Curry Mutiny?

It is true that if I attempted to serve this meal to all three children at the same time I'm sure I'd have a mutiny on my hands. However, I did a taste test on one child and it was consumed without any tears or obvious signs of gagging. Not exactly a rave review, but I thought I'd give it a go for lunch anyway.

Curried Vegetable Dahl with split peas, red bell peppers, cauliflower, potatoes and raisins; brown rice and cubes of avocado; shredded daikon; and cranberry cornbread muffin with wheat germ.

waste generated: 0 :)

Cheese and Crackers

I took the little bug to the store with me on Sunday and told him to pick out anything he wanted for lunch one day this week. He chose a giant wedge of smoked gouda and was determined to bring it, as is, to lunch.

The compromise: 1/3 of the wedge of gouda (I pre-sliced it, see photo above, so that he could just pull off the rind, it seemed more civilized than having him gnaw on a block of smelly, smoky cheese); water crackers and Kashi TLC crackers; kalamata olives; almonds and dried cranberries.

waste generated: none :)

Spring Rolls in the Winter

Spring rolls made with rice paper wraps stuffed with shredded carrots, red cabbage, lettuce, and tofu, served with slightly spicy peanut sauce for dipping. Edamame, tamari flavored rice crackers, and dried sweet banana chips.

The chopsticks are decorative and stayed home with me.

waste generated: none

Monkey Man

Not the kid, the lunch. This lunch was created by Aidan, my 6 year old son. The open face sandwich is a monkey face made with peanut butter; apple slices and raisins (the two things sticking up are toothpicks, used to keep the sandwich from sticking to the lid on the way to school); tangerine; and the apple skin in one long curl (a.k.a snakes).

Aidan used one of those old fashioned apple peelers to make the strip of skin and apple rings. The only thing I helped with was getting the peanut butter spread to the edges of the bread and cleaning the knife & apple peeler. Amazingly, he pulled this lunch together in less than 10 minutes and that includes the decision making part. Maybe I should put him in charge of lunches.

waste generated: square of unbleached parchment paper and two toothpicks

Not All Good Food is Pretty

I'm not entirely sure what is going on with this lunch. The photo of the gypsy pepper is meant to show how I wrapped it "to go" with just a rubber band and wrap-n-mat, but it looks more like something I captured from the wild and bound for later torture. The soup, as delicious as it is, looks a bit like, well, to be blunt, vomit. But I suppose a lot of soup looks like that. The lunch: turkey & hominy soup (organic Diestal turkey leftover from Thanksgiving, shredded and previously frozen) with onions, carrots, celery (from our weekly Full Belly Farm CSA), hominy, and tomatoes. Gypsy pepper (also from Fully Belly) cut in half and filled with carrot sticks on one side and Annie's Goddess Dressing on the other. The bread is Alvarado Street sprouted whole wheat sourdough. I wrapped the bread in a separate wrap-n-mat.

waste generated: 0, :) the rubberband was re-used from a head of broccoli and I'm pretty sure it will be used again as a slingshot or other piece of childhood weaponry

Pizza Fridays

At my son's school, pizza is served every Friday, along with a few slivers of iceberg lettuce drenched in ranch dressing, an enormous brownie and chocolate milk - all served in a styrofoam take-out container. This is my compromise:

Pizza from Zelda's (a local pizzeria) with mushrooms and black olives; red bell pepper strips and carrot sticks, a mini apple, and a Cliff Chocolate Chip ZBar.

waste generated: small rectangle of unbleached parchment paper, wrapper from ZBar

Almost Thai

Dinner last night was a Thai stir-fry with rice noodles, broccoli, and a coconut peanut sauce. This lunch was created with the leftovers sans sauce.

Thai rice noodles; sesame broccoli; roasted peanuts; and the first orange from our tree.

waste generated: none :)