Looking for a quick, easy, and fun lunch for your best Dr. Who fan? In this instructable I outline some quick and easy recipes and presentation ideas that will bring a smile to any Whovian's face. It helps if you start with a TARDIS lunchbox, but any container will do. In the second picture above, you see all of the lunch and snacktime items before they are packed up. There is a pasta salad, sandwich and side salad, dip, dessert, and of course, a banana. (Whovians know how important the banana is!). I will explain each item step by step below.

Step 1: First Course: Basic Bowtie Pasta Salad

This will make 3-4 cups of the salad. Clearly there will be some left over for other meals.

Ingredients:

-1 cup bowtie (naturally!) pasta

-1/4 cup of mayonnaise

-1 Tablespoon of white vinegar (you can change up the flavours by using different vinegars)

-1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard (again, you can change it up with other mustards.

-1 teaspoon sugar (reduce or increase amount according to taste)

-Salt and pepper to taste

-Other additions as desired- ie: 1/2 stalk chopped celery (the Fifth Doctor would approve of this "powerful restorative"), a handful of frozen peas, chopped onion, pimento, peppers, carrots, etc.

Directions:

-Boil the pasta until it is done but not mushy. Rinse in cold water and refrigerate while you make the rest. Chop up any veggies you wish to add. Mix the mayo, vinegar, mustard, sugar, and salt and pepper. Stir the pasta and chopped veggies into the dressing and refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Eleventh Doctor would think this salad is very cool!

Step 2: Second Course- Basic Two-Hearted Sandwiches.

It is the presentation that counts for this part of the meal. Make any kind of sandwich your fan likes and cut it into hearts (for the Doctor's two hearts). There are sandwich cutters available for this that you can often find at grocery stores on clearance for about 50c. But even without them, it's pretty darned easy to do- just cut the sandwich diagonally, and flip the two halves on top of each other (so they are stacked four slices deep). at the rounded end, cut an "m" shape just behind the crust. Viola! Two hearts.

Step 3: Bonus- Vortex Dip for Sandwich or Pasta Salad

For people who like a little extra spiciness for their sandwiches or pasta salad, you can add a nice "anti-oil" dip. Simply put some mayonnaise in a small container and add some Sriracha with a toothpick or small spoon. Swirl it around to mix, but don't stir it completely up. You get two effects that way- first you get a reddish colour, and leaving the streaks in gives you a vortex. Since the reusable container lid was blue, I couldn't resist making another TARDIS. I just put sellotape on the lid and drew on it with permanent marker to create the doors of the TARDIS. After use, you can just peel off the tape and throw it out so you can wash the container.

Several Doctors used red anti-oil to clog machinery gears. The 10th Doctor used it to clog up the clockwork androids in "The Girl in the Fireplace".

And of course everyone knows that the space-time vortex is the medium that the TARDIS travels through.

Step 4: Dessert- "Quesandra"

This is the easiest dessert snack ever, and just too much fun to make! I modified this from other versions I'd seen online to round out the lunch with a little sweetness. I simply made a sweet quesadilla by putting peanut butter and jam between two store-bought soft tortilla shells. Then I cut the edges into a scalloped shape and used food coloring pens (you could use food coloring dipped toothpicks) to make it resemble Lady Cassandra O'Brien.

For some variation you could add in a sliced banana (a good source of potassium and essential to take to a party according to the tenth Doctor) for a pbj and banana Quesandra.

Step 5: Other Ideas

Other fun things I've thought of doing for future Dr. Who lunches include:

-Writing a note (on psychic paper of course).

-Including a "special straw" for drinks (according to the 11th Doctor it "adds more fizz"- "The Impossible Astronaut").

-Putting in fish fingers and custard (well- maybe not really custard, but yellow tartar sauce maybe?)

-Adding jelly babies for a sweet treat (The fourth Doctor's particular favourite).

-Making Ood spaghetti.

I've also been looking for some miniature salt and pepper shakers. The old glass diner types are shaped quite a bit like TARDIS's, and I'd like to paint some up to add in to the lunch box. If I was really clever, it would be cool to make a sonic screwdriver that opened the lunchbox too.

-And a whole lot more. It is just too much fun. I hope you enjoyed this simple instructable and I hope you have fun playing with your food too.