Leftover Lunches for Grown-Ups (Well, Mama, Anyway!)

I'm not a fan of leftovers, but sometimes I pack some in my lunches either as a quick option when I'm out of pre-prepped salad mix, for a change from day after day of salad, or just because they need to get used up!

Rice and Veggies

Mini clementines, organic sweet peppers, HB egg, leftover rice/quinoa and mixed veggies

 

Monday, 3/4/13 - This was a super easy "toss leftovers in the box" kind of lunch! I included a reusable spork so I could spoon up the rice and veggies, but use a fork for the egg. I don't like touching them... I wonder where my kids got their sensory issues from...

I did heat up the rice and veggies before putting everything else in, but had I been packing this for later, the egg and peppers would have gone in silicone muffin cups, so I could easily remove the things that weren't going in the microwave.

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Veggie Birds Nests

Veggie Birds Nests, organic apples, string cheese nibblets*, Van's GF Everything crackers

 

Thursday, 5/29/13 - I shared this Veggie Birds Nests recipe over at MOMables, and it's a big hit over here. Kind of a pain to make, as all that chopping is labor intensive, and then frying endlessly. But they're worth it! They don't hold together fabulously well as leftovers, but the veggie "hash" is still mighty tasty cold!

*this lunch was from before I discovered I was intolerant to dairy in general, and not just lactose. No wonder my Lactaid just wasn't cutting it!

Mystery Wraps

Organic carrots, sugar snap peas, plum; rice tortilla veggie wrap, SunButter

 

Saturday, 6/15/13 - I packed this for lunch to eat at my MIL's house when I visited while Hubby was out of town on our anniversary. Going to Nana's is like a mini staycation for me. She deals with all the annoying little things you don't even realize they rely on you for until someone else does them for you! "Water please!" "Open this pen for me please!" "I dropped my crayon and can't be bothered to reach down to my feet to pick it up myself!" I nod off on the couch while Nana handles all that. Ahhhh! So nice!

I'm pretty sure the wraps are leftover veggie-bean burgers crumbled up with some vinaigrette dressing and rice, wrapped in a gluten-free brown rice tortilla.

I put some SunButter in a Mini Dipper to dip my veggies. Nom!

Eatsa Pizza

GF/DF mushroom and pineapple pizza, GF MOMeos, organic Romanesco and
purple cauliflower w/dairy-free Ranch,  Lentil Meatloaf Muffin

Friday, 11/22/13 - You can find the gluten-free "Oreos" recipe over at the MOMables blog. Totally. Awesome!

There's a gluten-free bakery near us and the girls like the pizza there, but after finding out that the shortening they use has petroleum-derived TBHQ in it, in addition to all the fake colors and flavors they use that I have to navigate through, we no longer go there. I order my half without cheese, since they don't have a dairy-free cheese option. The pineapple and mushrooms help flavor the pizza enough to mask the lack of cheese.

My purple cauliflower came with some gorgeous leaves, so I placed one in the compartment and put some dairy-free Organicville Ranch dressing on top before piling on the cauliflower florets. And I put a leftover Meatless Meatloaf Muffin in the other small compartment. It has a ketchup glaze baked onto the bottom (which was the top, in the muffin pan!) which is all it needs. Nom!

Holiday Apple Pie

GF English Muffin w/PBandCo Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, DF peppermint chocolate-covered espresso beans,
organic ground cherries and heirloom baby tomatoes, leftover gluten-free apple crumble pie

Monday, 12/2/13 - We had one of our Thanksgivings at Hubby's aunt and uncle's house, and his Auntie Sha plied me with a ton of gluten-free products they'd tried and had left-over after going gluten-free didn't make a difference for them. Yay! Free food! Sadly, our freezer didn't have enough room for eeeverything, so the half-package of Kinnikinnick English muffins had to get used up STAT! So I made some mini pizzas for the girls (coming soon!) and I toasted mine and slathered both sides with Peanut Butter Co Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter. Oh, golly! It's like dessert for lunch! YUM!

The apple pie was left over from Second Thanksgiving, which my family does the day after, so that my three siblings and I don't have to coordinate which family we'll skip each year, or rush between two locations, usually spaced at least 90-minutes apart... My sister gave me a list of the items I'd need to send gluten-dairy-dye-free subs for, and we got them to her the weekend before. So I had a frozen gluten-free vegan crust ready for her, and my dad brought gluten-free oats, since he's gluten-free too (by choice, not necessity though. Which works for me, since that was less stuff I had to worry about!) Very yummy! Thanks sis! Honestly, with pie, I can't even tell the difference!

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