Lately I was asked to write about what we do for lunches. We definitely don't do anything special, and try to make it as quick yet nutritious as possible. For right now we are still gluten-free due to one child needing to be, but hopefully that'll only be for another couple of months as she is almost healed (thanks to our Naturopath). I decided to add breakfasts in here too, as I do get bored with what we do and hope some of you will add some of your ideas to both categories (hint, hint!)
Breakfast (weekdays)
-Scrambled eggs with grated zucchini (fry it for a bit by itself first to lose some moisture or your eggs will be soggy), green onions, peppers, cheese, ham or whatever else I can find, add toast if necessary.
-Kefir smoothies- plain kefir or cottage cheese or yogurt, banana, blueberries, apples or other fruit, hemp seeds, flax seeds, gelatin, green powder, cod liver oil, coconut oil, psyllium husks. Whatever is in it, it is the whole meal, not just a drink on the side. I'm too busy/lazy to do a breakfast and a smoothie. My Grandma Kurtti used to always say, "there's a fine line between laziness and efficiency!"
-Soaked oatmeal- this is our quick breakfast when we need to get out the door in a hurry. I soak old-fashioned oats in their water (with a bit of kefir or ACV to make more digestible) in the slow cooker and then Greg turns it on high when he leaves for work in the morning. When the rest of us get up, it's ready to go. You can also do steel-cut oats the same way, but just cook them on low all night long. Add frozen blueberries to cool it off quickly if you're really in a hurry and put it in a coffee mugs to take in the car.
-Creamy buckwheat hot cereal- our favorite gluten-free cereal from Bob's Red Mill. Doesn't taste at all like buckwheat pancakes.
-Sausage patties and baked yams- I either bake extra yams the night before for supper, or microwave them quickly or fry them in a frying pan with a bit of water and a lid on them. Top with butter and cinnamon.
Weekend breakfasts- pannukakku, soaked pancakes, bacon and eggs with home-shredded hash browns, or on the rare occasion biscuits and sausage gravy with eggs. Hard boiled eggs or oatmeal for a quick Sunday morning breakfast also.
Lunch
-Leftovers from supper heated in my small slow cooker- this is my favorite go-to for lunches, but often I don't cook enough to do this. I put it in the slow cooker in the fridge the night before when I'm cleaning up from supper so it's ready to go after breakfast. In a perfect world I'd have this every day, but more often than not it doesn't happen.
-Chicken noodle soup- heat chicken (bone) broth and when it boils then add GF spiral pasta and cook until almost done, then add canned or leftover chicken, frozen mixed vegetables and heat it all you're done. This is James' favorite. Leave a few vegetables frozen so the kids can add them at the end to cool their soup back down.
-Refried bean burritos- refried beans heated with butter and shredded cheese and wrapped up in a tortilla
-Egg, tuna, salmon or imitation crab salad on crackers or rice cakes- these we do often. Quick and easy.
-Cheese, deli meat and cracker stacks- the kids love these. Just set out a tray of these with some veggies too and you're set.
-Ants on a log (celery) or a boat (apple wedge). Fill with peanut butter. Top with raisins of course.
-Beanie weenies- sliced up hot dogs in pork and beans- these are thanks to Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin's favorite lunch.
-PB&J on rice cakes- we always happen to eat these crumbly things right after we finish vacuuming. And then the floor is messy again!
-Pasta, feta and veggies- one of our favorites. I've made this hundreds of times. Pepperoni and ham work well also. Add extra cheese if you want to make it more like mac and cheese. Use regular cheese if your kids don't like feta. Thanks, Megan!
-Beef and pea soup- like my easy hamburger soup but just add frozen peas to the beef broth and leftover ground beef.
-Canned chili- for those super busy days.
-Hummus with veggies/chips- we do this a lot also.
-Beans and Rice- usually cooked beforehand, just heated up with some veggies
On the weekends we usually do Reubens, French Dips, Tuna Melts or grilled cheese and tomato soup as these are some of Greg's favorite sandwiches.
For lunch we stick to raw and fermented vegetables unless we have cooked ones already cooked up. We pull out the baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, English cucumbers (because I'm Canadian and that's what I grew up with and peeling a cucumber is just too much work), bell peppers, raw sauerkraut, pickles and zucchini relish every day and add some to whatever else we're eating. Sometimes I add ranch, but most days everyone just gobbles them down by themselves. We also drink our daily dose of water kefir and kombucha with our lunch, usually flavored with some sort of juice.
Snacks
We don't do many snacks, mostly because we eat breakfast later at 9 am, lunch at 1pm and supper at 5-6 pm. In the afternoon each day at 4 pm, we have "fruit time" with whatever fruit we have on hand. The other go-to's are cheese slices/sticks, trail mix (almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit). If a snack is needed at bedtime, yogurt and kefir are what the kids get. Occasionally more protein and blood sugar needs raising, so peanut butter on/with a banana or a milk cup comes to the rescue too!
And that's what we do around here! What do you like to eat at your house?
