Yesterday was one of those cold, wet spring days when I should have had some sort of stew or soup bubbling away on the stove.

But I just wasn’t organized. So when dinner came, I went into scrounge mode. I found half a box of white pasta shells and a quarter box of whole-wheat penne. Those and whatever random scraps of cheese I could find would have to do.

I ended up making my new go-to mac and cheese — modernist mac and cheese from the folks at Modernist Cuisine. I didn’t have milk, so I started by heating a splash of the fat-free half-and-half I use in my coffee. I added 9 grams of the magic ingredient (sodium citrate) and brought it to a simmer.

Then I added whatever cheeses I had handy — bits of crumbly cheddar and feta, some Gruyere, some Parmesan and a bit of pecorino. Pretty soon I had a perfectly smooth and creamy cheese sauce for the pasta.

So the leftovers of that make an easy thermos-ready main course for today’s lunch.

I seem to be lacking produce this week (time for a trip to the grocer). So I added a fruit-free parfait to today’s lunch mix. Yogurt, crumbled graham crackers and some jam. OK, the jam is a poor substitute for fruit, but it made me feel better.

Add some whole-grain crackers and hummus and we are good to go. A little carb heavy today, but so it goes.

While I have your attention, I want to take a moment to pimp an effort by a friend and fellow blogger. Aviva Goldfarb, the talent behind the cool site The Six O’Clock Scramble, has made it her mission to make it easier for busy families to get dinner on the table.

Now she has a new project — getting families to commit to eating together. We all know how important that is. We also all know how hard that can be. I consider myself incredibly lucky to work from home. It means we get to eat together virtually every night.

Aviva is running a Family Dinner Challenge — asking folks to commit to sitting down to dinner with their families at least three times a week for four weeks. Check out her challenge. Because eating together is good for everyone.

And now for this week’s lunch gear giveaway! Ready for some bento box action? This week it’s a complete set from Laptop Lunches. The larger container holds four smaller containers that can fit all manner of goodies.

As usual, just leave a comment to enter. Parker will pick a winner tomorrow morning.

Read the original on: Lunch Box Blues