In my ongoing quest to keep my husband losing weight (20 down, 20 pounds to go – and let’s not talk about my weight loss plan, if you don’t mind), I’ve been sending him to work with lunches from home to help keep him on the diet train. Taking your lunch to work is not a wildly exciting premise, unless the food is unique, or at least packaged in a way that is novel. Here are three lunch entrees that you wouldn’t normally find in a bag lunch, and here’s why they work: 1) you can make them the night before, 2) you can make enough that there will be leftovers, to save you cooking the next night, and 3) the presentation makes the meal feel more special, even if you’re only eating a simple salad, or a bowl of noodles. Being happy and satisfied with a meal makes it easier to stay on the aforementioned diet train.
Here are four recipes to make your lunchtime something to think about all morning long: cold noodle salad, chicken sliders with jicama slaw, and two versions of salads in a jar (the dressing goes in the bottom of the jar, the fresh veggies on top, then shake and eat!). Make the presentation even better with this lunchbox I found for my husband, as well as the jars I use for the salads.
Cold Noodle Salad
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ten-ounce pack Chinese noodles (available in the Asian food section of the grocery)
- 4 packs of ramen noodles (discard seasoning that comes with it)
- 4 cups of napa cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 cup snow peas cut into strips
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 1/ cup spring onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cups leftover chicken or grilled chicken, cut into thin strips
- 1 teaspoon canola oil for frying one pack of ramen noodles
For the dressing:
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Mix dressing ingredients together and set aside.
- In teaspoon of canola oil, fry a pack of ramen noodles until golden brown on both sides.
- Set aside to drain on a paper towel.
- Boil 8 cups of water in a large pot.
- Cook remainder of noodles for three minutes until soft but chewy.
- Remove from stove and rinse and drain.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cabbage, snow peas, carrot, onions and chicken, and add salad dressing.
- Add cooled noodles to the mixture, and crumble crisped noodles that had been fried into oil, and mix thoroughly.
- Refrigerate for several hours to allow salad to cool completely.
- The combination of the fried and the soft noodles gives the salad a nice crunchy texture.
Fried Chicken Sliders with Jicama Slaw
Serves: 4
Prep time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 can Immaculate flaky biscuit dough (found in the dairy case of the grocery)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into (roughly) two inch squares
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups of canola oil for frying chicken
- 2 small tomatoes
- 1/4 cup iceberg lettuce
- Vegenaise or your favorite mayonnaise (we use this one.)
- Skewers for holding sliders together
For the breading:
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Salt and pepper raw chicken well. Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk and set aside.
- Combine flour, rice four, salt and pepper.
- Dip chicken pieces into the buttermilk mixture, then dredge in flour mixture until coated.
- Repeat until all chicken has been breaded.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan to medium heat.
- Fry pieces of chicken in batches until golden on both sides, and remove to drain on a paper towel.
- Remove biscuits from container and tear each piece of biscuit dough in half, then roll each piece into a ball and placed on Silpat-covered baking sheet. (The biscuits should be half their normal size.)
- Bake biscuits in 350-degree oven for eight to ten minutes, until golden, following the instructions on the container.
- While biscuits are baking, chop lettuce and tomato into small pieces.
- After biscuits have cooled, cut in half and spread one side with vegenaise. Add a piece of chicken, a slice of tomato, and several leaves of crisp lettuce to the slider.
- Skewer on wooden skewer; repeat with two more sliders and add to skewer. Makes one lunch serving.
Jicama Slaw
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 small jicama, peeled and cut into small strips
- 1 Fuji apple, peeled and cut into small strips, same as jicama
- 1 orange, peeled and cut into segments
- 1 cup watercress, stems removed
- juice of ½ of a lemon
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
Directions
- Mix ingredients together and allow to cool in refrigerator for at least one hour.
Garden Chickpea Salad In A Jar
Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 1 carrot, cut into small strips
- 1 ½ cups fresh spinach, shredded
- 10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- ½ cup radishes, sliced thinly
- ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
- container with a tight lid for holding salad (mason jars are great for this)
For the dressing:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- or use your favorite bottled vinaigrette dressing
Directions
- Combine dressing ingredients and pour just less than an inch of it into the bottom of the salad container.
- Add chickpeas and layer other ingredients to fill up the container.
- Close and refrigerate until ready to eat.
- Shake jar to distribute salad dressing over greens and serve.
Greek Grilled Chicken Salad In A Jar
Serves: 2
Prep time: 30 minutes if you’re grilling the chicken, 15 minutes if you’re using leftovers
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken breast, grilled and cut into strips, or leftover chicken breast, cut into strips
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups romaine, shredded
- ½ cup black olives, pitted
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 pieces of pita bread, cut into quarters and toasted until crisp
For the dressing:
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Combine dressing ingredients and pour an inch of salad dressing into the bottom of the container.
- Layer tomatoes first, to allow them to marinate in the dressing, then rest of ingredients.
- Close container and shake to distribute dressing through salad when ready to eat.
- Serve with pita chips.
