Carrot Cups

Making a lunchbox beautiful is satisfying, and it's particularly satisfying when form and function meet. Such is the case with puzzle apples that are cut to hold peanut butter (that will be for a future post), and these carrot cups. They are really a flower-shaped garnish--each piece looks like a little flower, but you can also bunch several together to make a larger flower. Because they are cup shaped, they make fantastic scoops for hummus or other dips. You can find tutorials for these on YouTube, but here is a quick how-to:

Start with straight, fairly thick carrots and a small, sturdy, sharp knife. Cut three slices off the bottom so the carrot comes to a triangular point. Then begin making cuts above the first cuts and in the same plane. This is how you form the petals. Make sure to angle the knife toward the center of the carrot so all three slices will meet in the middle; follow the cuts you made to shape the point and you'll be fine.

These photos are all taken with one hand, leaving the other hand to balance knife and carrot. Keep both hands on your project while you cut! Safety first!

Notice that the knife is held parallel to the first cut and angled toward the center of the carrot. Do not allow this cut to go down to the bottom of the petal or your flower will fall apart.

Once you have cut in, rotate the point of the knife so that the blade is cutting parallel to the edge of the flower. You are trying to make the same three cuts as before to create a point inside the carrot. If properly done, the flower will come off very easily and the petals will be intact.

Since you can't slice to the bottom of the petal in the first cut, rotate the knife blade to cut down into the point.

Here is the flower falling off the carrot. See the new point? Keep making these cuts up the carrot. One carrot is enough for several flowers.

Here is the finished lunch box. Wasn't that fun? Expect to mess up a lot before you get the hang of it. There are so many variables, such as what knife you are using and how thick/hard/straight your carrot is. I began by practicing whenever I was making vegetable soup, and all the ruined ones went into the pot. After a while, you will be able to make them fairly quickly, and your kids will love them!

A Week of Menus

Sometimes you don't sleep well, and you wake up tired, and you have no idea what to make for lunch. You consider taking it later, or just handing them cash and letting them buy whatever the cafeteria has to offer--but then you remember the time you visited and the children at your child's table were eating cold whole wheat tortillas topped with cold cheese; they told you it was "pizza." That's just wrong on so many levels.

So, by popular demand, here is a week of our go-to school lunches, all gluten-free, made with fresh local ingredients as much as possible. These can be mostly packed the night before; items that are packed in the morning have an asterisk.

Weekend Prep:
On Friday: Make sure lunch boxes are emptied and containers cleaned. Monday is bad enough without having to face putrescence.

Make jello cups or pudding cups or applesauce cups, enough for the week.

If you plan to bake cookies, freeze them IMMEDIATELY--out of sight, out of mind ; ) Make them the right size to fit into your containers. Cookies made with nut butter and granola can be very filling and nutritious, so even if your child eats nothing else, they won't come home starving.

Other make-ahead ingredients include pesto, boiled eggs, hummus, pasta and rice--one friend steams beets for the week and doles them out. Another friend's daughter wants pasta every day, so he cooks a couple pounds and just dresses a portion when he packs lunch. Hummus, pesto, pasta and rice can also be frozen in portions and thawed the night before. Heck, in an emergency, you can put a frozen lump of pasta and a frozen chunk of pesto in a container and instruct your diner to microwave it at school!

Spend 20 minutes planning your dinner and lunch menus; plan ahead when to cook extra for lunches. As much as possible, include lunch prep in your dinner routine. If you plan extras for lunch, put them aside right away! Have the containers chosen and ready, and while you holler "Dinner!" be packing up the lunch food before it ends up being someone's third helping.

A note on sides: For two kids, I have about twenty 4-oz lidded containers; that is a good size for most kids and adults, and you can underfill for tots. Ten are filled with jello on Sunday, and the rest are for packing sides. Have a few options, such as applesauce, cut-up fruit, cookies, edamame, dry cereal, 3-bean salad, cole slaw, steamed beets, etc.--whatever your diner likes that is easy to pack. If your child likes the cole slaw at dinner, pack a couple small containers for later in the week. Fruit is best cut up in the morning, but everything else can be packed ahead. If your child is staying after for sports, pack extra sides so they will have snacks for later.


LET THE MENUS BEGIN!

Monday: Leftover lasagne (or other leftover pasta), eaten at room temperature. Leftover green beans dressed with olive oil instead of butter so they won't be greasy when they're cold. Pack these into a sandwich box with a small ear of corn on the cob; they should fit snugly and not shift around. A little spinach or kale would be a pretty garnish.

Tuesday: Sushi rolls made with leftover short-grain rice and filled with tuna salad (or chicken salad, or vegetables). One roll per child, cut in half so it fits in the sandwich box. Fill the cracks with silicone cups of vegetables from dinner, such as steamed green beans and raw carrot slices. A bit of pickled or candied ginger is a nice addition.

Wednesday: Potato salad with other steamed roots such as golden beet, celeriac and carrot; add chopped raw celery and dress with mayo, salt and a drop of vinegar. Deviled egg. Steamed broccoli. A pickle would be good in this box.

Thursday: *Rice with sprinkles and steamed shrimp (or curry, or teriyaki). Warm the rice in the morning and let it cool while you do other things. Pack it firmly into half of the sandwich box and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and crushed nori. Top with shrimp, and fill the empty spaces with vegetables such as edamame and carrots.

Friday: Hummus (or other dip) with cut up vegetables, either raw or lightly steamed. (If your child has a sporting event soon after lunch, opt for steamed, as they are more quickly digested.) Put the hummus in a small lidded container; pack with the veggies inside a sandwich box with taller sides--this keeps the lid from popping off if the lunch is handled carelessly. Olives make a nice garnish.


Saturday: Use Vietnamese rice papers or lettuce leaves to make wraps. Layer lettuce, shredded veggies, rice noodles and/or lunch meat on the rice paper and roll it up. (Look on YouTube for instructions for doing spring rolls.) A couple wraps cut in half would fill a sandwich box. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Sunday: Our last, and favoritest, go-to lunch: *Quesadillas! These are best made fresh. Have the cheese grated and everything else done the night before. In the morning, make the quesadillas and pack with a container of salsa and a portion of refried beans or bean salad. For super-yum factor and extra specialness, make a little layered dip with refried beans, salsa, sour cream, olives and chives, if you have those things around.

After a while, you will come up with your own "go-to" menus--anything that is easy for you to prepare and something the kids like to eat. In time, we hope they will start making their own darned lunch. Making lunch every day is a big commitment, and not always an appreciated one, but with a little planning it can be much, much easier. And without planning, there is always apples and peanut butter!