Sunday, April 26, 2009

Lunch, anyone?


What's your lunchtime personality? Do you grab a sandwich at the cafeteria and eat at your desk? Devour a huge plate of pasta that will have your blood sugar crash in a major way by 3 p.m. or do you prefer something light like sushi, a wise point from a nutritional point of view but maybe less so from a financial one? A square of chocolate, an espresso, two cigarettes and back to work? Or do you maybe take a carefully prepared packed lunch every day? I am a little bit of everything (except for the coffeine-nicotine-sugar "lunch", but I swear I didn't make that up), only if I'm honest, the packed lunch doesn't feature on the menu as often as I would like it to. Which is crazy because the amount of money I spend on mediocre restaurant lunches and ridiculously overpriced sandwiches is seriously very crazy! I have therefore come up with a plan. I am queen of plans as you might have noticed reading this blog. I will take a packed lunch every time I go to yoga at lunchtime, i.e. usually three times a week. In four weeks, that will save me enough money to buy another ten-class ticket at my yoga studio. How cool is that? Double health factor! I'm starting tomorrow and brimming with optimism with this brightly coloured bulgur wheat salad.

Bulgur wheat salad with chickpeas and vegetables (serves 1)

  • 60g bulgur wheat (I used the coarse variety)
  • 0.5 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 large handfull chopped vegetables - whatever you fancy
  • chickpeas (roughly half a can)
  • 3-4 chopped mint leaves
  • juice of half a lemon
  • olive oil
  • salt, pepper
Cook the bulgur wheat for seven minutes in double the volume of salted water to which you've added the turmeric. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let the bulgur steam for about five minutes. Let cool a bit. Toss with the vegetables (I used red cabbage, carrots, radishes, spring onions and rocket), the chickpeas and the mint. Stir together the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the bulgur and mix thoroughly.

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