I’m quite proud of my capability to pack a lunch for work every day. Aside from a stint when I first moved back to Oregon and spent my time bouncing between Chipotle and Nordstrom Café for lunch, I make my best effort to brown-bag it to work. It’s cheaper. It’s healthier. It feels better!

Needless to say, pears star regularly in my homemade lunches. Here are my top five ways to make your lunch better – with USA Pears:

• Pack ‘em up. When I have a ripe Anjou pear at home, I bring it to work in a pear packer (to protect it from bruises, of course). At lunch time, I slice it up and slather it liberally with almond butter. Yum.
• Perk up your tuna salad. One of my go-to lunch recipes is a fresh, homemade Tuna Waldorf Salad, created by my friend Melissa. Her original recipe calls for a diced apple (a Granny Smith is a lovely choice), but when I’m looking for something sweeter to provide contrast to the crunch of the nuts and the lemony mayo, a Bosc pear works wonders. You can even make it fancy by serving spoonfuls of salad on top of circular pear slices. Oh, yeah.
• Slice them over a salad. You know the combo – fresh greens, some spiced nuts, maybe some pungent crumbly feta or gorgonzola (but not if you’re cheese-averse like me), dressed with some slightly sweet vinaigrette.
• Slurp down some pear sauce! Yes, it is the lesser known relative of applesauce. And it’s delicious. I’ll be sharing my super-simple recipe for Bosc Pear Sauce in a few weeks. In the meantime, check out our friend Brook’s Cinnamon Pear Sauce (or for a wintry spin, the gorgeous Bosc Pear Cranberry Orange Sauce).
• Treat yo’ self. Although I never save any of my dessert for lunch the next day, it would be nice. One of my favorite (and totally easy) treats is to slice a Bosc pear, sauté it in coconut oil, and sprinkle it liberally with cinnamon. I put it in a bowl and add some cold almond (or coconut) milk. Oh, so good! Another appetizing option? Pack part of a dark chocolate bar in your lunch box and enjoy with ripe pear slices.