Lunchopolis #96

 

A meeting at work served fruit and had strawberries left over; because they'd been washed, they were likely to go bad quickly, so I generously volunteered to take care of them. (Aren't I a great team player?) The next morning, I packed this lunch: Mixed fruit (strawberries, clementine segments, and kiwi) with hemp seeds, a few Nutter Butter cookies, a salad roughly based on one I found at Zardy Plants, and some potato salad with fresh chives.

The bean salad used the suggested tahini dressing in the Zardy Plants recipe for the oil free version, which was great--I'm not someone who avoids all oils, but I really don't tend to like the texture of oil in salads, and the tahini dressing was delicious and creamy. I also added some tomatoes, and cut it down to suit my preferred quantities of things.

Although when I made the mashed potatoes you saw on Friday I was avoiding leftovers, that doesn't mean there was no meal prep at all! I did as I sometimes do and boiled extra potatoes that I set aside for potato salad when I was making the mashed potatoes. This was a very basic potato salad with very finely chopped red onion, scallion, celery, and dill pickle in a dressing with vegan mayo, Dijon mustard, and a squeeze of lemon. I added salt and pepper and some fresh chives and it was perfect for me.

I have no idea what possessed me to buy Nutter Butters, but it turned out the cookies I'd planned to buy weren't vegan after all, and when I was at the grocery store I just grabbed the nearest substitute I knew was vegan. I've not had these cookies in years. They are tasty, but they're not my absolute favorite. Still, sometimes I need cookies--yes, need; sometimes, it's hard for me to avoid losing weight, and I'm pretty deliberate about including treats with some calorie density here and there. I was grateful to have them!