Hello again
These Mondays come around again quite quickly.
But today, my thoughts are taking me back to last Wednesday morning. I’d been at my desk working since 7:15. Not for any particularly pressing reasons, but I’d just got up and started work early. By 11:00, it was time for a break. Some errands took me to my local town and while we were there, we went for a coffee.
In another life, if I went out to work in a real-life office, getting a coffee would likely be an almost daily occurrence. I’d have found my favourite coffee shop spots and I’d pick up a flat white en route to work or pop out for a little pick-me-up on my lunch break.
But I don’t, I work from home. It’s 4.4 miles to the nearest decent coffee shop. So this everyday thing — going for a coffee — feels like a treat. You can have all the coffee setup at home that you could possibly need but still feel the need to go out for it. The noise, the smell, the choice, the coffee, the seeing people. It was a nice break to the working day.
How will you be spending your lunch break today?
Something on toast…
Garlic & herb butterbeans on toast
Creamy, starchy comfort food
What’s not to love about beans on toast? Give me the sweet tomatoey ones any day and I’ll be very happy with that. But to ring the changes, I’ve swapped the haricots for butter beans and made an instant creamy sauce that’s packed with garlic and herbs. I say “sauce”, it’s lunchtime and I’m taking the easy route and have used flavoured cream cheese to stir through and create the creamy coating.
Ingredients:
1 x Small tin of butterbeans, drained
1 tbsp Philadelphia Intense Garlic & Herbs
1 Slice of sourdough toast
To make:
Drain the beans and tip them into a pan. Warm them through on a medium heat.
Toast your bread.
When the beans are hot, take the pan off the heat and stir in one generous tablespoonful of the cream cheese.
As the cream cheese melts, it creates a creamy, garlicky sauce that clings to the side of the starchy beans.
Simple swaps:
If you don’t have Philadelphia Intense Garlic & Herbs, try using regular full-fat cream cheese and adding in crushed fresh garlic and some finely chopped herbs.
Swap the butterbeans for cannellini beans if you prefer, although the overall results would be less creamy as the butterbeans have a wonderfully smooth potatoey texture.
Why not try slow-cooker black beans too?
Make ahead…
Chicken & quinoa bake
All in one pan #mealprep
When looking for ideas that can be lunch at home or packed up for work and school, I came across this chicken & quinoa bake.
It uses quinoa, chicken, peppers, onions, cashews and hoisin sauce to create a one-pan dish. Perfect to grab out of the fridge and eat for lunch when you’re having a busy day. I was a bit shy on the cashews, but other than that it was a winner.
Just a sandwich…
Ham & cheese with Branstonnaise
Yes, that is mayonnaise with Branston Pickle
I’m still trying to get through the jars of Branstonnaise that Branston sent me and I’m still not sure about it. Nice bread rolls though.
Don’t forget that you can tuck into the archives at any time.
Type an ingredient, meal or edition number in the ‘search box 🔍’