Do people use thermoses anymore? I remember when I was a kid, you always got a matching thermos with your themed lunchbox. They don’t come with them anymore, you have to buy them separately. But I always loved my thermos! There was either something cool and refreshing to drink on a hot day, or some sort of warm soup to keep me nice and toasty on a cold day.
In a way, it seems like thermoses have gone “out of style”. I could be wrong, but it just seems that people don’t use them all that much anymore.
Well, I’d like to revive those wonderful gadgets. What better way to take a nice warm meal to school or lunch than in a thermos?! So today, I put together a roundup of 10 clean-eating thermos-ready lunch recipes you can easily take for lunch in a thermos.
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Southwestern Turkey Chili
This southwestern turkey chili recipe is what you should make for dinner tonight! I love a nice steaming bowl of good chili on a cold winter night. Few things can beat it. It makes everyone at the dinner table happy and fills up your tummy with good food and comfort. Better still is when that chili is fairly quick and simple to make.
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Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Oh ya, this is the good stuff. I mean, cheddar and broccoli are such a wonderful, comforting combination anyway. But turn that into soup and you’ve got a wonderful meal for a cold winter night! It’s creamy, brothy, savory, and just the right balance of cheese and green veg. I try not to make this too often, but it’s hard not to want this every night when it’s chilly out! This is also great for a busy weeknight, too. It cooks up pretty quickly (10-15 minutes!). The ingredients are basic, you probably have most of them on hand already, and if not, a quick trip to any grocery store will get you what you need.
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Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Soup
I make a lot of rotisserie-style chicken in my slow cooker. I do this at least once a week, sometimes twice. And while we usually eat most of it, sometimes we do have chicken left over. So instead of eating the same old chicken and getting bored with it, I pack it away in the fridge while my slow cooker makes chicken stock overnight. Then with that broth, I make this soup in the slow cooker as well! My slow cooker does all the cooking for two days straight, leaving me free to do other things as well as keeping dinner interesting. That’s a win-win in my book! Now I should mention that I have a 5-quart slow cooker. So this is what works for me. If you have a smaller crock, you may need to adjust down a bit on the spices or they may end up being too strong for you.
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Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup
Every once in a while, I get in the mood for a certain type or flavor of food. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s the only type of food I want for a week. This past week I’ve been in the mood for southwestern flavors. So when I saw my two lonely little butternut squash sitting on my counter all forlorn looking, I knew I had to liven things up for them a bit with a little spice and cilantro! I love southwestern flavors. Maybe because they remind me so much of Mexican-style food (my absolute fave!).
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Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
This slow cooker lentil soup is perfect for a chilly evening at home. I’ve done several lentil soup recipes. For me, there is something very comforting about lentils. They feel homey and nurturing. Even more so when they come out of the slow cooker like this clean-eating slow cooker lentil soup. Plus, it’s a wonderful Meatless Monday dish to come home to after your first day back at work for the week. I like to make some for dinner and pack the rest away in the freezer for quick and easy, grab-and-go lunches. I take it straight from the freezer and by the time I get to lunch, it’s mostly thawed. And if not, a quick few moments in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop gets the job done.
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Mini Chef’s Clean Eating Cherry Tomato Soup
Mini Chef and I were discussing dinner recently on our way to school. I asked him what he wanted that night and expected to get the typical response, “I don’t know.” To my surprise, he thought hard about it, and then informed me that he wanted “tomato soup with broccoli and little carrots all cut up“. Now call me crazy, but this was a really exciting moment for me. Maybe it’s just the food blogger in me, but I was absolutely thrilled. Not only did he request vegetables, but he actually thought through the ingredients! Not bad for a 6-year-old who typically answers with an “I don’t know” response. So I set to work, and found myself actually getting just a little stressed out over the whole thing. I mean, he had thought it through so carefully. So I really put some time into thinking about this one before I ever stepped in the kitchen. So much so that he didn’t actually get his bowl of soup until the following evening. I brought him home and warmed up the soup. A little nervous about his first taste, I served him his bowl and sat back with much anticipation. His response was, “Mmmm!!! You can make this EVERY day!!!“.
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Slow Cooker Tortilla Chicken Stew
I’ve heard from many teachers who remind me that the kids aren’t the only ones going back to school. With lesson plans to create, tests and papers to grade and all those million other things that teachers do for their school kids, let alone their own families, these amazing people run short of time just like any other parent. This recipe is for them, and you. This stew is quick and easy to toss together. You can do it the night before and simply store in the fridge in your slow cooker’s removable dish. Then when you leave in the morning, just put the dish in the slow cooker and head out the door. Dinner will be waiting when you arrive home with all those stacks of papers to grade.
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Clean Eating Refried Bean Soup
This is one of those quick and easy soups that comes together in minutes, fills you up, and is loaded with flavor. You can make this in a pot or a slow cooker, and it’s sure to please the whole family. I actually came up with this while I was creating a recipe for my next cookbook. I accidentally added too much water to the beans and ended up with soup instead of sauce for the casserole I was making. But it was a happy mistake, and one I’m sure you will appreciate on a busy weekday night when dinner has to be on the table in under 20 minutes.
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Taco Soup
I debated over calling this clean-eating taco soup. I mean, I really feel like in order for something to qualify as taco anything, it really should have at least one tortilla in there somewhere. But in the end, the spices and flavors won me over. And I suppose if you really want a tortilla with it, you could use a tortilla as “bread” for dipping, or even crush a few clean-ish corn chips over the top of your soup. That would be yummy! So for the time being, just go with me on this one. It’s taco soup.
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Potato Soup
I have to thank my Mom for this delicious bowl of soup! You see, Mom and I were a lot alike. We both loved to cook (and bake) and we both tended to cook our meals without using a recipe. I believe they call it “instinctual cooking.” A pinch of this, a dash of that, and before you know it, you’ve got a bowl of something truly yummy to eat! Mom has been gone now for a few years, but her style of instinctual cooking has stayed with me. This is how I cook every day. I keep adding things until I get a tasty result. Then I simply write down what I’ve done and pass it on to you! It might not be the most scientific method, but so far it seems to be working out okay.
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This article originally appeared on TheGraciousPantry.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: TheGraciousPantry.com.
