what's for lunch?

Did I mention already how big an appetite you get while feeding an infant? You get hungry! Plus I already loved to eat so I am now a snack machine! Protein people, it is all about protein. Protein and accessibility. In the first few weeks you sometimes can only eat what you can grab and get into your mouth with one hand. I had a fruit smoothie in the fridge that I would slurp out of the bottle and some scroggin next to the chair where I would feed Ada.

Where is the food?

Here are 5 ready-to-eat new Mum lunch ideas that you can make in advance and have for a few days in a row.

1. Moroccan Chickpea and Carrot Salad. 

10 minutes

This recipe makes about 5-6 serves and is adapted from Ripe Cafés cookbook. Thanks.

You will need:

2 tins of chickpeas, drained

1 large grated carrot

1 cup green beans

Small handful sultanas

A few dates chopped small

½ c flat leaf parsley (could substitute half of this for coriander)

Dressing:

1T lemon juice

1T sweet thai chili sauce

1T mayo or aioli

1t cumin

1t tumeric

salt and pepper to taste

half a clove of garlic grated/chopped very finely (optional, raw garlic and Ada did not mix. Owie.)

Combine salad ingredients, mix dressing ingredients, combine it all!

2. Anything Rice Bowl

5 minutes

Make too much brown rice (or white, if you must). Add cooked frozen corn, chopped red pepper, green onions, a boiled egg, julienned carrot… you get the idea, anything. Add hoisin, soy or hot sauce. This tastes best if the rice is heated first, everything else can be thrown in cold, the brown rice just needs a bit of salt and your taste buds will come around. This fast snack can keep you going for ages. It is worth noting a few boiled eggs ready to eat in the fridge can go a long way… Mayonegg anyone?

3. Vietnamese Chicken Salad

20 minutes

I came home from Canada with this recipe in my bag, ripped out of a copy of Madison magazine, it is a bit like a summer roll without the prawns and rice paper shell and mucking about making them. I think this will keep for about 3 days in the fridge and this recipe makes 4 servings approximately. This recipe is a little bit longer so you may want to have it for dinner and leftovers for lunch. It really only takes as long to make as the chicken takes to cook.

You will need:

1 large chicken breast

1 carrot

1/3 cucumber

handful mint leaves

handful basil leaves

fish sauce

brown sugar

lemon

vinegar

chili

First poach a chicken breast with coriander and basil stalks or some grated ginger. You bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the chicken, boil for 30 seconds, take it off the heat and leave it for 12-15 to finish cooking.

While that is happening shred about 2 cups of cabbage (say a ¼ of a medium cabbage), grate a carrot, julienne 1/3 of a cucumber (however it is more authentic to substitute 1/2c mung beans), chop ¼ cup of mint and basil leaves. I also prepare a third of a packet of vermicelli because carbs are awesome and the noodles hold the dressing. To prepare those you pour boiling water over the noodles and leave to sit, then drain before adding to the salad.

When the chicken is cooked it will be moist but able to be pulled apart into shreds with two forks. Practice makes perfect here, don’t be too fussy for tiny shreds if you haven’t used this technique before.  Or maybe shredding is only new to me!

The Nuoc tham dressing then makes this taste awesome!

Mix: 1T fish sauce, 1T brown sugar, 1T lime/lemon juice, 2t cider vinegar and a chopped chili if you like it hot.

Lastly you can throw on some toasted peanuts or pumpkin seeds for crunch.

4. Tuna Salad on Vogels

5 minutes

Not too difficult a recipe! Mix a drained tin of tuna chunks with some lite mayo, chopped gherkins or capers, salt and pepper, maybe some hot sauce. Pile high on some seedy nutty whole grain toast. In North America this would be then topped with cheese and placed under the broiler. Ha, that is their word for grill. A grill to them is only ever a BBQ. You say tomato, I say tomaytoe etc..

5. Bircher Muesli

5 minutes

Basic plus - food photography is on my 'to learn' list, hmm

Did you know oats are a mood regulator? In the first few weeks after Ada was born I was keen for some of that. Fish oil and oats. Seperately. This is obviously not a lunch but who is fussy when they are working around the clock for a little task master. This recipe makes two serves and can be varied a lot. If you like muesli but not porridge you should still try this as it is not gluey or stodgy as porridge can be. Rolled oats work best but you could try die cut oats, quick oats were not good.

Basic – mix half a cup of water, 1 cup of oats and half an apple grated and leave overnight.

Basic plus – as above but with 4 chopped prunes or dates, serve with yogurt and almonds or walnuts.

Fancy – same as basic but soak in orange juice or (soy) milk or yogurt and add frozen berries

The variety is near endless.