lunch for lazy people
Lunch is hard. I usually end up eating nuts, or another bowl of muesli! What do people who work at home eat for lunch? Sandwiches – no. Every now and again I come up with a good lunch idea. When I do, this is where they will be.
And please gimme your own ideas – I’m always starving …
Chick peas
Chick peas are winners, aren’t they? Just open a can (I can never be bothered with the real ones – although once I did cook a heap and freeze them, and they were great), and then toss the chickies with the following and bung it on the stove for a moment to warm through:
- leftover soup or sauces or from pasta / curry / Syrian chicken (anyone who’s been to my house has eaten this about six times).
- yoghurt with garlic & herbs
- chopped fresh herbs, chopped garlic & olive oil
- any yummy pickle or chutney you have in the fridge – Yalla aubergine salsa is gooood.
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Edamame (soy) beans
Buy them from Asian supermarkets frozen, in a packet – cook em just like frozen peas and then toss in olive oil & salt, and eat by sucking the buttery soybeans from the pod. Need a serviette…
How to shuck an oyster 
Charlotte I know exactly what you mean…I find it hard enough to start writing, so stopping for long at lunch time doesn’t work. My favourite is: mix a tin of tuna, a tin of cannellini beans, a chopped tomato, half a chopped avocado, some cucumber if I have it, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil. Serve with sourdough toast. Yum, and lasts for two days so I don’t have to make more tomorrow.
Toni, that sounds FANTASTIC. Thankyou – I’m going to make it. And now I’m hungry again. Does it go soggy though after the first day, what with the avo & all ….?
Well, the lemon juice helps with the avo, but it does turn a little mushy. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes a little chopped red onion on the second day wakes it up a bit.
I’m so glad you have this page Charlotte: one of my favourite procrastinations is looking at other people’s lunches. e.g. http://mybentolunch.com/
Loving those slinky little bento boxes. I wish I could be bothered to make food look that good.
Since we’re talking about one of my FAVOURITE foods, the trusty chick pea, let me throw this suggestion into the mix (courtesy of Stephanie Alexander). Chop the leftovers off your leg of lamb and toss them with chick peas, a ton of caramelised onions, chopped parsley, green onions, whatever else you have lying around in the fridge (grilled red capsicum’s good), olive oil, balsamic vinegar and SALT (that’s my tip, not the other Stephanie’s). It’s a delicious salad and keeps well for a few days.
Gawd, Steph – you are the chick pea queen. And I suppose you quite often have a ton of caramelised onions lying round your kitchen, being the culinary whizz you are … this sounds exceptionally good. Thank you.
and lovey, don’t forget the tomato oil pickle stirred through the chick peas option. Mmmm, that’s a winner
Yes, but that requires a Chick Pea Empress to MAKE the pickle for one, doesn’t it. And then one runs out of it. And doesn’t have any more left. Empty. Gorne.
I’m sure I’ve got another jar lurking in my “pantry” somewhere. Or I could just give you the recipe before the last of summer’s cheap tomatoes are gone?
[…] it out. Incidentally, I’m excited today for a couple of reasons. First, I just ate the best lazy person’s lunch I’ve had in ages – a can (greedy!) of chickpeas mixed with the Empress’s […]
My staple is a can of chilli tuna mixed with rice, chopped tomato, rocket and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Not very fancy but I never get bored with it and eat it at least twice a week. (The tuna needs to be the Sirena brand in olive oil – other brands aren’t nearly as yummy.) I cook a big batch of rice on the weekend so I have leftovers and the rest takes about two minutes to assemble – including the 30 seconds in the microwave for the rice to warm. Yum.
I like fried onion, capsicum, dried apricots and garlic mixed with couscous and a ton of pepper and salt, a good glug of olive oil and a handful of chopped parsley. Serve with a cold chicken breast, cold salmon, or it makes a great side for a main supper dish.
[…] Chickpeas – of course! Chuck em in a bowl with bottled roasted capsicum & marinated feta or labneh, or try these ideas […]
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I recommend cayenne pepper added to chickpea dishes. It adds a very unique flavor as well as some good heart-boosting health benefits. Of course, it’s the lazy man’s way I suppose to not add it! 🙂