Tuna with a side of veggies

As a law student, I pretty much live at school. Really, I may as well give them my rent money in exchange for a cot and access to showers. With a 20 minute commute, plus the crazy expensive lunch options in NYC, I try to make myself pack my meals beforehand to keep in the school refrigerators. While this requires preparation and forethought, I'm hoping it won't be too bad and it will be worth it for my bank account in the long run.

Last semester, when I packed sandwiches I always wrapped them in tin foil which I found to be pretty wasteful. I also usually hate the little bread-shaped sandwich containers because I try to eat with whole wheat bread, which for some reason is typically wider than your average bread and therefore, wider than your average bread-shaped sandwich container. Luckily, before school began I was in Bed Bath & Beyond and found this really cute and functional sandwich container in those $5 bins near the checkout. It not only holds a solid sized (whole wheat) sandwich, but it also has two separate areas for various side snacks like... vegetables!

Today for lunch, I decided to throw together a tuna fish sandwich. Like I previously warned, I am not a master chef. My tastes are also quite simple: I don't even add lettuce or tomato to my sandwich (which I know goes against my life goal and point of this blog). First, I started off with this fabulous relish I picked up at the farmer's market for $5, from Millport Dairy in PA:

This might not be a "vegetable" per se but look at all the things in there! We got peppers, green tomatoes, AND onions! ...okay, this is a stretch somewhat and the sugar in it is what's making it so delicious, but it's better than nothing. I added a good amount in (more than shown in the picture actually) with some light mayo:

Since I know "relish" is not really a "vegetable," I put those side containers to use and filled it up with some fresh cucumbers that I washed and chopped, and cherry tomatoes. All were picked up at the farmer's market. The cucumber, I think, was 75¢ and the cherry tomatoes were $3 a box. However, I honestly would have paid $5+ because these were the BEST cherry tomatoes EVER. So crazy sweet and delicious, they legitimately taste like candy... I threw in some grapes later on too, to add some fruit in the mix, as well a as a small bag of Pirate's Booty!

My school's cafe has some ranch dressing which I picked up for 54¢, so altogether it was not too much work or too much money for a healthy and quick lunch packed with veggies!

Tips for Enjoying

• Smother in (lite) ranch dressing.
• Thin slices! I find a thinner cucumber is much more enjoyable than a chunk of cucumber.
• Peel the cucumber. I don't have a peeler (yet) but sometimes the skin was a little chewy. It probably has a crazy ton of nutrients though (I'm just taking a wild guess since I never know these things) but if you hate it, just peel it quickly before slicing.
• Give yourself veggie options (refer to cucumber fatigue below).
• (If you can) buy cherry tomatoes from a farmer's market vs. the grocery. Check out this NYT Article for an explanation as to why grocery tomatoes are flavorless.

- V

PS: I'm not gonna lie, the grapes ended up having something weird on them so I stopped eating them and, although I finished all the cucumber slices (about half a cucumber), I was getting a little sick of them. That's why it was nice to have the cherry tomatoes as a delicious alternative when cucumber fatigue set in.

First attempt at blogging

Okay, right off the bat, here are the essentials:

• I am a law student. This means:
• I have no time.
• I have no money.
• I love bullet points.
• I hate vegetables.
• I am trying to eat more vegetables, while saving on both time and money (see above).

In addition, like most newly minted 20-somethings, I find myself living on my own for the first time (dun dun dunnn)! What that means in terms of this blog is that I am learning (very slowly) to cook for myself. This brings me to a very important point that I will also now bullet, to emphasize its important-ness:

• I am not a cook.

I possess no cooking skills. I think I have three spices in my kitchen. I have never broiled anything. However, this year I have decided I need to learn how to eat more vegetables; this is mainly for obvious health reasons. I don't like it, but there's very little going around it. I will never give up meat (see: disclaimer), but I will now try to pair my steaks and chicken with some greens and figure out how to make it work.

This should be fun. Finally, in addition to "vegetables," V is also for...

-Vanessa

(and Vendetta)