California Brown Rice Salad ~ submitted by Lauren Pierini

This Easy Gourmet Recipe submission is perfect for a summer picnic or barbeque.

Ingredients:

1 Shallot, chopped
2 cups Cooked Brown Rice
1 Tomato, diced
1/2 Cucumber, diced
2 tbsp Arugula, finely chopped
1 Avocado, cubed
1/3 cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
Juice of Half a Lemon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Prepare your Brown Rice according to the package details and set aside.

Dice your Tomato and half a Cucumber into small pieces and finely chop your arugula and shallot. Set these aside. 

Sauté the chopped shallot in a skillet with a swirl of olive oil. Add two cups of the cooked brown rice, the diced tomato and cucumber, along with your arugula. Cube your avocado and scoop into the mix, discarding the black shell. Add your Crumbled Feta Cheese and squeeze one half of a Lemon over the salad, then Salt and Pepper to taste.  Mix until just incorporated and lightly warmed.

Serve as a side to salmon or as an addition to a green salad. 

Crisp and Cool Bento Salad

This Week's Bento Lunch

Now that the weather is heating up, salads are a lunch time must. This week, we added pumpkin seeds and sprouts to some arugula from the garden. Crisp, cool, and seasonally fresh, this salad is sure become a staple around here this summer.


Click here to view this week's full menu.

An Apple A Day

This Week's Bento Lunch

Crisp, tart apples abound this time of year and can be prepared in a variety of ways. For many lunchpackers, fresh apples are a weekly lunch staple but, as the days cool, consider steaming your apples and seasoning with cinnamon. Add a side salad of arugula with Italian dressing, cherry tomatos, spanakopita, and cheddar soy crisps and you've got lunch!

Click here to view this week's full menu.

Food Day Celebration Lunch

This Week's Lunch Photo

Monday's Food Day was on our minds when we put together this week's bento lunch. We're looking forward to celebrating real food and supporting this important movement with local, healthy and delicious lunches such as this!

Click here to view this week's full menu.

Arugula & Walnut Salad

This Week's Photo



Menu

* Arugula & Walnut Salad
* Garlic Lemon Dressing
* Apple Strudel
* End-of-Summer Cherry Tomatoes


Preparation Notes

The end of the tomato season is always a bit hard to stomach, but it does mean that apples are ready for picking, providing a good excuse to pack apples and apple treats--like apple strudel. For a less caloric strudel, add extra apples and reduce the amount of fillo dough and butter. And be sure to pack a healthy portion of greens for your main course.

Create an arugula salad with baby arugula, sliced radishes, and walnut halves. Pair this with a delicious dressing made of garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Add a handful of cherry tomatoes to eat on their own or to add to the salad.