Chicken and Veggie Protein Bowl Recipe for Work Lunches

Pamela Lutrell reminds I Matter

I have a recipe of my own today that I have created for work lunches, my Chicken and Veggie Protein Bowls.  But, allow me to explain the sign first,  I am celebrating my 10th year blogging and when I began one of my goals was to remind women to put themselves at the top of their priority list and not let themselves go…as I personally had done most of my 30s and 40s.  About seven years ago, I had this little sign made and started doing posts called I MATTER posts which were designed to simply remind the readers to do something for themselves.

So, healthy eating and food preparation is a way to say to yourself, I MATTER.  This will be my first I MATTER post for 2020, and I plan for this little reminder to pop up often.  We are so good at taking care of others before ourselves.

Pamela Lutrell makes protein bowls for work lunches

One of the ways I have begun to get my weight back under control is to take lunches to work and eat out less.  There was a two year stretch where I ate lunch out almost every day…not a good idea.  I guess it is a bit anti-social to eat my homemade lunch, but it is making a huge difference in my health.  Protein is important and helps control my hunger, so I developed my own Chicken and Veggie Protein Bowl recipe that I love.  I made homemade chicken soup while I was sick, and took extra chicken and froze the meat, so that is where this batch of chicken is from today. Sometimes I purchase the shredded roasted chicken in our deli at HEB, our fabulous grocery.   I use 

4 cups cooked shredded chicken

One bag of Green Giant Simply Steam Frozen Broccoli

One bag of Green Giant Riced Cauliflower with veggies

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 minced garlic cloves

A smidgeon of ground flaxseed

1 tablespoon of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning

A teaspoon of olive oil

Pamela Lutrell recommends HEB

Put your olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pan and heat it with the onion and garlic until the onion is clear.  Stir in the chicken.  Stir in the Mrs. Dash and the flaxseed.  Taste and see if you want to add a little salt. I have added tumeric before and it is tasty in this dish.  Let this simmer together on low while you steam the veggies in the microwave.

Pamela Lutrell recommends Green Giant

I cook both of the bags in the microwave, but you could also cook them on the stove.  Then I stir it all together…like this……………………………..

Pamela Lutrell's protein bowl mixture

This will make three bowls for three lunches this week.  I really like them…very tasty and heathy.  I am always very hungry at work on the days I go to the gym at 5AM.  Some weeks that is every day from M-F.

Pamela Lutrell on taking lunch to work

By the way,  there are so many cute lunch kits out there.  I feel as excited as I did when I got a new lunch kit to take to school as a kid.  I have some fun items in the slideshow below.

But, never fear, the reader’s style adjective slideshows return tomorrow.  At the end of the news headlines another reader will be featured and I hope to see you then.  Does anyone have a great idea for lunches at work that you would like to share?  Please do….and then……………………..

.

 

KEEP SMILING!!

By Pamela Lutrell

 

11 Comments

  1. I no longer need to tote a lunch to work, but can apply some of the ideas we use when we travel………foil pouches of tuna and salmon are easy to keep and don’t have a strong odor like their tinned counterparts. The trash won’t reek when you discard the pouch. Hard boiled eggs are wonderful……….I do a dozen on a Sunday in my Instant Pot, shell them and stick them in a zip lock bag in the fridge. So handy and so quick.

    You could even (if you have a microwave at work) do a small baked potato or sweet potato. Some lightly cooked broccoli with grated parmesan is also good (altho’ more aromatic 🙂 ) along with your hard boiled egg. Or the potato with a packet of salmon would be filling.

    When we travel I pick up containers of prepared fruits from the deli counters of groceries as we travel and we have pineapple chunks, melon chunks, etc. You could do that prep at home on the weekend and have those containers of fruits (berries, melons, oranges, etc) ready to pop into your lunch bag.

  2. Pam, this looks delicious! I can see lots of variety is possible with other veggies and seasonings. I’m going to try it. (Maybe I can even fool my hubby into thinking it’s real rice.) Keep up your good healthy lifestyle, you matter!!

  3. I loved the I Matter posts featuring different women. It’s always fun to see the sign show up again!

    Though we’re retired now, I spent many years making school lunches for hubby and I (we were both teachers) and for the kids when they were home. Now that we’re no longer working, I still find making lunches a challenge and I’m always looking for new ideas. Your recipe sounds great! I might try it using fresh veggies.

  4. Pam,

    I really hope the “I Matter” posts are a regular appearing post. Any type post on wellness, good eating and taking care of yourself are greatly appreciated! Thanks for your wonderful blog.

  5. Thank YOU, Joanne! I love for readers to let me know the type of content they want to see!

  6. Late reading this post but can’t wait to try this! Lunches are tough for me and can be boring. I usually switch between soup and salads but was running out of ideas.

  7. It is really good, Janet. I am going to make a batch today! I will share some more ideas in the next month!

Comments are closed.