From top left (clockwise): package of baby carrots, empty chicken sausage package, bottle of honey, my lunch plate, bowl of yogurt
So Greek yogurt isn’t that bad. After I found the honey (hidden behind a bunch of stuff in the cupboard), I drizzled it and stirred vigoriously to mix it all up. So I learned that greek yogurt cannot be just plopped onto a plate or into a bowl. You MUST stir it. It tasted pretty good.
We love these AmyLu chicken sausages. The apple and gouda cheese kind is really terrific. I like to fry them in a pan with a little olive oil. When you bite into the sausage, the little pockets of cheese explode in your mouth. My husband and I are big fans of sensory meals.
I improvised a bun with my sandwich thin (EarthGrains) and some cheese, sliced up half an avocado and added some baby carrots. I enjoyed this lunch a lot. I know I’m missing a fruit though. What would change about this meal?
(I ate this lunch last week by the way — delayed posting)
Re: "pimp" vs "soup up" debate
I liked the word "pimp" because it seemed perfect for the blog posts. However a couple readers were offended by the word so I changed it. Also I wouldn't use the word at school and so I'm sort of using that as a guideline for my vernacular on the blog. So "pimp" is out.
I do think "soup up" conveys the same meaning and it does relate to food.
I'm not offended by the word "pimp" because I think that it is going the way of "gigolo" in that although they both mean something really quite terrible, the words are losing their nasty tone over time. One of the great things about language is that is constantly changing. For example, the word "swell" used as "cool" from the 1950's area is now truly extinct.
For me my mental image for both "pimp" and "gigolo" are caricatures, almost overdone cartoonish figures. Is "pimp" or "gigolo" even used in the meaning you see as their definitions online? Maybe I'm just that far removed from the sex trade to ever see those words used "properly." Interesting discussion. Thanks!
Mrs Q, I agree, words change over time.
Words that were once benign become bad and vice-versa. I have a cookbook from I think the 40s or 50s that talks about being frugal with your charcoal when grilling and the actual word used is the "n-word" (with LY on the end).
There's an F-word that's now used offensively towards homosexuals that used to be what a bundle of sticks was called. For that matter, look at how the word gay has changed.
"pimp" is one that's still in transition though, and while I would say it works well here, your deciding to change it based on how it's not a word/phrase you would use is school is very fitting for this scenario.
As far as the lunch itself, I've found a couple of plain yogurts that I enjoy just as much as Greek styles, and for every day use are much cheaper. I even sub them for both mayo and sour cream in my every day use. Though I do tend to only do about a 1-1 or 2-1 ratio of yogurt to mayo in salads and such to counter some of the tang from the yogurt.
If I want/need a thicker yogurt (like for making home made frozen yogurt) I just put some regular yogurt in a mesh strainer over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours.
And I'm sure all the comments about how unbalanced your lunch was were well meaning, but I don't think you can/should judge on a single meal… at least not without a disclaimer along the lines of "unless you are balancing this out against your other meals" sort of thing.
The sodium in the sausage is fine as long as it's not an every meal/every day thing. Same with the additional fat from that and the avocado (though personally avocado isn't for me).
The rest looks great though. Oh, and try fruit preserves in plain yogurt – do the no sugar added or sugar free ones and you can get some of the tastiness of pre-fruited ones with much less sugar.
I think this looks like a great lunch and I wouldn't change anything! The yogurt dish looks like mashed potatoes with gravy lol!
Let the woman eat what she wants now…it's a heck a of a lot better than school food. Also she's not supposed to get everything she needs nutritionally in a day in this one meal so stop cramming another fruit here, another substitution there, avocados are bad for you,etc. etc. she's not eating the same thing everyday.
Sorry, Rob, but the word you refer to as the " 'N-word' (with LY on the end)" is a misreading on your part. The word is "niggardly–notice the D–and it has nothing whatsoever to do with anything offensive. People nowadays may shy away from using it because it may SOUND like the offensive word, but the word itself does not have any connection with it otherwise. As for "faggot," this word is really a British word, and still commonly used in Britain for cigarettes, and I find it amusing that you wouldn't use this word either, even just to refer to it. This is true political correctness, and has nothing whatsoever to do with benign words changing. Your example of "gay," on the other hand, is a much better example.
It certainly threw me when I first heard a British friend say "fags" and it turned out she was talking about cigarettes. Don't know if she even knew it had a different meaning in the U.S.
But I think it's better to get rid of "pimp". It doesn't seem like the kind of word a grade school teacher should say.
Definitely should ditch the fake so-called "baby carrots" in favor of just regular-ol carrots (preferably organic). Everything else is fine. I don't get the thin bun things, though. I just use slices of bread. But apparently Mrs. Q likes them, so whatever.
I had no idea that "niggardly" was not related to the racial slur. How interesting!
Not only are avocados mostly fat (delicious, tree-grown, seed containing, botanically fruity FAT), they are full of HEALTHY fat (similar in chemical structure to that other fruit fat: olive oil), and make a good substitute for less-healthy fats. Think of them as green butter.
Y'all would hate my lunch today! I'm having a bacon and tomato sandwich on sourdough bread with mayo, with a side of cottage cheese and peaches. Ok, the tomato is home grown, the bacon is grass-fed, the mayo and bread are homemade, and the cottage cheese is organic, but the peaches are regular ol dole canned peaches in SYRUP, and there is NOTHING GREEN! (I would put lettuce on the sandwich, but I don't have any. Lettuce doesn't grow well in Texas in summer.) And yes, TRIPLE fat, with bacon, mayo, and cheese. YUM!
First, I love your blog. I've begun cooking for myself since I canceled my meal plan at school (junior in college). I love cooking and always have so cooking healthy is great fun for me.
Second, I'm posting about honey! What kind of honey do you use (out of curiosity, I can't really tell from the photo)? I know my mother swears by local honey since it is a rumored allergy reducer. Something about the bees using the pollen from the local trees– which cause the seasonal allergies. Having it in your system from the honey supposedly makes you slightly more immune? I haven't done the research.
I don't know if you have allergies (I don't personally) and I know that local honey is often more expensive. But just some food for thought 😉