Confession: I am not a sandwich person. I am really not a traditional salad person either. I don’t do fast food. So what do I eat for lunch? Most often, at the beginning of the week, I’ll make myself what I call a “base,” made up of a whole grain like brown or black rice, quinoa, barley, farro or whole grain couscous with a variety of herbs, spices and seasonings to jazz it up. Then each day I’ll add something different to my base, most of the time a variety of beans, veggies, nuts or canned salmon or tuna and sometimes cheese so every day I’m eating something new and different that doesn’t require the additional cooking time of having 4-5 separate meals. I’ve come up with a million different combos but I usually never share the recipes since they’re more of a “use-what-I-have-and-throw-it-together” type meals. Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from clients about what I personally eat for lunch and I’ve been sharing my secrets, so I figured I’d share an example with all of you today in my One Pot Lentil Lunch.
Base:
- 1 cup lentils
- 2 and 1/4 cups water
- 2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bag of 10-minute brown rice
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
Add-ins:
- Cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
- Chopped cilantro
1. Bring 2 cups of water to boil and add the lentils and vegetable bouillon. Stir and bring heat down to a simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of water and the rest of the base ingredients (wine, oil, rice
[removed from bag], garlic and onion). Continue to simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes until rice is fully cooked and onion is tender.
3. Portion out what you’re going to eat for the day, then top with your add-ins!
Other optional add-in ideas for this base:
- Spinach leaves
- Hard boiled egg
- Basil
- Canned salmon
If you’d like to see more of my lunch creations, let me know!