"> " /> ">

10 Filling, Healthy Lunches

By , SparkPeople Blogger
Editor's Note: All this week, we're sharing meals, snacks and even desserts that can fit into your daily life. We combine our recipes with simple and nutritious sides for healthy meals, snacks and desserts that are calorie-conscious. You'll be amazed that you can fill your plate and still fit into your jeans the next day. (Find the whole series here.)

Brown bagging never sounded so good.

Today we're sharing 10 lunches that feature recipes from "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight"--each with about 400 calories and many with less.

We want you to see how filling these lunches can be, how they rival what you could get at a fancy downtown bistro or your favorite sandwich shop, but for much less money. When all your co-workers see you bringing in Chef Meg's recipes, you'll be the envy of the breakroom.

We want to show you how these recipes are not only nutritious, they're delicious.
You'll need to pick up a copy of "The SparkPeople Cookbook" to access the recipes, but we will share some sneak peeks this week--and you can easily add recipes from the cookbook to your SparkPeople Nutrition Tracker, too!

So let's do lunch, shall we?
 
  1. Lower Count of Monte Cristo Sandwich with Life-saving Lentil Soup (372 calories)

     
  2. Baby Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Toasted Almonds with 3 ounces grilled chicken breast, 1 Multi Grain Roll and 1 square dark chocolate (388 calories)
  3. Beef and Blue Sandwich with 1 cup cherries (399 calories)
  4. Salade Nicoise with Crispy Capers and 1 slice whole-wheat bread (412 calories)
  5. Roasted Beet Salad with 1 serving whole-wheat crackers and 1/2 cup lentils (438 calories)
  6. Chicken Kebob Pitas with Creamy Cucumber Sauce and 1 apple with 1 cup skim milk (425 calories)
  7. Black Bean and Corn Salad atop 2 cups spinach with 1 serving baked tortillas chips topped with 1 ounce reduced-fat Cheddar (326 calories)
  8. Cheesy Pesto Bella Burgers with Baked Sunburst Fries and ketchup (414 calories)
  9. Crunchy Chicken Salad with 1/2 cup bulgur, 1 cup grapes and 1 cup milk (422 calories)
  10. Grilled Veggie Sandwiches with Fresh Mozzarella and Watercress Tomato Salad (394 calories)
What was in your lunch today?
photos by Randall Hoover Photography