Veg Out Detox: Take II - Bring your Salad to Work Day and Life in Belgium

Pin It Post two on vegging out.  As mentioned in post I, we need it.  Towards the end of vacation, I was feeling a little sloth like.  I am already starting to feel better.

A little side note about life in Belgium:  In Belgium, most employer's have a canteen (cafeteria).  Additionally, most people eat at them.  In the U.S., I was used to bringing my lunch everyday. Anyway, here, we get meal vouchers - which is a certificate that is the same is money that can be used in the canteen or the grocery store or a really great Mojito joint in Leuven (a univeristy town, outside of Brussels, my colleague introduced me to).  That's my favorite way to use meal vouchers.  One mojito, one meal voucher.  What could be better?  It feels like you are getting free mojitos (and they are the best mojitos you will ever have).  Every month, the day we get our meal vouchers feels like Christmas.  Now, I am thinking about Mojitoooooooooooos!

Back on track (I know, I know.  It's hard to do when you start thinking about Mojitoooo), the food is decently priced at the canteen, but as for taste and variety... it could use some work.  Apparently, Taste Tester's canteen is amazing.  They will grill you up a steak or make you a to-order pasta dish any day of the week.  While that sounds fabulous, I don't think it would do anything good for my waistline.  I normally get a cheese and veggie sandwich everyday.  Everyday. Well, if the soup is decent, I will get a soup with salad and on really special days, I splurge and get French Fries (I mean frites!).  Yes, everyday I have the option of eating frites at lunch...very. hard. to. resist.  But, that's all I eat from the canteen (there are other choices, I just haven't tried them.  I could be missing out, for all I know).   So, I started bringing a lunch every now and then to mix it up, even though, to be honest, I am not all that sick of eating the same sandwich/soup/salad combo every work day for the past year.  For a food blogger (if I can call myself that), I am pretty sure that is a sin.  Regardless, I brought this salad for today's lunch.  While it is extremely simple and a bit basic, the mix of colors, textures, and flavors make it pretty tasty.  And easy to bring to work for lunch!

Almost a rainbow of colors (I counted Avo for purple, since the outside is purple-ish).  If I would have planned better I would have gotten some purple leaved greens (I guess they aren't greens if they are purple,  are they?).   Are there any blue tinged veggies?  Anyway, the hard boiled egg adds protein to sustain your hunger longer and the avocado provides a good source of healthy fat, also some nice texture changes.

My to-go all set to bring to work.  The next morning I topped with sunflower seeds (adds even more protein and healthy fat!).  At work, I peeled my hard boiled and topped with ranch dressing.  I was a little paranoid that the egg would smell, but it was no problem.  Would I eat it at my desk?  I don't know if I would go that far, but in the Canteen it was a non-issue.  

Salad For Work

Ingredients:


Salad:
2 cups mix romaine and spinach, washed and dried
1/3 cup chopped yellow pepper
1/3 cup chopped cucumber
1/3 peeled and chopped carrot 
1/2 avocado
Handful of grape tomatoes
1 hard boiled huevo (hard boiled to perfection: see how below)
Top with Sunflower seeds

Dressing:
1/8 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk
Ranch Seasoning packet, to taste (Next time, it'll be home made)

Directions:

Hard boil you egg.  Put eggs covered in water in a sauce pan.  Bring to boil.  Cover the pot, turn off heat, and leave eggs sit for 12 minutes.  Rinse with cool water.  Mix salad greens with vegetables.  Top with sunflower seeds.  Store in fridge over night.  For the dressing, combine sour cream, milk, and enough ranch seasoning to give it a nice ranch flavor.  The next day, peel and add your hard boiled egg to the salad and pour dressing over the top.  Put cover back on container and shake to mix.  Salt & Pepper to taste.

I had a mango yogurt for dessert, and this held me over for the afternoon.  What's your favorite way to brown-bag it?? Pin It