I went from old faithfuls for breakfast to new-and-excitings for lunch. I ate my lunch in stages today. Follow along with my on my lunch journey!
First up, a salad. Nothing fancy, just spinach, bell pepper, snap peas, and cuke (with Newman’s Lighten Up balsamic vinaigrette, of course):
I took that pic halfway through eating, so imagine that container doubly full.
I had to repurpose the same tupperware for my next stage. Once I finished my salad, I wiped out the excess dressing and poured this new soup in:
Into the tupperware it went:
The people at Right Foods McDougall’s were nice enough to send me a sampling of their new line of soups. You’ve probably seen these popping up all over the foodie blogosphere. I’d say they’re a mixed bag. The good:
- Eco-friendly packaging, no “canned” taste.
- BPA-free packaging (which the makers claim is a concern in cans).
- Many of the soups are gluten-free.
- Highly portable… no can-opener needed!
- Low sodium.
- Vegan.
- They come in lots o’ flavors: Chunky Tomato, Black Bean, Vegetable, Lentil, Roasted Pepper Tomato, Minestrone (the one I sampled today), Split Pea
The bad:
- Bland, bland, bland! If I were at home, I would have doctored this soup up with a bit more salt, some crushed red pepper, and maybe even some parmesan.
- The consistency wasn’t great. Everything sort of tasted the same in my mouth, which is not what I look for in a soup.
Overall? I’m definitely planning on plowing my way through all seven flavors, but I’m not super excited about it. Oh well, it still warmed me up and did the job.
For the next stage of my lunch, I tried another new-to-me food: Popchips! I’ve seen these on some blogs, too, but didn’t get a chance to try them until recently:
Okay, love. I’m in love with these bad boys. Popchips aren’t baked or fried, but rather (as the name implies) popped. This means they’re really low calorie (120 calories, 4g fat, 1g fiber, and 1g protein for a very reasonable serving). If you eat a whole bag in one sitting — which I feel isn’t an unrealistic possibility — it only packs 360 calories. The company also has an all-natural pledge:
No fake colors, no fake flavors, no preservatives, no fluorescent orange fingertips, and no wiping your greasy chip hand on your jeans. No, really. We only use ingredients you can feel good about eating. And we leave out the bad stuff, like hydrogenated oils and msg, that give snacking a bad name.
I tried the salt and pepper flavor. I definitely want to try some of the other flavors (there are seven!), but the S&P Popchips are pretty darn tasty… the perfect combo of savory salt and peppery punch.
These are definitely going to become my snack chip of choice. Check your nearest Whole Foods or Target (that’s where I got mine!) to get your own bag.
