Building a satisfying lunch

Is it lunch time yet?  There are so many great ways to enjoy lunch - where do I begin?  Often I'm

packing up leftovers and bringing them to the office for lunch - just to make room in the fridge at home for more leftovers ;0)  But there are days that there are no leftovers around, making planning lunch a necessity.  Here are a few of our lunches from my archives to inspire you.  Some are ones I packed - some are eaten out at a nearby restaurant or fast food establishment.  I'll try to include PointsPlus values wherever I can remember them easily enough.

Turkey wrap with this fabulous Cranberry Mustard!  Made with an Ole Extreme Wellness Wrap (1-2pp per wrap depending on variety), 3 oz cooked turkey 3pp,  lots of veggies like lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers - ZERO pp and the Cranberry Mustard ads ZERO pp to the sandwich - total for this plate full = 5pp!



I don't remember the brand of bread I used here - for anyone ambitious, its listed somewhere among my 120+ posts - but I find for ME, bread can be an expensive proposition.  For the guys who have way more points to use -its a no brainer.  I typically will make my sandwich on a half slice to keep the points down, but fill up the middle to make the sandwich filling for me.  This honey mustard is sweet and hot...a real flavor boost to a ham sandwich!!



ZERO pp WW Garden Vegetable Soup - recipe on this site!  You can add 2 TBSP of grated parmesan cheese for just 1pp!




Chicken Salads with cucumbers, olives, carrots, a hard boiled egg and some pepperoncinis on the side.  For a snack afterwards, plain, fat free yogurt with fresh strawberries and bananas.

 



I loved this lunch!  Egg salad made with lite mayo, served on Romaine lettuce leaves with cute pimento stuffed green olives on top - really a winning combo - and makes a pretty presentation.  A small serving of carrot salad and some fresh grapes.  All recipes for this plate are on my recipes page!



McDonald's Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad with the entire package of dressing - 11PP and yumm-o!!  For me, this counts as a lunch for 8pp with a snack for 3pp, but its so worth it.

This was great but had to be made at home - it was a lite ham and swiss "quesadilla"made with one wrap - then once toasty, I cut it in half and stacked it with some lettuce, tomato and honey mustard between the two peices.

Barbacoa Beef and Cole Slaw Sandwich made from week one recipes! 



PANERA BREAD - Pick Two Menu Options: a cup of Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with a Thai Chopped Chicken Salad for 8PP  (I didn't eat the bread since I didn't know how to count it)  Loved this lunch, though!



Garden Salad with leftover Rotisserie Chicken Breast on it - all you count is the 3 oz of chicken for 3pp and whatever salad dressing you choose to put on it.  (This photo is from a dinner I ate, so the wine would not really be part of my lunch - but if it WERE - it would be 4pp for 1/2 cup)

*Always look for low points plus options to bulk up your lunches - fresh veggies are one way for ZERO pp.

*Mustard instead of Mayo saves points.

*If you still want to eat but your brain tells you that you've eaten your portion of points for this meal - finish with a peice of fresh fruit.  The fruit cleans your palate and gives your stomach enough time to register fullness - ZERO points.  Or you can suck on a peppermint and usually get the same results.

I'm always looking for new ideas for great lunches to be eaten at home or packed for the office.  What are your favorite lunches?  Inspire me!