My husband has been helping a friend of his build a house, which means most of his nights and weekends are spent there, away from home. After three or four days of only seeing him for maybe an hour before he goes to bed, I tend to get a little cranky. I then insist he’s mine for a night, or a Saturday, whichever comes first. When he’s gone, however, I make myself food—comfort food—that I enjoy, but I probably wouldn’t get him to touch. For example, I love goat cheese, but the mere mention of it makes my husband crinkle his nose. Same with blue cheese and feta and scallops and crab. Love, love, love them all, and he hates, hates, hates them all. To be fair, we have the opposite relationship with beef… In any event, I came up with these quesadillas because a. I wanted something with goat cheese. b. I wanted something quick and easy. c. I wanted something autumn-y.

In a surprising turn of events, I made myself one of these little quesadillas for lunch while hubby was home for a day last weekend, and I got him to try a slice. He said they were damn good quesadillas. Hmmm. That doesn’t mean I have to start eating beef, does it?

Ingredients:

a combination of red and yellow sweet bell peppers (1 per quesadilla is a safe bet)
goat cheese (chévre)
fresh thyme
balsamic vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
part flour/part cornmeal tortillas (if you can find them; they’re new from Mission)
butter

Guidelines:

Roast your peppers. How? Place them under a broiler until the skin is blackened all over, rotating frequently. Remove from broiler, and place in a paper bag, or in a bowl with a towel draped over it, and let them sweat for 25-30 minutes. Once they are cool enough, peel the blackened skin off, remove the stem and seeds, and cut the peppers into strips.

In a sauté pan, toss the peppers with fresh thyme, fresh ground pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Heat until most of the balsamic vinegar has evaporated.

Butter one side of two tortillas.

Spread goat cheese on the unbuttered side of one tortilla.

In a medium pan, place the buttered side of one tortilla on the pan’s surface. Top with the roasted pepper mixture. Place the other tortilla over the top, butter side up, and cook on medium heat, flipping as necessary, until the top of each tortilla is golden brown and the goat cheese is warm.

Let cool briefly and cut into wedges.

My husband and I recently drove to Colorado (yes, again; we seem to do this 2-3 times a year, which is why we’re moving back there!), and for the trip, I packed the car full of goodies. Into the cooler went Naked smoothie drinks, snap peas, baby carrots, garlic and herb dipping spread, sandwich makings, apples, cheese, and an assortment of breakfast/protein bars. A few of those bars happened to be Lara Bars, and one of them was their Key Lime version. It contained dates, cashews, almonds, coconut, and lime juice. I couldn’t believe it. That’s it? Just five ingredients?! Totally raw and with no preservatives? How nice! But it was basically just a date bar, and I’m really not a fan of dates. In addition to being a high glycemic food, I just don’t find dates that tasty. I gave the bar a try though, and it was good. Too much to eat at once, but good. Surprisingly good. Good enough that I wanted to make my own version, in the form of need-a-quick-pick-me-up sweet bites. This is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

12 oz. fresh dates
¼ cup key lime juice
¼ cup sliced or slivered almonds
¼ cup shredded coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
sprinkle of Chinese Five Spice (optional)

Guidelines:

Pit the dates.

In a food processor, combine all of the above ingredients. Pulse until a semi-smooth texture is achieved. If your mixture isn’t as smooth as you’d like, try adding a bit more key lime juice. Honestly though, I wouldn’t worry about. Date and almond chunks just add to the texture.

Spread the mixture into a lightly oiled bread pan. Freeze or refrigerate for several hours, then score the bars by running a knife down the center length-wise, then cut the bites into desired widths.

For best results, keep chilled. The bites are sticky, and room temperature bites are even stickier! If you don’t like the stickiness, try adding some oat flour into the mixture. I haven’t tried this, so I can’t vouch for the results. If you try it, let me know how it works.

I haven’t posted a “Brown Bag” lunch recipe in a while, but in attempt to bring the series back, I’m offering you Sundried Tomato Hummus. Hummus is a dip which originated in the Middle East. Its main ingredients are chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. In this version, I omit the tahini and use smoked sundried tomatoes. I also roast most of the garlic cloves, which gives it a milder, sweeter flavor.

If you’re like me and don’t care for chickpeas, try hummus anyway. The chalky texture of the chickpeas, when combined with the other ingredients, disappears, and you’re left with a dish that’s refreshing yet filling. Plus, it’s healthy! If you’re not a big garlic fan, the roasted garlic is less… offensive. There’s less of a chance that you’ll return from lunch and stink up your workplace.

This dip is great served with flatbread (such as pita), and/or fresh veggies. For the brown bag lunch, place several large spoonfuls in a Tupperware container, and send along a baggie with whatever you choose to dip in it. My suggestions: whole wheat pita cut into triangles, baby carrots, cucumber, red and/or green peppers, and olives.

Ingredients:

3 cans garbanzo beans
3 oz. smoked sundried tomatoes (I find these in a bag in the produce aisle near the fresh tomatoes.)
6 cloves roasted garlic (see method below)
2 cloves raw garlic (optional)
handful of fresh parsley, chopped (3-4 tbsp.)
6 tbsp. olive oil
8 tbsp. lemon juice
salt
½ - 1 cup water, for thinning

How to make Roasted Garlic:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a small baking dish. (Ramekins work perfect.) Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with foil. Bake for 35- 40 minutes, or until a fork slides easily through the cloves. Let cool, then squeeze the garlic out.

Sundried Tomato Hummus Guidelines:

Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans.

If your sundried tomatoes are whole, coarsely chop. If they are already sliced, you’re good to go.

In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients, starting with the ½ cup water and adding more as needed, and process until smooth. The mixture should be grainy, but not chunky. If your food processor is small, you will have to blend the ingredients in batches. It’s more time consuming, but it works fine, I promise!

Cover and refrigerate. Mix before serving.

This is one of those super simple and satisfying snacks or side dishes that will leave you craving more. (Kind of like popcorn, but healthier. I think. )

To make for the ultimate cheesy experience, buy bread from your bakery that has cheese baked into it. Oh, yeah! You can also substitute the aged white Cheddar that I used for another cheese of your choice. I’m interested in trying Gorgonzola, but my other half isn’t into blue cheese. For a milder flavor, Fontina might be nice.

For a light summer meal, serve this salad with a bowl of assorted summer fruits, such as peaches, cherries, and plums, and a glass of red wine. Maybe Dan the wine editor will do a pairing for us…

Ingredients:

quality, bakery-style, crusty bread (preferably cheese flavored; I used Asiago cheese bread)
Parmesan cheese
aged white Cheddar cheese
fresh mozzarella
cherry tomatoes
fresh basil
olive oil
fresh ground pepper
sea salt

Guidelines:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cube the bread. I used about 6 thick slices for the two of us. If you’re serving more, adjust as necessary. Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss. How much olive oil? You don’t want the bread to be wet, but you want to be able to see a very, very light coating. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Grate the Parmesan cheese and the aged white Cheddar. I used about a ¼ cup of Parmesan, and ½ cup of Cheddar. Again, adjust as necessary. Toss the bread cubes with the cheese.

Place in the oven and bake until the bread is toasty and the cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let cool slightly.

In the meantime, half the cherry tomatoes and chop the fresh basil. I used a large handful of each.

Cube about half a ball of fresh mozzarella.

In a large bowl, toss the toasted bread cubes with the cherry tomatoes, chopped basil, and fresh mozzarella. Add another splash of olive oil, and a generous grind of fresh ground pepper.

How goes the renovation you ask? If I had to pick one word to describe it, I’d choose: unpredictable. We stripped everything out of the old kitchen on Saturday, took the room down to studs. Which means, of course, that we have to redo everything that we demolished. Wiring, plumbing, insulation, new windows, a bit of framing, sheetrock, and paint, in addition to refinishing the hardwood floors throughout the downstairs, before the new cabinets and appliances go in. And by we, I mean my husband and I, with, when we’re lucky, the help of friends. We figured we had at least two solid weeks (read: weekends) to make headway before the new cabinets arrived. Not so. They are showing up today.

Wahhhhhhh!

That’s me crying, by the way. What in the world am I supposed to do with the new cabinets? If you read the previous post, you know that we are also without a living room, as we are redoing the sheetrock and flooring in that room. The rest of the house is filled with living room furniture and makeshift kitchen stations. There is no room. What are we going to do? I have no clue. To be honest, I’m ignoring the dilemma. It could be worse, however. The cabinets could have arrived while the hardwood floors were curing. We must always be thankful for something, you know it?

In the meantime, I’m adjusting to life without a real kitchen. I have my old island set up in a bedroom which I’m using for all prep work. It’s only been five days, so I haven’t cooked a whole lot, but my husband did make waffles, and Tuesday night, I made Grilled Vegetable Bruschetta. I have to say again that this dish is so freaking good. My husband and I love it. It was a perfect meal for a cold, rainy day trying to survive a construction warzone. We pigged out, quickly running out of grilled vegetables.

With the leftover bread and pesto, I discovered my new favorite snack—Pesto Bruschetta. It’s simple, easy, tasty, and hearty. Here’s how you make it.

Ah, that old paper sack. Growing up it was a badge of honor, a symbol that said: My parents make my lunch for me, so I don’t have to eat the slimy cafeteria crap. And then came high school, the fast food phase. Then college, the starve yourself because you have to buy books, and beer, phase. You never imagined that once you were out in the working world you’d come to rely on that old brown bag again, did you? Let’s face it, eating out every day is, for most of us, financially irresponsible, and it’s not always possible to run home for lunch, especially in places where commuting is a way of life. So, yes, we sack our lunches like six-year-olds. And eat about as well as we did back then. Cookies, chips, two pieces of bread with meat in between, fruit we only sometimes eat. And while that may be better for you than a double cheeseburger, we can certainly do better, can’t we? In terms of health, and taste, and, if nothing else, variety. So whether you’re a forty-year-old construction worker, or a mother making lunch for her kids, here is the first in a series of ideas on how to eat healthier during the day, and add some variety to your otherwise mundane lunch.