Use your home baked bread and make a good old fashioned PB&J sandwich. Wrap that up and pack your lunch bag with a banana, an apple and your PB&J. Enjoy! Mix it up by changing around the types of jellies and jams. One day use the doctored up PB and another day try the honey PB. For a more decadent treat, try a chocolate PB and sliced banana sandwich!
Grilled Peanut Butter Sandwiches!
This was one of my favorites when on the LID. Use your home baked bread to make a PB&J and "butter" the outside with the salt-free, dairy-free margarine. Toss into a frying pan on medium and grill until browned. Flip and cover until the other side is browned. Slice and enjoy! Have napkins handy - this is a messy lunch! My personal favorite is a grilled PB and banana sandwich made with chcolate PB, sliced banana and about 10 or so dark chocolate chips sprinkled on. Butter the outside and fry that up and it's lunch and dessert all together!
Snacks for your lunch bag:
When on the LID, snacking is difficult. The best option and most healthiest option is hand fruit. Apples, pears, oranges, bananas, clementines, etc. Eat these as much as you desire. Another snack idea is celery and peanut butter or carrots and peanut butter. I'd suggest taking this along as a snack when not having a PB sandwich for lunch. Another snack idea is a home made snack bar.
Home Made LID Snack Bar:
- 3 Tablespoons salt-free, dairy-free margarine
- 10 oz. marshmallows (Kraft Campfire brand is safe as of this date - always read ingredients)
- 1/2 cup doctored up peanut butter, room temperature
- 6 cups puffed wheat cereal (plain, no salt)
Variation: Reduce the amount of cereal by a half cup and add in a half cup of dried fruit of your choice such as cherries or blueberries.
Other lunch ideas:
If you eat peanut butter and snack bars all the time, you'll end up gaining weight on the LID - this is not a good idea. Generally if you are going off your meds and hypo-thyroid, you'll tend to gain some weight anyway so try to eat a balanced diet and use these recipes here to jazz things up.
Other good lunch ideas include a tossed salad made with iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, celery etc. For a dressing mix olive oil and apple cider vinegar together to taste. Add crumbled dried herbs that you enjoy such as parsley, oregano, rosemary, etc. Add in some Kosher salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and add to your salad. You can top your salad with a small portion of grilled chicken breast (3 oz or less). You need to keep your meat intake relatively low since there is iodine in the animal feed. But remember that this is a LOW iodine diet, not an iodine-free diet. You need your protein and it's fine to eat some chicken and other healthy meats.
You can also make sandwhiches with the home baked bread such as sliced grilled chicken with lettuce and tomato. Condiments are difficult. They all contain salt. So you can not have katsup, mustard, mayo unless you are going to get creative and make things from scratch. I find that "buttering" my home made bread with the spread you made earlier adds enough moisture to most sandwiches. Also try using mashed up avocado as your "mayo."
If you are daring, you can make home made mayo. Go to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise and read about it. My suggestion is to look for pasteurized eggs so that you are not going to make yourself sick from raw egg. I also am of the opinion that making an entire jar of mayo (which you will NOT eat in two weeks time) using one pasteurized egg yolk is safe for the LID. Technically egg yolks are NOT on this diet. But think about it: You use one pasteurized egg yolk and you'll end up consuming a smidgen of that yolk on a sandwich. Since the LID is not an iodine-free diet, I believe you will be OK doing this - but please know that the official medical recommendation is no egg yolks! You can make mayo without the yolk, but it's harder to do. You are best to use some mustard powder in the receipe to add some additional lecithin. You'll also need a food processor if you don't use the yolk. If you do make home made mayo, you'll be able to expand your sandwich options!
