Miranda Bashaw is a fan of
Your email:
A tasty lunch. And I know because I ate it!
January 29, 2010
Jackson’s Lunch:
So this morning was one of those mornings when, even after my typically eye-opening cup of coffee, my head was still quite foggy. I’m not sure why. I had a decent night’s sleep (A good night’s sleep is something I haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying in years. Five years, actually. Jackson is five. You see the correlation.). I ate a nutritious breakfast. And, like I said, I had some caffeine. Nonetheless, I was having trouble staying focused.
I was pleased, though, that through the fog I was able to throw together a lunch for my son. I ran the menu past Jackson, and he was pleased, too. I drove Jackson to school (without getting lost) and even managed to get him and his lunch to his classroom.
After I dropped him off, I had some errands to run. My first stop was the grocery store. I parked the car, and, as I turned to reach for my purse, I saw it sitting there on the passenger seat nestled soundly beside my shopping bags. Jackson’s lunch bag!
After carrying his lunch into his classroom, I carried it right back out with me. Ugh! And being a good 20 minutes drive from his school at the grocery store, there was no way I was driving back. I kicked myself and cursed the fog that was clouding up my thinking.
When I picked Jackson up this afternoon, the first thing both he and his teacher asked me was if I had forgotten his lunch. No, I didn’t forget it. I just forgot to leave it for him. Oh well! Guess what I had for lunch today?
A picture's worth a thousand words.
January 13, 2010
When I first started this blog adventure, I did it for a couple of reasons. First off, I wanted to share my ideas and hear what you were doing as well. I also believed blogging about Jackson’s lunches daily would be motivating for me; if I were to write about what he took that day, I had to pack something.
Now that I’ve been doing it for several weeks, I’ve discovered an unexpected perk: The blog has become a kind of photographic food journal. When I’m stumped on what to pack, I look back to things I’ve already sent for inspiration. Once the food is packed and on its way to school with Jackson, I can look at the photo of the lunch and see it as a whole meal (many times when I’m packing a lunch I think in terms of protein, grains, veggies and fruit without really seeing the meal as a whole).
The photographs have been so much more than I ever thought they would be. I really believed they would simply be a quick view of the lunch for whomever was reading. But I’ve looked at them again and again for differents reasons.
Jackson came home a little early today, and he and I lounged on the couch. He had a book in his lap; I had my computer in mine. He was browsing through some pictures of T. Rex; I was browsing the pictures of his past lunches. When he saw what I was looking at, he asked, “Was that my lunch from yesterday?” and he was suddenly done with T. Rex.
So, together we started looking through and talking about all the lunches I have packed and posted. When we had gone through them all, I asked, “So what was your favorite lunch?”
“Hmm, let’s look at them again and then I’ll tell you,” he said. We started again from the beginning, and I was starting to see that he, too, was enjoying looking at the pictures and trying to remember each lunch and whether or not it was his favorite.
He had something to say for each day. Yesterday, he really liked the carrot and sandwich, but the banana was too smelly. The day before he loved the kiwi. Maybe the oatmeal was his favorite. “Mmmm, gumbo.” He loved the dipping the hamburger bites into the ketchup. “I forgot about the scrambled eggs; can you make that again sometime?”
Finally, I asked again what his favorite had been, and he happily replied, “They’re all my favorite!” It was music to my ears, and I have the pictures to thank for it. If the pictures hadn’t been there to visually remind him of what he’d eaten, I know he wouldn’t have remembered his lunches in such vivid detail.
Comfort on a chilly day.
January 8, 2010
The Roasted Red Pepper dip isn't authentic Romesco sauce, but it's still tasty. And I made a double batch of gumbo and froze it just for occasions like this one.
January 4, 2010
I’ve had lots of people ask me where I get ideas for Jackson’s lunch, and the truthful answer is anywhere I can. I’m always looking for new ideas or better ways of doing something I already do. I scour magazines for recipes whenever I can. I read cookbooks. I watch cooking TV shows. It certainly helps that I enjoy doing these things, but I also find activities like these important and essential to feeding my family. No one likes boredom, even when it comes to food, so I’m always on the look out for new ideas. Restaurant menus have been an invaluable source of ideas.
When we eat at a restaurant, Jackson is always given a children’s menu if one is available. I began to notice he usually enjoyed the coloring and games, but much of the time the children’s menu items didn’t appeal to him. He’d end up sharing my or my husband’s meal and leaving his meal either on the table or in our fridge after bringing it home in a doggie bag. Yes, it’s true that the children’s menu items in restaurants are normally cheaper, but it isn’t a savings at all if he isn’t eating them.
That was when I began “studying” restaurant menus. While Jackson colored the kids menu, I read the descriptions of regular meals searching for things that might appeal to him without breaking the bank. Appetizers and soup items are generally less expensive than “adult-size” entrees, so I started ordering things like chicken satay, Thai summer rolls, and Italian wedding soup for him. He loved many of the things he tried, so then my search for recipes for these things began.
Since time, or lack of, is an issue, I look for shortcuts or easier ways to prepare dishes without sacrificing taste or healthfulness. For chicken satay, I grill extra chicken at dinner and then quickly put together a simple peanut sauce in the morning to serve with it. For summer rolls, I wrap extra salad with either shrimp or chicken in wonton wrappers—things don’t have to be authentic or perfect to be tasty. And things like soup, I make big batches and freeze them in portions.
My thought is this: We are constantly told to be good role models for our children, but how many of us order mac and cheese when we go to a seafood restaurant? Who of you orders a grilled cheese sandwich at a nice Italian joint? I say let kids eat what we eat. Find out what their palates adore and, if you can, prepare those things at home with your own special twist (healthier, quicker, easier) either for lunch or dinner. No boredom there, and their lunchboxes (or dinner plates) will likely thank you for it, not to mention your kids themselves!
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
1/3 cup toasted almonds
1 garlic clove
1 8 oz jar roasted red peppers (packed in water), drained
1 tsp. vinegar (I like red wine or balsamic)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
In the bowl of a food processor, grind almonds until they resemble cornmeal (don’t grind for too long or you end up with almond butter).
With the motor running, drop in the garlic clove to finely mince.
Add the peppers and vinegar and pulse to chop and combine.
Again, with the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste for seasoning and add salt a little at a time. This is a great dip for veggies, but it’s also yummy on chicken, fish or pizza.
Pantry items can make a quick and tasty lunch when I haven't shopped for fresh produce.
December 28, 2009
Back from the Christmas holiday late last night and no time to go to the grocery store. So, this morning I had to pack Jackson’s lunch with what was on hand which wasn’t much.
The soup was canned (I look for soups with minimal ingredients and steer clear of partially hydrogenated oils, added sugars, and MSG when I can.). The bread, which I made the croutons from, was in the freezer along with the soybeans. Cheese was about the only thing we had in the fridge. No fresh fruit to be seen, but canned would’ve worked if we had had any (again, I look for canned fruit in juice with no added sugars).
It’s times like these when a stocked pantry and freezer come in handy. Lunch got made, and Jackson got out the door. And, yahoo! Jackson ate his entire lunch!
I cut a grilled cheese sandwich into strips to make "dippers" for Jackson to dip into his soup.
December 21, 2009
It’s said that variety is the spice of life, and I’ve come to realize how important variety is to Jackson. What he adores and gobbles down today, he likely won’t want tomorrow. But give him a week or two, and he’ll gobble it down once more. Learning how important variety is to Jackson took some time for me.
I guess I’m sort of a creature of habit. I eat exactly the same thing every single day for breakfast—plain shredded wheat cereal with milk, one banana, and a pear. I don’t get bored with it. In fact, I love it and look forward to it every morning. If we’re out of milk or don’t have pears, my whole day feels off balance, and I feel like I’ve missed something. Adam is similar—he’s a steel-cut oats and banana kind of guy.
Jackson is completely different. He has to eat something different every morning. One morning he’ll ask for pancakes; the next morning I’ll offer pancakes only to hear, “Naw, I want an egg.”
His need for variety is both challenging and refreshing. Some mornings I would like nothing better than to mindlessly prepare his breakfast, but I can’t do that since it’s got to be something different everyday. On the other hand, though, I appreciate having a child who likes to mix things up a bit. It can be fun!
The same is true for lunch. Most of us mix things up day to day for lunch. We rarely eat the same thing day after day for our midday meal. The need for variety is yet another reason why I pack Jackson’s lunch. He has school three days this week and three days next week because of the holidays. On four of those six days, school lunch is a meat and cheese sandwich—turkey and cheese twice, and ham and cheese twice. Both Jackson and I believe ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches are perfectly fine, but Jackson wouldn’t be happy eating them for four out of six days. He prefers more variety than that, and I’m happy to provide it.
