School lunches, week four

Monday: Vegetables, Snapea Crisps, mandarin orange, and (not pictured) Elephant's Deli cheese stick pastry

Thursday: Radishes, peaches, mandarin oranges, baked trout, popcorn, and a chocolate chip cookie

Friday: Simple romaine and red cabbage salad, peaches, cheese, crackers, smoked trout, mixed nuts, and cake

School lunches, week three

Wednesday: Pb&honey sandwich, mozzarella cheese stick, edamame, apple, red bell pepper, chips, blueberry fruit bar

Thursday: Strawberry yogurt, cheese, orange slices, strawberries, cucumbers and radishes, and (not pictured) cheese pastry

Friday: Buttered noodles, pear, mixed nuts, red bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and radishes, and brownie bites

School lunches, week two

Tuesday: Cheese sandwich, cucumbers and red cabbage, banana, Cheezies, and roasted apple pie

Wednesday: Cheese pizza with olives, apple, That's It fruit bar, carrots and radishes

Thursday: Crackers and cheese, hard-boiled egg, red bell peppers, kiwi, and Jovy Fruit Roll

Friday: Pasta in tomato and cheese sauce, poppy thyme crackers, apple, carrots, radishes, and pumpkin donut

School lunches, week one

Tuesday: PB&J sandwich rounds, spinach, raspberries and pine nut salad, carrot sticks, Snapea Crisps,  watermelon, and Fig Bar cookies

Wednesday : Cheese quesadilla, cucumbers, hard-boiled egg, pineapple and grapes, and Z Bar

Thursday: Broiled salmon, Basmati rice, spinach, apple, cheese round, whole wheat chocolate chip cookie, and GORP

Friday: Mac and cheese, sugar snap peas, banana, popcorn, and raspberries, and whole wheat chocolate chip cookie

Breakfast School Lunch!

Hen gets breakfast for lunch every once in awhile. The hardest thing about breakfast for lunch is that Hen doesn't really enjoy eggs with veggies (frittatas, quiches, etc.) so it always ends up like this - yummy breakfast food #1, yummy breakfast food #2, yummy breakfast food #3, and a side of raw <insert yummy vegetable here>, and fruit (and sometimes a special chocolate treat). The kid is a good eater so I can't really complain.

School lunches, week 4

Note: No school on Thursday and Friday for Rosh Hashanah.
Left: Pasta with red sauce, spinach and red bell peppers, apple, Astronaut cookies and cream ice cream  sandwich, and nuts
Middle: Crepes with Nutella, orange slices, crackers, string cheese, lemon cucumbers*, spinach and radishes, hard-boiled egg
Right: Grapes and plum, Z bar, spinach, nuts, and (not pictured) Baker & Spice croissant

*Hen did not like these because they were too slimy.

School lunches, week 3

Left: Cheese sandwich, yogurt, olive oil chips, nectarine, cucumber and spinach, and a Z-Bar
Middle: Risotto with parmesan, fruit bar, lettuce, cucumber, and carrot salad, apple, chocolate cake, corn nuts
Right: Cheese and crackers, yogurt, plums, Asian pear, grapes, carrots, broccoli

Left: Barley with red bell pepper and zucchini, trail mix, chocolate treat, red bell peppers, grapes, and an Asian pear
Right: Buttermilk pancakes, endive and radishes, chocolate cake, nectarines, plums, and pluots, and a hard-boiled egg

School lunches, week 2

Left: Jasmine rice and roasted chickpeas, banana bread, cantaloupe and grapes, and edible flowers, cucumbers, radishes, and carrots.
Middle: Pizza with olives, pluots and plums, oatmeal cookie with dried cherries, chocolate, and sunflowers, cabbage, radishes, and bananas.
Right: Broiled salmon, banana bread, apple, vanilla yogurt, bulgar with mushrooms, and carrots.

Left: Black bean enchiladas, cucmbers and radishes, Z Bar (chocolate mint),  plums and grapes.
Right: Applesauce, latkes, cucumbers and radishes, pumpkin pie, and strawberries.

School lunches

As the start of a new school year begins I once again make the pledge to bring more variety to Hen's school lunches. This year I am actively working to see how long I can pack lunches without repeat main dishes. I expect to make it three weeks before the ease of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wins out over my efforts to seek new food combinations.

Left: PB&J circles with barbecue chips, cucumbers, red cabbage and cauliflower, mango, pluots and a plum with a chocolate treat.
Middle: Cheese quesadilla, spinach, red bell pepper and pine nut salad, nectarines, pluots and grapes, trail mix with a chocolate pudding treat.
Right: Orzo pasta with butter and parmesan, hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, red bell peppers, and radishes (teeny ones from our garden!), raspberries, watermelon and a plum, sunflower seed snacks with a yogurt-covered pretzels treat.

The last lunch for our kindergartener

It seemed like taking a picture of Hen's last kindergarten meal is a post-worthy thing to do. He requested pizza and also had fruit salad (blueberries, mango, and strawberries), red bell peppers and cucumbers, and a no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookie. To drink, a water bottle filled with homemade lemonade.

Little man's lunch

We walked up to the store tonight to grab some milk and I told Hen he could pick out what he wanted for his school lunch tomorrow. The requirements were that he had to have at least one vegetable, one fruit, and something with protein. Tomorrow's lunch is filet mignon*, strawberries, radishes, olives, one mango-pineapple Odwalla smoothie, and homemade banana bread.

*While walking Bean said he wanted ham but at the meat counter he changed his mind. And, no, Darren, I didn't make any suggestions. I was there buying hamburger meat.

School lunches: Jelly pinwheels

First, another mom at the school introduced me to sunflower butter. It is very close to peanut butter but without the death-producing anaphylaxis. I made a mistake by asking Hen if he wanted to try it beforehand - I'm fairly certain had I just subbed it in, there wouldn't have been a problem - but since he said he didn't want it, I didn't add it to his sandwich. Hen loves pinwheel sandwiches. They are the more artistic pb&j (or just j or sb&j). Vegetables and fruits included in this meal: a spinach, cucumber, and raspberries salad and hominy. Tasty, tasty hominy.

School lunches: Honey and soy salmon

I thought the soy and honey marinated salmon was really good. Alas, Hen wasn't a huge fan. He ate it but only begrudgingly. When I asked if he would eat the salmon without the sauce, he said yes. So, next time it'll just be plain salmon. Today's vegetable was spinach salad with pine nuts and olive oil. Today's fruit, a pear that we got at Kiyokawa Family Orchards when we went apple picking. I also made Mark Bittman's cheese straws. (The recipe I used in his book didn't include parmesan but I think I'll add that next time. Hen loves parmesan.)

School lunches: Pasta with pesto!

Hen had dinner while out with his papa last night so I got to use our pasta with pesto leftovers for his lunch today. Today's vegetables include spinach, cauliflower, and carrots. Today's fruit, gala apple that Hen picked himself. And the treat he forgot to eat, Lindt chocolate ball.

Coming later this week: Honey and soy salmon skewers.

School lunches: Finger-picking chicken balls

Hen will try these tomorrow in his premiere (pre)school lunch so the real review will have to be posted later. I, as mere mama and lowly chef, think they are fabulous. Since Hen isn't a fan of big onion flavor, I would probably use way less onion then the recipe called for. (It suggested one whole onion, I used a little over a quarter and next time I'll use an eighth.) But they were super easy to make, easy to fry up, and there are leftovers that can be frozen or used for dinner tomorrow night. Woot! Ingredients include: apple, skinless and boneless chicken breast, onion, parsley, thyme (optional, I omitted it this time), white bread crumbs, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper, and flour for coating.

The goal is to try one to two new recipes a week for lunches. The nut concerns were put to rest when the teacher established a nut-free table during lunch time. That being said I'll do my best to fill Hen's lunchbox with nut-free offerings until he starts to make a big stink about wanting plain old pb&j. (There's always the possibility this won't happen so we could go the whole year without entering the building with any nuts.)

The rest of the contents in Hen's lunch are cucumbers, carrots, black grapes, white cheddar (cut in the shape of fish), and homemade pumpkin bread (not pictured as it just came out of the oven). Next up, "luscious lunch on a stick". There's no real cooking for that recipe so it probably won't be featured on the blog. But if I'm bored, it might be. You never can tell what I'll throw on this thing.

School lunches: Homemade ramen noodles

With Hen's official school lunches about to start in a couple weeks and a possible nut ban to boot, I have to come up with more creative lunch ideas. Enter Annabel Karmel's Lunch Boxes and Snacks. Homemade ramen noodles is super easy to make. The recipe says 6oz is 2 servings but this produced way more than Hen could eat on his own in two days. We will all have it for dinner tonight and there will still be leftovers. I forgot to cook the chicken so it wasn't added, which would only slightly alter the flavor and shouldn't cause too much fuss. Hen does like his protein. But I purposefully left out the scallions as Hen isn't a huge fan of onions. The ingredients include noodles, corn, peas, soy sauce, cornstarch, chicken broth. We stopped at an Asian market to grab the noodles, although in a pinch, I'm sure a pasta like vermicelli would suffice. Next up, chicken finger balls.