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Weekday Lunch
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Good reminder about freezing, Kayla! We live in the bottom corner of SC, and my husband works outdoors also. I had planned to make a soup earlier this week, but who can eat soup when it is 80 degrees? We ate the eggs I mentioned above instead! Soup is nice for cold days though (I consider anything below 60 cold- at least for here!). Since he works outside, he likes a good lunch but not too heavy as that can make a person sleepy for the afternoon. He is not picky at all though, and that is a blessing itself!
What an interesting thread! My husband is from Russia and they have a saying that one should, “Eat breakfast alone, share dinner (lunch) with a friend and give your supper to your enemy.” This means we have a pretty big breakfast, a nice sized lunch and a smaller supper except on the weekends when we almost always have company for supper and we go big.
Very broth-y soups are eaten for lunch in Russia as they believe it aids in digestion. That is just the first course though (for my husband)!
Most Saturday mornings will find me making a big pot of soup to last throughout the week. In the summer this means a cold soup. This is good for an easy lunch when we get home from worshipping with others on Sunday. I am sure to make one portion extra of whatever we are having for supper to pack up with the soup for my husband the next day.
If asked, our kids’ favorite lunch is the “picnic” lunch. These are fun lunches for us during the school week and require no cooking, just cutting. We have the Ploughman’s lunch of ham, cheese, a hearty bread, chutney and a pickled something from England; Aioli, raw vegetables, salad nicoise or ham, butter and cheese on a baguette for our French picnic; for an Italian picnic we have genoa salami or prosciutto, bread sticks, vegetable sticks and mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and basil for a quick caprese salad. We end lunch and supper with the tiniest sweet, usually a square of chocolate or one small scoop of ice cream and everyone is satisfied. I go to a European deli where I can get different meats and cheeses for a fraction of what I would pay at a grocery store.
I’ve enjoyed reading how everyone eats.
Bon appetit!
Richele
Richele, I love the sound of your “picnics”! 🙂
We are pretty boring here for lunch. I just rotate the same old same old. Homemade mac and cheese (we would need three plus boxes of Annies if I didn’t make homemade), cheese quesadilla, PB&J, and if I have a little more time homemade pizza.
After two house moves, three birthday celebrations, and the holidays in the past five months, I am doing well to make dinner more of a “meal”. 🙂 Enjoying the ideas to get myself back on track with all meal planning!!
April
Oh Richele,
Your lunches sound so romantic and European. I have a fascination with English and French traditions and culture. So much of it, sadly, doesn’t fit into our daily lifestyle, but I do try to incorporate what and when I can. You have inspired me. Thank you.
I agree with Benita. Richele, your description of meals sounds delicious and peaceful. I imagine your whole day as such now! 🙂
Richele, do you make your aioli? I have never had it, but the description I found sounds similar to mayonnaise which I do not like. Hmmm…
Lol, ladies, the last five days have found me steeped in the romance of mountains of used tissues with cold, barely-touched bowls of chicken soup, and cough drop wrappers littering every surface of the living room and bedrooms.
My confession with meals is that a few years ago I had a lightbulb moment. Having been in the restaurant business, it was my job to make sure people enjoyed their food as well as their experience. The word restaurant even derives from <i>restaurer</i> – to restore. I wanted people to have a time and place to restore their souls, if you will; yet at home I would wolf down my food and wait impatiently for my husband and kids to do the same so I could get the kitchen clean and be on to the next thing. Kitchen was synonymous with chores at home until I read the book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat.”
In it I was reminded that every meal is an occasion, that the way food affects our senses is a gift of God, and that not only the taste but the moments, too, are meant to be savored. There are many benefits to this…slowing down and enjoying the conversation as well as the taste meant we felt full while having not eaten American-sized portions. Our tummies, brains and hearts were all satisfied when we left the table. Suddenly, our children were opening their hearts to us at mealtime just as they do at bedtime. Um, and the original reason I bought the book was to lose weight – which I did while while never feeling deprived.
We don’t have a very large budget for groceries but slowing way down, adding variety, and also dropping our portion size on, well, about everything, means that I can get a pint of ice-cream from the local creamery, a few cheeses, or a bouquet of flowers for the table. Additionally, I picked up cloth napkins at a thrift store. I’ve always hated grocery shopping but with the changes I made, I now enjoy it very much.
I don’t have tons of time to spend in meal preparation (unless it’s a holiday) and I like to keep things very simple. April, you’ve had a full year, I hope you are settled in and enjoying your new home. JenniferM, I use the aioli recipe from Jamie Oliver. It doesn’t have the same texture or consistency of store-bought mayo at all so you might like it. Benita, you are a dear. Sometimes something as simple as leaving a sandwich open-faced and laying a sprig of fresh dill on top makes it seem that much better.
It is really so nice to be a part of this community. I’d love to share a bowl of mac and cheese with each of you.
Warmly,
Richele
I used to rely on leftovers, but with two teens in the house- one being a boy with a bottomless pit of a stomach, we don’t have leftovers much anymore!
Sandwiches, breakfast foods, and mac and cheese is great. My kids are happy with noodles with butter, otherwise known as “greasy elbows” at our house.
Salads are a bigger hit now as the kids are getting older and like salads. Meats, cheese, eggs can be added to a salad to make it more filling for the menfolk. That can mostly be done ahead of time.
Popcorn chicken and dipping sauce is easy enough. Cooking a big batch of rice at start of week and keeping in the fridge is great to be a base to lots of things. Also, hard boiled eggs. A friend told me they are a life saver for growing teen boys. Fills them up. She was right. Also greek yougurt with cheese sticks and fruit, or smoothies. But your husband may need more than that.
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