‘Back to school… back to school to prove to Dad that I’m not a fool!!!
….I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don’t get in a fight,
Oh, back to school…back to school….’
I’m currently in the midst of my first week back at university. I study exercise and sports science and have just entered my second year of the degree. The first week back at school is always a buzz. While the early mornings are a bit of a shock (my first lecture on Monday was at 8am), I’m excited to see my friends and hit the ridiculously expensive books again.
Our campus is dedicated to health science disciplines only so it’s quite small, but has all the basics we need: Bookshop, Gym, Library, Computer Lab, and of course the ‘Food Court’. I call it a ‘Food Court’ because it really is only one venue with 3 different options: Sandwich, Hot lunch option, or Salad. Because of my dietary restrictions, I’m pretty much limited to the salad option if I wanted to buy my lunch. So instead I pack my lunch.
By packing my lunch I avoid lines at the food court, save money, and get a lot more variety in my diet! But it also means being prepared at the beginning of the week with lots of ready-made items in the fridge. I usually dedicate Sunday to food prep and meal planning. My mom and I sit down and plan out dinners for the week, which gives me an idea of what leftovers I can take for lunch the next day. On top of that I also prepare some basic staples, so I can pack everything up with minimal effort when I’m in a rush (which is most days). Here is a basic rundown of what I prepare for Low FODMAP lunches:
- Baked sweet potato
- Steamed brown rice
- Simple Salmon Slice
- Grilled chicken breast
- Chopped up veggies (raw carrots, celery, cucumber, and capsicum)
- Wash salad & baby spinach
- Sliced fruit
- Packs of unsalted nuts
- Sweet baked treat (E.g. Paleo Banana Bread, GF Mocha Walnut Muffins, or Carrot & Pineapple Protein Muffins)
One of my favourite new recipes is the simple salmon slice. This delicious slice is dairy free, gluten free, and of course Low FODMAP. It is full of protein from the salmon and eggs, but also has lots of fibre from the grated vegetables. The beauty of this recipe is you can easily change up the ingredients depending on what you have in the fridge. I’ve included the basic recipe below along with some suggestions for variations and options for vegetarians.
Simple Salmon Slice
Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 25 – 30 mins
Makes 9 slices
Ingredients
- 250g sweet potato, grated
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 medium zucchini, grated
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- ½ cup coriander, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch chives OR 5 spring onions (green part only), roughly chopped
- 1 lemon, zested
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 3 eggs
- 415g can pink salmon, in spring water, drained
- Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F). Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
- Squeeze excess water out of grated sweet potato, carrot, and zucchini and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add celery, chopped coriander, chives or spring onions, lemon zest, lemon juice and ground flaxseed. Mix together thoroughly.
- In another bowl, roughly mash salmon with a fork. The salmon bones are a great source of calcium so leave them in, but be sure to crush them up.
- Transfer mashed salmon to vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Crack eggs into a measuring cup and season with salt and pepper. Whisk eggs to break up yolks, then add to salmon vegetable mixture. Mix everything together well.
- Press mixture into prepared cake tin. Use the back of a wooden spoon or spatula to smooth the top of the slice.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes, or until golden and firm.
- Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out. Cut into pieces and serve immediately, or pack away and refrigerate for later. Slice can also be individually wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
Simple lunch idea: 2 salmon slices, salad, fruit, and raw almonds
Nutrients per serve (1/9th of the recipe): Calories: 102, Total Fat: 3.9g, Total Carb: 7g, Sugars: 2.8g, Dietary Fibre: 1.3g, Protein: 9.8g
Variations
Vegetarian Options
- Full of Beans: Replace salmon with a can of Four Bean mix(or other legumes, such as chickpeas), drained and roughly mashed. You may need to reduce the eggs to 2.
- Tempting Tempeh Slice: Replace salmon with 300g grated tempeh. Replace the lemon zest and juice with 1 tbsp sweet or hot chilli sauce (or finely chopped chilli to reduce sugar), 1 tbsp reduced salt tamari and 1 tbsp grated ginger. You may need to reduce the eggs to 2 (add another if mixture appears too dry).
Other Variations
- Tuna & Sweet Corn. Replace salmon with 415g can of tuna in spring water, drained. Omit sweet potato and add 1 cup canned corn kernels and ½ cup mashed potato.
- Chicken Fajita Slice. Replace salmon with 2 cups cooked shredded chicken. Replace sweet potato, carrot and zucchini with 1 cup cooked brown rice, 1 chopped red and green capsicum. Replace lemon juice and zest for lime juice and zest. Add ½ tsp ground cumin, ¼ tsp chilli powder, and ¼ tsp smoked paprika. Serve with salsa.
To download a printable version of the recipe click here: Simple Salmon Slice
What are your lunchbox essentials?
Do you prefer hot or cold lunches?
Yum … I’m definitely giving these a go! I like the fact that they are low in fat in calories and high in protein … and flax is becoming a new superfood because of it’s high nutrient and antioxidant qualities. These and a bit of brown rice would make an excellent post workout meal. Thanks for the inspiration.
They are so quick and easy which makes them perfect for a speedy dinner or snack. Hope you enjoy
The salmon squares look just delicious. I’m definitely giving them a try!
Great looking lunches! Excellent ideas all around. I also plan ahead and do a lot of cooking on Sundays: pre-make lunch salads, protein pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, roasted chicken breasts, the works… My go-to lunch (nearly every day) is a BIG salad with spinach, bell peppers, zucchini, cucumber, chicken or lentils, sometimes grains, sometimes avocado or apple… with hemp oil and Bragg’s for dressing. But if I don’t chop and mix it all ahead of time, I make poor lunch choices, sadly. It takes some work but is totally worth it to plan!
planning really takes the stress away when it comes time to pack things up. I love hard-boiled eggs as well…they are also an essential in my lunches
The food options for lunch are pretty poor where I work and I often bring my own lunch. Will be adding your salmon slice to my list of lunch ideas.
yay! hope you enjoy them. p.s. are you going to the meetup on sunday?
Oooooo – they sound so good! I was excited to try them and then I remembered our oven is broken. Do you think they will cook up in the microwave?
These salmon squares look awesome, I can’t wait to make them! I usually just pack chicken and some veggies and fruit for lunch, so this will be a nice change-up! Yay!
Hope you enjoy it! I always pack up lots of veggies to snack on…so nice and fresh
Wow, these look impressive. I’m new to your site and desperate for new meal ideas. I eat the exact same things every day and I think the reason my stomach is giving me so much trouble is because of that reason. I’m not mentally ready to eliminate foods from my diet, but I hope that if I add more variety than things might settle…I hope.
Would you be able to show your lunchbox everyday this week?
Actually I’d love to see a few posts wherre you show every meal/snack. I really struggle with how to put things together in a day.
I currently have to gain about 15 lbs and unfortunately don’t even exercise (I know..shameful and has to be the wrong way about this…suggestions?). Anyway, I really need a consistent, but simple meal plan but am at a loss. I keep eating the same things and fearing the same foods and end up eating way way too much at night (like a ton of nuts or something).
hey there!!! thanks for reading the blog…i will try and do a post on meal planning at some point if I can
Looks really good. I am always looking for healthy lunch ideas. During the week days, my core lunch is made up of baby carrots and greek yogurt. I add either a turkey, ham, or sunbutter sandwich on a whole wheat roll. If I need a snack in the afternoon I have either trail mix or peanut butter pretzels. Sometimes I might make something that I can bring to work for a few days.
sunbutter…is that sunflower seed butter? I’ve never tried that before…what does it taste like? I’m a total peanut butter addict (p.s. it’s national peanut cluster day today…yumm!)
Yes it is sunflower seed butter. It is like peanut butter but creamier. Periodically you have to stir the oils back into the butter. I make my sandwich the night before and put it into the refrigerator. It is creamier and thinner than peanut butter so I place in the refrigerator to keep it more firm. I also like almond butter! I use it like regular butter – but never made a sandwich with it.
sunbutter is addictive. SO good.
I really want to look into FODMAP but truth be told, I am lazyyy. The salmon slices look excellent.
thanks! the Low FODMAP thing can be quite restrictive and I’m having a dietitian guide me through the process which has made it a lot easier! are you still going through with the motility testing?
Your salmon slices look amazing!! Good luck at school!
thanks…have lots of work ahead of me
Whoa baby, that salmon slice looks phenomenal… then again, anything with SALMON in the title sounds AMAZING to me!
Great post. My lunchbox essential: nuts, sometimes with golden raisins or dried cherries. They are the mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Natural peanut butter on wheat is another old standby.
totally! peanut butter or PB&J sandwiches are so yummy
Hi! Thank you for sharing this great recipe! I want to try it, but I have a few questions.
Thanks!
(If it’s low FODMAP, that is!) 
1.) What does “250 sweet potato” mean? Is that a weight? If so, do you think that would be about a ‘medium’ size potato??
2.) So, (still about the sweet potato), you can put it in raw and it cooks fine?
3.) Is tuna low FODMAP?? I don’t know if I can make myself try salmon, but I could do tuna!
Thanks so much!!
Hi Maryann! Glad you like the recipe…250g is about one medium sweet potato and yes you put it in raw. It is in the oven long enough to cook through. And feel free to use whatever kind of protein you like (meat and fish is all low FODMAP)!!! There are a few variations below the recipe to give you some other ideas
Awesome! Thank you!!
Wow, I just made the simple salmon slice recipe and it is so good!! I’m on my second helping, definitely going to give the others a try too. My doctor just put me on a low FODMAP diet due to a small bowel resection and I’m desperate for great tasting recipes. Thank you for this one!!
That’s so good to hear!!! It’s a staple around here too….a great grab and go snack before my workouts
You can check out the other low FODMAP recipes under the recipe tab or check out my pinterest page for more ideas to help you along the way!