Lunch, Day 4

Health and fitness query of the day:
Does walking about a half-mile to the grocery store still count as exercise if I went there to get Easter candy at 50% off under the guise of doing a weekly shop? :)

So far I've been enjoying the lunch challenge. It feels good to be putting some effort into the mid-day meal once again and I usually have enough from one day's lunch prep to get me through an extra day or two afterwards (which is the main reason my lunch challenge isn't taking place over 30 consecutive days). And even if I end up scarfing down the sandwich in front of my computer or sneaking in bites while folding laundry, the actual act of preparing the meal provides a nice break in my day. And lunch usually falls around when Phee is napping, so I'm able to enjoy that time for myself.

Today's lunch choice ended up taking quite a bit of time. It was worth it, but I need to start screening recipes for efficiency from now on. Once again I went out in search of something that I had ingredients for already. I found this recipe for Turkey Salad with Amonds and Dried Cherries and it sounded both delicious and different. I believe this is one of the many recipes that pop up in November issues of cooking magazines offering up creative ways to burn through all of that leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't have any turkey on hand, so I opted to roast some turkey breast cutlets and use half for this recipe and half for another lunch this week. So it took a while to cook the turkey and then I had to prep the rest of the ingredients. I made a few adjustments, using things that I already had which I figured would work equally well (e.g. whole raw almonds toasted and chopped instead of pre-sliced almonds; freshly ground ginger instead of whatever jarred product they called for in the recipe) and I added salt, which is notoriously absent (or in too small quantities) in Cooking Light's recipes. My pita didn't hold up very well under the weight of the finished salad, but it was really good nonetheless. This would be equally good with some poached chicken breasts, but I'm definitely filing this one away for when we actually do have leftover turkey to eat our way through come November.