Working remotely from home is a dream come true for me! As a Project Manager for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Foundation, I am so fortunate to have the flexibility to work from home or the shore since the pandemic hit, and possible may be able to continue to do so in the latter part of 2021 and beyond. (Thank you to my leadership at the Foundation and the CHOP Enterprise.) Traveling into Philadelphia from the northern suburbs can take anywhere from 45 – 60+ minutes one way. There were many days that I enjoyed being in the office and seeing my colleagues, face to face in meetings, going out to lunch, running errands, etc. But by the time I came home at night, it could be 7 PM or later.

I have officially turned my Living Room into my office and set up my Pottery Barn desk so I could face out toward my front windows, painted the room a soft gray along with a new silver-gray carpet. Oh, and I purchased an “under the desk treadmill” back in November 2020 and haven’t quite broken it in yet. Shame on me! With this wonderful opportunity to work at home also came 20+ pounds to my already amply built “body! That’s a nice way to say overweight! My intentions were in the right place, but my mind and body weren’t!

Now I don’t know about you but being at a desk all day going from virtual meeting to meeting does have its drawback. I tend not to get up from my desk more than 1 – 2 times/day on some days and realize I can’t remain doing this or else there will be another 20+ pounds on this body of mine!

So I’m committing to getting up 4 times per day and take a 5-minute break or walk around the house, block, or get on that dog gone treadmill and MOVE! I’m also committing to taking a break for lunch, and making myself a quick, healthy meal so I don’t starve until dinner and then devour everything in sight!

This Monday, May 24^th, I am setting myself up for putting in a lot of hours at my job so I can take off Friday the 28^th for a long Memorial Day weekend. I’m starting to plan my menu for the weekend as my kids and granddaughter will visit us at the shore. I can’t wait! Of course the menu must include some sort of grill option like my balsamic grilled flank steak, a cold pasta or potato salad of some kind, maybe my red potato salad, corn on the cob with an herbed butter, and a couple different summer fun drinks, like bourbon and ginger beer with mint, or my mango margarita! The choices are endless!

But I must focus on the task at hand, my day job responsibilities. Time for a quick break for lunch. I had some extra eggs to use so I boiled them to make a hearty egg salad for protein and placed it over crispy romaine. My family and friends know me to put everything but the kitchen sink in some of my dishes, and that’s almost what I did with this one! I hard boiled ½ dozen eggs, sliced them in one of those egg slicers your mom had in her kitchen, added an avocado, some red peppers, scallions, cucumber (I didn’t have celery), mayo, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, fresh thyme, and green olives with a little olive juice. And voila!

Because I had the eggs, I used them, and everything took about 30 minutes or so to put it together. If you have tuna or shredded chicken, you can substitute either of those, and you won’t even need a salad dressing! But if you’d like, you can drizzle a little olive, or avocado oil and rice or white vinegar on the salad.

I had to hop onto a call after I made the salad, but once I finished the call, I sat and enjoyed my salad for a few minutes. I read somewhere that you should focus on your food when you eat and not be distracted by a TV, the Computer, or even a book. That’s really hard to do! But either way, think about taking the time to treat yourself to a homemade lunch and not feel guilty about it! If I can do it, you can too!

‘til next time…..

Let’s Get Cookin’

Print Recipe

"EGGstra" Special Egg Salad

This egg salad is a quick and easy way to make a healthy lunch packing a lot of protein when you need the extra brain power to get through the day! You can substitute with whatever veggies you have in the fridge! Put on a salad, in a wrap, or toasted bread with cheese and bacon! Anything goes!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Course: Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Servings: 3 people

Equipment

• Medium Saucepan
• Medium Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 1 medium avocado
• 1/4 large red pepper
• 1/4 English or regular cucumber
• 1 single green onion stalk (scallion)
• 6 grape tomatoes
• 3 large green olives
• 1 tsp green olive juice
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 TBLSP Dijon mustard
• 1 TBLSP fresh Thyme
• 1 tsp kosher or sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 6-8 Romaine leaves
• 4 Pita or Tortilla Slices

Instructions

• Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with water.
• Turn burner on high and boil for 15 - 20 minutes.
• While eggs are boiling, dice up peppers, green onion, cucumber or celery and green olives.
• Remove flesh from avocado and chop into small squares.
• Pull off leaves from the Thyme stems.
• Remove the eggs once done, and rinse with cold water until they are cool to the touch.
• Peel eggs and rough chop them or slice them through an egg slicer lengthwise then the opposite way.
• Place all ingredients in a medium size bowl.
• Gently mix until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
• Plate romaine in a low rimmed salad bowl, with a large plate underneath. Scoop the egg salad on top of the romaine, and garnish with grape tomatoes. Arrange slices of pita or tortillas cut in triangles around the plate.