Excellent Project Time

We have Project Time every Sunday.  The deal is that you work on a project, and it can't be for your job.  This week, we had a lot of pickle-sized cucumbers in the vegetable box, so I spent Project Time making cucumber kimchi while everyone else was making webpages and such.  Now I have to think of a dinner that will go well with kimchi.  I suppose we could just have rice and a fried egg if it comes down to it.

Excellent Salad Variation: Citrus Basil

I just mentioned my new salad technique and a couple of the flavor combinations I've been enjoying with the chickpeas and kale, right?  Well, I just invented a new one.  We have a lot of oranges lying around (I think it takes too long to peel an orange when we have all this summer fruit), so I wanted to put them in the salad.  Here's what I came up with:

• Chopped kale and a double-size can of chickpeas, as usual
• Two oranges, sectioned
• A handful of chopped fresh basil
• A quarter of an onion, chopped
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Lemon juice, black pepper, and olive oil for the dressing

I imagine it would work just as well to use mint in place of the basil, and/or grapefruit in place of the oranges.  I'm packing this in lunches with plain (but not low-fat) Greek yogurt, a chunk of chocolate, and another orange (we still have too many).

Excellent Chunky Salad

It has been a year since I posted.  Oops.  I'd say that's partly because I've been repeating lunches a lot lately.  I do want to share one of my current go-to lunches, though.

You remember that we get Boston Organics, so I don't have a lot of control over which vegetables we get every week.  This salad (it's more of a salad "style" than a true recipe) is pretty flexible and reliable.  The only constants are that we usually get a big bunch of either kale or chard in the vegetable box, and I always put in a giant can of chickpeas to make it filling enough to be a real lunch.  Here's the salad:

• Wash and chop 1 bunch of chard/kale.  Put it in a very large bowl.
• Drain and rinse 1 large can (or 2 normal size cans) of chickpeas, and add them to the bowl.
• Add your "decorations."  Options include:
• Pears/apples, cheese chunks, chopped nuts, dried cherries or raisins, and a kind of sweet vinaigrette
• Whatever vegetables you have, like carrots, roasted beets, and radishes; garlic and/or onion; and a lemon & olive oil dressing.
• Consider adding salt & pepper.  Partition this into lunch-size servings (this usually makes 5 for me, unless I add a lot of kinds of vegetables).
• If you haven't already put cheese on it, you can do that.  Feta works well.  Or you can eat some yogurt on the side.

This salad keeps for the whole work week, because kale and chard salads are ok if they're a little wilted (in fact I often make them ahead so they'll wilt on purpose).  I still pack snacks and sides, of course -- usually a few fruits, chocolate chunks, and nuts.