I pack my own lunch: part 1

I love to pack my own lunch to work. I enjoy it for several reasons- because I like what I cook; because I know where the food I am eating came from & bringing my lunch creates far less waste than eating out, i.e., I have control over the impact of my choices; bringing my lunch allows me to have more time to enjoy it vs. trying to procure it.

This summer Gazpacho is pretty much like a staple in my home. I love tomatoes!! But year-round they are nearly impossible to enjoy- especially in the Mid-West (because that's where I live- insert your location and empathize with me according to season). I know you can "get them in winter" but they are from far, far away picked while green and having to ripen on a boat, truck, plane, long before they get to the store- and they taste like yuck! Not to mention their embodied CO2...yikes!!

So this is the time of year to make 'everything tomato' your heart (stomach) desires. And by Gazpacho, clearly I don't mean store bought, of course, I mean homemade. Do I mean traditional Gazpacho? No, I don't think so. The interweb isn't really opening up to what "traditional" means anyway...so I am not really concerned. It seems as though so long as the cold summer soup is tomato based, you can call it gazpacho. And that's exactly what I am doing.

I have also been interested in the nutritional properties of nutritional yeast. I'm trying to cut down on my dairy intake, for many reasons but 2 most significant are to minimize my individual carbon footprint & because I've been hearing more about linkages to lactose and cancer growth (not in a good way). I know nutritional yeast makes a nice "cheesy" flavor for things and it's, well, nutritional! So I've experimented with it for cheese-like foods, including dusting popcorn with it for a cheesy flavor and recently, my favorite, coating raw, pressed, extra firm tofu with it and some salt and pepper.

As I mentioned, bringing my own lunch also cuts down on waste since I don't have to use styrofoam, or plastic-ware of sorts, or other "take-out trash" on a daily basis. At the office, I keep a set of cutlery, a cloth napkin and a container of salt and pepper. I carry my lunch in glass jars that once housed something like salsa, garlic, prepared chutney or some other jarred food. And I have a handy cloth sack that keeps it all together. There's a fridge in the common area near my office, so I don't have to worry about keeping things cold in a portable cooler.

There, now you have the rationale behind what I've been enjoying for the last several weeks: since about mid-June my daily work lunch has consisted of the following (with recipes):

Weekly Gazpacho:
(disclaimer: each week there's a new twist, but the following are the base ingredients- amend as you prefer)

6-7 medium tomatoes, roughly skin 3-4 of them & dice them all
3/4, roughly, C chopped of each of the following
- Red onions (or spanish or Vidalia)
- Celery- Carrots
Fresh Basil leaves, 10 or so, torn
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar

1/2-1 C water

1/2 Haas Avocado, diced

Fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste


I chop everything pretty rough, adding it to a giant bowl as I go along- all except the water and the avocado. Once it's all in the bowl, I then add the water. Using my blender, I "chop" 3/4 of the mixture until it's somewhat smooth, but not too frothy. I return that to the bowl, add the avocado, stir and refrigerate. *This should make about 8 cups, of which 1 cup is a serving.
This week, I added some rough chopped red cabbage to each serving before leaving the house in the AM. That added some nice texture and flavor.

"Cheesy" Tofu:

Tofu, extra firm, 0.2 block (1/5 block pressed)
Nutritional Yeast Flakes, 1T 
Pepper, black, 4 dash (freshly ground, several twists)
Salt, 2 dash
Chop the tofu, add yeast, salt & pepper, stir to coat. Refrigerate until lunch time.  
And I add a piece of fruit (this week, Pears!) for good measure.

(less than 300 calorie, protein & nutrient rich, & low carbon-impact lunch - oh so satisfying!) 

Gazpacho Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 71.7
Total Fat: 3.8 g

Cholesterol: 0.0 mg

Sodium: 71.1 mg

Total Carbs: 9.6 g

Dietary Fiber: 2.9 g

Protein: 1.6 g

"Cheesy Tofu" Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 1

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 118.4

Total Fat: 6.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 321.9 mg
Total Carbs: 5.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g
Protein: 13.7 g

Pear Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving (1 medium)
Calories: 97.9Total Fat: 0.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 25.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.0 g
Protein: 0.6 g