Lunch on June 16, 2011 - Shells and cheese and peas

The problem with keeping a lunch blog is that I open myself up to judgment every time I pack a lunch bag.  I'm not particularly proud of tomorrow's lunch but I think it would be disingenuous if I only blogged about the pretty or wholesome lunches I put together.  At the end of the day this is not a health food blog or a "nominate me for mom of the year award" blog so here goes.

For tomorrow's lunch I am serving mac and cheese. . .from a box (cue the audible gasp!).  Technically it's organic but who am I kidding, it is still dehydrated cheese and lots of sodium.  Our great babysitter had the idea once to mix peas in with the mac and cheese and Juju loves it so I threw in some fresh peas to make it "healthy."  The mac and cheese is in a new thermos I recently acquired.  I'm experimenting with it to see if it really will keep items particularly hot (or cold).  Tomorrow morning I will (try to remember to) transfer the mac and cheese to another bowl, heat it, and then put it back in the thermos.  This sounds like a lot of work which makes me think I won't be doing this often.  Maybe in the winter I'll send some soup like this though.

In addition to the mac and cheese I am serving cantaloupe and strawberries and leftover cous cous with cottage cheese.  Not a very appealing combination, I know, but it's what we had in the fridge and I'm too tired to make something else.

Tomorrow is the last day of school before a 3 week summer break.  I'll probably still be packing lunches though so I will try to blog about them when I do.  Happy Summer!!

Lunch on April 15 - pasta, avocado, fruit

Today is an example of a lunch packed the morning of.  No frills, no fun accessories, just something thrown together from what is in the fridge.  Today I am serving leftover pasta with cheese sauce.  Despite my efforts to serve fresh, wholesome foods most of the time, this dish came from a box.  It's apparently "organic" but it's basically Trader Joe's fancy version of mac and cheese.  Juju usually eats mac and cheese when she has a babysitter and this is leftover from earlier in the week when we went out.  The shells and cheese are paired with half an avocado and a fruit medley of strawberries, grapes, and cantaloupe.  I also threw some granola in one of my new SnackTaxi sacks that arrived the other day.

Speaking of granola, I wanted to post a fantastic kosher for Passover recipe for granola since Pesach starts on Monday night.  Even if you aren't Jewish you will find this recipe delish.  It is courtesy of my friend Marla (it's actually her mother's recipe) and is a great breakfast alternative to the all too common matzah and butter:

Matzah granola

Ingredients:
2 cups matzo farfel (or just crush up regular matzah to fill 2 cups)

1 cup almonds (I use slivered, unpeeled)

1/2 cup shredded coconut (I usually omit this)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup diced, dried apricots

1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine farfel, almonds, coconut.
Add honey and oil to the bowl and mix well.

Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and even it out.

Bake the granola for 20 minutes, stopping at 10 minutes to stir it up.
After 20 minutes, transfer the granola onto a platter, or just remove the foil from the baking sheet and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Pour the granola into bowl, add raisins, apricots, dates, mix well.

Enjoy!