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Tag Archives: snack

On Lunchables

I really like charcuterie plates/boards. I know that they’re generally served as appetizers buuuut…I like to eat them as a meal in itself. Pair it with some crusty bread or crackers, maybe some seasonal fruit, nuts, pickles, and/or spreads, and you’ve got a pretty complete meal. It’s a little heavy on the protein side, but that’s ok now and again.

Now if you think about it, the main players of a charcuterie board involves some cured meats, cheese, and crackers/bread. What else can you think of that involves meat, cheese, and crackers? Maybe…Lunchables? Charcuterie boards are totally adult Lunchables.

I actually tried googling this to see if anyone else has ever made this connection. I guess not. At least, I didn’t find anything in my brief period of research. I did find that there are a LOT of different Lunchables now. You have the normal ones like what you remember from a kid. But you have Lunchables with Drink, Lunchables with 100% Juice, Lunchables without Drink, Lunchables Uploaded with Drink, Lunchables Snacks, Lunchables Uploaded Snacks… That’s a lot of different combinations of Lunchables. And I guess the Uploaded ones are the Lunchables marketed to teens? I didn’t realize there were so many different types of Lunchables. I remember them fondly. But I also remember them as subpar salty meat and cheese. I liked the crackers a lot though.

In my search to see if anyone else thinks charcuterie boards are like adult Lunchables, I found that there actually are Lunchables marketed to adults. Only they’re not branded as Lunchables. Because I guess that would make adults feel shame that they were buying Lunchables for themselves. Or maybe because adults care more about things like sodium content (and the sodium content on Lunchables can get pretty high). Or the fact that the quality of the meat discs and cheese really weren’t the greatest. Maybe adults are just snobby. Anyway, Lunchables marketed to adults are branded P3. Which…is kind of a dumb name. But it stands for Portable Protein Packs. I am rolling my eyes right now. Even their domain name is dumb.

But anyway, P3 boxes generally contain meat and cheese, but the crackers are often replaced with nuts. Because…it’s a portable protein pack, not a portable protein and carb pack. That second one probably wouldn’t sell too well. For some reason, people are terrified of carbs. Carbs are fine. In moderation. And when the bulk of your carbs aren’t coming from refined and/or processed food. But I digress.

There are a bunch of different P3 varieties too. You have the Original, which seem like possibly better quality (non-disc) meat (generally turkey), probably the same quality cheese as you find in Lunchables, and nuts. There are the Nut Medleys, which seem like more of the same. Then you have Fruit Medleys, which replace the meat with dried fruit. And finally, Deli Snackers, where the nuts have been replaced with another kind of meat.

None of these look all that appetizing. If these are what are officially being offered as adult Lunchables, I will continue with charcuterie boards as my adult Lunchables. Kthx.

Popcorn: The dinner of champions

I recently found out, via the internet so it must be totally true because the internet never lies, that chefs who are too tired to cook at the end of the day will often just eat popcorn for dinner.  I would link you to the article I read, but I didn’t save it and I don’t feel like rooting around for it.

Anyway, I thought that was rather interesting.  If I’m too tired/lazy to cook for myself at the end of the day AND I can’t be bothered to go out to eat/pick up food, I generally just have cereal or a sandwich.  These are things I normally have on hand.  These are things I normally eat through the summer when it’s too hot to cook and I don’t have much of an appetite anyway.  Or sometimes I will just eat half a watermelon and be done with it.  But you’ll notice that all of these are cold foods.  What if I want a hot meal?  I guess it’s popcorn to the rescue!

The article took pains to point out that this wasn’t just normal microwave popcorn.  No, no.  This was stove-popped or air-popped popcorn that was tossed with things like fresh herbs and seasonings.  It was fancypants popcorn.  As you would expect.

I decided to give it a try.  Popcorn is relatively healthy, after all.  I mean, if you don’t drown it in butter or something.  And I’ve been wanting to give stove-top popping another go.  I tried it once with a mixing bowl and a foil lid, but didn’t really like the results.  This time I tried a chef’s pan since mine has a nice, tight-fitting lid.

It worked rather well.  I think I might like doing it this way over my microwave popcorn method when I want to toss in some seasoning or grated parm or something.  It’s easier to toss since it’s already in a pan.

In case you were wondering, I heat about a teaspoon of oil (grapeseed this time) and throw in a couple of kernels and wait for them to pop before dumping about a quarter cup of kernels into the pan and covering.  Then I shake it around and revel in the popping sounds.  This last time I tossed in some freshly grated parm, sea salt, and rosemary.

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