My go-to summer lunch

Summer is all about ease right? How can I simplify my life and stay outside as much as possible (where the mess is always more underwhelming) and still feed my child a nutritious lunch. My new go to is one of my loaded pasta salads. Now please do no confuse this with the goop you buy at the grocery store,  I pack the nutrition into this thing. Now as usual I cook without a recipe book so this is  a pretty loose "recipe".

The easiest start is to plan ahead unfortunately. When I am "doing" breakfast I throw on a pot of noodles and maybe some eggs to boil. Drain them and throw them back into the fridge.

My best customer enjoying her third bowl!

Come lunch time it is time to get out your cutting board and put away the pots and pans. I generally just use cold foods and leftovers, to cut down on prep time. Even my less than patient little can wait in her chair the little time it takes me to chop. Basically you can go anywhere from here, but of course try to include each of the 4 food groups. My suggestions include

Protein

Ham

Egg

Turkey

crab

roast beef

whatever you had for dinner last night chopped up ;)

Veggies

Tomato

Cucumber

Peppers of any kind

Avocado

Carrot slivers

onions

Whatever you find in your veggie bin

For dairy you are pretty much stuck with cheese, but I rarely see kids who complain about that! You can also just skip it and serve it with a cup of milk. Some people might throw some fruit like apple slices in there, but I am weird and can't stand savoury and sweet mixed together.

So once you have everything chopped just throw it together with a little sauce. Mayonnaise is an obvious choice, but get creative! You can try salad dressings, balsamic vinegar and olive oil or even something tomato based.

I know this is a pretty loose recipe, but I just wanted to inspire you all to try some new combinations and show you how I pull of a quick nutritious lunch. Who wants to be stuck in the dark kitchen in this  weather!?

-By Erin Smith