Meatless March Day #3: Dinner on the Go...!

So, day 3, being a Wednesday church night presented the challenge of eating away from home and veering off the menu.  I had originally planned to cook but because of Nate's commute home after work and then back to church, we don't have time to eat at home. So, we typically meet at church or the park to eat.  We don't really eat out for a number of reasons, so that isn't an option. At church, they serve Domino's pizza and a drink for $1.  That is tempting and I won't lie, we have done it before.  But, we just decided not to anymore because we felt yucky after eating it and now of course it isn't meat or dairy-free, so it wasn't even an option.

So, I threw together salads for us and gave the kids the choice of pizza or salad, they chose pizza. So...yes we had to smell it and on the off chance they didn't finish theirs, which they did, we had to prepare ourselves to throw any leftovers away.  I wanted to make a salad that would be filling, tasty and healthy in addition to meat and dairy free, so here is what I came up with.

1 bag of Spinach & Arugula mix greens
3 Tbsp raw almonds, sliced
3 Tbsp pistachios
3 Tbsp sunflower seeds
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
3 Tbsp Balsamic Italian dressing from Trader Joe's, wanted to make my own dressing but ran out of time!

I tossed everything in a big bowl and then divided into 2 containers.  Don't forget the plastic forks, like I almost did! I also packed a clementine and bottle of water for everyone.  It was pretty filling but I do think we like all spinach better, rather than the mix of greens. Also, a bag and a half of spinach will be much better for our appetites next time.  As we are adjusting to no meat I am having to get used to seriously bumping up our portions of the veggies.  Like on day #2 with the 2 lbs.of broccoli! :)

But overall, we are feeling great and the biggest challenge has been still having the meat and cheeses in the house, because we didn't want to throw out what we had and figured we had company that was coming this weekend that would eat it...so, there it sits, waiting to be eaten...but not by us!! 

-Nicole