Delicious Lunch Time Vegetables

I have had two days of these vegetables and felt so filled up and happy with the warm cozy lunches. Maybe it had something to do with the weather going downhill AGAIN.  These are very quick and easy and can be made in the morning to bring to work.

I had a really great farmer's market experience and had a lot of greens to choose from. Both days, I used red Russian kale, lamb's quarters, spinach and three kinds of mushrooms, shitake, white and crimini to cover a broad vitamin portfolio. I am a little bit morally opposed to paying for lamb's quarters since they are free in Central Park but when they are right in front of me, it seems so easy. The really dark pimply regular spinach was a great find too. I usually avoid the nouveau grocery store "baby" spinach which seems either light or to lack all those bumps and grooves somehow.

I did slice about three of each kind of  the mushrooms but the other vegetables I just washed well and ripped apart.  This was a low maintenance endeavor. I put a touch of olive oil in the pan, added the mushrooms first, then the vegetables not perfectly dry to create some steam.  Then, I topped it all with turmeric, black pepper and cayenne pepper.  It cooked for between one and two minutes.  I somehow think I am making this sound complex when really it is a 6 minute lunch including chopping.

Nutritional Properties of This Easy Lunch:
Shitake mushrooms support the immune and cardiovascular systems, provide B vitamins and vitamin D
Crimini mushrooms fight inflammation and contain CLA a fatty acid that fights breast cancer by blocking estrogen. Also high in B vitamins.
Lamb's quarters are very high in vitamin A (beta-carotene) and look like a weed.
Spinach is very high in vitamin K, Iron and B viatmins as well as minerals.
Kale is an overhyped super-food and as super as it is, I don't need to discuss the benefits.
Turmeric is heightened by black pepper and olive oil so the added spice matters. (I recommended a 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric with a dash of black pepper in olive oil to my gym friend who is dead set on stopping for Advil on her way home...)

It was all so good that I had it for dinner too.