What's for lunch?

I have now been working at my new job for one week - woohoo! :) I love what I am doing but I don't love the once a month paycheck - mostly the fact that I must wait a month for it. So far I have carried a bag of popcorn and a piece of fruit for lunch until I find the right routine for me. One day I attended a meeting that took up all of my lunch time which I did not know it would do and then had to go right onto doing something else, I was starved at the end of the day. That evening when I got home I went online shopping (oh no!) and guess what I bought. GUESS and then click HERE for a link to it. I've been wanting one for some time and now feel that it is the right time to splurge as a new job "congrats", I am sure I will get a good many years of use from it.



My teens were still on a holiday break on Tuesday (but DH and I had to be gone), so I had my daughter make supper. She chose Dreena's Three- bean curry tomato soup which happens to look similar to the recipe curried tomato three bean stew link I found in a general search. I also found a Taste of Home internet article about Dreena's food, this article is an interesting read as the writer discusses "slimming" after holiday comfort foods. The soup DD made yielded a big pot, I was a little disappointed that evening though because it lacked favor. The next day I had it again and a little sitting time helped because I could taste the curry then, but added a touch of lemon juice and little salt. I made a note in my cookbook that the next time I make this to use all vegetable bouillon instead of a partial broth / water combination. I use the bouillon cubes anyway so it would be just a matter of adding more.

I have been eating this soup with Stacy's Pesto and Sundried Tomato flavored pita chips which also happened to be on sale this month. I ended up with 6 bags of those and the simply naked kind. I wish they could be whole grain, but I knew I was getting a good deal of fiber and nutrients in the soup I paired them with.

At my monthly buying club Tofurky slices were on sale and up for auction so I ordered some to try for the first time. They are a bit higher in fat than I would prefer, but I am positive that the rest of the family will devour these and right now the little extra convenience is nice. My first use with these were in a sandwich which I unfortunately drowned with strong flavored garlicy hummous and lettuce on a bun, the sandwich was overall good but this was because I liked the strong flavored hummous. I know I could have made my own seitan roast, sliced it and been well fed for at least eight abundant portions for half the cost of a package that had three smallish servings.

In DH and my insane plan to ensure that our children have the skills to survive "in the real world" cooking requirements are back in force in this New Year. Both of our teens are required to choose two recipes a week to share and one must be for supper. DD chose Dreena's squirrely scones from VLV. I searched for other information about these on the Internet and found one picture and reference to them on Squirrel's blog (isn't that funny!). The picture to the right has been copied from her site.

DD's scones were very tasty, but did not spread at all. This is not a bad thing, these will be made again for sure sometimes because the four of us scarfed down a whole batch in one breakfast sitting. In comparison with the picture above our were "lumpy" in that the the batter did not smooth out and with all of the nuts and fruits packed into them. I think that the flour in my area has a tendency to be "drier" because I notice in general that if I follow recipes from cookbook authors in Canada I get a drier result. My results may be affected by the fact that I purchase oat flour, I do not make it with quick oats therefore I may be getting more grain than the fluffier chopped oatmeal version.

I hope the first week of the New Year has been as good as you have resolution-ed it to be ... or better now that the resolutions have been broken and you can get on with "normal" life. I have made a connection with a friend who has a weight loss goal. We will be joining our town's new wellness center and signing up for water aerobics classes to take together. I never imagined how bored I would feel so quickly now that I do not have a ton of writing or school work to do when I come home. I am already concocting various other "big" projects in my mind.