What's for Lunch? (four dish edition)

During these mid-semester weeks of 18-hour days, I find myself slipping back into unhealthy food habits. Fast food becomes my friend. I eat lunch out of a vending machine. I don’t think much about cooking. I’m too busy, I reason, to spend time cooking. I need to spend that time on grading or writing or whatever it is that I need to do. However, right about now–in the midst of the busyness and the stress–is when I need to be taking care of myself and cooking (eating) healthy foods.

There is still that issue of time. How will I find time to cook every day? Honestly? I won’t. Times like this call for a concentrated effort in meal preparation. I have learned over the years the art of “once a month cooking.” This system helps save time, but it also helps save food and money. Since I live alone, I have modified the system. I cook a few dishes, and I’m set for the week (or longer).

This past weekend, I bought a bag of skinless chicken breasts, a few vegetables, and combined with what I already had at home, I made four separate meals that I could eat throughout the week for either lunch or dinner (by adding a salad).

This mini-marathon of cooking resulted in two chicken salads, a soup, and an entree (lunch). I even had some shredded chicken left over that I put in the freezer for another day.

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Chicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts

Ingredients

4 cups cubed (1/2 inch) cooked chicken (about 1 3/4 pound)
1 cup walnuts, toasted, and chopped
1 celery rib, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
2 cups halved seedless red grapes
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions: Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl until combined well.

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Chicken Rollups

Ingredients

2 packages (8 oz size) cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breasts
1 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 jar (4 oz size) stuffed green olives, drained and diced
1 can (4.5 oz size) chopped black olives
1 can (4.5 oz size) chopped green chilies
10 flour tortillas (10 inch)

Directions: Beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in chicken, cheese, onions, olives, chilies. Spread onto flour tortillas and roll up. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours (minimum). Cut into 3/4 inch slices (discarding ends) Serve with guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

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Chipotle-Lime Slaw

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon chipotle chile in adobo
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly shredded
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded chicken
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions: In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lime zest and juice, chipotle, sugar, vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. Fold in the cabbage, onion, bell peppers, scallions, and cilantro and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Refrigerate until serving. Enjoy!

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

Intredients

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Directions: Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

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How do you concentrate your cooking times and what kinds of foods do you prepare? Please leave comments below.

[Photo by m4roon3d; licensed by Creative Commons]

Comments

1. Amanda - October 21, 2009 at 11:23 am

My sister, knowing that I have crazy long days if you include the commute and the other meetings I get pulled into, sent me a giant slow cooker and a set of Pyrex storage containers.

My first thought was "What?!" and I envisioned the slop of my Midwestern childhood.

But then I started looking for slow cooker recipes and cookbooks that had an emphasis on world cuisine, veggies, and healthy proteins. So far, I've made a Moroccan Turkey Stew, Chicken Cacciatore, and have a Thai inspired recipe on the horizon for the weekend.

The slow cooker makes things in such vast quantities that I have immensely freezable and re-heatable leftovers, and shortly I'll have a freezer full of delicious things I can bring to work. An added bonus is that I can concoct something on a weekend morning, do most of the cleanup, go do something fun all day with my husband, and come home to a hot dinner with minimal cleanup and lunches and/or dinners for days to come.

Really, there's nothing like going on a refreshing and invigorating fall hike and coming home to a dinner that's already made. (If the hike is short, I can catch up on work.)

I wonder how many of the male audience thinks about this..?

2. Steve 802 - October 21, 2009 at 04:18 pm

A trick I came across a couple of years ago was the "bento." Bento is the Japanese box lunch - basically left overs packed into a colorful container, and made to look interesting. Often this is done for school children, but it works for adults too. I started with rectangular rubber maid containers from the super market, and then kept a supply of cherry or grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, snap peas, grapes on hand to fill in. Since we had a microwave at work, I often cheated and tossed in commercial burritos, etc.

A couple of places where you can see sample bento are

Minmin's Bento Fotolog - http://www.fotolog.com/minmin

Mimi Ito's Bento Moblog - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiito/tags/bentoblog/

Just Bento's Onigi On Parade - special rice balls perfect for bento ! http://justbento.com/handbook/bento-basics/onigiri-on-parade-guide-onigiri-omusubi-rice-ball-shapes-types-and-fun

3. Billie - October 21, 2009 at 07:06 pm

Thanks, Amanda! We have a crock-pot edition of "What's for Lunch?" coming soon. I love my crock-pot and use it all the time.

Steve, Bentos! I love Bentos, too. We have spoken briefly in a few posts about Mr. (or Ms.) Benton. I have a laptop lunch container and a few of the Japanese bento boxes. They are wonderfully easy to use, as you state, but what I'm struck by is the way they help with portion control.

Maybe next week's "What's for Lunch" column should be about Bento boxes?!?!?! :-)