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In last Tuesday’s 097 show I covered 5 Lean, Clean, Breakfasts so today I’m going to keep rolling with the Go 2 Main Meals and cover: 5 Lean, Clean Lunches. 

In the same way that your best breakfast lays the foundation for a great day of eating to come, your best lunch will also set you up for:

A). A productive, effective and efficient afternoon.

B). Making the best dinner choices… rather than falling victim to over-hungry-crap-o-la-dinner-fuel.

If you missed last weeks show I recommend you check it out (again that’s #097) as I also covered the 2 eating personalities:

The RULES Eater, who finds rules freeing and The GUIDELINES Eater, who responds better to general guidelines.

As I’ve mentioned either approach can work.

I’m going to tackle 5 Lean, Clean Lunches from both the RULES and the GUIDELINES angle and you can go with whichever approach resonates with you.

First up the GUIDELINES Eater and 3 simple guidelines to apply to your best lean, clean lunch:

1. Start with a serving of lean protein.

This may be a 100 your fav legumes or pulses, 100 grams of dairy free cheese or (on occasion) meat substitute, a couple of tablespoons of a protein pimped dip like my zucchini hemp hummus… or any combination of the above.

2. Add 3-6 cups of 6-12+ different salad greens and fibrous veg.

This may be any combination of spinach, kale, mushroom, capsicum, cauliflower, zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, rocket, cabbage, tomato etc.

3. Finish with a satisfying good fat.

That’s 1/4 of a large avocado or 50gm nuts/seeds, a spray of coconut or olive oil… or any combination of the above.

So in practice, as the guidelines eater is throwing together tomorrows lunch and thinks: “Hmmm, I fancy a salad tomorrow.” 

=> One solution is to grab a can of 4 bean mix. To then dump 1/2 a bag of pre-washed mixed salad greens into a container with 1-2 cups of left-over broccoli and beans from tonights dinner and some cherry tomatoes. To finish with 1/4 of an avocado and a heaped tablespoon of fresh salsa or hummus.

Optional: Dress with some balsamic that our guidelines eater keeps at work.

Equally, as our guidelines eater has an impromptu business lunch… and faces the menu of carb-fest-stodgeyness… the solution is absolutely NOT burger-and-fries-because-everyone-else-is.

=> Instead one solution is to order the least light-weight salad minus anything you don’t eat. Next to pimp your salad (!) by asking for any of the extras that you see appearing on other parts of the menu OR even carry a serving of nut and/or seeds (like hemp and pumpkin) with you to scatter over that salad.

And now for the RULES Eater.

5 Lean, Clean Go2Lunches:

1. Salad with Fish.

• 100 gram can of salmon in spring water.
• bed of salad greens like baby spinach and rocket. (2-3 cups).
• 1-2 cups steamed snow peas, asparagus, broccoli. (last nights left overs are good)
• half a tomato.
• 1/3 of a cucumber.
• 1/4 avocado.
• salt+pepper.

Easy… assemble.

2. Green Wrap with Veggie Burger.

• 2 large romaine or butter lettuce or collard green leaves.
• 1-2 leftover veggie burgers from last night (here’s a falafel burger recipe).
• a sliced tomato.
• 1/2 a grated carrot and 1/2 a grated zucchini (or go the easy option and use 1 cup of bought undressed coleslaw mix).
• some thinly sliced red onion.
• 1/4 a sliced avocado OR: 1-2 tablespoons chunky guacamole.
• Optional: 1-2 tablespoons fresh salsa or hummus.

Easy… assemble using leaves as wrap base. I’m no cook however if you are then totally check out the rockin guacamole recipe I’ve linked to here from the team at young and raw.

3. Frittata with Salad.

I’m not going to go with super exact quantities – it’s really just what you fancy-what’s in the fridge-what’s on special and fresh. I save on carbs by swapping potato for cauli. This is 4 generous serves… if you’re going to bother it’s worth making extra right? It freezes well.

• 8 free range eggs.
• 1 thinly sliced brown onion.
• 100gm of frozen spinach.
• 1/2 a cauliflower.
• 1/2 a red capsicum. (you can roast this first but I’m too lazy for that).
• 1 bunch of asparagus. (rough end of stalks removed)
• 1 large grated zucchini.
• 1/2 a thinly sliced red onion.
• 1 tablespoon of pesto.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic.
• Parmesan to sprinkle on top.
• Extra virgin olive oil, rock salt, pepper, chili flakes, fresh herbs (I use coriander and thyme).

Cook brown onion in a dash of olive oil – till translucent or golden, as you like it. Crush in 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add frozen spinach to defrost it. Stir in pesto and remove from heat.

Lie roughly sliced cauliflower and capsicum with whole asparagus in a shallow pan and cover with boiling water. When partly cooked remove and slice further.

Mix eggs and add red onion, zucchini, rock salt, pepper, chili flakes and fresh herbs. Add fry-pan ingredients and shallow pan ingredients. Mix well.

Clean fry-pan then heat and coat/spray with extra virgin olive oil. Dump mix into fry-pan and sprinkle with parmesan.

Cook on medium heat until edges lift off easily and it’s golden on the bottom. I cover it for this time. Transfer to the grill to get the top nice and golden. Serve with 1-2 cups of salad greens and a drizzle of balsamic.

4. Green Wrap with Sun-dried tomato and Cashew Cheese.

• 2 large romaine or butter lettuce or collard green leaves.
• some thinly sliced red capsicum.
• a handful or 2 of baby spinach leaves and 1/2 a bunch of asparagus lightly steamed or even raw and peeled into strips (or go the easy option and use 1 cup of bought undressed coleslaw mix).
• some thinly sliced red onion.
• 1/4 a sliced avocado OR: 1-2 tablespoons Chunky Guacamole.
• 2 heaped tablespoons Sun-dried tomato and Cashew Cheese.
• 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds.

Easy… assemble using leaves as wrap base.

5. Salad with Pesto and Seeds.

• Huge bed of salad greens like baby spinach and rocket. (2-3 cups).
• 2 cups steamed veg/or BBQ leftovers like capsicum, mushroom, onion, zucchini (last nights left overs are good… in next weeks Tuesday Tucker show I cover 5 Lean, Clean Dinners including extra protein for lunch the following day)
• half a tomato.
• 1/8 of a red cabbage thinly sliced.
• 1 tablespoon each of hemp and pumpkin seeds.
• chopped fresh coriander to taste.
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh vegan pesto.

Easy… assemble.

Today’s action step is to decide on at least one lean, clean Go2Lunch that you can start with this week.

That’s it for today… in tomorrows Wednesday Weigh-in show I’m covering: 4 Common Patterns Keeping You STUCK.

If you liked this you’ll also like: My Food Diary: Cheat Day + Ideal Fat Burning Day. (part two)

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.