Tag Archives: Lunch

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Kale

Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Kale | real food. home made.

“Not Your Mama’s Pasta Salad”

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup uncooked Delallo organic whole wheat orzo
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 t dijon mustard
  • juice of 1 small lemon
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • big handful of kale, torn and stems removed
  • 1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
  • sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Cook your pasta according to package directions.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all other ingredients except kale and 1 T olive oil.
  3. When the pasta is done cooking, strain it and add it to the bowl.
  4. Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet with lid.  Fry/steam your kale until it both wilts and becomes slightly charred.
  5. Add the kale to the bowl and season to taste!

This is a great combination of textures and flavours.  You can subsitute rice, quinoa, farro or israeli couscous for the pasta if you’d like.  I like Delallo organic whole wheat pastas because they have only one ingredient.

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Filed under Dinner Ideas, Lunch, Salads, Vegetarian

Kayla’s Famous Sunbutter Wrap

Kayla's Famous Sunbutter Wrap | real food.  home made.

This weekend my friend Michelle was in town, en route from England to Portland, OR.  This afternoon I gave her a tour of my city, Ferndale (which I consider the Portland of Michigan), and we gathered ingredients to make one of my favourite lunches.  Everyone I serve it to loves it, and I hope you do too!

Kayla’s Famous Sunbutter Wrap

Ingredients:

  • lavash / wraps  (best quality you can find, I found these gorgeous pink tomato wraps at a local Organic market)
  • sunflower seed butter (you can find Sunbutter brand at most grocery stores)
  • hummus
  • avocado, sliced
  • tomato, sliced (preferably home-grown or from a friend or farmer)
  • red onion, thinly sliced
  • broccoli florets, chopped small
  • romaine lettuce leaves

Kayla's Famous Sunbutter Wrap | real food.  home made.

Method:

  1. Chop all of your vegetables.
  2. Lay out your wraps and spread sunbutter over one half, and hummus over the other half.
  3. Down the center, place 3 avocado slices, 3 tomato slices, a handful of red onion, a handful of broccoli, and a romaine lettuce leaf.
  4. Roll up your wrap, and use the sunbutter as “glue” to hold it together (I usually add a toothpick also to be safe).
  5. Enjoy!

(Feel free to switch up the veggies, or sometimes we add turkey.  The most important things are the hummus, sunbutter, avocado and red onion.)

MichelleinTree

Michelle perched in my tree.

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Filed under Lunch, Sandwiches, Vegan, Vegetarian

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- “Jammy Sammy”

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- "Jammy Sammy" | real food. home made.

I’ve been planning to make this sandwich ever since I got home from Traverse City, the Cherry Capital of the World (most likely).  Last night, however, the biggest flood in recent history hit our region, and I almost couldn’t make it to the grocery store!  Our basement flooded knee-deep, and we spent all of last night and all of today pumping out the water, throwing out everything that was wet, and re-organizing everything that was salvageable. I found time to bike to the market, thankfully, so I could put a nice dinner on the table after such a stressful and hectic 24 hours.

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- “Jammy Sammy”

Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Slice your fruits and vegetables (I use a mandoline to make life easy!)
  2. Toast the bread
  3. Make the jam sandwich!
  4. Enjoy.

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- "Jammy Sammy" | real food. home made.

(What I do next is chop up a heart of romaine, divide it between two lunchbots, add my extra tomato, turkey, apple, and onion slices, and top with dried cherries.  Perfect for mine and Grant’s lunch tomorrow.)

After losing so many “valuables” I definitely have a greater appreciation for the invaluables.  It’s been very cathartic going through everything, to say the least.  Here is a photo I salvaged of me and my dad from July 1995 in Rapid City, MI.

IMG_4444b

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Filed under Brunch, Dinner Ideas, Lunch, Sandwiches