Wonderful and Unique Celery Salad-Perfect for Lunch!

About a month ago, we completely ran out of celery, that eternal staple of the American vegetable bin. For the next few weeks, I bought celery every time I was in a store, which is why we wound up with three big celery bunches of celery in the bin. What can I say? I must have unconsciously vowed to never be without celery again!  Our celery boom sent me searching for celery-rich recipes and I'm glad I found this one at Bon Appetit, which uses other staples we often have like almonds and dates. It's a perfect salad to take to work for lunch:  it has a bit of protein from the almonds and Parmesan cheese, a bright flavor and it won't stink up the office (or office kitchen).  The original recipe did not call for honey.  I think the additional honey softens the lemon juice and adds oomph.

Unique Celery Salad
8 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the diagonal.
1/2 cup roasted unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped
6 dates, coarsely chopped  
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt 
freshly ground pepper
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
3-4 shavings of Parmesan cheese per serving

Toss the sliced celery, almonds and dates in a bowl.  In a small jar with tight fitting lid, shake lemon juice, honey and olive oil together until well combined.  Pour on top of salad and toss to coat evenly.  Sprinkle on salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and toss again.  Taste and correct seasoning.  Put a few shavings of Parmesan on each serving.  Makes about 4 lunch servings.
 

Honey Date Bread--Great for Lunches!

Melissa Clark's "A Good Appetite" column in the New York Times is often a source of great recipe ideas.  In the link above, she offers some great sandwich suggestions for pack-able lunches and includes a recipe for Whole-Wheat Date Bread.  I adapted it, using a bit more honey and a little less olive oil.  The texture is a bit grainy, but if you wait a day and then slather a slice with cream cheese...well, it's to die for!  I generally bake quick breads in a 9 inch x 2 inch tube pan, which seems to help with the problem of over-baked tops before the center sets.

Whole-Wheat Date Bread
1/2 cup white sugar (or brown sugar)
2/3 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons summer honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup sliced, pitted dates

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan (or a 9 inch x 2 inch tube pan).  Whisk the sugar, yogurt, honey and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Add the eggs, one at a time an mix well.  In a separate bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, soda and salt.  Add to the sugar/yogurt mixture and combine just until there are no more traces of flour.  Fold in the olive oil and then the dates.  Pour into prepared pan and bake about 50-55 minutes if using a loaf pan (or 40-45 minutes if using a tube pan).  Check halfway through and tent with tinfoil if crust becomes too brown.  Let rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Melissa Clark suggests using this bread to make a sandwich of cream cheese and sliced grapes or cream cheese and black olives.