Cool, Effortless Lunch: More Yogurt

Fellow lunch eaters! I haven't posted in a while, mostly because all I can bear to whip up in the morning in the summer heat is what you see pictured: good old yogurt and fruit, which I've blogged before. I've been switching it up of course, adding different fruits, nuts, pepitas, etc.

My newest favorite trick is great for "beating the heat," as they say. I know fresh summer fruit is all the rage, but I'm a huge fan of frozen fruit. Besides being cheaper and easier to prep, the biggest bonus is it's cooling power. I threw both of these together in the morning, and despite a commute involving a 20 minute sun-soaked walk from the train, they were still frosty when I ate 'em three hours later (sans refrigeration. I don't know why...my office has a fridge, I guess I'm just too lazy to walk by it in the morning!)

I used Trader Joe's (pesticide-free!) frozen blueberries in the first batch, but blueberries are great frozen even if you've bought them fresh. There's no additional prep! The second cup with frozen mangoes and fresh strawberries required a little more prep, but only about three minutes worth.

Grocery list

• Tub of plain yogurt (my fave is TJ's European Style)
• Frozen fruit

 Pantry (all optional)

• Almonds or other nuts
• Sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• Honey or agave nectar

Directions

You know the drill. I like to partially fill the jar with yogurt before adding a little fruit so I don't lose any valuable yogurt space to the air trapped in between the fruit. But do it however you like :-)

Total time: 1-3 minutes
Yield: 1 servings
To bring: canning jar or other leak-proof container

P.S. Since I am apparently having difficulty posting here consistently, I've taken my thoughts on lunch and other nutrition matters to the micro-blogging sphere. Find me on Twitter at @DianaKRice! But I'll still be back at Things to Bring often enough...

Open-Faced Strawberry Sandwich

This is hardly a sandwich, but I don't know what else to call it! For this low-sugar take on PB&J, I used an Arnold's multi-grain sandwich thin. It's sort of an odd cross between an English muffin and pita bread, but you could use any sort of bread here, even regular whole wheat slices. I used Brad's Organic Cashew Butter, but regular peanut butter would definitely be cheaper and has fairly similar nutritional content. By my calculations, this simple lunch has about 300 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 8 grams of fiber!

Grocery list

• Whole grain bread product: sandwich thins, English muffins, pita OR bread slices - 2 slices
• Nut butter: cashew, almond OR peanut - 2 tbsp.
• Strawberries (or other fruit) - 4, sliced

Directions

I wouldn't transport this in its assembled form - too likely to get mushy! Instead, I slice the strawberries ahead of time and pack them in a small plastic container. You can pack the bread slices in a separate plastic bag, or just keep the whole package in your desk at work if you plan to use it all in one week. Nut butters will keep well in a desk drawer too!

When you're ready to eat, toast the bread if possible/desired (you can also do this ahead of time at home) spread a tablespoon of nut butter on each slice and top with strawberries. Make sure they don't fall off when you eat it!

Yield: 1 serving
To bring: transport container for the strawberries, plastic bag for the bread.

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Questions about the cooking method? Please let me know in the comments!