Lunch Ideas

When I first had to pack my daughter's lunch, I was freaked out. I wanted her to have something she would eat. I wanted it to be healthy and nutritious, and I don't want her to be the kid with the crappy lunch. As a working single parent, I also needed to be able to pack it in advance, preferable all at once at the beginning of the week.

I surfed the internet a bit -- there are a lot of resources on this. Most of them were unrealistic for me. I did some note taking and diagrams, and I came up with two categories:

• Protein and carbohydrates (usually combined, thus one category)
• Fruits and vegetables

Generally, she gets 1 container of the first category and 2-3 of the second category depending on portion sizes and content. I buy everything organic.

Protein and carbs:

• pasta with cheese... and sometimes some vegetables in there too.
• (usually half a) sandwich with meat and/or cheese -- use frozen bread(1) to keep it fresh until lunch time.
• (usually half a) sandwich with nut/seed butter and jelly, honey or sliced banana
• yogurt mix (yogurt, flax meal, nut or seed butter, and sometimes honey/jam/apple sauce for sweetening (2)) 
• cheese and crackers (very unusual)

Fruit and vegetables:

• blueberries (frozen or fresh)
• peas (usually frozen)
• half a banana
• apple slices -- she requires the peal be removed too. 
• apple sauce
• orange (pealed and sectioned)
• grapes (cut in half)
• cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
• olives

These are in order of use. I have these little metal containers I fill with frozen peas and blueberries every week or so. They stay in the freezer until I pack her lunch.

I asked her the other day if her lunch was as good as the other kids. She said "no, my lunch is usually better than the other kids' lunches." So, the system seems to be working.

(1) I check bread content and choose one with a higher than average serving size of protein and fiber. I also often choose one with flax meal for omega 3s.
(2) This concept is inspired by the Super Babyfood books.

Play Dough Recipe

2 cups flour
1/2 cup still water
1/3 cup salt
2 teaspoons canola oil
Add color, glitter and scented oils at desired

Tuna

I was excited to learn that Slate: Brow Beat is running a bi-weekly column "about cooking for children, and with children, and despite children." Frankly, this problem of getting my child to eat a healthy, balanced diet occupies way more of my mental energy than I would like. This week, the column is about tuna. We don't eat much tuna at home because I don't care much for it, but the mercury issues is a whole different layer. Regardless, it's always nice to have an outstanding pantry pasta recipe as presented at the end of the column.

"cup cakes" or "The very best muffin recipe for me"... and maybe you'll like it too.

I hate wasting food: throwing away uneaten bits, letting things rot, or even just not enjoying something enough. It's an abomination.

How delighted was I when I found this muffin recipe, and what's more, found out how incredibly flexible it is. Here is my modification:

1 1/2 to 2 cups leftover (hot or cold) cereal from the breakfast table -- obviously make sure no one spat out their food into their bowl and no one is sick. (can replace with quick oats and yogurt, milk or butter milk -- see link)
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (unless you are out in which case white sugar will do in a pinch. One time I even used honey but adjusted the other liquids to get the consistency right)
1/2 cup butter (unless you are out, in which case any fat without a strong savory flavor)
1 cup whole wheat flour, finely ground oatmeal, + some flax meal and/or similar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
as much dried or fresh fruit, cut small, as the batter will hold
a dash of vanilla extract, cinnamon or nutmeg if you feel so moved

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine first ingredient (in whatever form it takes for you) with any dried fruit. Microwave for 30 seconds. Let cool.

Mix together (sift if possible) dry ingredients

combine cooled cereal mix, egg and sugar, mix completely

mix in dried ingredients and then any remaining ingredients

make sure you have cute muffin baking liners -- although not too cute or your young child will try to eat it with the muffin like mine does. By the way -- we call these healthy muffins "cup cakes".

bake 15-20 minutes, makes 12-14 muffins

Enjoy!

The Frittata a.k.a. Pizza

We've been doing the 1-weekend potty training with the help of my mom. Maybe I'll have some insights on that, but for now I am just exhausted. Instead, I share with you a recipe:

"Pizza" (which is really a frittata)

I make this about once a week -- it's flexible (which, you will notice, I require), portable, and kid-friendly.

preheat oven to 350

1 to 2 cups of lightly-cooked vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, asparagus, carrot, kale and/or potato, chopped small and cooled. (I usually wash, chop, then cook in the microwave in a covered bowl with a little water ~ 2 minutes.)
1/2 onion diced, sauteed and cooled
several cloves of garlic, pressed
6 eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk, cream or plain soymilk
1 cup grated cheese such as Parmesan, Gruyere, mozzarella, chevre (not grated, but cut into small chunks) and/or similar
salt and pepper to taste (keep in mind the saltiness of the cheese you used)
cooked bacon or sausage cut into small pieces

mix them all together and put them into a 9-inch pie pan
cook for 45 min to 1 hour, check for done-ness of the eggs in the center

A popular option for any meal

What to do when fruits headed to the dark side...

We get a CSA vegetable box every two weeks. Sometimes I wish it came more, and sometimes I can't keep up with our produce. We love going to the farmers' market, but I don't trust myself to go consistently. So, the box comes with produce we must eat, and we eat a healthy diet of produce. Everyone wins.

A few days ago, I noticed I had let the fruit go a bit too long. I ate 3 nectarines, 1 peach and 2 large plums for dessert one night. I thought only protein was filling, but I didn't need to eat again for the entire next day. We still had two pears which were too far gone to eat raw but not completely rotten.

Here's what I did:

• preheated oven to 350 degrees.

...and with the fruit:

• I used an apple corer to slice the 2 mushy fruits into pieces, and
• mixed them in a bowl with some sugar (about 2 tps).
• Lemon juice, cinnamon, and/or vanilla extract can be nice to add -- I added a small dollop of molasses.
• Mix and pour into a serving-sized Pyrex bowl.

In the original mixing bowl (no washing needed), I:

• melted about 2 tbs of butter,
• mixed with about 1/4 cup of oatmeal and
• 2 tbs sugar.
• Cinnamon and/or vanilla can be nice to add .
• Mix them all together, add some flour until crumbly but not dry.
• Pat on top of the fruit.

Cook about 30-45 min with a cookie sheet underneath.

Enjoy with cream, yogurt or ice cream.

This incredibly flexible recipe can be done with almost any fruit (not melon, but you get the idea) and almost any grain and fat on top. Over the years, I've noticed that it's especially good when I add lemon juice, use very ripe fruit and butter, and cook it for a long time.