Sweet Potato & Quinoa Cake with Summer Kale Salad
Lunches for me have always been a pretty boring meal, because I usually just end up eating a turkey sandwich. While I do love turkey sandwiches, I was at a point where I needed to spice things up. So, last weekend when my sister and I ran in Central Park and decided to stop at Whole Foods on the way back, I was immediately drawn to their prepared food counter.
The Whole Foods in Columbus Circle is, in my opinion, the best one in the city and has a really great selection of prepared foods. They have a big sushi counter, pizza, hot food bar, prepared food bar, deli counter, sandwich counter, and a great bakery counter. After looking in all of the the display cases for a while, I decided on a few small things. Among them was a Sweet Potato Quinoa Cake with Dried Cranberries and a Summer Kale Salad which had some apples, almonds, and a light coating of a sweet dressing.
Today, I finally got around to trying both of them. I brought it with me to work and it was the perfect lunch. The quinoa cake is really delicious and filling. It is basically quinoa, some wild rice, dried cranberries, and sweet potato to bind all the ingredients together in the shape of a patty. The sweet potato taste really comes through, and it is even better when heated up. The kale salad was also really delicious and felt very light and springy. The kale was lightly coated in a sweet dressing, which created a perfect balance. The apples in the salad also gave it great flavor. Together, these two dishes were a great combination and were super filling. After eating it, I felt like I had a really healthy and balanced meal that also tasted delicious, which was a nice change from my usual turkey sandwich! I will definitely be purchasing both of these dishes again on my next trip to whole foods if they have them!
May 30, 2013
Peanut Butter, Banana and Jelly Panini
One of my favorite lunches that I usually treat myself to about once a week is a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, with banana. To elevate it even more, I put it on the panini press for a few minutes so that the peanut butter gets all melty and delicious. I make it with 2 slices of Weight Watchers Whole Wheat Bread, 1 tbsp of Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Creamy Peanut Butter (the BEST peanut butter in my opinion), 1/2 of a banana, and 1/2 tbsp of this amazing Cherrycot Jam that I get at the farmers market in the city. Even though it may sound like the quantities are small, they are more than enough once you start to spread it on the bread.
I am a huge peanut butter fan so this sandwich is one of my all time favorites. It feels like a treat, but it really is not too unhealthy since I measure out the quantities and don't allow myself to go overboard with the amount of peanut butter, since it is pretty fattening. Adding the banana and putting it on the panini press are essential for me because it really brings out the flavors of each component, and makes it more of an adult version of the classic PB&J
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