Walking home for lunch today, I mentally reviewed the contents of my fridge. I knew that there was a lot of lettuce in there, as well as radishes, garlic scapes, broccoli and a dozen local eggs. However, I wasn't thrilled by the idea of a salad with an egg (or a salad with half a can of tuna fish). When I walked into the apartment, I was feeling discouraged by the options but still went directly to the kitchen and took a full turn (not a long trip in my tiny galley kitchen), trying to find something that would satisfy and still be quick enough that I could prepare it and eat in my remaining 45 minutes.

Opening the refrigerator, I spotted an avocado I had balanced on top of a jar of jam a day or two ago, when it had started to get too soft. My eyes then noticed the bag of baked tortilla chips tucked on top of the radio and they inspired me to search for a can of black beans. Grabbing half an onion out of the fridge, I diced up a tiny amount and started to sauté it in a small pan with a little olive oil. I added a minced clove of garlic and the rinsed beans, smashing them with the back of a wooden spoon as they started to heat up. I mashed half the avocado with a squirt of lemon juice and some salt.

When I was done, I had a plate that had a pile of half-smashed beans (onion, garlic, salt and pepper), a small mound of fresh guacamole and a big pile of torn romaine lettuce. Grabbing the bag of chips, I settled down at the dining room table with a book and ate this quick, special, delicious lunch. It was particularly satisfying because I had initially felt like I was heading towards an apartment devoid of anything good to eat.

What are some of the treasures you've discovered when you thought your larder was bare?

Last week, I ran home from work to make some lunch and ended up standing in front of the fridge, struggling to creating a meal from the hodgepodge of leftovers and aging veggies. I had some sad radishes, two romaine hearts that were decidedly past their prime, a handful of meatballs, the end chunk of a seedless cucumber and half of a ciabatta roll that was so hard that it could have been used as a weapon.

Hungry and pressed for time, I started to assemble a salad, although without much enthusiasm. I peeled the outer leaves off the romaine and gave it a rough chop. I crumbled the meatballs into bits and sawed the roll into chunks. Tossing all the everything together, I doused the salad with the homemade balsamic vinaigrette I typically have in the fridge and let it sit for a minute while I made some tea.

When I turned back to the salad, the chunks of bread has softened into tasty bits of balsamic flavor. The meatballs had lost their refrigerator chill and the veggies were surprisingly crisp. What had started out as a meal of obligation (must use up food before it goes bad) had turned into a delightful and tasty lunch.

And we're not talking about your mental health because you haven't looked at anything but spreadsheets for four days. We're talking about your physical health.

As you wind down your day in front of your computer sitting at your desk, take a moment and look down at your keyboard. You could be looking at something that is dirtier than the toilet seat in the bathroom down the hall. This means eating lunch in front of your computer might be a health hazard!

According to British microbiologist James Francis four of 33 keyboards he tested were potential health hazards and one had germs at a level five times higher than that found on the toilet seat.

Makes me want to dip my laptop in a bleach solution and never eat at my desk again.

Of course, that's not possible when your boss's demands are forcing you to wolf down a sandwich at your desk through lunch. Just make sure to wash your hands, don't let other co-workers touch your keyboard, and my best advice is to eat lunch with utensils, not your hands.

One of my favorite culinary tricks is to take food from one meal and turn it into something completely different. I've never been one of those people who can eat the same thing meal after meal (both my father and Scott can happily eat from the same batch of chili for an entire week). So refreshing my leftovers becomes a necessity if I don't want to waste food or let things go bad.

When it comes to packing up a sandwich, what do you use to keep that sandwich fresh and unscathed until lunchtime? I imagine that the majority of you use some sort of disposable plastic bag (whether it be zip or fold top). Assuming that you toss those plastic bags at the end of your lunch hour (or that your kid tosses it out when it's time to head out to recess) it begins to amount to quite a few plastic bags. There are reusable plastic container options out there, but what about checking out a reusable sandwich wrap?

If you want to make your own, check out out how this Australian mom made a sandwich wrapper for her daughter out of some fabric, a zip top bag and some old velcro (via Green Daily).

Last year at the Vegan Lunch Box, Jennifer posted instructions from a reader on how to make a reusable sandwich wrapper out of polyurethane laminate coated fabric.

If you're not feeling crafty, you can buy a ready-to-go wrapper at Wrap-n-Mat.

I haven't been posting many recipes lately, mostly because I've been in something of dry spell when it comes to cooking. However, I haven't been staying totally out of the kitchen. Last weekend I made a pot of butternut and carrot soup that ended up being really tasty and the perfect thing to eat for lunch all week long (one of the wonderful things about this new job of mine is that it's only a block and a half from my apartment, so I can run home for lunch).

I admit that when it comes to this soup, I "cheat" a little bit. What I mean by that is that I use a pack of pre-peeled and chopped butternut squash from Trader Joe's (I've also seen it at Whole Foods). Then all I have to do is roughly chop an onion, saute it quickly in a little olive oil, toss in three or four chunks carrots, pile in the prepared squash and cover it with water or stock (I typically use one box of stock and then make up the difference with water). Then it just gently simmers until the veggies are tender. I recently acquired a far more powerful immersion blender, and it has made my blended soup far smoother than they used to be.

You might be wondering about seasoning with this soup. I actually change it up each time I make it. Sometimes I'll grate a little ginger in, or go with a spoonful of curry. This last time I used a bit of fresh thyme and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It might sound a little untraditional, but it was delicious. I also happened to have about a quarter cup of cream in my fridge and I added that in as well for a little extra smoothness. But you should feel free to make this soup your own.

Today we've been focusing on what to send for school lunches, what to send it in, and even what to do when the kids finally leave. (Bob, you are brilliant!) However, in my experience, there are certain food items that I've found are better served at home than sent to school. Feel free to agree, disagree, or add your own to the list.

Food that needs to be heated
Whether I was planning to send leftovers from dinner or products like canned food or Easy Mac, I was thrilled for all of about two days when I found out my daughter's school had a microwave. What I didn't bother to find out was that the kids only had 35 seconds each to use it. Obviously, this isn't enough time to heat most items, let alone cook something. Though this may vary slightly from school to school, even if they do have a microwave available, I suggest to avoid sending anything that needs to be heated or your child will spend half their lunch hour waiting in line just so they can eat something that is only slightly warmed up.

We're focusing on kids going back to school, but that doesn't mean we have to ignore the "big kids" who go back to work.

For those of us who opt to pack a lunch and eat at our desks rather than socializing with our co-workers over lunch at the cafe on the corner, Workplace is a convenient way to take your food and eat it too. The set is a personal plate, bowl, cup and utensils, all snugly wrapped together in a placemat that will protect your desk from whatever soup/sandwich you brought from home. Of course, keeping crumbs out of your keyboard is another story.

Available from Vessel for $29.

I think there is a certain sense of relief parents feel when their children return to school in September. No more worrying about how the kids are going to fill their days, no more dealing with babysitters or shuttling them to and from summer camps. Life simply returns to normal. However, it seems that somewhere over the long, hot summer months we tend to forget the day-to-day dilemmas of our kids being back in school, and for me that always means once again dealing with what to send for lunches.

When my daughter was in kindergarten or elementary school it was easy - I packed pretty little sandwiches, a piece of fruit, a juice box and a small treat. She never questioned or complained about what I sent. To be honest, she probably gave it very little thought - she was fed, and that was all that mattered. In junior high / middle school though, that all changed.

Over the past few years we went through what I like to call the various stages of brown-bag hell, and though not every one of the items below specifically happened to my family, these are all true stories from either my daughter, her friends, or from my own personal experience. I'm sure at least some of these will sound familiar to the parents out there, and if you have younger kids, this is what you may have to look forward to in the coming years:

I'm not sure how well this will go over with kids, since anything too highly unusual tends to embarrass them (or is that just me writing as the result of my own personal elementary school cafeteria trauma?). However, there has to be some way that you can work the Apple Jacket into their lunchboxes because it's just too cute to not use.

The Apple Jacket protects apples (and I suspect any other fruit that will fit) from bruises and knicks. The hand-knit sleeve is 100% cotton has a darling knit leaf detail and button closure. This is probably especially useful if you carry apples around in your purse or totebag along with other things like keys and notebooks that could damage the apple.

The Apple Jacket is $14.50 and comes in three colors, pink, white, and blue.

Originally, I was going to call this post "Kitty Porn," but in the wrong context, it just wouldn't be right.

Kitty Porn or not, this is quite possibly the most elaborate, intricate bento box I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of bento boxes. Not only is it Hello Kitty (you all know how much I love the little white, mouthless kitty, right?), but it's Hello Kitty in a lettuce (maybe it's cabbage?) leaf Totoro costume, surrounded by all the flowers, bugs and creatures of the forest. I have no idea if someone actually got to eat this masterpiece. All I know is that the most elaborate bento lunch I'd ever get is Mr. Bento.

[via: Fashionably Cute]

Police in Montreal say that videos of food fights on YouTube and other web video sites have caused an increase in food fights at schools. There are have been three different incidents in Montreal schools in the past week, and up to 20 police officers had to be called in and stop one fight that lasted three hours.

I can honestly say I've never been in or even seen a food fight, except in movies and TV shows. I did get grabbed and held up against a cafeteria wall by the assistant principal one time in middle school. He accused me of skipping school the day before. I mean, yeah, I did skip, but he could have been a whole lot nicer about it.

Google is known for providing their employees with lots of perks, including good food for lunch. The Google cafeteria is quite well known at this point, offering everything from childhood favorites to top quality gourmet entrees. It is safe to say that prepacked sandwiches on either stale or slightly mushy bread will never make their way into the mouths of Google employees during lunch time.

If you're curious as to what exactly the Google employees are eating on their breaks, take a look over at the Google Food Photo Blog, a collection of snapshots that chronicle the continually impressive eats at the tech company. Breakfast or dessert might be house-made yogurt and house-made granola, while lunch could be anything from Baby Bok Choi Sandwiches with mushrooms and a baby beet salad to kebabs and naan with mango lassi.

You might not want to check it out before your own lunch break, though, just in case you decide that suddenly your own lunch looks a lot less impressive.

[via growabrain]

Although it is still cold in many parts of the country, temperatures here in Southern California shot up to almost summer-like highs over the past few days. The sudden heat has cause me - and many others - to turn away from hot soup and "comfort food" cookbooks and turn back to salads and other cool, light fare. This salad is idea for moving from winter into spring, although you could make it all year round, because it incorporates fresh oranges, dried cranberries and salty-sweet candied nuts, all of which are frequently used in late fall and winter dishes and desserts. These sweet salad components are on a bed of mixed baby greens and diced avocado. I dressed the whole salad with a heavily vinegar-based dressing (a citrus flavored vinegar mixed with a bit of oil, salt and pepper) to enhance the brightness of all of the components.

This is a pretty cool little toy that someone has come up with for Yahoo! Local, though I have to admit I'm not quite sure how it's supposed to work. It's called The Wheel of Food, and you type in your zip code and a type of food (or even just "food"), and a Wheel of Fortune-ish wheel comes up with various restaurants. You spin the wheel to help you figure out where to have lunch.

Cool concept, but there doesn't seem to be enough places listed. I typed in the city I live in, and only a few places showed up (and one of them was about 40 miles from here). I typed in Boston and got a lot more results, but it will still a little random and scattered (you can even type in "books" and "music" and get different results). Take the wheel for a spin and give us your results in the comments below.

[via Boing Boing]