummy on their own, or wrapped in whole wheat pita!
Buckwheat G-raw-nola – great to eat along with yogurt and fresh berries for breakfast!
Soaked Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes – these are hearty and are great toasted in a toaster or toaster oven the next day!

I hope you found this post helpful and I look forward to reading the other ideas! Thank you again Kimi for hosting such a fun carnival!