In the beginning, there was a woman who loved to cook. Really loved it. She loved spending the day in the kitchen chopping and mixing and creating. And then she had children, and she began to think about the nutritional value of the food she loved to create. So, she learned to read the labels, worried about pesticides and hormones, and taught her children how to be "healthy eaters".This should end, "and then her daughter started Kindergarten", but really, this is just the beginning; the beginning of my attempt to feed my daughter a nutritious lunch that is packable, portable, and appealing enough to keep her from longing after the sodium filled hot school lunch. And, let me tell you, this stressed me out. I started thinking about lunch WAY before I should have. Not because my daughter would be resistant. I have to say that if I've done one thing right with her (so far) it's been her eating habits. No, not because of her, but because there just seemed so few options for school lunches. A sandwich, chips, some carrot sticks...I mean, how much can you do with a plastic baggie? Let me say, before anyone runs off screaming about this freaky health nut mom, that I'm really not unreasonable about the nutrition. We've bought
PopTarts before and I allow them to eat normal kid food on occasion. Just not all the time. I'm just trying to make healthy the norm.
So after doing a little research I came across Laptop Lunches
http://www.laptoplunches.com/. My problem was solved! A
versatile little lunchbox that allowed her to take things like salad (one of her faves) and dressing without having to take mom's containers. These lunchboxes are a little more expensive than your typical lunchbox, but I thought that, in the long run, I would save money cause I wouldn't be buying plastic baggies- not to mention the environmental impact of less plastic in the trashcans. So I ordered it. When we got it, my daughter was thrilled. It was her first item for school and she cherished it. She had a little trouble opening it up, but after a few tries, she was a pro. We even did a few test runs to make sure that she could handle all the compartments and lids and such.
And as all first Kindergarten moms do, I took pictures of her first time with her backpack, her first time opening her locker, AND her first lunch in her laptop lunch. I posted them for my friends and family to see and the response to the lunch was crazy. I got text messages, voice messages, e-mails, and
Facebook comments all day about it. So I posted the picture from her lunch the next day to a few friends, and thought, "Ya know, I should figure out a way to post these lunches for anyone to see." So, here it is. My blog about my adventures making lunches. I'm not a nutritionist or anything...just a mom that is concerned about food.
So far we've been pretty successful. She loves her lunchbox and the lunches I've packed. And I've really enjoyed trying to be creative with it. The lunchbox really allows for so many different items and it has taken me much less time to make her lunch than I was anticipating. So this blog is for all my friends and family and anyone else that is interested in making lunches for your kids. Hope you enjoy it and maybe find a bit of inspiration...now I gotta go make a lunch!
First Day - Diced peaches and blueberries, pretzel sticks and fig newton cookies, ants on a log, turkey cream cheese and raspberry jam sandwiches on cranberry orange bread.
Second day - Crinkle cut carrots with blue cheese dressing, diced honeydew melon, double chocolate brownie, spinach ravioli tossed with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
These were hands down, the best granola bars I've ever made! Not too sweet, not too dry...just a bit sticky. The only drawback to them is that I've eaten a ton of them. I ended up freezing some cause I was afraid that I would completely finish them off. I'm going to make them again and plan out my fruit/nuts mix a little more. This time I just threw in a bunch of stuff I had on hand. You should definitely try the recipe! 
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