My Lunch Today...

...was dreampt up on a quick walk with the dogs.
...was put together in five minutes after we got back home and before I bolted out the door, and I really mean five minutes, not five Not Laura Ingalls minutes.
...is 100% local.
...is super yummy if I do say so myself.

Let's call it Smoked Brisket Pesto Panini with Fontina on Artisan Bread with side of Crudites. Sounds fancy for five minutes.

Ingredients

• Sourdough bread from Raymond's

No, I didn't bake it myself. Baking bread is a lot easier and less time consuming than most people think, but honestly, it's just not first on my list every weekend. This stuff is tasty and local and doesn't require I turn my oven on in 90 degree heat.

• Basil Pesto

I whipped this up last fall when the basil in my backyard garden had gone bonkers and I couldn't keep the flowers at bay any longer. I chopped it all off and stuck as many leaves as would fit in my blender along with about 1/4 cup of pine nuts (toasted dry on the stove while I picked the leaves), a few cloves of garlic, a healthy tablespoon of lemon juice, and enough olive oil and/or water to get the blender going. When it was all whirred up, I added enough Parmesan cheese and salt to get it to my liking, then poured it into ice cube trays and froze it. It's handy popped into a spaghetti sauce in the dead of winter when there's no fresh basil around, but today I stuck a cube in a sandwich bag and let it thaw until I could spread it on the bread at lunch.

• Smoked beef brisket

I should tell you Not Michael Landon has developed quite the obsession with BBQ. About once a month or so, he'll order a piece of the grass-fed beef carcass that is delivered weekly to our grocery store (he's becoming legend with the butchers) and let it cook away all day in the Webber kettle he obtained for free off craigslist. Okay, there were non-free modifications, and it's a science that takes a bit of tinkering, but the point is this is another weekend cooking activity that we only have occasional time for like bread. Except meat keeps and freezes better, and if he's firing up the smoker, that thing is going to be loaded up with meat. This particular brisket was cooked at least a month ago.

• Fontina cheese

From my favorite Clover Stornetta family farms. Melts beautifully.

• Carrots and celery

Just chopped up on their own. I took a look at the hummus in the fridge, but it's no longer suitable for human consumption.

Directions
Before I headed out the door, I popped the meat & cheese on the bread, grabbed the cube of pesto, and chopped up the veggies. At work, I spread the pesto on one slice of the bread and toasted the whole thing, assembled, for maybe 5 minutes.

No fancy picture, no involved process. I've been purposefully absent for awhile because I can't ever find time to upload pictures and when I can, I feel like I should be spending it in the kitchen, making something actually blog-worthy. Today, a story about lead in kids' foods - and the ensuing interwebz cry of "Oh Noes, what will we feed our children that's not supplied by Del Monte or Earth's Best!" - reminded me that I didn't start this to share the fancy things I make from scratch, I did it to share the easy, real-life ones. Since I lamented about convenience foods not buying us time nearly a year ago, I really have (mostly) put down the Taco Bell, but I haven't been sharing it. Well, it's not homemade lasagna or pumpkin pie. It's a sandwich thrown together on a typical running-late-as-always Wednesday morning that keeps me from abusing my wallet and waistline at Chipotle a few hours later.

And now I'm full. Back to work.