Working from home, while wonderful in many ways, has its perils. On some days, for instance, itโs tempting to answer โLeonard Lopateโ or โTerry Grossโ when your daughter asks you who your best friend is. If Iโm not actively fighting the urge, itโs also incredibly easy to get sucked into what Iโve been calling the Double F Vortex, i.e. the condition where you find your house default position to be in front of the Fridge or Facebook. Even worse, Iโll getย locked into some work project in my upstairs office, look at the clock, realize that I havenโt eaten in six hours and that the girls have to be picked up from school in mere minutes, which means I rush to the kitchen to start inhaling whatever is grabbable: a piece of string cheese, a handful of grapes, the last few roasted pepitas in the plastic pouch which I throw back like a funneling fratboy. A few buttery crackers, a sea salt potato chip or two or eight. Oh, and look at those Easter baskets just begging to be raided! Two bright purple Peeps later Iโm hating myself. And by the time I pick up the girls, all I want to do is take a nap.
So lately, Iโve been making a real effort to control the Fridge part of the Vortex and have come up with a few rules for myself:
1) Eliminate All Triggers. I havenโt read Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, but Iโve read enough interviews with Brian Wansink to know that if Iโm working on my laptop at the kitchen table, a mere four feet away from the foil-covered cherry pie, itโs going to be a lot harder to get that perfect balance of tart and sweet and buttery pate brisee out of my mind than it would be if I were upstairs or at the local library. (Itโs like my kids, who, upon seeing a commercial for potato chips during Sponge Bob instantly shout from the couch โMom! Iโm hungry!โ)
2) ย Snack Once Mid-Morning. If I have a glass of Pomegranate kefir, a crisp Bosc pear, or a Finn Crisp schmeared with a thin layer of peanut butter at 11:00, I am much less likely to transform into a wild animal come lunch time.
3) Eat Healthy Proper, Sit-Down Lunches. This is hard, because Iโm always on the clock โ rushing to get something done before the school bell rings โ but Iโm using my Culinary Intelligence and following Peter Kaminskyโs lead to make this meal as satisfying as possible. Kaminskyโs theory makes a lot of sense to me: If you load up on healthy foods that are high in flavor, you wonโt be tempted to polish off that meal with, say, a Cadbury Cream Egg. This one above fits the bill. Itโs two Finn Crisps topped with smoked trout (look for the blue tins near the tuna and anchovies at Trader Joeโs) and pickled cabbage. If you are not lucky enough to have a batch ofย Andyโsย Mind. Blowing. Pickled Cabbage lying around, cornichons or regular old pickles will do just fine.
Other lunch ideas: Ever since getting an advance copy of Mark Bittmanโs Vegan Before 6:00ย (I feel certain youโll be hearing more about this one)ย Iโve become quite fond of a leftover grain salad thatโs been loaded with vegetables. This one was barley, chopped peppers, red onion, pomegranates, grape tomatoes, cukes, olive oil, lemon, salt & pepper. (Now you know why you made that big batch of feel-good barley over the weekend.)
Or simply, a smashed avocado and sea salt on sprout bread or whole wheat toast. (I usually only need about 3/4 of the avocado for this; I tightly wrap whatโs leftover in plastic wrap and hand guacamole-mad Phoebe a spoon when she comes home from school.)
On Monday, all it took was a big bowl of leftover steamed broccoli and a bag of pre-cooked Trader Joeโs Brown Rice to get me rolling on a vegetable-loaded fried rice. Since Iโm not generally in the habit of mincing and whisking and turning on the stove for lunch, I made a double batch so Tuesdayโs lunch would be taken care of. It was delicious and can definitely be doubled to feed four for dinner.
Vegetable-Loaded Fried Rice (Pictured Way Up Top)
Serves 2
1 tablespoon neutral oil like canola or vegetable
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 heaping tablespoons onions, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced (optional if you just canโt justify getting this fussy about lunchโฆbut so good)
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 eggs, whisked
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce (or to taste)
1 to 2 cups vegetables (such as: shredded red cabbage, chopped bell peppers, peas, pre-cooked broccoli, shelled edamame, chopped snap peas)
Add oil to a large skillet set over heat to medium heat. Add onions and ginger and cook until onions are slightly softened, about one minute. Turn heat to medium-high and add rice in one layer so as many of the grains are crisping on the hot pan as possible. Cook about a minute stirring once half way. Push rice to edges of pan and add egg to the center, scrambling with your spoon and gradually pulling in rice as it cooks. Stir in soy sauce and cook another minute until everything is integrated.
Add vegetables and cook until everything is heated through, another minute.
Drizzle with Sriracha if desired.
Mindless Eating is a great book!
Going to make pickled cabbage.
What is pomegranate kefir? I just started making my own kefir and itโs so easy itโs stupid โ much easier than yogurt, even.
wait, I followed the pickled cabbage link from this post and it was to dill pickles? Or is it the same recipe, just subbing in cabbage for the cukes??
Seconding Margoโs request for the pickled cabbage recipe!!! I searched your site and couldnโt find it. It sounds so delicious!
Sorry! Kirsten and Margo โ yes! Itโs the same link as the pickled cucumbers; but just use red shredded cabbage instead of cucumbers! Apologies if that wasnโt clear.
It is so true, sometimes I find myself eating for no good reason and the childrenโs easter eggs are certainly proving a challenge to avoid. Thanks to your post I sidestepped the chilli rice crackers and went for red cabbage salad instead.
We had the fried rice with an easy stir fry pork (just pork, soy sauce and garlic) for dinner and my entire family (kids ages 6, 8 and 10) all loved it. Granted, my daughter ate the fried rice deconstructed style (brown rice with a side of broccoli) but we were all happy!
Fabulous suggestions! Cheers to the work from home mamaโs!
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I am so weak on the whole grains too โ and undermined by my spouse too (who is in most other ways a perfect task sharer)
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