From scratch lunchbox ideas

[Phteven]

Spinach and cheese polenta muffins
Ingredients

1 cup reduced-fat milk
¼ cup olive oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 cup plain flour
½ cup polenta (cornmeal)
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 roasted red capsicum, skin and membrane removed, sliced (or not - I hate the stuff)
50g baby spinach leaves, washed and chopped
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method

Whisk together the milk, oil, egg and chives.
Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in milk mixture and stir until just combined.
Spoon between 12 x ½ cup capacity lightly oiled muffin pans and bake at 200°C for 15 minutes or until golden.
Remove from pan and serve warm. Makes 12

Nutrional Information

(per serve)
Energy 587 kj Protein 5g Total Fat 6.9g Saturated Fat 1.7g Carbohydrate 14g
Sugars 1g Dietary Fibre 1g Sodium 110mg Calcium 85mg Iron 1mg

Soup in a thermos - not packet stuff. If you make a soup on Sunday night you can eat it for lunch all week.

Salad - if you do the lettuce and store it in an airtight box it keeps well then just throw in cherry tomatoes and chop a cucumber. You can add sprouts, avocado, a tin of tuna, chicken breast, whatever. Mix it up a bit each day so you don't get bored. For dressing you can just squeeze over a lemon, crack some pepper and a bit of salt and drizzle on some really strong olive oil. Or use a jar to shake it all up. Sub soem posh vinegar for the lemon juice, add some mustard....

Hard boiled eggs are simple yet yummy. I like them on my salad with tuna. I have a bit of a protein fetish.

Mountain bread rolled around last night's left overs.

Popped corn (but don't add butter and lashings of salt).

I enjoy raw corn on the cob.

Those free magazines at coles are actually pretty good. They tend to have recipes for what is in season and therefor cheap. The woolies one is hopeless - it's just pour a jar of woolies brand crap in a jar over woolies crap in a bag.

[Novella]

Left overs are always popular in our house
In summer when I lived with a friend I made a fresh salad each day and would grill meat for 3 days for the two of us. Normally a small chicken breast and a small steak then we had some variety
Yiros meat grilled in one container and a greek salad with reduced fat feta in another. Heat the meat at work and throw into the salad. Delicious!

Lefrover burritos. Sometimes I make them just for lunch. Not super healthy but not terrible, my recipie is
1 jar salsa (tinend tomatoes work ok if I dont have salsa)
1 chicken breast
1 tin chickpeas draied
1 tin kidney beans drained
taco seasoning (or make your own with spices if you want a low sodium version)
Tortilla ( or mountain bread if you want a healthier version)


Spray the pan and grill diced chicken breast until brown, throw in drained chickpeas and kidney beans, taco seasoning (or own spice mix), and salsa. heat until simmering then turn off. Fill tortilla (or mountain bread) and grill till tortilla goes golden. They do go a buit soggy the next day but thats how I like them also if you are using mountain bread it falls apart if you leave it too long so take the mix seperate to the bread and heat and fill just before eating.