Chickpea & Salad Wraps

Chickpea & Salad Wraps

tortilla wrap
chickpea pate:
- chickpeas
- garlic
- cumin
- paprika
- olive oil
grated carrots
alfalfa sprouts
lettuce
olive oil
Hubbie turned his nose up at the idea of humous and carrot so (since I forgot to add the tahini anyway) I gave it a different name and disguised the carrot with lots of salad and, voila, he loved it! I'm also very excited about the new tupperware container I've bought that has different sections so I include the salad portion in one or two parts and the healthy fruit snacks in the other parts. Today the snacks were juicy plum cut into bite-size portions, dried apricots, cashew nuts and a wholewheat date snack (some sort of cakey biscuity thing...).

Beetroot & Pink Grapefruit Salad

Beetroot & Pink Grapefruit Salad

iceberg lettuce
alfalfa sprouts
grapefruit segments
beetroot (boiled then chopped)
tinned mackerel
bacon bits
rapeseed oil
white wine vinegar
grapefruit juice
salt and pepper


Well this was a strange one... I really didn't like it but hubbie loved it and came home raving about how good it was! So, try it if you like the ingredients (I'm not a big fan of beetroot or fruit in salads so don't know why I thought I might like it!). It's an adaptation of a Jill Dupleix recipe - I love her - she does does really tasty simple food.

p.s. hurrah, I've worked out how to post photos on my blog!

Tuna and Bean Salad

This was a bit of a stodge lunch with all the beans. I think next time I make this I'll add some crunchy lettuce to lighten it a little! Hubbie complained that he didn't think beans were good for someone wanting to lose weight as he thought they were very calorific - I thought beans were super healthy though!?! Any opinions would be greatly received...

Tuna and Bean Salad

tinned tuna
cannelini beans
black-eye beans
sweetcorn
fresh parsley
lemon juice
olive oil
cherry tomatoes

Glass Noodle Salad

This was based on a Jill Dupleix recipe which I adapted a little. It is a mixture of glass noodles, salad veg and chicken in an asian inspired hot dressing. It was truly scrumptious and didn't feel like healthy heating at all! I've started throwing alfalfa sprouts into quite a few things recently as I'm told sprouting things are good for you (no idea whether alfalfa sprouts in particular are good for you but that's all I can find here in Muscat!).


Glass Noodle Salad


chicken
glass noodles
cucumber
tomatoes
red onion
red chilli
alfalfa sprouts
fresh mint
peanuts
asian dressing: thai fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce, rapeseed oil, sugar

Quinoa Salad

This is an easy salad to make and is utterly delicious. It is based on the traditional tabbouleh found all over the middle east but I have replaced the usual cous cous or bulghur wheat with quinoa - I just prefer it and have been hooked on it since I was introduced to it by The Optimum Nutrition Bible that I read some time ago. For those who have never used quinoa, do go and try it. It's fairly widely available in good supermarkets and health food shops and you can cook it in the same way that you cook rice.


Quinoa Salad


quinoa
parsley (chopped very finely)
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
olive oil
lemon juice
pine nuts
syrian spice mix (my friend brought it back for me from Syria - don't know what's in it but it's fab!)
salt and pepper

Lentil and Feta Salad

I must say this salad was scrummy. Hubbie specifically requested it as it's one of his favourites. It's based on my memories of the delicious lentil and wild rice salad I used to buy at Eat when I worked in London. Yum!


Lentil and Feta Salad

puy lentils
red and orange pepper (grilled and sliced)
red onion (soaked in vinaigrette whilst making the rest of the salad)
vinaigrette (rapeseed oil, white wine vinegar, a little mustard, a little sugar)
fresh mint (LOTS)
feta cheese (added to the salad and mixed until it melts and becomes part of the dressing)
freshly ground black pepper

Introduction

I am a British expat woman living in Oman. Previously very career driven and always busy, I am now getting used to a slower pace of life having recently moved to Muscat with my husband and not yet found paid employment for myself. I settled into expat life in Muscat very easily and into my new "job" as a housewife (for the time being...). Then ramadan came along and cafes and restaurants closed during the daytime. We were told that during ramadan all the non-fasting expats bring packed lunches in to work to surreptitiously eat in a small room in the office provided for that purpose. I quickly saw an opportunity for bringing a little more focus into my life and to re-light the old spark from my previous career in the food industry. My hubbie at the same time decided he needed to lose a few pounds so I decided to focus all my energies into devising interesting and healthy packed lunches for him to take to work each day (and making enough for me to enjoy at home every day too!). As neither of us are natural salad eaters and both of us are easily drawn to snacking, I had to come up with something a little more interesting and filling than a simple lettuce salad each day and yet healthier and more inspiring than the classic bread sandwich (we have far too much gluten in our diets as it is so I'm trying to eradicate it from the lunchtime meal).

So the challenge I have set for myself is to go through the whole month of ramadan making healthy inspiring lunches creating a balanced varied diet without once repeating a lunch and without making a single bread sandwich. Every day I will blog about what I have made and will try to publish photographs of each lunchbox to serve as a useful reminder for when I need inspiration for tasty and healthy packed lunches in the future. Hopefully it may also be a useful blog for anyone else looking for inspiration beyond the simple sandwich.