Brown-Bag Lunch Challenge from FN's Healthy Eats & Day 1: Eggplant Parm Pizza

In the spirit of back-to-school Food Network's Healthy Eats blog is challenging us to bring a healthy lunch to work everyday for the month of September. This challenge really speaks to me because it is something I struggle with every work day. Hopefully, together, we can explore some great ideas for what to take to lunch and overcome the obstacles that keep us from making lunch the night or morning before work and find us spending $10 and extra time during our lunch break to buy lunch out. 

My lunchtime story goes like this: most days I buy lunch, spending as much as $60 a week on food (a BIG chunk), the days I bring lunch I am excited about what I brought and looking forward to eating it 50% of the time, the other 50% of the time I either don't eat it or have to supplement my meal with a snack bought at Duane Reade or Starbucks because I didn't pack enough food to fill me. My main hurdle in my food not being appealing 50% of the time is that my office does not have a microwave, let alone a lunchroom or cafeteria. I work by Central Park so I usually sit on a bench to eat my homemade lunches, but some days eating cold food, especially in the colder months, has no appeal to me whatsoever. I am constantly on the lookout for delicious, filling meals to take at lunchtime that I'll still want to eat by the time 1:30pm rolls around. It is a real challenge. 

Fortunately I've gotten the month started off right. Today I will be enjoying a homemade pesto and eggplant parmesan pizza. Its homemade in every which way; I made the pizza dough last night, the pesto last week and the eggplant parm is leftover from a dinner I made. Last week I made a similar pizza with the same dough, same pesto and mushrooms and sauteed onions instead of the eggplant. Happily, I brought it three days in a row to work and was not sick of it! It's a keeper. My trick to enjoying it cold? I take it out of the fridge one hour before I plan to take lunch, this gives the crust time to warm up and soften. 

Are you taking the Brown Bag Challenge? If so leave me a comment! 

What are your favorite lunches?

Any tips for what to eat and enjoy without use of a microwave? 

PARIS Part III: Les Déjeuners et Les Dîners

As a student in Paris I only ate in restaurants when my parents came to visit. My breakfast and dinner during the week were included in my foyer (dormitory) stay and on the weekends I mostly got by eating baguettes with cheese for breakfast and lunch and crepes for dinner down along the Seine (you'll remember my foyer was located on Île Saint-Louis). So upon return, I was most excited to be able to eat at sit-down restaurants and finally order proper French fare (not the suspicious French cafeteria food I was served for dinner Monday through Friday). In the good company of Jocelin, Eddie, and my Scottish friends Chris and Paul all the meals I enjoyed in Paris were memorable and delectable. 

It all began my first day when I enjoyed a memory-jogging Nutella crêpe from the crêperie window on Île Saint-Louis. A hot custardy batter cooked to perfection and filled with melting globs of chocolate-hazelnut spread was a welcome first meal, admittedly too many hours after my arrival. The first bite immediately transported me to all the nights I meandered along the south bank of 'my island' nibbling a crêpe for dessert or as a weekend dinner. It was just like I remembered.

My late afternoon snack was followed by a classic bistro dinner at Chartier. A few guidebooks and David Lebovitz had recommended Chartier as an affordable place to enjoy traditional fare in a typical French brasserie setting. We began with a smooth meaty terrine: