Lunch Box Day

You haven't seen one of these here at Tummy Treasure in a while! In the last few weeks, Abigail has been taking cold lunch more often- which really thrills me actually. While it's easier and cheaper for her to eat the school's lunch- they really do an awful job here. Everything is heavily processed, and while they meet the standards for nutritional needs, the bar is set really low. No fresh vegetables, salads rarely, it's sad, considering we're just up the road a piece from a school that is changing school lunches across the country. I mean, really, breaded mozzarella sticks are considered an adequate entree? So Abigail has been going through the school lunch menu and crossing out the days that she doesn't want school lunch. We're about half and half right now, and that works perfectly for me. She still gets to have the occasional pizza and chicken nuggets, and I get to have peace of mind on mystery meat day.

Anyway, yesterday Abigail stayed home from school because she had a dentist appointment that did not go really well. She had four teeth pulled and three cavities filled, and her mouth is full of hurt right now, so I needed to pack a mouth-conscious lunch. She was on completely soft foods yesterday, so I thought today she might want to try a little bit of texture. So here today for lunch in the green compartment you see Nigella's Ricotta Hotcakes, shaped into sticks for dunking into some maple syrup. I added some tiny bits of strawberries to the pancakes, and they turned out really good. In the blue container is some cinnamon applesauce, and to the right of that some graham cracker sticks that she thought she might be able to try. If not, she could always crumble them into the applesauce to soften. And finally, just a few halved green grapes(sitting next to the maple syrup). I didn't think about it in time to steam some carrots, or I would have done that as well. But I think she'll enjoy this lunch. The ricotta hotcakes I chose because the last time I made them I thought they were much better at room temp than hot. They are very soft as well, so they are a perfect choice for a sore mouth lunch.

And as long as I'm sharing lunchboxes today, here's another one from Wednesday's lunch. She really liked this one. What you see here is a homemade bagel topped with a strawberry cream cheese smear. Since I made it myself, I could make the bagel small enough to fit in her lunchbox- and she loves bagels and smear. Above that are some peppers and cucumbers with Russian dressing for dipping. To the right of that is her dessert of yogurt covered pretzels, and below that some sliced strawberries and green grapes. I think she's missed my lunches, because she's been doing really well at eating them up. To accompany her lunches, she always buys a carton of milk at school, and I send a water bottle along with the lunch, in case she wants more than the milk. Now, next Monday she has a field trip away from school, so I will likely send some Yo-J or some apple juice for her to drink.

And if you're in search of some more ideas for lunches, you simply must check out my blog-friend Janelle's new blog, brown bag blues. Janelle blogs regularly about family and food at Talk of Tomatoes, and I'm really excited about her new project, so be sure you check that out. She has great ideas for lunches for every member of the family, and I can't wait to see more from her on the subject.