Lunches Your Kid Won't Toss Out

I am giving a talk on Friday at the Chicago Waldorf School about Healthy Lunches.  This is something that I talk about a lot with parents who are new to the food-allergy world, and it's a topic that requires my personal attention on a daily basis.  I first wrote this post a couple of years ago.  With hundreds of lunches under my belt (and a second school-age child, now), I thought, in light of my upcoming presentation, it was time to repost with a few additions. 

It's a challenge that most families who send their kids to school face at some point or another ... what can you send for lunch that your child will actually eat? That challenge is compounded if your child's diet is restricted. Kids who already feel different can be pretty self-conscious about appearing "cool" in any way that they can. My son is a prime example of this. He will toss out any lunch that I pack that he thinks is weird.

What's a mom (or dad) to do? First, talk to your child about what is and what is not acceptable. It's a waste of time, money and energy to send a lunch that just gets tossed into the trash. Next, consider some of these ideas as starting points for ways to meet both your child's nutrition needs and the all-important need to fit in.

1) A container of coconut-based yogurt with some dry cereal or safe granola to mix in.  You can also send a thermos with chilled coconut milk drink (not canned coconut milk) or rice milk that they can add cereal to.  Some fresh berries on the side are a tasty mix-in.
2) A container of applesauce and some safe trail mix.
3) Home-made pizza using a GF roll or biscuit and casein-free rice cheese or Daiya.
4) Celery filled with sunflower-seed butter or apple slices with sunflower-seed butter.
5) A wrap made with a warmed-up corn or other safe tortilla (to make it more pliable for rolling).
6) Hummus or bean dip with corn chips.
7) Welcoming Kitchen mini muffins like these or these with fruit or coconut-based yogurt.
8) A thermos of soup or pasta with olive oil or sauce.
9) A sandwich made with gluten-free beer bread.
10) Chocolate Sunflower Spread with safe crackers or bread. 
11) Grain or pasta salads.
12) Blueberry pancakes.

Adding tasty side items is a safe way to ensure some energy is being consumed at lunch.  Remember fresh and dried fruit, fruit leathers, freeze-dried veggies or fresh veggies, pepitas and raisins and dried cereal as options to round out lunch bags.  Also, a treat with a little nutritional merit can make for a happy child.  Try rice pudding or granola chocolate chip cookies.

These are just some ideas to get the conversation started.  Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen and Gluten-free Vegan Recipes is chock-full of lunch-bag possibilities, including recipes for biscuits and breads, soups and salads and loads of muffins. 

At our house, we also try to load breakfast with extra goodness by making smoothies and other nutrition-dense foods to take some of the pressure off of lunch. If you have a really nutritious breakfast and a great after-school snack, you can get by with a lunch that might be slightly less than optimal. (Something in the belly beats something in the trash!)

Happy Cooking!
Kim

Finding Inspiration--Chocolate Sunflower Spread

This summer, my son Casey learned to swim.  He came close last year, but this year he got it.  One of the things I love most about Casey is his fierce spirit.  He committed himself to making a swim team, and now he's on it.

What does that have to do with food, you might wonder?

If you have a food-allergic or otherwise food-challenged child, I bet you know right away what this has to do with food.  Trying to ensure good nutrition and adequate calories in a child who is limited by biology (not to mention choice... darn pickiness!) can be demanding, to say the least.  Add in twice-weekly swim practices, and what's a mom to do?

Luckily, there are some great resources out there to help make the job of packing a socially acceptable, tasty, nutritious and most-of-all safe lunch a little bit easier.  One of those resources is the fantastic blog, Diet, Dessert and Dogs written by Ricki Heller.

If you don't know this blog, I encourage you to check it out--and soon.  First of all, Ricki is a completely entertaining writer.  Even when she's cooking up something that won't work for our family, I still love to read the little essay that goes with the recipe.  Lots of times, though, she inspires me to think about ingredients in a new and different way.

Ricki came to the rescue of Casey's lunch box with a recipe for Chocolate Bean Butter.  Casey loves chocolate, so it really struck my fancy to make a refined-sugar-free chocolate spread made with beans.  I don't usually cook with stevia, so I had to make some changes in the sweeteners, but I was committed to trying to keep it in the spirit it was intended.  I used a little agave nectar along with the coconut palm sugar and stayed away from cane sugar.  The flavor was a little grown-up for my boys, so we added in some sunflower seed butter to bring to mind our favorite Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter Cups.  My younger son, Evan, still has other favorite spreads, but this Chocolate Sunflower Spread is hitting the jackpot for Casey right now.

I'll probably tweak it some more in the future to get it just right for our family, but I wanted to share it with you now, in case you're looking for another protein-rich spread for lunches or snacks. I also wanted to introduce you to a great resource!

My only issue with Ricki is that I'd LOVE to cook on Ellen's show, but I think Ricki will get there long before me!

As you know, my photography skills are not top-notch, so trying to make this dark-brown spread look delicious (which it does in real life) as opposed to unappetizing seemed beyond my abilities.

This recipe was shared at the Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love link-up.

Chocolate Sunflower Spread (adapted from Ricki Heller's Chocolate Bean Butter)

Ingredients:
1 can Great Northern or canellini beans, drained and rinsed
5T cocoa
2T coconut palm sugar
pinch of salt
3T coconut oil
1t vanilla
3T agave nectar
2T rice milk
1/4 cup sunflower seed butter

Preparation:
Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Happy Cooking!
Kim and Megan