The Garden Ephemerist

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September 19th, 2011

We’re teaming up with Food Network’s Healthy Eats and fellow food bloggers to host a Brown-Bag Challenge, a month-long initiative to eat consciously and save money by packing a lunch each weekday through the month of September instead of eating out. Join us here and share what you’re eating on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #brownbag.

I finished my second week of brown-bagging last week, so I thought I’d recap the week’s lunches.

Monday, September 12

Fell off the brown-bag wagon today. Not enough planning on the weekend! But I ate healthy whole-grain pasta from the Rodale Café, while managing to stay away from the desert display.

Tuesday, September 13

• Tuna salad (water-packed tuna, fat-free mayo, onions) on toasted farm-grain bread from Saxman Breads in the Emmaus Farmers’ Market, with tomato from the Organic Gardening test garden and organic red lettuce and hearts of romaine. Eric Saxman’s farm-grain bread is unbelievably crunchy-nutty-delicious!
• Cup of Santa Claus melon
• Nature’s Promise Organic Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks

Wednesday, September 14

• Two eggs scrambled with onions, on toasted farm-grain bread with lettuce and tomato (see above)
• Cup of Santa Claus melon
• Glass of fresh apple cider from Hausmans Fruit Farm in the Emmaus Farmers’ Market
Maybe I was especially hungry since I had worked up a sweat in the test garden, but this was one of the best lunches I have ever eaten.

Thursday, September 15

• Cottage cheese with pineapple chunks and walnuts (one of the few elements of the old Scarsdale Diet that I actually liked)
• Cup of Santa Claus melon
• Nature’s Promise Organic Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks

As I was photographing this lunch, I realized everything was yellow! So I made sure I got lots of leafy greens and orange carrots and red tomatoes for supper. I ended up saving the banana for later because I was so full. I’ll cut the portion of cottage cheese next time I eat it.

Friday, September 16

Did not have time to pack a lunch today because I found out the night before that a Realtor was coming to my apartment to photograph it so my landlord could put the building on the market. Hilarity ensued.
So, more whole-grain pasta from the Rodale Café for lunch—but a sumptuous organic feast later at the Rodale Institute in honor of the 2011 Organic Pioneer Awards winners. Aren’t we lucky?

Lessons Learned So Far

• I want a gadget for chopping vegetables. This is the most time-consuming part of the prep process, and if I can make it easier, I’ll have one fewer excuse not to cook.
• I want another coffee grinder that I can reserve for chopping nuts.
• I hate buying produce in the grocery store, even if it is organic. I’d rather give my money directly to the grower. So I need to plan my farmers’ market shopping so that I can hit the Macungie Farmers’ Market on a Thursday and have fresh ingredients on the weekend to prepare the week’s meals. If I wait until Sunday to shop at the Emmaus Farmers’ Market, that’s too late.
• I’m going to miss picking my own veggies from the test garden and my driveway planters when winter sets in.