Boeuf au Vin and Noodles

1. chuck roast braised with onions in shiraz
2. over egg noodles
3. lemon cilantro hummus and pita chips

'Cause that's the fancy kinda eatin' we do around here.

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Sexy Stuffed Crepes & Muhammara Hummus

1. stuffed crepes
2. pita chips and hummus

The crepes are stuffed with a mixture of cottage cheese, brown sugar and vanilla. They are topped with apricots and cherries that I poached in a simple syrup made with vanilla sugar. I had a little leftover muhammara that to put on top of the hummus, and some celery leaves as gratuitous garnish.

Don't forget to Haiku that Blog! Only 17 syllables stands between you and a fabulous thermal lunch bucket. Pink even! Get on over to Isolated Foodie to gather up some inspiration then come back here and leave a comment with your entry.

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No Faces Again Today?

1. hummus
2. carrots
3. chunk of edam
4. pita chips
5. snow peas

I put the flower on at the last minute when I remembered the disappointed looks and comments I've gotten lately from a co-worker. It was some consolation I think. That's me. Bringing joy to the masses.

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My Phat Lunch

1. peanut butter stuffed dates
2. pistachios, dried pineapple, dried papaya
3. tomatoes
4. carrots
5. green onion
6. roasted red pepper hummous
7. pita chips

Okay ya'll. (that's the southerner in me coming out) Ya'll gotta get some dates and some peanut butter and put them together cause this is the -best- thing I've eaten all month. And I ate a lot this month! I'm going to pretend that I invented this combination - but probably I didn't - and probably everyone else in the western hemisphere has eaten peanut butter stuffed dates so many times the mere mention of it incites a yawn. But I don't want to hear about that, so please, indulge me.

Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates

dates
peanut butter

Cut a slit in the top of date and mush out the pit. Replace the pit with a glob of peanut butter. You know that old baby spoon you've hung on to since Daddy Bush was in the White House? Perfect tool for this. Repeat until you think you have enough and then make 3 more. Eat. Come back here and thank me.

This is my entry for Yvo's "Does this make my lunch look phat?" contest.

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Second Rate Mac Salad Lunch

Boo loves macaroni salad. I made this one quickly out of a few bites of left-over pasta that I squirreled away in the fridge with a little mayo, salt and pepper, and chopped scallion. I'm afraid that it might not have been quite up to Boo's standards because she later questioned me about the availability of green bell peppers (I never buy them so she thought they must be expensive) and then requested a list of ingredients the next time I go shopping. I think I'm about to get some schoolin' on mac salad makin'!

1. macaroni salad
2. cherries
3. grapes
4. bagel chips
5. roasted red pepper hummus

A while back I posted a recipe for making hummus in a blender. Meanwhile I did finally get a food processor and assumed that it would be the superior tool for hummus making but surprisingly I found I prefer the texture of the blender hummus. Go figure! The processor hummus lacked the lightness of the blender hummus and even though I processed it far longer it seemed to retain some grittiness. Admittedly this is a one time experiment so far - so it could in fact just be the beans I used or some other variable. I'll report back :)

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Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

1. Sesame Noodles
2. snow peas
3. Hummus
4. sesame candy
5. White Rabbit candy

Yes, two kinds of candy, cause I've been at least two kinds of cranky. And a special bonus today - two recipes!

Sesame Noodles

1/4 pound noodles (I used whole wheat linguine)
2 T tahini
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 t brown sugar
1 t sambal oelek
1 chopped green onion
4 thinly sliced baby carrots

Cook and drain the noodles, then in the same pan add tahini, soy, vinegar, sugar and chili and toss around until the noodles are coated. Sprinkle onions and carrots on top. Tastes great cold or at room temperature. Makes 2 servings.

Blender Hummus

1 can chick peas rinsed and drained
1/4 c tahini
1 T olive oil
1 clove of garlic
big pinch of salt
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 to 1/3 c water

Dump the peas in the blender and add the garlic, oil, salt and lemon juice. Pulse adding water a little at a time until you get the right consistency. Then blend on high for at least 3 minutes until smooth and creamy.

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Locked Inside Your Heart Shaped Potato*

Today was my first time using my super cool new potato shaper. It's somewhat similar to an egg mold but much more difficult to find outside of Japan. I bought mine off eBay for $27.99 plus $12.00 for shipping! For a nicely formed potato just boil a 50 gram Yukon Gold until perfectly cooked. Call the children into the kitchen and show 'em how the real game of Hot Potato is played. This should take about 3 minutes. (first child in tears is the loser) Insert the still steaming, but slightly less hot potato into the shaper and submerge in ice water for 13 minutes and 27 seconds. Remove and trim the edges with an uber sharp knife. When the bleeding's under control you can then color your potato with purple food markers as in the picture below.



1. sliced red and white baby potatoes
2. purple heart shaped potato
3. mini red bell peppers
4. Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus
5. baby carrots

Yeah, I made all that potato shaper stuff up. Partly from frustration with my stupid egg molds, partly excitement over Christmas vacation. Yay! No more work 'till 2008. Take that you bitches! Yeah, pretty excited. Sorry about that.

*Apologies to the remaining members of Nirvana.

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Ass Poke Cookies

1. balsalmic roasted vegetables
2. rice
3. sliced apple
4. Kancho cookies
5. little pepper stuffed with hummus

You know, about those Kancho cookies... Now that I'm a Big Time Blogger and all, I got this fancy little widget that shows me how people get here. And the single most common way is via Google's Image Search to a link to a picture of Kancho cookies on a store shelf from this post. I gotta admit it's been kinda weirdin' me out. So I Googled. And I found this. and this. And from now on I am going to refer to Kancho cookies as Ass Poke Cookies. I need the traffic.

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World's Best Furikake & A Big Pink Cookie

1. 2 rice balls with World's Best Furikake
2. strip from a really huge yellow pepper
3. little orange pepper
4. celery bites
5. grape tomatoes
6. container of hummus




And for added fun today I'll show you what the box looked like after I added in my dessert.





7. big ass pink cookie

Now the scary part.

No, not the size. I bought that cookie at Target. There were 3 of them in a cellphane bag. We ate two of them. Before Halloween. Yep, that cookie has been sitting in the cabinet in a loosely closed cellophane bag for nearly two months. And I ate it for lunch. Cause it's big. And pink. And it was good. And chewy. And pink flavored. I don't even want to know what unholy thing it's made from.


Now for what you've all been waiting for.

I swear I didn't take a crappy picture on purpose so that nobody would run out and buy it all up leaving NONE for me. That would be childish and petty and I'm so not like that. Seriously though, this stuff is so pretty! Totally worth the $2.09 I paid.

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Veteran's Day Snack

Today was a goinlateleaveearly day to keep me from feeling so bitter that I wasn't actually off. For that reason (the short day - not the bitter part) I just packed a little snacky lunch today.

1. white bean hummus from Trader Joe's (really good but not as good as the Mediterranean kind)
2. yellow bell pepper
3. celery
4. carrots
5. grape tomatoes

Was really tempted to make a hummus lid out of the pepper top again - but I don't wanna be a One Trick Pony.

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Pasta and Hummus

Dinner was way too late last night - at least there were leftovers! The italian chicken sausage was from Trader Joe's - it was okay - but not pork - enough said.

1. leftover pasta with chicken sausage and vegetables
2. hummus with a pepper lid
3. pretzels
4. grape tomatoes
5. baby carrots

The pepper top was leftover from making the pasta for dinner. I thought it was rather clever of me to use it as a lid. Of course I am easily amused.

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