Knowing my friends are frolicking in the sun while I’m begging patients to go on walks and administering suppositories…it’s tough. It doesn’t matter HOW much you love your job, when the weekend arrives and others are not working and you are, it’s just a bummer. Holiday weekends are especially difficult.
My three day weekend was spent in the hospital. Wah wah. Ordinarily, I avoid 3-in-a-rows like I avoid C. diff, but knowing I was getting Memorial Day pay (time and a half) and the weekend differential made it sort-of okay. After all my income has to support my eating habits [which are far from cheap]. My credit card statements are 99.9% grocery bills. Clearly I have my priorities straight.
I packed food, as per usual, but for some reason I felt the need to “treat” myself to cafeteria food instead. It’s my weekend indulgence. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to feign shock about it. I’m not deceived, you’re not deceived. Let’s all just call it what it is: a lack of self control a reward for being at work when most of the nation is not.
None of these were eaten for breakfast. But they were mighty fine snacks.
I wish I had a photo to show the hospital’s French Toast. It’s thick and fluffy on the inside, toasted and crispy with egg on the outside, and only barely greasy. I dunk each bite in maple syrup. It’s a wonderful weekend tradition. And I enjoyed two fat slices three mornings in a row. Saturday morning. Sunday morning. And Monday morning. There’s nothing coincidental or impulsive about that. I’m no legal expert, but I’m certain in the court of law, they’d call it premeditated.
Even as I packed those bowls of oats and bags of granola (above), in the back of my head, I knew all along I wasn’t going to eat them for breakfast. Kinda defeats the purpose of working the holiday, but whatever. Budgets suck.
Lunch highlights:
- tofu ricotta “cheese” with brown rice and spinach
- Blue Diamond smokehouse almonds
- Peanut Butter & Co. crunch time
- Way Better Snacks simply sweet potato tortilla chips
- CocomoJoe cocoa joebar
- Snackle Mouth granola nut clusters
The only “recipe” worth sharing, though, is the mustard tempeh salad bowl.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 block tempeh (I used LightLife flax)
- 1 tbsp honey mustard
- 1 tbsp course ground Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp plain almond milk (optional*)
- chopped parsley
Directions:
Combine everything and mix and mash. I left some tempeh chunks bigger and smashed some to create a varied texture. *You may want to reduce or omit the almond milk if you’re going to eat it as a sandwich spread.
Then I added 1 cup cooked (and chilled) quinoa and a fist of spinach and shook so the extra juices coated the quinoa and greens.
Yeah. That was pretty much the best thing I made this weekend.
My Monday lunch was so uninspired, I didn’t even bother photographing it. Instead I walked to Whole Foods on my break.
To buy this.
Sweet potato fries and vegan cheese pizza (with Daiya). Talk about an unbalanced vegan meal! In my defense, I ended up saving most of the fries for later and had carrots instead. I do crave some crunch with my meals.
But I definitely finished off all three cheesy (read: oily) slices of pizza. And since it was pay-by-weight, I’m all too aware of the damage I did to my wallet.
I was pretty impressed by how well it held me over. I ate at 1 pm and wasn’t hungry again until 7 pm. I got off work and flew home (no traffic on holiday weekends) and immediately threw my leftover fries in the oven.
They re-heated and crisped up while I showered. And 15 minutes later…
Fries and a scramble.
Eggs with quinoa and spinach. Ready in under five minutes.
I had seconds and thirds of the fries until all 253.7 pounds of them were gone.
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