Okay so I mentioned Monday that part of my personal campaign to beat back the noisy chaos was carving out 30 minutes a day for a legit adult person’s lunch. Not shoving a slice of deli ham with a squeeze of mustard into my mouth hole like an animal. Something about eating good food with a fork and plate in the middle of my work day feels sane and nurturing.
Here is a banger you can have ready to go in four minutes if you prep your veggies and chicken and keep them in containers in the fridge all week.
1. Damn straight that is rotisserie chicken from HEB. Easiest time to pull it is straight from the store while it is still warm. Shred and put in tupperware for the week.
2. Chop your veggies: cucumbers, any bell peppers, jalapeños, carrots, lettuce, celery, onions, just all of them, man. Keep all your veggies in baggies or whatever and use them all week for everything (in eggs, stir fry, soup, sauces, wraps, casseroles, for noshing). Just stand there and chop for 15 minutes and be done with the veggie chopping for the week. Sing some Taylor Swift.
3. Whisk up a quick peanut dressing: 2 T peanut butter, 1 T soy, 1 tsp Thai chili sauce, juice of half a lime, squeeze of honey, bit of squeeze ginger (fave find of 2023), 1-2 T hot water to whatever consistency you like. Honestly just however much of all of this. (Double it and have more ready for tomorrow, queen. Just loosen it back up with a bit of hot water.)
Layer up your delish salad: lettuce or spinach, sliced bells, cukes, jalapeños (the WAY I love raw jalapeños), shredded carrots, that yummy shredded chicken. Drizzle your peanut sauce over the whole thing. Add some zig-zags of sriracha if you’re playing for keeps. Salt and pepper of course.
Eat it on a plate with a real fork because you are a GROWN UP. Scatter some herbs on top if you’ve got them. Big fan of chopped peanuts on here too. This is so delicious in your mouth and good for your little body. Flavorful, healthy, and gorgeous doesn’t have to be hard. Good food is not hard. We cannot be too busy and frantic to eat well. I hate that for us! Be nicer.
What are you go-to lunches that don’t make you feel like an escaped convict eating trash out of the gutter on the run from the law?
See the comments on this post for more lunch ideas — and check out my cookbook Feed These People for more recipes for all of us normals.
