What's in my lunch box...

Last week, I had tuna wraps.

I prepared the tuna differently every day to provide a bit of variation, but I have to say that tuna with fresh squeezed lime and some cayenne pepper is my favorite.

In one container I put all the veggies:

• romaine lettuce
• colorful bell peppers
• carrots
• cucumbers
• tomatoes

In another container I had the tuna and pepperoncinis!!

At lunch, I built my wrap and MMMMmmmmm it was tasty!

For snack I had grapes and an apple.

The only downside to having tuna wraps was that it took forever to pack. I didn't really want to cut up some of these veggies for fear that it would get soggy and gross...cucumbers and tomatoes specifically. So I waited until the morning to cut what I had rationed for the day. OMG - my morning was TIGHT!!

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I'm currently OBSESSED with the Biggest Loser. It streams online via Netflix and I have become friends with Bob and Jillian...Just like I became friends with the characters from the book - THE HELP. I talk about them at the dinner table.

Anyway - as I've been told since I stopped eating breakfast in high school due to NERVES and being unable to stomach anything in the morning, they recommend eating breakfast. They go on and on about the instant QUAKER oatmeal...but I am not an instant oatmeal girl. I'VE TRIED!! (Okay - unless it's from McDonald's - what they heck do they add to it? It's GOOD!)

I get the old-fashion oats and whatever I want in my oatmeal ready the night before so I'm not panicking about running late. In the morning, I add water...nuke it...stirring every 30 seconds so it doesn't explode all over the microwave...and then add a tablespoon of honey and lots of BERRIES! Strawberries and Blueberries.

I haven't enjoyed breakfast like this in a LONG LONG TIME! I'll be switching out the fruit. I think I'm going to try mango next week. :o)

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This week I made my favorite bean dip that I've written about once before. Although I made some very slight changes....

In order of what I put in the mixing bowl:

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Tabasco
• 1 Lime - squeeze the ever living juice out of that sucker!
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 jalapeno (take out the seeds and cut out the veins as much as possible
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2/3 bunch of cilantro
• 1 red onion

Stir/toss to make sure you have the OO, Tabasco and Lime juice all over the veggies.

• 1 small can of corn
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 can medium size can of black beans

 Stir/toss (what's appropriate here?) again and EAT to your hearts content!

I also packed some tositito bowl chips (counted to the very last one - packed on the weekend ready to go.)

For snack I had a cheese stick and an apple.

Oh - and one of my friends brought in oranges covered in chili powder (Tajin). OMG! I only ate one slice because I was sooo full from my own lunch. But I ended up craving that so much I had some at home. DELICIOUS SNACK!!

I'm thinking about what to have for next week. Any suggestions?

What's in my lunch box...

A couple weeks ago, sitting through some long meetings, I decided I should make a list of things I would like to take to lunch as an honest to goodness effort to THINK through my meals and avoid excessive weight gain this school year.

In order to spruce up my eating habits at work and my BLOG (since I'm hardly ever here), I'm going to write a weekly post about what I ate and if it helped my efforts to eat healthier & avoiding weight gain.

Here we go:

1. Turkey sandwich with avocado, goat cheese, & baby romaine lettuce on Light Style Soft Wheat Bread
2. Baby Bell Peppers with a LITTLE ranch dressing (seriously - one of my favorite snacks EVER! you could also have them with laughing cow cheese...)

3. Grape tomatoes
4. Baby Carrots
5. Cherries
6. A nectarine or an orange

To drink - mostly water. But I'm a school teacher and it's rough in the afternoons. I used to turn to Coke for a pick me up but I found that Crystal Light has the energy mix with CAFFEINE!! So, I don't do more than one a day of the mixes.

Oh and one other thing...I'm totally into grinding two tablespoons of flax seed and putting it in my water in the mornings. LOVE IT! I don't know if you'd like it, but you should try it. What I like is flax seed, apple slices and a cinnamon stick in my water....TASTY, REFRESHING and SOOO good for you!!

It's a lot of fresh food! Very filling! Very good lunch. Some of it I ate for an afternoon snack. Delicious!

On a scale of one to 5, how did it help in my efforts? FIVE! Thank you very much.

We'll see how this next week goes!

Enjoy your Labor Free Day Monday!