Lunch
Moving onto lunch, I love to go for a nice bike ride and have a cool picnic in the park with my family. My favorite lunch consists of finger foods that travel well and fill us up on the go.
To begin with we are always sure to pack lots of fresh, cold water. Because of the heat sensitivity that accompanies MS, when I get out in that hot sun, my body wants to shut down in a jiffy! I hate to risk having to stop somewhere until my husband can get back to the car and return to save me from the side of the trail. That is a nightmare that I never want to live through. So I like to fill our water bottles the evening before and toss them into the freezer. This way, they slowly melt during our ride and we are always blessed with a cool-down drink.
As for the lunch itself, I really do stick with certain go-to finger foods. Our family favorite is ham sandwiches with edamame spread.
Ham with Edamame Spread Sandwiches
Ingredients:
- Sliced whole wheat bread
- 1 pound sliced lunchmeat ham
- 12 ounce bag frozen edamame
- 6 ounces kefir yogurt
- 1 lemon
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a medium bowl warm up your edamame in the microwave for about three minutes.
- Once it is warm, add your garlic and the juice of your lemon. Feel free to add the zest of your lemon too – it all depends on how much citrus you prefer.
- Give it all a good stir and pour in your kefir yogurt. I like to use a stick blender, but you can use any kind of blending method. The goal is to gain a very smooth consistency.
- Once you have that nice, smooth consistency, stir in salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread a tablespoon or two onto a slice of bread, add your ham and then put the top slice of bread on your sandwich.
The spread will yield enough servings to make several sandwiches. You can make these babies up ahead of time and keep them nice and chilled to eat whenever.
I love these because the edamame are full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients like vitamin D, vitamin K, protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, thiamin and folate. The kefir yogurt is also full of nutrients and is known for helping your immune system - which is great for us MSers!
This meal will leave you fully satisfied while it feeds your whole body the way it’s meant to be fed. All of this and not a moment standing over a hot stove!
