[PearFreak]

I am having the hardest time eating/preparing/finding /wanting a good lunch. I am not a sandwich kinda gal , nor do I like to have big ole salads... BUT I do love me some veggies, most fruits, and most normal healthy things . Never tried soy products or tofu or anything that drastic. I just have no get up and go of preparing myself a good healthy hearty meal that is... well not pieces of this or pieces of that. On a normal day if you saw me eating lunch, it'd be an apple or applesauce, a yogurt, some cheese, dipping crackers in peanut butter or chowing down on some carrots or cukes in some sort of dip. Nothing really meal like, more snack like. Anyone else eat like this ? Am I the only one who does this ? Could that be true?

Care to share some of your lunch dishes? I am willing to try most anything--- with in reason of course.

[WebRover]

Leftover dinner (extra portion planned over).
Leftovers on salad (Cold chicken, beef, tuna with cold cooked veggies on lettuces/cabbage/raw veggies).
Black beans and (yellow) rice with salad
FF refried beans or black beans or lean taco seasoned ground beef or chicken heated in the microwave at work and rolled in a ww tortilla with LF cheese, diced tomatoes, fresh salsa
Finger salad (pieces of raw veggies intended to be picked up with the fingers): cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, celery, broccoli, radishes, pepper strips, LF dip/salad dressing, with cold chicken cut in strips.

[mamaspank]

I am so like that. I don't cook a lot, but I have to constantly clean my cutting boards from all the food prep I do. I love fresh fruit and vegis. I do make black bean soup and then I will heat that up and have some blue corn chips with it. I actually have my fav recipe on my blog. I oftentimes toast an english muffin and throw together a little turkey/provolone (whatever cheese you like) sandwich. Sometimes I will cook some whole wheat pasta (rotini) and just have some garlic herb tomato sauce and a piece of Texas Toast. It's only a 6-point meal on WW, which seems like it should be more, but it's not.

[CaffeineIV]

Sorry...I'm usually a leftovers sort of person. The kids don't seem to mind having leftover dinner for lunch the next day, but try doing it again as dinner and they suddenly aren't hungry. Generally, if I can I'm happy with some nice crusty french bread and a cup of soup...I make a tasty chicken tortilla soup. My all time favourite though is curry...Panang or green. I know I should do brown rice, but generally don't. It isn't terribly light on the calories because it does have coconut milk in it, and I don't do it often, but sometimes I just have to. My mom makes a clam chowder that is tomato based, not cream based. It is more spicy and we used to do it every new year...love that. Also, there is a quick and insanely easy fisherman's stew if you want. Get low sodium V8 or tomato sauce or pure your own tomatoes...whatever you want. Add in a bit of salmon, halibut, shrimp/prawns, scallops, onions, carrots, potatoes, squash, whatever veggies and seasonings you like. Start out cooking the carrots and potatoes (if you use them) in the tomato whatever you are using for base (you can add some regular stock to it too...whatever you feel like). If you can, saute the onions and some garlic since that will caramelize them and though it isn't as healthy as otherwise...really does add better flavour. Deglaze (sp?) the pan with a bit of wine and add the tomato stuff and veggies that need to cook for a while. When the stuff that needs to cook quite a while is done, you can pretty much add everything at once. Scallops may need to go in before the salmon or whatever fish...depending on the size of them. Keep the heat pretty low and just get the fish all to where it is nicely cooked. If you want you can thicken it up a bit to make it actually more stew like, or keep it soupy. Add some basil to it and call it good.

[Ufi]

I've recently started eating like that sometimes. I kind of like it in that it's almost like a mini feast, with a bit of so many different things to eat. Also, I've noticed that a quite thin person at work eats like that. She pulls out, like, five or six little containers and eats a few crackers, some fresh veggies, a half cup of slaw, a few nuts, etc.

[WebRover]

Lunch today was leftovers.
Leftover cooked vegetables from frozen - served chilled. This was left over Japanese vegetable mix with green beans, broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms. Combined this with cold leftover green beans. Topped it with cold chunks of chicken breast meat from a rotisserie chicken. Drizzled with some Goddess dressing. Mmm.

[poppyseeds]

Mmmmmm... that black bean soup sounds divine! Care to share the recipe?

Pear... I have always thought that lunch is the hardest meal of the day when eating healthy. I think it's because your hungry and need energy and your mind wants a "dinner" but we've been conditioned to eat dinner foods at dinner and lunch foods (sandwiches, etc.) at lunchtime. Since I work and only get 30 minutes to eat, I have to take my lunch and let me tell you, that is no easy feat. So daily I take a Weight Watchers Smart Ones Micro Meal and a salad... either regular salad, tomato salad or cucumber salad with me. I have to eat enough to keep me full until I get home to have my PM snack which is usually fruit and yogurt.

When we make spaghetti for dinner, we use the barilla whole wheat thin spaghetti which is wonderful and this also leaves plenty of leftovers. That's a good lunch too.

Don't limit yourself by limiting your thinking. If you stay within your calorie range you can eat what you want any time of the day!!!

Oh that sounded lecture-y... Sorry... I don't mean it that way... but you knew that!! LOL

[oh2bthintoo]

I'm following the special K diet at the momonet so a bowl of cereal and no fat milk is filling my lunch bag but normally I usually take a tub full of pasta or cous-cous with things like roasted veggies, tuna and sweetcorn, salmon, or lowfat cream cheese stirred through. A fresh fruit salad mixed with LF yoghurt makes a great dessert teamed with my necessary can of diet coke and a couple of pieces of fruit as snacks and I'm set for the day.

As others have said left overs are great too as is home made veggie soup.

Hope this helps

[PearFreak]

Great suggestions ladies. Again, thanks for all the tips. It is GREATLY Appreciated. Reallly, it is.

[LessEveryDay]

I like to saute a little bit of white chicken. When it's throughly cooked, I season with dry Cholula Lime seasoning and plop in some sour cream. When the sour cream is warmed, I put it on a plate and enjoy.

[Transformer08]

I've been eating like you do for lunch. I'll fill my lunch bag with an apple, string cheese, yogurt, english muffin, etc etc. whatever I have around the house. I kinda like it.