Monday, December 13 & Tuesday, December 14

Ooops, forgot to post yesterday's photo. I blame it on too-much-to-do-this-time-of-year-brain, although I'm often forgetful, so it could just be that. So today's post is for both yesterday and today. Tomorrow is pizza day (hot lunch) so no posting.

MONDAY

TUESDAY

• over-cooked gnocchi
• broccoli with soy butter
• tomato skewers
• grapes and clementines
• water
• morning snack: water, cheese crackers













• mini wheat bagel
• hummus with carrots and celery to dip

• blueberries
• water
• morning snack: water, watermelon

Friday, December 10

I'm going to call today's lunch the LIAR'S SPECIAL, in honor of Senator Scott Brown, who said he would support a repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell (he even sent me an e-mail message last night saying he supported the repeal), but then last night was one of the final votes that crushed the repeal. SNAKE and a LIAR.

Ok. Liar's Special:

• Egg-axtly The Opposite of What I Said I Was Going to Do Animal-Shaped Egg
• I've Made Everyone Blue Berries
• Pesto TorteLIE-nini
• Red-Faced Lie Tomatoes

(Close-up, although the smaller photo is actually better, I think. It's a cheap little camera and I'm taking the photos at 6:30 a.m. in my fairly dark kitchen.)

Thursday, December 9

I realized, as I was typing the list of today's lunch, that it's heavy on soy. We were in Trader Joe's once and two young boys were with their father near the ice cream section. One of the boys was pointing toward a box of Tofutti Cuties, these little vegan "ice cream" sandwiches that are awesomely yummy. The father went a little nutty, pulling the kids away and saying, in a too-loud voice, "Boys don't eat soy." I was a little put off by this (probably because I was holding a quart of soy ice cream and E was next to me). I suspect he had read some article about how the isoflavones in soy have an impact on male hormones. (Research shows this not to be true.) What bothered me wasn't that the guy felt strongly about the health of his sons, but that he was so loud and obnoxious about it.

Anyhow, here's today's soy-packed lunch!

• veggie burger (Dr. Praeger's California veggie)
• tofu
• edemame and corn with soy butter
• clementine
• water
• morning snack: water, cereal bar (fig)

Tuesday, December 7

Not the most inspiring lunch today, but pretty good from a nutritional standpoint, I guess. Tomorrow is hot lunch -- pizza day. I have to admit, as much as I prefer making lunch and having control over the ingredients, I do look forward to having one day where I don't have to scramble to get the bento box washed or worry over what I'm going to make.

• whole wheat shells with shakey cheese (parmesan)
• broccoli
• whole wheat bread with soy butter
• blueberries
• water
• morning snack: water, strawberry cereal bar**

** I realized recently that a lot of these cereal/granola bars have nuts, which they don't allow in E's classroom for morning snack. (Lunch is OK since they have designated "nut-free" tables.) Any suggestions for high-quality cereal/granola bars without nuts? Today I gave him a cereal bar from Whole Foods, their 365 brand, which are good and not expensive, but it would be nice to have other options.

Monday, December 6

It's cooooold out there today, which has me thinking about cold-weather lunches. (And sadly, it's not actually that cold -- high 30s, with wind.) I may try to find some kind of small thermos for hot soup. Not sure how easy that will be for a five-year-old, but it's worth a try.

Ok, today's lunch!

• grilled cheese on whole wheat
• homefries!
• carrot sticks
• Pirate's Booty
• water
• morning snack: water, apple

Friday, December 3

Latkes and over-cooked peas!

• pb&j on whole wheat
• overcooked peas, white kidney beans, and a tomato
• homemade vegan latkes
• clementime
• water
• morning snack: water, apple

Thursday, December 2

Today's lunch is basically leftovers from dinner last night, plus rice crackers, which E loves. That's it, nothing more inspiring today.

• pesto tortellini with side of tomato sauce for dipping

• broccoli with soy butter

• garlic bread

• rice crackers

• water

• morning snack: clementine, water

Tuesday, November 30

Ok, so today's lunch has a little story behind it. Rob (E's dad) has been dying for Chinese take out for a long time. So last night -- his one day off from work -- we stop and get two dishes for Rob and E: veggie lo mein and veggie mu shu. He was especially craving the mu shu. By the time we got home, it was late and so I was frantically running around trying to finish E's bath, feed the five cats, and get my head around today's school lunch while Rob made a salad and heated up the homemade veggie soup that I made on Sunday. Finally, as I was dishing out some of the mu shu so that E could start eating, the Christmas tree fell over on top of me, bulbs flying, cats flying, E crying because he got scared and because he was worried about the ornaments, and Rob freaking out because the mu shu fell on floor. Everyone was fine and only one ornament was broken so all in all not too bad, but the mu shu had to be thrown out and it took awhile to pull it all back together again. Needlesstosay, I had no energy for thinking about today's lunch so I made it easy on myself and saved some of the lo mein, threw in a few baby tomatoes, and brown rice that I had made on Sunday night. Oh, and a homemade vegan cookie to make up for the lost ornament.

• veggie lo mein
• brown rice
• tomatoes
• vegan chocolate chip cookie
• water
• morning snack: water, apple

Monday, November 29

Back to school! With all of the days off last week, it feels like forever since I made lunch for school. Nothing too exciting today, although we've totally been grooving on sauteed green beans with thinly sliced almonds. After a minute or so in the hot pan, the almonds get soft and very tasty. Yum.

• wheat pasta with shakey cheese and soy butter
• sauteed green beans with sliced almonds
• chickpeas
• tangerine
• water
• morning snack: green grapes, apple cider

Tuesday, November 23

Red and White

I realized last night, as I was cooking dinner and pulling things aside for today's lunch, that everything was red and white. This is not intentional. I remember all the buzz a few years ago about eating the rainbow -- the idea that you should eat foods every day from all of the colors of the rainbow in order to get in a variety of nutrients. Although I fall way short of this most days, I do think it's good advice. It makes sense that a meal like broccoli, blueberries, and pasta with tomato sauce and yellow peppers is better for you than pasta with cheese sauce, white bread and butter, and something else white.

Ok, on to today's far-from-the-rainbow lunch:

• pasta with homemade tomato sauce (Wait! It has GREEN parsley and basil! That counts, right?)
• smashed baby potatoes with soy butter
• white kidney beans
• strawberries
• water
• morning snack: water, fruit bar