CUISINE FARM TO TABLE
Outside the Box
THREE KID-APPROVED LUNCH RECIPES FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR BY: KAYLA BUTTS, MS, RDN, LDN PHOTOS BY: RACHEL BENAVIDES
S
chool supplies? Check! Uniform? Check! Lunch packed? (*screeching tires*) Each new school year brings about a familiar conundrum: how to assemble nutritious, easy and kid-friendly lunches five days a week, 36 weeks per year. That’s 180 lunches, for anyone keeping track. While we love a lunch that’s easy to throw together at the last minute, we also want to empower our kiddos with satisfying nutrition. Research shows kids who pack a lunch often eat less fruit, vegetables, whole grains and protein. Instead, they tend to eat more sugar and empty calories. Moreover, ready-to-eat kid lunch options are high in fat and refined carbs, offering little in the way of vitamins and minerals.
84 The Bend
As the school year begins, perhaps you’ll feel inspired to prepare a more “out of the lunch box” entrée for your scholars. We used the following criteria to create the recipes: 1) tasty at room temperature, 2) handheld, 3) packed with veggies and 4) kid-approved. The result: Egg rolls, samosas and quesadillas. We took a nod from some of our favorite street fare with potato and peapacked samosas. Eliminating peppers from our recipe made these fried dumplings tamer on the kids’ palates. Roasting whole spices and grinding them adds intense, authentic flavor. We also used more common spices to make these samosas easier to prepare; no busy parent needs an extra late-night trip to the store.
Crispy egg rolls with sweet and sour are a great way to break up a week of PB&Js. This version is packed with cabbage, carrots, green onions and ground pork. Feel free to substitute in ground turkey, chicken or beef in a pinch. To cut down the prep time, use store-bought sweet and sour. The quesadillas are easily customized to reflect whatever’s in our pantry. While this recipe combines onion, bell pepper and mushroom, black beans, sweet potato, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant and tomatoes are all delicious when sandwiched between two cheesy tortillas. From meeting the teacher and school orientation to final exams and graduation, parents have a lot to worry about when it comes to their children’s education. Make lunch one less thing on the list.
