My Dear "Kindred Spirit,"

My Dear “Kindred Spirit,”

Oh dear…

When I was eating this for lunch twice last week, the thought of putting it on the blog honestly did not cross my mind.

It’s not really a blog-worthy meal.

But then at some point the thought of putting it up came to me, and after immediately dismissing the idea, I reconsidered, and got to thinking…

One of the hardest things for me when I first made dietary changes and started “eating healthy” was finding quick, portable meals.

I love to cook, so bigger, more involved meals that take some time to prepare don’t scare me. I don’t mind spending hours at a time in the kitchen – in fact, I enjoy spending hours at a time in the kitchen.

But that’s not real life. The facts are, everyone has days when you need something you can make quickly and take with you.

And days like that usually sneak up on me when the pantry and fridge are already pretty bare, and not only do I not have any leftovers, but it seems like I don’t have many ingredients either…

This is what happened to me two of the days I was working with my brother last week. I realized in the evening that I was going to be gone working all the next day, and I didn’t have anything made that I could take for lunch… or time to make anything to take for lunch.

So after ransacking the pantry and fridge – multiple times – (hey, this is me we’re talking about. There is always the chance that I could have just overlooked an entire lunch sitting there right in front of me), I ended up falling back to this – my old standby.

I’ll be honest. This isn’t my favorite meal ever. But it is one of my easiest (unless ice cream counts as a meal). It doesn’t take a well-stocked pantry or fridge to prepare, it’s really quick to assemble, and easy to take along when you’re headed out.

And it always makes me feel so proud of myself for being able to eat “healthy” on the road. 🙂

You’ll need:

• 1 can of tuna (canned chicken would work too. Tuna comes in a good serving size, though)
• 1/2 can of black olives (confession: I love olives. I have been known to eat an entire can in a sitting. So the olives are the redeeming part of this meal for me, especially since I’m not a huge tuna fan…)
• Some kind of vegetable(s). Honestly, for me this is usually just chopped onions. I literally had to go out to the garden to pull some walking onions both times I made this last week (that’s just how bare the pantry was). So onions, and if you have any other veggies (peppers, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, etc.) feel free to go ahead and toss some of that in too.
• Olive oil (I’m just going to hope that you know enough to buy a good, high quality, extra virgin, cold pressed, preferably organic, olive oil. It is worth the extra money, my dear!)
• Vinegar (I use raw apple cider vinegar, but whatever vinegar ya got should work. You’re basically making your own super easy, healthy, salad dressing)
• Salt (and pepper, if you feel like it)

Drain your tuna, dump it into a container and kinda chop it up with a fork.

Slice in as many olives as you feel like slicing up (I usually do half a can, but you can do more or less depending on how much time you have and how well you like olives).

Chop and add your onions and any other veggies that are going in there.

Now, a few splashes of olive oil, and about a capful (that’s capful, not cupful… it’s probably equal to between a teaspoon and a tablespoon) of vinegar. Mix it up a bit – it should look oily, but not drenched or dripping with oil. Unless, of course, you enjoy drinking olive oil, in which case, more power to ya! Have at it…

Sprinkle in some salt (and pepper or any other spices if you want. I usually just do salt).

Mix it up good, slap a cover on your container, and you’re good to go! You will need to remember to bring a fork to eat it with, though…

The nice thing about this is that it can be made the night before and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to take it. But if that doesn’t happen, you can also make it the morning of and take it with you right away. As long as you don’t leave it sitting out in the sun, it’ll be fine.

So there ya go.

A quick, healthy, low-ingredient meal to take along with you so you can feel proud of yourself for eating healthy on (or off) the road.

You’re welcome.

Love, N.