Lemon Rice and Peas

Today I made Lemon Rice and Peas from May All Be Fed. Last night I had leftover cooked brown rice, so it only took a few minutes to toss it together with Indian spices, frozen peas, cashews, low-sodium tamari and fresh lemon juice. I also threw in some garbanzo beans I had in the fridge.

This morning I packed the cold rice and peas in my To Go Ware alongside an avocado wrapped in yellow Hello Kitty. I opened the avocado at lunchtime and mashed it with some balsamic vinegar for green salad.

On the side are an orange, a low-sodium V8 juice, and yet more Fruit & Nut Bars (in case I needed a snack later in the day).

Since I have access to a microwave, I transferred the rice and peas to a regular bowl and microwaved them at lunchtime. They were so good I didn't want to stop eating, but it was too much to finish!

Now that I'm away from home all day, I feel even more the importance of a healthy lunch packed with care and love. It's a little reminder of home, a little moment of caring for yourself in the middle of the day, and a chance to smile a bit to yourself at a cute lunch box or a Hello Kitty avocado. :-)

Brown rice, tofu, broccoli in brown sauce with nuts, dates, raisins ladu, blueberries

Brown rice, Tofu, Broccoli in brown sauce :
Brown rice (short grained) cooked in the pressure cooker with some salt.
brown sauce : Soy sauce + sugar + olive oil + honey mustard + sesame oil + salt pepper. whisk it all together and add it to the rice according to the flavor. At PFChangs they serve a kind of brown sauce. but the chili and wasabi is not Ruta's taste. she likes this homemade sauce.
Tofu: I add tofu pieces with some of this brown sauce in a pan and cook it on low heat.
Blanched broccoli topped with brown sauce and sesame seeds.

Nuts, Dates and Raisins Ladu (roll) : Grind Nuts (raw walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc) with dates raisins and roll them with hands. no sugar, no salt.
with some Blueberries.