Hey all you 9-5ers!  (Ok, no one really works only 9-5….let’s say 8-6…or later…)  It’s Monday again.  Boo.

What’s the lunch situation like near your office?  Do you buy every day or bring your lunch?

Bringing lunch to work can sometimes be a pain or get really boring.  Salads can lose their crunch and sandwiches can get smushed.  Yuck.  And who has time to put together something gourmet that early in the morning?

Who’s with me?

In the last couple years, I had to start bringing my lunch daily– part of it was because it was my only option (now that I’m working outside the City, literally the ONLY place for me to buy lunch without driving ten minutes is a small cafe that serves the exact same things every single day….i got sick of it pretty quick) and I also started being more conscious about saving money (lunch out=$10/day…..that was $50/week, $200/month that I would MUCH rather spend on something more “fun”– you too, I’m guessing).

So, I started getting creative and have a bunch of great weekday brown bag lunch recipes that wouldn’t leave me feeling like I was still in elementary school (hello, pb&j) or with a smushed, smelly, gross lunch that would leave my stomach growling.

I thought I’d share some of them with you.

Here’s my favorite workday lunch as of late.

Chicken Collard Wrap
Take less than 2 minutes to make in the morning, only uses 3 ingredients, stays together and crunchy until lunchtime, and is very filling. 

It’s so simple that I’m not sure you even need a step-by-step, but here ya go anyways.

First Step:  Take a Collard Leaf.

Collards are in the brussel sprouts and cabbage family and have huge amounts of Vitamin C.

Step two: Cut a chicken breast and avocado into slices and place it into the middle of the leaf.  Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper on top.

If you’re like me and have a big appetite in the afternoons, make two.

Wrap ‘em up like burritos.

Get your other lunchy stuff together.  I brought an apple and some brown rice crackers.

And you’re good to go! 

The Collards are amazing that they stay well-wrapped and don’t come apart very easily, so it will actually look the same hours later.  Sometimes my traditional wheat or corn wraps come “unwrapped” in the bag, but this hasn’t happened to me with collards yet.

Eat happily at lunchtime!

This is a great, nutritious lunch.  It’s technically paleo-friendly and gluten-free, for those who are following those diets.  It’s also really, really simple, so simple that I’m not sure it can count as an actual recipe.  I’m highly recommending it!

Do you work in an office?  Eat out or bring your lunch usually? 

Last night, I attempted to make these Flourless Fudge Cookies.  They look so good, right?  I was so excited and I’d never tried a gluten-free baking recipe yet (and it’s one of my new years resolutions), so I figured there’s no better time than the present.

Welll……… let’s just say, mine looked nothing like the photo!  They were all gooey and just spread out in the pan.  Look at that massive one on the bottom right!  Fail?

It was my bad– I used regular cocoa instead of Dutch-Processed Cocoa.  I guess Dutch Processed works like baking soda and rises when cooked.  Regular cocoa doesn’t (maybe I should have added some?) so that’s why they are so flat and lifeless.

Luckily, they still tasted somewhat decent.  The ingredients are basically all sugar and cocoa, so how could they not?  More like doughy fudge than a cookie though.

I ate two.  I didn’t need more sugar last night (see below), but I wanted to try them (and I’m sugar-addicted these days it seems).

They’re not pretty, so I’ll refrain from bringing them to share with my co-workers.  Adventures in gluten-free baking to be continued……….

Rewind to Dinner:

I ate too many chocolate covered almonds on my way home from work so wasn’t actually very hungry (ahhhh more sugar!!).  I made grilled eggplant, yellow squash, peas, and tofu.     It was yummy.

2012 resolution prep and what’s up with all that sugar?

I thought a lot last night about all the sugar I’ve been eating lately (holidays, baking, handfuls of chocolate almonds, etc) and how it’s making me feel like crap.  And make me crave more sugar.  And then feel like crap again!  Totally a result of the holidays and all the fun celebrations, but it’s time to focus on eating LESS white, processed sugar (fruit is fine with me) for a while.  We’ll see how it goes…..

A few bloggers (Tina and Theodora) have posted recently about “SMART” resolutions—which stands for specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, timeframe— to help you reach your goals.  They work especially well for healthy living goals and mapping out exactly what you want to achieve and how to get there.  I’m planning to  post my 2012 resolutions later today, so am trying to keep SMART in mind while I finish them.

Breakfast

I woke up early and went for a 3 mile run.  It felt terrific!  I haven’t run much in the past month or two (again holidays, laziness, cold weather, etc), but this run was so nice that I want to start regularly again (and hey, it keeps me out of the crowded gym!).

Breakfast this morning was a yogurt bowl with a banana, chia seeds, frozen blueberries and raspberries.  And green tea.  I had enough coffee yesterday to last me for a while.

Yogurt– I usually eat Wildwood’s Soy Probiotic, Unsweetened, Plain yogurt.  They don’t sell it many stores and I don’t eat yogurt that often, but when I do, this is the kind I like.  It’s a bit of an “acquired” taste (aka, I gagged the first time I tried it), probably because of the lack of sugar (there’s only 2 grams in the cup, which is MUCH less than a normal Plain yogurt or a Greek yogurt), but it’s gluten/dairy free and has added probiotics, which helps my tummy.  Anyways, try it before you knock it.

Ok, time for work!

Are you feeling like you’re on sugar overload too or is it just me??  And– share your Gluten Free Baking recipes please!!