Back to School: What's in Your Lunchbox

Breakfast on the go: Kite Hill vegan cream cheese on toast

Back to school is becoming less of a thing in my house, though my youngest is leaving for her junior year abroad in a month. On to Ecuador!

For us, it's more about when the girls return, often with friends in tow. This one is gluten free, that one lactose intolerant, another is on a paleo diet. And we are vegetarian. How can we cater to all these different food sensitivities and intolerances and maintain our sanity?

Plus, we are moving away from kid-friendly food - I converted our cereal shelf in the pantry to an overflow liquor cabinet when the youngest went to college. It's a grain, right?

Kite Hill almond milk yogurt

Kid friendly food for all

At the Momtrends back to school event, I found out about a few new foods that are perfect for us. Kite Hill had its plant based yogurt and cream cheese, both made from almond milk, at the event. The 'cheese' and 'yogurt' are vegan, gluten free free and soy free so they truly cater to a diverse set of food sensitivities.

Although I am a huge Greek yogurt fan, I am somewhat lactose-intolerant, and when I run, I try to avoid dairy. Since I am training for a marathon, I was happy to discover that these yogurts and cheese are delicious. The yogurt is also low in sugar.

For little kids (or adults, I'm not judge-y), Kite Hill has a new squeezable yogurt tube, with its almond milk yogurt.

Ozery Bakery morning rounds

Breakfast on the go?

Whether it's kids leaving for school, or adults rushing off to work, breakfast can be challenging. Mom trends had Ozery Bakery at its back to school event, with Morning Rounds, fruit and grain breakfast buns that were a tastier and healthier take on English muffins. These buns, which are scored for easy slicing, come in five flavors, including muesli and cranberry orange. We had them spread with Kite Hill's cream cheese and topped with strawberries, an easily totable breakfast. I got a sample to bring home and toasted it with peanut butter. Delicious!

Dried fruit, with a twist

Raisins were one of my first loves, and I still choose dried fruit as a snack. It packs a powerful punch. Raisels are golden raisins flavored with a little sour, so you get a sweet and sour thing going. The small boxes are great for lunch boxes or for travel.

What to pack it in?
12 littles makes diaper bags, backpacks and lunch boxes. We each got a lunch box. I'm giving mine to my niece, since I work from home, but anyone can use these lunch boxes, which are insulated to keep food warm or cold.

Note: I received samples of the products mentioned. I was not otherwise compensated.

Did Your Kids Evolve? From Picky Eater to Foodie

As it should be: peanut butter tops the 'picky eaters' Lucky Bars

Back to school - learning to eat well
As a mom who has been in the trenches and come out the other side - with most of her sanity intact - I think I'm an authority on pick eaters.

Reader, I also WAS the picky eater.

My kids were also picky eaters, a term I really think should be called owner of a refined palate. And honestly, when those picky eaters grow up, they really do turn into foodies.

How the evolution started

As a Jewish mother, I had that classic food issue: food is love. If my kids are rejecting my food, they are rejecting me.

Yes, those are condiments!

But hard as it is to to let this go, I had to let my kids develop their own palates. It helped that I remember how I grew to love pickles.

When I was a kid, I hated all condiments (which mostly revolved around mayonnaise and ketchup, two things I still can’t stand). I lumped pickles into that category, but I noticed that people were always happy when they were eating pickles.  So I forced myself to eat them, developed a taste for them, and now pickle my own vegetables.

At the #KidzVuzBTS back to school event, two ends of the spectrum were represented.  

Picky Eaters Unite 

The Backyard Food Company's pickles

First there was Luckybar, founded by the mother of a picky eater. These tasty bars have more protein than two eggs, so you don’t have to worry about your kid not getting enough nutrition. As a vegetarian, who raised three vegetarian children, I am particularly sensitive to protein availability. The bars have no gluten or GMO ingredients and come in five kid friendly flavors: Pirate Peanut Butter Chocolate, Cosmic Chocolate Caramel Almond, Chocolate Campfire, Crazy Coconut and Strawberry Sandcastles. 

In the interests of journalism I sampled the PB and almond bars, which were delicious.

And yes, I am still picky  - er , of refined palate -and won’t eat marshmallows or coconut.

Once your kids are over the hump

When you have more adventurous eaters, you can introduced The Backyard Food Company. This Rhode Island company, started by two dads from their backyard bounty, is basically ALL condiments. 

The Backyard Food Company makes apple butter, sweet tomato jam, and, yes, pickles. I tasted the crisp bread & butter pickles, slices that go well on a sandwich. The Rhode Island Red relish, made with red peppers, habaneros and ginger, pairs well with mild cheese.  

Back to School, Back to School Parent Obligations

Imagine organizing the families of all these kids for a travel choir  performance 

Nothing says end of summer faster than the onslaught of emails from class parents, PTA presidents and teachers

Coaches get into the act, too, whether your child plays a varsity or club sport.  I think I have already gotten 3 dozen emails and texts in the last day about an upcoming Ultimate tournament - and school doesn’t even start for 8 days!

I am suggesting that the entire team get on board with VolunteerSpot, a wonderful fee online tool that helps you organize car pools, snack duty and bake sales, without the endless clogged inbox. [Disclosure: I was compensated for this post].

VolunteerSpot is useful for all kinds of after school activities -anything where you need to coordinate a large group of people.  My sister just organized a dinner for 270 (!) parents and family members of her son’s marching band, and this would have been invaluable help.

I’m not sure what it says about me that when she said they ran out of Rita’s at the dinner, I was picturing a bunch of parents with empty margarita glasses (‘rita’s) - she meant they had so many people not bring promised desserts that they ran out of Rita’s water ice.

But parents not getting Italian ices (all the kids got) could be a blessing in disguise; VolunteerSpot can avert potential disasters, like the one we had at a travel tournament, when a parent had to leave with his car and five girls were stranded without rides.

We also had a situation where there were so many emails in a chain that when our hotel was switched, some parents didn’t get notified, and were shut out of rooms. The sign up sheets are accessible to everyone and the info is clear and easy to read - no danger in vital info getting lost.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see an empty margarita glass that needs attention.

Note: check out VolunteerSpot’s Back to School promotion, where you can win money or swag, for you or your kid’s after school activities, and money for the school.

School Lunches: One Month In

As the school year gets under way, I have already fallen into a lunch rut. My youngest daughter, who is now 15, so no longer content with her daily peanut butter sandwich, and being vegetarian further limits our options.

So Weelicious Lunches is a timely addition. Catherine McCord, founder of weelicous.com has put together over 160 lunches and is truly thinking outside the box.

She even improved on the classic PB &J.

This sandwich can’t be taken to school, alas, but it can be savored by hungry adult peanut butter fiends. You simply make the sandwich – she recommends natural peanut butter – and finish it in a waffle iron. It gets crunchy and melted and is truly inspired.

Another great recipe is for veggie meatballs, made from white beans. The recipe makes a ton, so you can have pasta with ‘meatballs’ and use extra meatballs for a veggie hero.

And even if your kid is in a (veggie) salami and cheese, phase, there are other great choices. Fiber-rich (and peanut-free) sunflower bran muffins and healthy (!) double chocolate whole wheat brownies?

Yes, please.

Back to School: Cooking and Fundraising

As the school year gets under way, parents are asked to contribute at seemingly every turn. One way I don’t feel nickel and dimed during back to school is to make sure I save up and turn in my Box Tops for Education.

Betty Crocker just released a Special Edition cookbook with new recipes using Box Tops products, plus a certificate for 10 bonus Box Tops.

The cookbook is pretty basic, with great visuals like how to tell if your risotto or polenta is cooked properly. But it also has a vegetarian section; the baked chimichangas were a big hit in my family.

And that recipe was also one of the lower calorie recipes, with a tweak so they are baked, not deep-fried.

The healthier remakes are offered on desserts (lower cal brownies, a must) and savory dishes. And ‘heirloom’ recipes, Betty Crocker classics like baked brie, with cranberries, are presented along with more modern ones; here, the brie is topped with walnuts and fig preserves.

And there are many options for busy back to school nights, with slow cooker recipes that you can start in the morning, or 20 minute recipes you can throw together at night.

Best of all, when you get that phone call during dinner asking if you can give some money to school, you can say you already did. 

Healthy Eating for Back to School

Urban legends abound about children who choose salads over brownies, but most kids, left to their own devices, will opt for the sugary, fatty option every time.

Even my children, raised as vegetarians – as they point out, ice cream and chocolate don’t have meat.

And as my youngest heads back to school, and we confront late sports practices, piano lessons and other afterschool activities, I start hunting for healthier convenience foods.

Kidfresh has a new line of frozen meals, with vegetables ‘hidden’ inside. The cheese quesadillas have carrots blended in and the ravioli tomato sauce includes butternut squash and carrots.

Even the chicken nuggets (which my niece sampled) have undetectable cauliflower mixed in.

Kidfresh also uses no artificial ingredients, flavors, colors or preservatives.

My kids are past the hiding vegetable stage, though I still make puttanesca sauce with a bunch of chopped spinach or kale. If you puree greens in a spicy tomato sauce, they take on the tomato/olive/hot pepper flavor and if anyone spies a little green, you can always say it’s parsley.

How do you hide vegetables in your kid’s food? Comment below for a chance to win a coupon for a free Kidfresh meal.

Back to School - and International Vegetarian Cooking

Those of us with school age children often have to curb our travel once the school year starts, Yes, there is Christmas break, February break for NYC public school students (aka the ski week) and Spring break, but we don't like to travel over Passover and Christmas is one of the most expensive times to travel. So we stay put more during the year, and I cook more. 

Luckily, I curbed my wanderlust with The Healthy Voyager's Global Kitchen, a vegan cookbook with recipes from around the world. Author Carolyn Scott-Hamilton, a travel writer, TV host and nutritionist, has vegan takes on a wide variety of international cuisine, form conch fritters (made with oyster mushrooms, which have the right chewiness) to Palak Paneer. You wouldn't even know that tofu subbed for cheese unless you made it.

But the point isn't to trick carnivores. The book offers vegans (and vegetarians like me, who might use regular mozzarella in the mushroom pupusas) recipes for often elusive foreign dishes. I love to try local food specialties when I'm traveling, but I'm often limited in my choices in meat-centric countries. 

With The Healthy Voyager's Global Kitchen, you can travel and not leave your dietary restrictions behind.

Late summer and back to school

In New York, summer doesn’t really get going until July 4th. Public school goes until late June, and city beaches and pools don’t officially open till July 1. So it was shocking to me that I could buy figs today.

And yesterday, Staples launched its back to school specials. On July 14th! My kids haven’t even been out of school for three weeks and it’s already back to school.

According to Fresh Direct, figs are a late summer fruit. So what are they doing here in mid July?

I could ponder this, but instead I bought the figs. They are perfect in a vegetarian fig/bleu cheese sandwich. This amazing sandwich should be made at least 2 hours before you want to eat it, so exercise restraint. If the mouth watering sandwich is too much to resist, leave the cheese out till it reaches room temperature. It is also easier to spread this way.

If you are not a fan of bleu cheese, you can make this with goat cheese. Delicious, but not quite as good.

Baguette

Bleu cheese

Fresh figs

Basil

Lemon

Olive oil

Salt

Slice the baguette in half lengthwise and spread cheese on. Slice figs (no need to peel) and layer on top. Sprinkle on some chopped basil, squeeze on a little fresh lemon, drizzle some oil and grind a little salt

Press the top half of the bread on top.

And wait.

Catch up on TiVo, read a book, go for a run. Then enjoy.