Lunch Time Yummies

Recipe Maven Musings:

I've been thinking a lot about school lunches. I imagine folks have gotten a bit bored of the usual lunch fixings and are looking for a few good ideas.
I recently was in Portland and went to one of their fancy upscale natural food markets called New Seasons. They had a handout on healthy school lunches that had some great ideas. I don't neccessarily believe all of what they have to say, but I'll quote it here the way they wrote it. Here's what it had to say:

Build a Better Lunch Box
A healthy lunch box will have 5 main components:
1. A whole grain food
2. A lean protein
3. A whole fruit (not juice, fruit snacks, or fruit rolls)
4. A vegetable
5. A low-sugar beverage such as water, plain cow's milk, rice milk, almond milk or soy milk. Be sure that non-dairy milks are calcium fortified.

Nutrient Dense Lunch Ingredients:
Whole Grain Foods: whole wheat or sprouted grain bread, whole grain crackers, whole wheat or sprouted grain tortillas, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, rolled oats, low sugar granola

Lean Proteins: hummus, bean dip, deli turkey, fruit juice sweetened yogurt, string cheese, cottage cheese, cheese cubes, peanut butter, almond butter, beans and rice, leftover roast chicken or meat loaf, chunk lite tuna, egg salad or a hard cooked egg

Fruit: Orange slices, mango chunks, grapes, frozen blueberries (a good stir-in for plain yogurt), apples, pears, cherries, melon, peaches, nectarines, plums, small bananas, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices

Vegetables: snap peas, bell pepper strips, fennel chips, carrot sticks, yam or sweet potato oven fries, broccoli trees (steam, then chill), cauliflower (steam then chill), celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, radishes, corn onthe cob, lightly salted edamame (soy beans, find them in the freezer) in the pod.

Healthy Fats: walnuts, mixed nuts (raw, not "roasted" from a can- these are usually fried in oil), almonds, peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

Lunch Time Favorites

Jicama, Carrot and Cucumber Sticks with Lime and Chili Powder
Slice jicama, carrots and cucumber into sticks, sprinkle lightly with chili powder and throw it all in a baggie with a wedge of lime to squeeze on later.

Whole Wheat Pita Wedges with Hummus
Slice one whole wheat pita round into 4 to 8 wedges and store in a baggie. Spoon about 1/3 cup of your child's favorite hummus into a small portable container for dipping in the lunch room.

Fruit Kabobs: spear cubes of cheese, rolled up deli turkey, grapes, strawberries, melon chunks, or apple and pear chunks (soak for a minute in a little lemon water to prevent browning) on bamboo skewers.

Hummus Dippers: Send hummus with carrots chips, fennel chips, and bell pepper strips for a fun way to get some vegetables.

Cinn-nutty Apple Dippers: Mix peanut butter with a little plain low-fat yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon served with apple or pear slices to dip.

Ants on a log: smear celery sticks with natural peanut butter or almond butter and put raisin ants on top.

Crunch-factor Yogurt Send an 8 ounce cup of low sugar, fruit juice sweetened, or plain low fat yogurt in the lunch box. In a zip-top bag, combine some low sugar granola, nuts and sunflower seeds to stir into the yogurt at lunch time. Add some frozen, organic blueberries for a boost of antioxidants.

Just in Quesadillas: Make this ahead of time. Warm a whole wheat or sprouted grain tortilla with cheese and low fat refried black beans in the middle. Wrap with foil and refrigerate until lunch time.

Recipes:

We had a whole lot of summer squash at our house last week. Here are a few ideas for eating it up. I made up a random saute with summer squash, tomatoes, garlic and butter all cut up and sauted together. I added the juice of one lime, some salt and pepper and served it over gnocci that we had around. You could use lemon juice or change the flavor by adding some balsamic vinegar and serve it over pasta or rice and add tofu to round it out. Yummy.

Zucchini chocolate bread

Makes 2 loaves

1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

2. In a bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, and oil. Beat until well blended. Stir in the zucchini and vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture. Stir just until blended.

4. Stir in the chips and nuts and divide the batter between the pans.

5. Bake the loaves for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Turn them out onto wire racks and set them right side up to cool.

from ''The Classic Zucchini Cookbook''