Saturday (Half) Lunchbox

I am so glad people have been finding the lunchbox series helpful.  I am still not quite sure how I went from occasionally blogging about food to photographing my lunchboxes every day lately, but it has been fun.

Today I knew I would be out and about for almost six hours – errands, plus a long appointment for a haircut and waxing.  I get all that done at one place which is between Dupont Circle and Georgetown and if I am going to be there around lunchtime, I have to make sure I pack food with me.  There is literally nothing to eat in that area that is quick, gluten-free, dairy-free/egg-free or vegan.  Fortunately a Whole Foods is opening around there, but for a day like today, I decided on a hearty late breakfast and a lunchbox.  Here’s breakfast:

Yes, I am still obsessed with my variation of Gena’s avocado and kabocha squash sandwich.Today I used leftover steamed sweet potatoes, avocado, sliced zucchini, scallions, hot sauce and smoky sea salt on a Food for Life gluten-free ones made with brown rice flour.

It was delicious and a great late breakfast/early brunch, but then I needed an apple to cut the heat of the hot sauce, so I split an apple and no-sugar sunbutter with my husband. We had almost finished eating the apple when I remembered to take a picture:

I also packed up a lunch to go. I think of this as a half lunchbox, as I figured it would be enough for two snacks or a lunch, but it is not as packed as my usual lunchboxes which are designed to last me for 10 hours or so:

• Averie’s Spicy Doritos dip, made with hemp seeds, a bell pepper and other yummy ingredients
• Steamed broccoli
• Celery Sticks
• Mary’s Gone Crackers Sticks and Twigs

Post-errands and haircut, I was starving so was very happy to have food along. I knew I wanted to stop by VegFest to see Tal Ronnen’s cooking demo,  though I did not end up staying long. The sun was beating down and it was super-crowded and I was tired.  I did stop by the booth for this place though:

Elizabeth actually goes to the same yoga studio I go to in Washington, DC – she’s a lovely woman, and I was excited to be able to say hello despite how busy it was. And, I discovered that her newly opened raw restaurant (see Washington Post article here) is 100% gluten-free. Better yet, there was food available at her booth. I bought some delicious kelp noodle:

Packed in an eco-friendly box, these totally took care of turning my snacky lunch into an over-the-top delicious lunch:

Finally, I stopped by the Vega booth.  I have tried Vega Chocolate protein powder (the Health Optimizer) in the past and not loved it, but I keep reading rave reviews of their new Shake and Go smoothies, so I figured I would try to sample it.  They did not have the chocolate flavor I was hoping to try , but they had a Vanilla flavor which was really good, so I bought a full size of it, and received a bunch of free samples. 

And then I headed home.  I ended up only eating about half of my lunchbox, but was so glad to have it, as had there been no delicious gluten-free food to purchase at Veg Fest, I would have been starving by now! Learning to pack something other than a Lara bar for days I am out and about on a weekend has been one of the big changes since I started adjusting my diet in light of my food intolerances – I used to just rely on a Starbucks chai with the Lara Bar, or get a coffeecake or egg sandwich at Starbucks – but with time it has definitely become easier and worth it.  I miss Lara Bars (I save them for travel because they are high in sugar, even if it is natural sugar) but finding other ways to eat on-the-go has helped.

On a different note, today is 9/11. I still cannot quite believe how long it has already been and yet how recent it still feels.  Whenever the sky is perfectly blue in September,I always think of that morning, around 8am where I remember noticing how perfect the sky was.  I am still not quite sure why I thought that on that particular morning.