1) Tuna sandwich. Sounds boring eh?  But when you use tuna in oil (no, not the cat food like springwater one), it’s quite tasty.   I’ve stirred through a tablespoon of pesto into the drained tuna and had it with mesclun and very thinly sliced cucumber.  Today, switched the pesto with a thick spread of avocado and very ripe roma tomatoes.  It helps if you use yummy bread too, like sourdough or toasted turkish.

2) Grilled vege and Moroccan chicken wraps – Your Moroccan spice mix is your best friend. Or any spice mix really.  Slice an eggplant, 2 zucchinis lengthways.  Turn on your oven to the highest setting and spray with oil.  Season and bake until soft.  While this is happening, oil your chicken tenderloins and sprinkle with the spice mix and grill.  Sure, your veges won’t have the pretty grill marks – but your chicken will – and really when it all goes down who cares you’re not having a dinner party after all!  I like to have this with rocket and use lebanese bread or a tortilla wrap.  If you like, ditch the rocket and put cheese in it and press in your work sandwich griller (after you clean it from last week’s dirty colleague that is!).

3) Vege patties – microwave a cup of sweet potato cubes until soft.  Mash in with a can of drained chickpeas, a handful of chopped coriander, a teaspoon of ground coriander and generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and an egg.  Shape into patties and put in your fridge to firm up.  Once firm, panfry in a few tablespoons of oil.   Have these with sweet chilli sauce and a side salad.

4) Noodle stir fry – heat a tablespoon of oil, add some julienned ginger and crushed garlic, and stir fry until fragrant.  Add julienned veges of choice (cabbage, red capsicum, carrot and zucchini hold well, as does baby corn) and cook through.  Add a packet of pre-cooked hokkien or udon noodles, as well as quarter cup of chicken stock, a splash of dark soy and a splash of oyster sauce to taste.  Keep tasting to make it saltier if you like, and add a tiny few drops of sesame oil.

5) My favourite freezer lunch that I make ahead is chickpea, harissa and tomato soup.  It’s SO easy.  One can of chickpeas, drained, one can of diced tomatoes, one chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic and 1/4 bunch of coriander.  Heat oil and saute some ground coriander, garlic and onion until soft and fragrant.  Add chickpeas and tomato and a cup of stock (or half a cup if you prefer runnier soups).  Simmer with a generous squeeze of harissa, and then get a blender and whiz half the soup.   Mix it back with the chunky soup to make a stew and stir in the coriander also.  This soup freezes SO well, with the added bonus that it doesn’t spill when you take it into work.

As for snacking – I try to stick to fruit and also drink water instead of vending machine cans.  It’s apparently meant to make your skin glow, not to mention save your teeth. And obviously, less juice as it’s better to eat whole fruit for more fibre.  The biscuit jar is a no no too!  I’ve made a banana bread (low fat one) and cut it into slices into the freezer.  Date loaf is good too and both provide a sweet treat at hand for your cravings.

Hmm this post has sounded more like a diet/nutrition one but anyway, I hope that you start your week fresh and healthy until you gradually slide into Friday’s chips and drinks hahaha.

Chickpea stew also works – a can of chickpeas, a can of tomatoes, and half a litre of chicken stock. But first saute a chopped onion with 3 cloves of garlic. Add the other ingredients, some paprika and some chilli flakes. Puree half the soup and add chopped coriander.

As always, spag bol freezes very well. i make a huge batch of sauce and freeze it individually, then I boil some pasta the night before and take out the sauce to thaw at the same time. The reason is that Id ont’ like the water that leeches out, and I also don’t like overcooked pasta. WHen you make that huge batch of spag bol sauce, use some of it for lasagna too. I always add red wine to my spag bol as I think it just makes the flavour all that much deeper, and a crumbled in beef stock cube. To make it low fat, always make your own mince. Add more chopped veges (the sofrito – carrot, onion and celery) to make it also less heavy. And again, a sprinkle of chilli flakes

Some thing you may not have known – risotto also freezes well! I make it a cheat’s way. Equal parts stock and risotto with a chopped onion that’s been sauteed in some butter and garlic. Cover the oven tray tightly with foil and bake at 220 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring half way. Add chopped cooked mushrooms, peas, and parmesan at the end and stir in a knob of butter with your seasoning for good measure.

And last idea for today – chicken and roast vegetable wraps. A very efficient way of grilling veges without slaving over the stove is to lay sliced eggplant, zucchini and capsicum on an oiled oven tray. Bake until soft, sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can assemble these wraps with roast chicken and some pesto and cheese. Hopefully your work has a sandwich griller, your sandwich will be the envy of your workmates and cheaper than the $10 that they charge in Sydney!

This is my interpretation of a pumpkin and leek lasagna from Australian Good Taste magazine.  I never would have thought that something with no meat could be SO tasty, such that I even relished leftovers!  It makes a great work lunch too.

Ingredients

• A wedge of pumpkin, chopped into 1.5cm cubes
• 250g of baby spinach
• Clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 6 free range eggs
• 200g sliced mushrooms.
• 1/3 cup of cream
• 1 handful of chopped mixed fresh herbs (I used parsley, basil and oregano)
• A handful of vintage cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. 
2. Microwave the pumpkin until cooked through.
3. In a non stick frypan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil; then saute the garlic until fragrant, but not brown
4. Add the mushrooms, saute for a few minutes; then add spinach (washed) and saute until limp.
5. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper (otherwise the egg will be baked into it and very hard to clean – if you can at all!).
6. Lay the pumpkin over the paper; then scatter over the mushroom and spinach mix.
7. Beat the eggs, add the cream, mix in the herbs and season generously with salt and pepper.
8. Pour the egg mix over the veges; and scatter over the cheese.
9. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes until set.
10. Serve warm with a side salad, or cold with your lunch the next day.

This recipe is from my friend Jo. It’s also something that can be prepared the night before for lunch. Take 1 cup of cooked spiralli pasta (I use wholemeal as it’s lower GI), a few halved cherry tomatoes, some sliced capsicum, and a few rocket leaves, and make a dressing of 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1.5 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil.  Season to taste, and add a can of drained tuna in olive oil.  If you’re taking it to work, dress everything except the rocket, and place the rocket on the top of your lunchbox, and keep the tuna separate.  Low GI, high protein lunch – easy!

A very quick and easy lunch idea that can be made ahead, all you need is half a BBQ chicken (shredded), half a packet of farfalle or fusilli pasta cooked al dente, half a sliced red capsicum, half a punnet of cherry tomatoes (halved).  Toss together, with 4 large tablespoons of pesto with a little bit of the pasta cooking water to moisten it, or more olive oil if you’re not watching the waistline. You can add anything to it that you like – cucumbers, sliced mushrooms, or you could just eat it warm by stirring the pesto through the pasta just after it’s cooked.

If you wanted to be a bit more tricky and make your own pesto: one bunch of fresh basil (1.5 cups), 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts, 1 garlic clove placed in a blender, then turn it on and pour 1/2 cup of olive oil to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. It’s nicer if you leave a bit of texture in it rather than completely pureeing it.  Store in the fridge with some extra olive oil to preserve it on top.

Ingredients (serves 4 for meal with salad)

• 1 eggplant, sliced into 5mm thick slices
• 2 zucchini, sliced lengthways into 5mm thick slices
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick slices
• 300g sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 6 free range eggs
• half cup of skim milk
• 1 cup grated (low fat) cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley and/or basil; or pesto

Method

1. Grease a grill pan with olive oil and grill eggplant, zucchini and sweet potato and set aside (sweet potato may need to be parboiled first if you’re time poor)
2. In a wok or frypan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, and on a medium heat, saute garlic and onion, until onion is caramelised and softened.  Add mushrooms and cook until soft.
3. Line a square cake tin with baking paper; and layer eggplant, followed by zucchini, then sweet potato.
4. Pour mushroom/onion mixture on top.
5. Beat eggs and herbs in a bowl. Add milk
6. Slowly pour egg mixture onto vegetables, allowing to seep in between.
7. Bake in a 180 degree oven for 25 mins until set.
8. Slice into wedges and serve warm or cold – perfect for a picnic!