Happy belated Mother's Day to all you lovely mamas out there. I hope you had a lovely weekend; I sure did, although it was not dissimilar to any other weekend, really. Sunday was pretty much like any other Sunday but with more hugs, and my husband did the dishes at dinner. I'm calling it a huge win.
A mother's work is never done, as we all know, and so yesterday in between hugs I served up a batch of French toast for my younger son and a frozen-fruit-and-yogurt parfait for my older one. I washed up blackberries and sliced up strawberries, and prepared school snacks for the week. Fortunately I still had cookies left over from last week's baking session, so I could skip my usual Sunday afternoon snack-baking marathon, in honour of Mother's Day.
Strawberries and blackberries, mmm. I cannot get enough berries right now. Once berry season is upon us - and thanks to my way-more-than-100-mile-diet-thank-god-for-imported-fruits-and-vegetables, it's a long season (hail Mexico!) - I find myself buying more and more berries every week. I have a hard time rationing my children when it comes to nutrient- and antioxidant-rich berries. When I was a kid, as I've mentioned before, fresh strawberries were rare and expensive and therefore we didn't eat them much. My kids gulp them down like tap water. So do I, which means more trips to Costco.
One of my sons told me that a classmate of his never eats berries because she doesn't like them. This was as foreign an idea to him as a child saying while trick-or-treating, No thank you, but do you have any toothbrushes? Who doesn't eat berries, he asked. HOW can someone not like berries?
I agree. Berries are nature's candy! I said, somewhat facetiously, but the kids agreed with me. The apples didn't fall too far from my tree, I guess.
Lunches at my house this week:
Bagels with peanut butter
Strawberries and blackberries
Chocolate chip cookies
Milk
Monday, May 13, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Jessica Fletcher Ate My Lunch
I had thought - stupidly enough - that warmer weather might bring us a break in the nasty viruses that we've had over the winter and apparently that wistful hope was enough to bring a host of viruses down upon me because this is the SECOND straight week in a row that I've been sick, and it's really, really boring by now.
It is - because this is fascinating to talk about, OBVIOUSLY - just a bad cold but it's right on the heels of a bad stomach bug last week and if life was FAIR I should be a pale, slim Victorian girl right now instead of being a rather solid 40 year old mother of three who just happens to be prone to getting sick. "I couldn't possibly eat another pastry," I'd say wanly from my fainting couch, and then someone would insist and so I would. But no, still myself and I've spent most of this week avoiding the internet, napping, and watching reruns of Murder She Wrote.
This blog is about lunches! My children - all two of them who have made it to school this week, anyhow - have obviously not had any great glorious lunches this week, ALTHOUGH one morning I was sick enough that they packed their own lunches. "THEY COULD DO THIS EVERY DAY!" I thought briefly, before rejecting the idea as unworthy or something and then back I went to Jessica Fletcher and her gumball of a nephew, Brady and my quilt on the couch.
I have no lunch epiphanies to write about this week. I was sick, lunches were made, life went on, my youngest child likes turkey sandwiches with NO CONDIMENTS. No, only bare dry bread and shaved turkey for her and then she squares her shoulders and heads out into the cruel, unpredictable, cooties-filled world.
It is - because this is fascinating to talk about, OBVIOUSLY - just a bad cold but it's right on the heels of a bad stomach bug last week and if life was FAIR I should be a pale, slim Victorian girl right now instead of being a rather solid 40 year old mother of three who just happens to be prone to getting sick. "I couldn't possibly eat another pastry," I'd say wanly from my fainting couch, and then someone would insist and so I would. But no, still myself and I've spent most of this week avoiding the internet, napping, and watching reruns of Murder She Wrote.
This blog is about lunches! My children - all two of them who have made it to school this week, anyhow - have obviously not had any great glorious lunches this week, ALTHOUGH one morning I was sick enough that they packed their own lunches. "THEY COULD DO THIS EVERY DAY!" I thought briefly, before rejecting the idea as unworthy or something and then back I went to Jessica Fletcher and her gumball of a nephew, Brady and my quilt on the couch.
I have no lunch epiphanies to write about this week. I was sick, lunches were made, life went on, my youngest child likes turkey sandwiches with NO CONDIMENTS. No, only bare dry bread and shaved turkey for her and then she squares her shoulders and heads out into the cruel, unpredictable, cooties-filled world.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Papaya
My five year old is an odd little duckling.
He's very observant - much more so than his older brother, more so than some adults I know. He sees everything, takes it all in, processes it in his little round and, if you're lucky, shares his conclusions with you.
During the brief Dried Fruit Craze of '13, we tried dried papaya. They ate it, I heard no complaints or cheers, and aside from them both forgetting and calling it "paella" more than once, it was pretty much a non-event at Casa Munday.
Then suddenly one afternoon 5yo asked what a fresh papaya looks like. I described it for him and showed him a picture online. He asked if we could buy one at the grocery store.
Sure, why not.
So we did, and what a strange fruit it is. The flesh is a blend of coral pink and orange. It's very soft. The peeling is greenish yellow, slightly wrinkled, and easily removed with a knife. The seeds are dark brown, a little larger than an apple seed, and covered in a sort of squishy membrane thing. (They also taste AWFUL, if you should chance to taste one in case you're supposed to eat the seeds. Or so I've heard. *whistles nonchalantly*)
7yo claimed he liked it "okay", but after eating it the first day I packed it in his lunch (YAY!) it came home uneaten, sweaty, and fit for nothing but the compost bin on day two (BOO!)
5yo says he liked it quite a lot, and he did it for two days' worth of lunches plus as a snack one afternoon, so I'll call that a win.
16mo - whatever, he doesn't get a vote. That child is going through the always-marvelous I love it / I hate it stage, so whatever, I'm going to keep giving it to him in case I happen to catch the 9 minutes of the day wherein he will eat papaya.
Me? I don't like it at all. The mouth feel is... too fleshy. There is a strange aftertaste. I can't say I hate it, or anything, but I certainly wouldn't buy one again unless the kids demanded it. Right now, there is half a papaya sitting in my fridge, acting all judgmental every time I open the door.
However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And maybe it would make nice smoothies, or something.
He's very observant - much more so than his older brother, more so than some adults I know. He sees everything, takes it all in, processes it in his little round and, if you're lucky, shares his conclusions with you.
During the brief Dried Fruit Craze of '13, we tried dried papaya. They ate it, I heard no complaints or cheers, and aside from them both forgetting and calling it "paella" more than once, it was pretty much a non-event at Casa Munday.
Then suddenly one afternoon 5yo asked what a fresh papaya looks like. I described it for him and showed him a picture online. He asked if we could buy one at the grocery store.
Sure, why not.
So we did, and what a strange fruit it is. The flesh is a blend of coral pink and orange. It's very soft. The peeling is greenish yellow, slightly wrinkled, and easily removed with a knife. The seeds are dark brown, a little larger than an apple seed, and covered in a sort of squishy membrane thing. (They also taste AWFUL, if you should chance to taste one in case you're supposed to eat the seeds. Or so I've heard. *whistles nonchalantly*)
7yo claimed he liked it "okay", but after eating it the first day I packed it in his lunch (YAY!) it came home uneaten, sweaty, and fit for nothing but the compost bin on day two (BOO!)
5yo says he liked it quite a lot, and he did it for two days' worth of lunches plus as a snack one afternoon, so I'll call that a win.
16mo - whatever, he doesn't get a vote. That child is going through the always-marvelous I love it / I hate it stage, so whatever, I'm going to keep giving it to him in case I happen to catch the 9 minutes of the day wherein he will eat papaya.
Me? I don't like it at all. The mouth feel is... too fleshy. There is a strange aftertaste. I can't say I hate it, or anything, but I certainly wouldn't buy one again unless the kids demanded it. Right now, there is half a papaya sitting in my fridge, acting all judgmental every time I open the door.
However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And maybe it would make nice smoothies, or something.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Rat Race
It is 10:30 p.m.
I have been up since 6:30 a.m.
I worked all day, came home, gulped down dinner, walked a kid to soccer practice, stood around for an hour getting my ankles bitten by mosquitoes, walked a kid home from soccer practice, made a strawberry milkshake for after-soccer snack, ran to the store for milk and lunch items, came home, kissed kids goodnight, cleaned up, cooked some chicken for sandwiches tomorrow, took care of some paperwork that needed attention and now? I am spent but too wired to go to bed.
Lunches are half-packed and we have a plan for the rest, so that is a good thing.
I feel disorganized, spun out, and it's not going to get any better. We are out of the house four nights a week with soccer this year. We have crazy dance performance rehearsals, pictures, and the like for the next week-and-a-half and I am traveling with work next week, which will actually be kind of relaxing. But, oh, my poor, poor husband.
Tell me, how do you stay organized? I need ideas, tips and sympathetic cooing from across the Internet.
And a big glass of wine.
What's for lunch tomorrow?
- grapes and strawberries
- chicken sandwiches on croissants
- Iogo yogurt drinks
- crakers
- Oreos
- Valium (for me) (kidding!)
I have been up since 6:30 a.m.
I worked all day, came home, gulped down dinner, walked a kid to soccer practice, stood around for an hour getting my ankles bitten by mosquitoes, walked a kid home from soccer practice, made a strawberry milkshake for after-soccer snack, ran to the store for milk and lunch items, came home, kissed kids goodnight, cleaned up, cooked some chicken for sandwiches tomorrow, took care of some paperwork that needed attention and now? I am spent but too wired to go to bed.
Lunches are half-packed and we have a plan for the rest, so that is a good thing.
I feel disorganized, spun out, and it's not going to get any better. We are out of the house four nights a week with soccer this year. We have crazy dance performance rehearsals, pictures, and the like for the next week-and-a-half and I am traveling with work next week, which will actually be kind of relaxing. But, oh, my poor, poor husband.
Tell me, how do you stay organized? I need ideas, tips and sympathetic cooing from across the Internet.
And a big glass of wine.
What's for lunch tomorrow?
- grapes and strawberries
- chicken sandwiches on croissants
- Iogo yogurt drinks
- crakers
- Oreos
- Valium (for me) (kidding!)
Monday, May 6, 2013
High School Confidential
It was my twenty year high school reunion on the weekend! It was so much fun, all the people were great - even better than I remembered - and there was a lot of laughter and wine, two of my favourite things. Someone had mentioned the cafeteria, and I had to squint a little and think really hard and I finally, finally recalled the large chilly room where students could buy lunch or eat a bagged lunch from home, all those tables where the various groups of kids would hang out, separate but together.
I transferred schools in Grade Eleven when our family moved into a different community. I took a bus 45 minutes each way, except for when I sweet talked my parents into letting me take the car, usually on days that I would have afterschool drama rehearsals. I had been able to walk home for lunch all through elementary and junior high, and because that was the norm there was no real cafeteria option. All the kids went home for lunch in my elementary school. There was an "eat in the gym" option at my junior high, but I don't recall being able to purchase any real lunch items. There was a vending machine with pop and a "snack shack" where you could buy chips and candy, but I can't remember there being any semi-healthy options available. Much of the time I would just walk home for lunch anyway, and have Kraft Dinner or soup and a sandwich, prepared by my mother.
It did seem exciting then, when I was in high school, to have a bona fide cafeteria. I don't remember ever buying a hot lunch at the cafeteria although they were available; pizzas, hamburgers, chili, french fries. The only thing I ever recall buying for lunch was a submarine sandwich on Tuesdays. It couldn't have been that great: probably a white bun with cold cuts and processed cheese, sliced tomato and lettuce, with mayo and mustard. But it was exciting to actually buy a lunch from a real-life cafeteria.
Of course, I found it exciting when I went to junior high and there were actual classrooms with doors. My elementary school was one of those open-concept schools; a terrible hippie brainchild if ever there was one. An elementary school with no classrooms, no walls, no doors? I'm not sure there can be a worse educational idea, logistically speaking. So I was easily pleased, is what I'm saying, and I really enjoyed Sub Day at the cafeteria.
No matter how hard I think, I cannot remember what I would have eaten on the other four days of school. What would I have taken for lunch? I'm fairly sure I would have packed my own lunches by then, but what would I have eaten? I don't know. A peanut butter sandwich, maybe? An apple? I cannot recall a single example, not one.
I wonder if this will happen to my kids in thirty years, if they will draw complete blanks on whole parts of their school experience. They will probably never remember the lunches I make or know how I spent hours and hours slicing fruit and baking snacks and putting crackers into little plastic containers, but maybe they'll just think back fondly on these days of their childhood, these carefree happy days, and feel nourished.
I transferred schools in Grade Eleven when our family moved into a different community. I took a bus 45 minutes each way, except for when I sweet talked my parents into letting me take the car, usually on days that I would have afterschool drama rehearsals. I had been able to walk home for lunch all through elementary and junior high, and because that was the norm there was no real cafeteria option. All the kids went home for lunch in my elementary school. There was an "eat in the gym" option at my junior high, but I don't recall being able to purchase any real lunch items. There was a vending machine with pop and a "snack shack" where you could buy chips and candy, but I can't remember there being any semi-healthy options available. Much of the time I would just walk home for lunch anyway, and have Kraft Dinner or soup and a sandwich, prepared by my mother.
It did seem exciting then, when I was in high school, to have a bona fide cafeteria. I don't remember ever buying a hot lunch at the cafeteria although they were available; pizzas, hamburgers, chili, french fries. The only thing I ever recall buying for lunch was a submarine sandwich on Tuesdays. It couldn't have been that great: probably a white bun with cold cuts and processed cheese, sliced tomato and lettuce, with mayo and mustard. But it was exciting to actually buy a lunch from a real-life cafeteria.
Of course, I found it exciting when I went to junior high and there were actual classrooms with doors. My elementary school was one of those open-concept schools; a terrible hippie brainchild if ever there was one. An elementary school with no classrooms, no walls, no doors? I'm not sure there can be a worse educational idea, logistically speaking. So I was easily pleased, is what I'm saying, and I really enjoyed Sub Day at the cafeteria.
No matter how hard I think, I cannot remember what I would have eaten on the other four days of school. What would I have taken for lunch? I'm fairly sure I would have packed my own lunches by then, but what would I have eaten? I don't know. A peanut butter sandwich, maybe? An apple? I cannot recall a single example, not one.
I wonder if this will happen to my kids in thirty years, if they will draw complete blanks on whole parts of their school experience. They will probably never remember the lunches I make or know how I spent hours and hours slicing fruit and baking snacks and putting crackers into little plastic containers, but maybe they'll just think back fondly on these days of their childhood, these carefree happy days, and feel nourished.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Planning, Again.
I've been lazy recently and I haven't been planning school lunches, which is a minor thing unless it's 8:22 and I'm staring blankly at a cupboard full of not too many possibilities, wondering WHAT on earth my kids are going to eat for lunch that day. So today I'm trying to think of ways to fix this, and the only rather feeble thing I can think of is "pretzels in baggies." HOPE YOU LIKE PRETZELS, KIDS!
There IS a time when I'm moderately enthusiastic about packing school lunches, and this time is probably at the very end of August, when I'm excessively enthusiastic about my kids going back to school again. It's a shame I couldn't somehow channel that enthusiasm to myself NOW, but the best I can do is to haul all my school lunch cookbooks out AGAIN.
The Baby's weight has plateaued AGAIN. I can't think of what to put in her lunch during the day that she'll eat, that will make her gain weight and the lunches that I have been so carelessly packing for her are coming home untouched at the end of the day. Allowing my malaise to stretch into her school lunches was a miserable luxury I should not have allowed myself, and so I have to fix it.
One thing that I know for certain that N loves is this Chocolate Cinnamon "Bread," which is something I have certainly mentioned before (because it is delicious) and which I have planned for next week. And there is - sigh- the pretzels in baggies. And what else there will be, I have not decided yet but there will be something and it will be better, at least, than what I HAVE been doing. And any suggestions for fattening up a picky little 8 year old would be greatly appreciated.
There IS a time when I'm moderately enthusiastic about packing school lunches, and this time is probably at the very end of August, when I'm excessively enthusiastic about my kids going back to school again. It's a shame I couldn't somehow channel that enthusiasm to myself NOW, but the best I can do is to haul all my school lunch cookbooks out AGAIN.
The Baby's weight has plateaued AGAIN. I can't think of what to put in her lunch during the day that she'll eat, that will make her gain weight and the lunches that I have been so carelessly packing for her are coming home untouched at the end of the day. Allowing my malaise to stretch into her school lunches was a miserable luxury I should not have allowed myself, and so I have to fix it.
One thing that I know for certain that N loves is this Chocolate Cinnamon "Bread," which is something I have certainly mentioned before (because it is delicious) and which I have planned for next week. And there is - sigh- the pretzels in baggies. And what else there will be, I have not decided yet but there will be something and it will be better, at least, than what I HAVE been doing. And any suggestions for fattening up a picky little 8 year old would be greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
opting out of lunch
Our elementary school doesn't have a cafeteria.
Two days a week they bring a hot (well, probably lukewarm) lunch in.
Wednesdays, pizza. Mondays, chicken pita wraps. You order at the first of the month for the entire month.
My 7 year old has taken pizza every Wednesday, like clockwork, since he started school. It's just cheese pizza, on whole wheat crust with a low-sodium tomato sauce. Pretty benign. Bland as hell, too. But he likes the treat, and I like not needing to do anything beyond throwing a piece of fruit and some yoghurt or a cheesestring into his lunchbag once a week.
This month he begged me to order him the chicken pita wraps, too. He seemed to think I would say no.
ARE YOU KIDDING I DON'T NEED TO PACK LUNCH FOR YOU TWICE A WEEK SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
The total cost for May is $19.50. Less than twenty dollars! He gets a hot lunch twice a week. I get a little break. The school takes a small profit - 25 cents per item - and that money gets split between little extras for the school and a lunch fund for those kids who don't always have lunch of their own.
I find this last push before the end of the school year so difficult. All of my brilliant ideas for fabulous lunches have been used multiple times. Everyone is anxious for the fresh fruit to start coming in. This is the time of year when I start getting slack about nutrition and balancing out the lunch fodder carefully; I'm more apt to just say "hey, you want a cream cheese bagel and a cheesestring and some yoghurt and some milk to wash it down? Dairy is a vegetable, right?"
So I'm happy to have an alternative to offer.
***
I feel like I don't post enough recipes here, so I did some browsing this morning for an egg-muffin recipe. I'm going to try these this week, to use for breakfasts or lunches for the stay-at-home kids, and I'll let you know how they turn out. Or, if anyone has a favourite version of these, let me know in the comments.
Two days a week they bring a hot (well, probably lukewarm) lunch in.
Wednesdays, pizza. Mondays, chicken pita wraps. You order at the first of the month for the entire month.
My 7 year old has taken pizza every Wednesday, like clockwork, since he started school. It's just cheese pizza, on whole wheat crust with a low-sodium tomato sauce. Pretty benign. Bland as hell, too. But he likes the treat, and I like not needing to do anything beyond throwing a piece of fruit and some yoghurt or a cheesestring into his lunchbag once a week.
This month he begged me to order him the chicken pita wraps, too. He seemed to think I would say no.
ARE YOU KIDDING I DON'T NEED TO PACK LUNCH FOR YOU TWICE A WEEK SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
The total cost for May is $19.50. Less than twenty dollars! He gets a hot lunch twice a week. I get a little break. The school takes a small profit - 25 cents per item - and that money gets split between little extras for the school and a lunch fund for those kids who don't always have lunch of their own.
I find this last push before the end of the school year so difficult. All of my brilliant ideas for fabulous lunches have been used multiple times. Everyone is anxious for the fresh fruit to start coming in. This is the time of year when I start getting slack about nutrition and balancing out the lunch fodder carefully; I'm more apt to just say "hey, you want a cream cheese bagel and a cheesestring and some yoghurt and some milk to wash it down? Dairy is a vegetable, right?"
So I'm happy to have an alternative to offer.
***
I feel like I don't post enough recipes here, so I did some browsing this morning for an egg-muffin recipe. I'm going to try these this week, to use for breakfasts or lunches for the stay-at-home kids, and I'll let you know how they turn out. Or, if anyone has a favourite version of these, let me know in the comments.
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