This sandwich was originally going to be made with brie cheese because I know better than anyone just how much Marissa loves brie. But hey, since Marissa is not here to eat the sandwich, I switched it up and made it with Swiss cheese. To turn it back into a brie sandwich, just take a wedge of brie, slice off the rind, cut off a few slices and let the cheese come to room temperature before putting the whole thing together.

Oh, and I am having so darn much fun playing with the artistic effects on Photoshop, as you can see in my super cool photos – above and far below.

On a personal little side note: Happy 27th Anniversary to my very patient husband, David. I’m looking forward to our celebratory dinner at Binkley’s tonight. (no need  to worry, we’ve hired a driver because trust me, there will be plenty of wine-parings involved)  xoxo

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Before I get to today’s brown bag recipe, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with this site yesterday. The bad news is that it was down between about 2:00 and 5:00 pm as people (including me) received an error message stating that there was not enough bandwidth. What is bandwidth, you ask?  I have absolutely no idea. I even looked it up and read THIS, and I still don’t fully understand. So I emailed my super-duper tech guy. He kindly added more bandwidth to my site and I was back in business.

The good news – running out of my allotted amount of monthly bandwidth before the month is up (even if it is on the last day of the month) means my viewership is growing and that excites me very much indeed.  And that is thanks to all of you! I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart! xoxo

Today’s brown bag lunch recipe is a jazzed-up version of an all-time favorite, the BLT.  This is the BELT, and the E is for the egg that is added in. The only problem is when I made this for Dave and myself the other night… yeah… I forgot the lettuce. So the pictures reflect a BET instead of a BELT. No matter, it was delicious even without the lettuce!

Since the sandwich includes hard-cooked eggs, a bagel seemed like a natural choice for the bread. I made one each way, the first with a toasted bagel and the other with toasted multi-grain bread. I preferred the bagel and Dave preferred the bread. You choose for yourself, or just make them both ways and enjoy half of each. Then share the rest with a favorite co-worker. Trust me, that person will be your friend for life after they’ve filled their growling tummy with your tasty generosity!

If you want to make only one sandwich, boil 2 eggs instead of three. Only mash 1/2 of one of the eggs for the spread and slice the remaining 1 1/2 for the sandwich. Cut the amount of all of the remaining ingredients by half.

Lastly, as long as you’re frying up bacon, fry extra. It freezes great and then you won’t have to make a mess the next time you’re craving this sandwich… oh, and you will be craving it!

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I recently received a blog request from one of my loyal followers… OK, it was from my daughter, Marissa. But she counts as my most loyal follower. No one has commented more, in the nearly 3-year life of this site, than my sweet girl. And I thank her profusely for that and for her constant support and encouragement. To that end, naturally, I will be fulfilling her request.

She asked if I could post some brown-bag recipes. New ideas for yummy stuff she could take into the office for lunch. Marissa has a varied and sophisticated palate. She was a vegetarian back in middle school and still doesn’t eat much meat, although she, like most intelligent individuals, loves bacon.

All week I will be creating recipes and giving specific instructions for brown-bagging. Each of these recipes will not only make for a perfect lunch but a lovely light supper too.

In most cases, everything listed in each recipe can be easily found at Trader Joe’s. (Which is, of course, this mother and daughter’s favorite place to grocery shop.) Take the hearts of palm in this recipe for example. Sure you may find them in a regular grocery store… eventually. But you’ll probably need to search high and low until you finally give up and ask for help. But at TJ’s they will be on the one and only aisle of canned and jarred goods… right alongside the pepperoncini peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar you will also need to purchase, if you don’t already have them on hand. And there is no better place to buy cheese, it’s always fresh at TJ’s because of the high turnaround… and the price is hard to beat. As for the produce – unless the grocery store is running the specific items on an ad that week, the price is about the same. Well, except for the basil. No grocery store can touch the super low price of basil at TJ’s!

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