My Cheatin' Lunch

Okay, so this picture kind of refutes the point of this post, but I was mulling all this over while heating and eating said dish and I decided I needed a picture a little too late.

On Friday I mentioned that I had gone five days with no junkfood. I actually made it six and a half, pausing only for a "reward meal" of BBQ and waffle fries after viewing the NAHBS yesterday. Afterwards, I went straight home and prepared Thai-style tofu/veggie curry to bring for my lunches this week (sort of pictured above) and I'm back on track.

Lately it seems that my Sunday night lunch preparation is the key to my success or lack thereof. The first three weeks that I was at my new job, I probably went out for lunch all but two or three days, which is never a good sign for healthy eating. Part of it was trying self-medicate my new-job anxiety with comfort foods from the Bloomington Bagel Company, but part of it was that I either slacked on preparing food for weekday lunches or what I made didn't sound appetizing. I found myself cheating on my lunch a lot.

Finding a solution what part "suck it up" and part finding a lunch I could love enough to stay true to. I had to compromise a bit last week when I made Smoked Turkey Shepard's Pie, which was delicious, but is probably the most sour-cream and butter laden dish in my cooking repertoire. However, since I prepared it myself, at least I knew how much butter and sour cream were actually in it (less than Rachel Ray's original recipe), while I have no idea about the actual contents of restaurant food. On the positive side, it was also pretty heavy on the veggies and lean protein and gave me some inspiration to get back in the habit of "running what I brung" as far as my daytime food consumption. (Let's face it, going out for lunch a lot is even worse for my budget than it is for my waistline.)

So this week it was hard to find a follow-up to the Smoked Turkey Shepard's Pie, but I hadn't had the tofu/veggie curry in a while and it is easy to make. However, I was still kind of dreading my lackluster lunch today, but as you can see, I finished it all with no desire to top to it off with a cookie or anything. I've got to remember to bring a salt shaker for work, though.