Hello, my friends. How are you? I’m doing alright, after a pretty slow (and rainy) weekend here in the Bay Area. We’re talking food today!

Here’s the deal: Whenever I put out a call for reader requests, something that often comes up is food. You want to see more food. To be honest, I don’t enjoy doing recipe posts, so I’ve moved away from those on the blog over the last couple of years. And there are plenty of other bloggers out there killing the recipe game, so I’ll let them run with it. Also, I don’t necessarily love taking pictures of all my meals in a certain day, so I don’t do too many “What I Ate Wednesdays” any longer. But I do like to share what I’m eating every once in a while, and that’s what we’re going to do today.

This post features some of my recent lunches over the last few weeks that were worthy of capturing with a quick iPhone photo.

What I’ve been eating for lunch lately (10 meals)

A few reminders about my food:

• I don’t track macronutrients or calories, so I can’t give you the counts for these meals. But I can tell you that every meal has a decent ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fat.
• I don’t do much meal prepping. Although for the last few weeks, I have been making this pumpkin baked oatmeal dish on Sunday and eating it warmed-up with a banana alongside a collagen tea latte for breakfast during the week. Breakfast is a bit of a rush, so this is one meal I like to have prepared ahead of time.
• I eat all food groups. I don’t have any dietary allergies that I know of. And I like most food.
• I don’t eat much meat. But I do have fish at least once a week and a big grass-fed burger maybe every other month or so, depending on if I’m craving it. We actually had steak this past weekend, and that was the first time in a while. High-quality red meat is a great way to get some beneficial iron, which we all need. Another way to get iron is through an iron supplement, and if you take a supplement, it’s often a good idea to take a vitamin C tablet (or a glass of orange juice) alongside to help with the vitamin absorption.

One more big disclaimer before we begin with the food: Remember that what you like and what I like may be totally different. We all have unique dietary needs, lifestyles and preferences, so you have to figure out what foods work for you. My food works for me, and that’s why I eat it. If your food makes you feel satisfied, satiated and it gives you proper energy, then it’s working. If you don’t feel great after eating or if you feel hungry an hour later after eating, that may mean you need to adjust what’s on your plate.

Now, let’s get to the food. Descriptions will follow each picture …

I’m the queen of frozen veggies. This lunch features an entire bag of a frozen veggie mixture with farro, chickpeas, broccoli and carrots (which I sautéed in a pan with olive oil). I also added two hard-boiled eggs with Trader Joe’s “everything but the bagel” seasoning, a tiny bit of avocado and some Trader Joe’s pepitas salsa on top for extra flavor. I love the pepitas salsa from Trader Joe’s. Have you had it?

Also, it goes without saying that all of these meals have some sea salt, black pepper and turmeric sprinkled on, because I always add those spices.

I’ve been eating a lot of alternative pastas lately. This meal features Ancient Harvest green lentil noodles, some Rao’s marinara sauce and baked tofu. I prepared the tofu on Sunday and had enough to eat for several lunches as my protein, instead of eggs, to switch it up. Tofu is really easy to make (drain it, slice it, season it and bake it for about 20 minutes at 400 or so) and is so versatile. I’ve been having it a lot lately.

Sourdough is my favorite type of bread, hands down. This lunch features a big slice of local sourdough covered in avocado and cherry tomatoes. I also had some sauerkraut and two fried eggs on the side. This is a really tasty meal.

Even though sourdough is my favorite type of bread, sometimes I buy sprouted wheat bread. This sandwich is a total treat. It doesn’t have the greatest protein count, but I usually have something like this about an hour after a post-workout protein shake. I toasted the bread, added almond butter, fig jam (also from Trader Joe’s), and a sliced-up banana. So delicious. Mmmmm!

This lunch has all sorts of fun foods. One fried egg, some Mary’s Gone Crackers (which are super crunchy and have a lot of nuts and seeds in them), salsa, sautéed mixed sweet potatoes (a pre-sliced package from Trader Joe’s) and some mixed rice. Even though there’s a lot on this plate, it was super easy to make. I like to use my crackers to dip in all the food. Anyone else?

It wouldn’t be a meal post if I didn’t share some veggie burgers. So let me tell you about this: Dave and I are completely obsessed with Qrunch Organics quinoa burgers. We used to eat them several times a week, because they have the best crunch. Well, we can no longer find them anywhere. None of our stores have them, they are not available online, and the company’s Instagram page hasn’t been updated since the summer. I have a bad feeling about this. Anyone have any insight? Nonetheless, this meal has two Qrunch burgers, two eggs, some avocado, sauerkraut and hummus. A staple “Ashley lunch.”

This is another full plate of goodness that is so much more simple than it looks. I microwaved a bag of frozen brown rice and used half of it here. Then, I added a frozen cauliflower rice, kale and sweet potato veggie mixture, an egg, hummus, Mary’s Gone Crackers and sauerkraut.

This is two pieces of small sourdough toast, with hummus, an egg and beet sauerkraut on top. This is one of those meals that Dave will totally make fun of because it looks and sounds gross. But, boy is he wrong. These flavors and textures go together so well. 

Another good meal here and one with lots of color. I have some sautéed arugula, Mary’s Gone Crackers, one egg, white Jasmine rice, fruit salsa and beet sauerkraut on the plate. I don’t buy fresh greens all that often, but when I do, I usually cook them at least a little, because I just prefer it that way. And also, organic white Jasmine rice may be my favorite rice. Once again, I buy the frozen rice bags from Trader Joe’s and eat half the bag at a time.

More veggie burgers! But these are Hilary’s Eat Well burgers, and they are quite delicious. I had them with beet sauerkraut, two eggs and some hummus on top. I could literally eat this combination for lunch and dinner every single day and be happy. I’m a veggie burger lover, but I don’t like the ones with gross ingredients — Hilary’s Eat Well are legit. We’ve tried nearly every brand and keep going back here (as well as our beloved and missing Qrunch burgers). Meal perfection.

And that’s the food. As you can see, you don’t have to eat a salad every day to get in your veggies. And you also don’t have to cook complicated creations that require a million ingredients. All you have to do is pick out a few healthy-ish foods that you like, and put them together on your plate in different ways to keep it interesting. Happy eating!

I usually post some meals in real time on Instagram stories, so say hi to me over there!

Other posts you may like …

• What I’ve been eating for lunch during quarantine
• Five healthy eating habits to improve your nutrition

Questions of the day

What’s your go-to lunch?

What’s something you’ve been eating a lot of lately?