Lunch Revisited

"[The pastries] ought to have been labeled Dyspepsia and Headache, so unwholesome were they."

In a short story by Louisa May Alcott, two spinster ladies grieve over schoolboys' lunches. Being energetic women, they decide it is their duty to open a lunchtime shop and feed those boys wholesome, homemade fare.

The Warrior Poet would appreciate similar help, I'm sure. He is heartily sick of sandwiches. He has been subsisting on them all year during his daily battles with dragons. I haven't had food inspiration in awhile. Last week, I finally decided to ask some friends for help figuring out lunch plans.

First off, my brother sent me a book called The Lunchbox Book: Nutritional and Creative Ideas to Liven Up Your Packed Lunch. After pre-reading it, I am delighted to realize that I may soon be decanting juice and threading chunks of meat and veggies onto skewers. Yummy lunches and fun words.

I had to look up the word, 'rusk', which is bits of bread re-baked until dry and crisp. Sort of like a dry biscuit or cracker or the bread used for bruschetta. It is recommended as a morning snack for folks who have to get out the door at an early hour, which is the Warrior Poet's situation at least once a week. Matter of fact, he had to leave at 5:30 this morning, and not only did I not give him breakfast, I didn't even fix his lunch. Instead he took some cash and got a cheap bite somewhere. The girls and I went to some friends' choir concert last night and did not get home until after 10pm.

See how neglected he is? :( But I'm trying to fix it.

One of my friends said, "Cold leftovers." That idea works well with baked chicken, which we made the other night. Yesterday he had chicken salad wraps made with leftover chicken, V-8, carrot and celery sticks, sunflower seeds, and brownies.

Tonight I am making pork stir fry and salad. I ought to be able to do something with the leftover pork, but I can't think what. The salad can go in a container for lunch. Thankfully, WP is ambivalent about salad dressing-- he can take it or leave it.

Someone else said, "Hummus and pita." Yum. We love hummus. I don't love cleaning the blender, though. I wonder if we can make a whole bunch and freeze it?

Another friend recommended wrapping meat or cheese around apple slices. This sounds delicious. WP has elevated cholesterol, though. Also, he told me he would gladly take a six-month hiatus from any kind of lunch meat, cholesterol or no cholesterol. Others suggested lettuce or sushi seaweed (?) for the wrappings. He does like lettuce wraps. The sushi thing would probably please him too, but I'm not sure about cost.

Two friends recently discovered how to carry baked potatoes in a lunchbox. One of them told me that we could line the cooler with foil, and the potato would stay hot all day. WP has a six-pack sized cooler, but I have a smaller one that would be perfect for a 'hot box'.

This same friend, whose eating habits I greatly admire, suggested I think about the ingredients in a Chipotle burrito bowl-- good eating, cold or hot: peppers and onions, rice, beans, pico de gallo...

It was a veritable explosion of great lunch ideas. I sure Jerusha and Mehitable would have approved.