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Here’s a fun part of my morning routine: realize, as I’m heading towards go-to-work time, that I haven’t packed a lunch; consider, as I dream of getting out the door on time, that maybe the take-out lunch options today won’t cost $12 and taste mediocre; and go back to the kitchen to improvise a brown bag lunch from the fridge. Leftover grains, extra roasted vegetables, a handful of nuts, some leftover chicken, and good grated cheese go into a travel Tupperware, and, hopefully, become more than the sum of their parts. Some lunches are good, even deliberate. Some are humble. I have a real affection for humble food, so usually my makeshift approach works okay.

Sometimes, it works out way better than okay.

One day a couple weeks ago, that routine produced this unbelievably delicious little grain dish. I had roasted cauliflower, I had cooked bulgur, and I had leftover salad dressing from a recent dinner. Naturally, I mixed this all together. At lunch, I went in thinking I’d be eating something humble but found I’d happened upon a flavor and textural synergy I didn’t expect. Perhaps it’s in the proportions: the grain and the vegetable sit at about equal levels in the final dish. Perhaps the success is some otherworldly manifestation of the Middle Eastern techniques I’ve absorbed during these months of experimenting with the region’s ingredients and methods. Or maybe it’s just a little narcissism: this exceedingly delicious salad is delicious because I made it, this morning, from almost nothing, and each bite helped cure the lunch blues.

This sponsored post is part of an ongoing collaboration with Sargento, called Flavor Journey. Throughout the year, with the support of Sargento, I’m exploring Middle Eastern cuisine–at home, in Brooklyn, at cooking classes, and wherever the flavors may take me. You can see the whole series here. Sponsored posts let me do some of my best work on this blog, and I only ever work with brands whose values and products mesh with the content I love to produce for you. Here’s my affiliate disclosure.

In seventh grade, during bar mitzvah season at my middle school, my friend Leora and I would stake out a spot near the kitchen and grab each hors d’oeuvres first. We knew early that the passed appetizers are often the best part of the meal. But we had a specific reason for filling up before the meal. For dinner, we’d as likely as not be served the kids’ menu, and we were seriously not interested in chicken fingers or mac ‘n cheese or other totally condescending offerings.

Funny that more than a decade later, I adore kid food. I’ll opt for a Shake Shack burger over a sit-down lunch nine times out of ten. And that’s why I loved Catherine McCord’s first Weelicious book and why today’s lunch recipe, which comes from Catherine’s new hardcover, Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals, has a place on a a blog for “big kids,” aka twenty-somethings.

Catherine understands the classics. I mean this is a recipe artist who can take a peanut butter and jelly and make it the best sandwich ever, tweak a pizza so it’s simultaneously fun and nourishing, and turn a normally monster-sized burrito into the ideal size for a child’s lunch-or the lunch of someone like me who struggles with the midday meal and is always trying to perfect it. The way I think about it, comforting kid food is the spoonful of honey that makes eating healthful and sustaining foods easier and more fun. Packing a crave-worthy lunch takes the drudgery out of the brown bag.

In Weelicious Lunches, the burrito is a really simple wrap, a bundle of refried beans and gooey cheese easily assembled at home and microwaved at work until melty. I added a quick Brussels sprout hash made from slivered sprout leaves seasoned lightly with some chipotle chili powder and cooked until just tender.

The morning countdown to lunch finally ends, and you and your colleagues head out to lunch for burgers, sandwiches, burritos, falafel, or loaded rice bowls. They’re delicious, and it’s a glorious break from the morning’s work.

But then back at your desk a stupor sets in. The afternoon stretches long ahead of you, and your eyelids threaten to collapse onto your cheeks. Coffee, green tea, or strong willpower may help, but sometimes the best way to avoid afternoon snoozes is to skip the heavy, carb-centric lunches to begin with. For just that reason, I’ve pulled together brown bag favorites that’ll inspire you to keep lunch light and afternoons productive.

**11 Low-Carb Brown Bag Lunches**

1. Herby Avocado Hummus. Scoop this nutrient- and protein-packed dip onto carrots, crackers, cucumbers, celery, or whichever crunchy dipper is your fave.

2. Arugula & Radicchio Salad with Pomegranate, Pecans, and Pecorino. Cheese and pecans add protein to my favorite mix of lettuces-arugula plus radicchio. Pretty pomegranate makes the salad exciting. Pack the dressing separately.

3. Creamy Habanero and Tomato Soup. A splash of cream cools down a classic tomato soup punched up with spicy habaneros and smoky chipotle in adobo.

4. Baked Tofu with White Wine, Mustard, and Dill. This tofu gets its flavor from a mustard-y mix of olive oil, lemon, and dill. Pack a few slices of tofu on top of fresh greens or beside cut-up carrots and celery sticks.

What makes dinner in a bowl so satisfying? By “bowl dinner,” I mean everything from the deconstructed burrito bowl to the hodgepodge grain salad shielded strategically by a fried egg. I mean stews and chilis, I mean comforting soft polenta, and I mean a little bit of steak heaped on top of a whole lot of vegetable-studded rice.

Bowl dinners are freeing. You can pile in ingredients you love without worrying about how they’ll look arranged more traditionally on a plate. You can center your meal around inexpensive and healthful whole grains, and then use richer ingredients as toppings, a key way to lighten up a meal, eliminate wheat, or eat more vegetables. Bowl dinners are ensemble casts: every ingredient contributes to the taste but no one element is a diva.

Rather than go on in an attempt to define the enigmatic bowl dinner, I’ll to leave you to ponder its perks with a dozen of my all-time favorite examples, from healthful chicken chili to zucchini-tomato curry.

**12 Great Meals-in-a-Bowl**

1. Lentils and Sausage, Braised in Red Wine. All the flavor of the sausage imbues the earthiness of my favorite legume-lentils. Fill your bowl part way with mashed potatoes before topping with the savory beans.

2. Healthy Chicken Chili with Barley. This vegetable- and grain-filled chicken chili hits a mark somewhere between chili con carne and vegetarian black bean chili. Just as you eat it out of one bowl, this stew comes together in just one pot!

3. Polenta with Red Peppers, Fried Capers, and an Egg. The result of a pretty empty pantry, this bowl of soft polenta features crispy fried capers, pungent roasted red peppers, and a rich egg. Comfort food in a bowl for sure.

4. Vegetarian African Peanut Stew. Peanut butter headlines a handful of slightly strange ingredients in this hearty, sophisticated, and exotic vegetarian bowl.

Look, I’ve always been in the Super Bowl-watching game for the food.

A few weeks ago, I watched a playoff game with friends. But I didn’t really watch: I ate a burrito and talked to my friends. And I played a few games on my phone when the real football fans were watching.

Burritos aside, it feels like we’ve all developed a taste for comfort food in recent years. Fried chicken and barbecue swept New York City. Most people I know would rather go out for brick-oven pizza than carefully plated seared tuna. Super Bowl day is when everyone - even the seared tuna lover - goes for wings, pizza, pulled pork sandwiches, artichoke dip, and BBQ chicken dip.

And that’s where my affiliation lies. Not with any one team, but with the glorious comfort cuisine of Game Day. Specifically, with barbecue chicken once it’s morphed with pizza and become a one-time-only event: Game Day BBQ Chicken Pizzettes. And all that works really quite well, considering that I’m taking part in the PuffectionTM Game Day Entertaining Challenge from Pepperidge Farm, which is all about the food.

To make these delicious two-bite pizzas, I cut circles of puff pastry - which you can do even before the dough is fully defrosted. In the past, we’ve posted about pizzettes with all sorts of flavors, but mostly Italian, like roasted fennel. This time, instead of tomato sauce, I shredded some white meat chicken and mixed it with a quick homemade BBQ sauce.

I spread that on each little pizza round, leaving a little bit of space for the puff pastry to balloon up and form a crust.

On top of the BBQ chicken mix went shredded cheddar cheese. Then into the oven, and in 20 minutes, we’ve got cute and tasty little BBQ Chicken Pizzas. These are great straight from the oven, but they’re also good an hour or two later.

You can find tons more puff pastry recipes, tips, and how-to videos at puffpastry.com, and you can share your holiday puff pastry recipes on Pepperidge Farm’s facebook page here.

I wrote this sponsored post in partnership with Pepperidge Farm in order to show the impressive array of finger food you can make if you keep their puff pastry in your freezer at all times. And how I love puff pastry as a brilliant shortcut for pizzettes, pigs in a blanket, and garlic knots! I only ever share sponsored content when I know and admire the product. (You can read my affiliate disclosure here if you’re interested.) Thanks, Pepperidge Farm!

This video shows the way Cara’s mom always made scrambled eggs—long cooking over very low heat that creates soft curd. And it’s how we always make eggs now, because it’s just the best way. Yet no matter how many times we tell you (and ourselves) to not get impatient, to keep the flame low, we’re always liable to forget, to try to speed things up, and to wind up with eggs that aren’t soft and rich.

Though I’m only a newby at this whole gluten-free game, there is one thing I know for sure: it’s a lot harder to navigate eating out than cooking at home. One of the many reasons why we advocate making your own food is that you know exactly what you’re eating. When it comes to dietary restrictions, this is particularly important. But alas, until we take up some sort of Cathy Erway pact, eating out at restaurants once in a while seems pretty unavoidable.

Since getting my gluten-free sea legs, I’ve accidentally eaten béchamel sauce and had chicken arrive in front …