It’s in the Bag
If he had his way, 6-year-old Garrett Bradbury-Strickland probably would stash peanut-butter-and-marshmallow sandwiches in his lunch box each day. But, as his mother, Lynne, is quick to point out, what Garrett wants is not necessarily what Garrett gets.
"That's not going to last him for good test scores throughout the day," Bradbury said. "He needs more protein."
The parents of Ben and Sarah Jordan are both chefs. Michael and Wendy Jordan own Rosemary's Restaurant, where Michael is the chef. Wendy is a chef-instructor at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute of Las Vegas. So you might think Ben, 10, and Sarah, 5, lunch each day on foie gras and artisanal cheeses. You would be wrong.
When it comes to the lunches kids take to school, local parents and other experts say, two rules reign supreme: Keep it nutritious, and don't overthink it.
"I think they like simple things," Bradbury said, "because it makes socializing easier. That's a social time for them. If they're throwing something easy in their mouth, they can still chat."
The Jordan children pack their own lunches, which gives them some measure of control over them. But not too much. Wendy Jordan prefaced the first efforts with a little education.
"Here's the five food groups," she told them. "You can have whatever you want, but you have to have one from each group."
"It has turned out really well," she said. "It gives them a little sense of power over their lives, because kids feel so powerless sometimes."
For Sarah, lunch usually means whole-grain bread with turkey and mayonnaise, "or she'll get her brother to make her a scrambled egg and she'll have a scrambled egg sandwich," thereby hitting the grain and protein groups. Some cold green beans or baby carrots are from the vegetable group, and strawberries or an orange from the fruit group. Sarah gets milk at school or takes a piece of string cheese from the dairy group.
For Ben, who's a little more particular about what he eats, lunch usually means an egg sandwich, "because he's not into meat," Jordan said. That's the grain and protein; sometimes he'll sub a protein bar and a piece of toast. Carrots and an apple, orange or strawberries, plus milk or string cheese complete the meal.
"I let him have a few chips because he's a growing boy," Jordan said. "We try to get the stuff without the trans fats."
She'll let them finish up with a sweet little treat, such as a cookie. And a little sweet from Mom.
"I write them little love notes that say 'Hi,' or a joke," she said. "I'll tell them knock-knock jokes."
Bradbury said she bumps up the protein considerably from what Garrett would choose.
"I'll give him a peanut-butter sandwich, or turkey and cheese," she said. "I always give him string cheese, grapes, carrot sticks, a juice box or water. And some Goldfish or peanut butter crackers."
Laura Kruskall, chairwoman of the department of nutrition sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, underscored the importance of remembering the food groups when packing a child's lunch or letting them pack it. She also advises "eating the rainbow" -- including foods of various colors, "because of all the various vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals that give color to our fruits and vegetables" and that help in disease prevention and health promotion.
Kruskall also stressed remembering the importance of food safety: "If you don't have refrigeration, pack foods that don't require refrigeration."
Practical considerations also should be considered. If there's no sink for washing fruit, be sure to wash it in advance.
"Keep it simple," she said. "String cheese, fruits. How easy is it to throw a piece of fruit in a bag? And everything's proportioned now for convenience. It's easy to pack a lunch these days."
Bradbury, a former teacher who now works as a hairdresser, is well aware of the importance of good nutrition.
"I think kids in general aren't eating as well as they used to," she said. "I would try to give tests in the morning, because in the afternoon they were either on a Cheetos high or a carb low, and you couldn't get much out of them.
"And they always had orange fingers."
Jordan figures the lunch-packing is good training.
"I think there's such an issue with what to eat these days," she said. "People are not clear what's nutritionally good for them. So I thought it would be a good idea to teach them from the beginning about the food groups."
And she sees a growing awareness in her children.
"They're learning to read the labels," she said. "We'll buy something and I'll say, 'Does it fit in the food group? Let's look at the labels.' It's not that I don't let them have candy, but I make them read the labels and see what choice they're making and what they're putting in their body."
Alarm bells ring, for example, when a label lists high-fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oil, because they've been linked to health problems, and "you don't have to use those things," she said. "Those companies use those things because they're cheap and they want to make a buck, so that irritates me. So we don't have that stuff in our house."
The Jordan children's nutritional journey has not been without its obstacles. Wendy Jordan remembers one time when Ben threw down his lunch box and demanded, "Why do we have to have all this food that's good for us?"
"But now they're used to it," she said. Recently, she said, Ben had been at a friend's house and came home and said he hadn't been feeling very well.
"What have you been eating?" Jordan asked him. "Do you understand that when you eat these foods, if makes your body feel bad?
"So he's starting to understand and eat good foods, just because it makes him feel good."
For more information on the basic food groups and nutrition, visit www.mypyramid.gov.
APPLE-PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 teaspoons lemon juice
6 slices bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
Buttered French bread slices
2 apples, cored and cut in wedges
In a small mixing bowl, stir together peanut butter, mayonnaise or salad dressing and lemon juice until smooth.
Stir in the crumbled bacon.
Spread mixture over French bread slices.
Garnish each sandwich with some apple wedges.
Makes 1 cup filling.
-- Recipe from Jif
TOASTED MONKEY SANDWICHES
1/4 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1 medium banana, sliced
4 slices white, wheat or cinnamon-raisin bread
Evenly spread peanut butter on two slices bread, then top with banana and remaining bread slices.
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, cook sandwiches over medium heat until golden brown, about 4 minutes, turning once.
Makes 2 sandwiches
-- Recipe from Skippy
TURKEY AVOCADO WRAP
1/4 cup lowfat ranch dressing
2 tablespoons chipotle salsa
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
12-ounces sliced oven-roasted turkey breast (from deli)
1 ripe Hass avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced
2 cups mesclun lettuce or sprigs of cilantro
1 1/2 cups grated jicama
1 tomato, thinly sliced
2 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a small bowl, combine the ranch dressing with the salsa and orange zest. Lay the tortillas on a cutting board, and spread the ranch mixture evenly over each one, leaving about a 1-inch border on all sides. Layer the turkey, avocado, lettuce, jicama, tomato, and scallions evenly over each tortilla, still leaving a border. Season with salt and pepper. Roll up like a pinwheel. Halve, and serve.
Serves 4.
-- Recipe from the Food Network
TUNA CANOES
1 can (6 ounces) chunk white or chunk light tuna in water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 stalks celery
1 medium green onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 small oval or oblong Italian rolls
Open can of tuna and drain. Place tuna in a medium bowl; flake into small pieces with a fork. Sprinkle with lemon juice, toss gently.
Mince 1 stalk celery into small pieces. Add minced celery, sliced onion and parsley to tuna; stir in mayonnaise until evenly mixed.
Cut one-quarter of the top off of each roll. Carefully pull out and discard bread, leaving a 1/4- to 1/2-inch shell, so each roll resembles a canoe. Stuff tuna mixture into rolls. Cut remaining celery stalk into 6 thin sticks. Insert 2 celery sticks on either side of each roll, positioned as canoe paddles.
Serves 3.
-- Recipe from Bumblebee
RANCH DIP AND BABY CARROTS
1/2 to 1 small clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 scallion (white and green) minced
3/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups baby carrots or other vegetables
Mash the garlic and salt to a paste with the side of a chef's knife. In a medium bowl, whisk together the garlic, mayonnaise, buttermilk, parsley, scallion, orange zest and pepper, to taste. Use immediately or store covered, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.
Note: If your kids like pesto, try whisking in a tablespoon or two.
Serves 4.
-- Recipe from the Food Network
RAINBOW VEGGIE SKEWERS
1/2 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 cauliflower florets or mushrooms
8 cherry tomatoes
1 cup hummus
Skewer the vegetables onto a wooden skewer and wrap with aluminum foil. Serve with the hummus.
Serves 1.
-- Recipe from the Food Network
MINI BLACK-AND-WHITE COOKIES
For cookies:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
For icings:
2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 to 6 tablespoons water
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
To make cookies, put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing just until smooth.
Drop rounded teaspoons of batter 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed, edges are pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Make icings while cookies cool:
Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. If icing is not easily spreadable, add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as vanilla icing. Cover surface with a dampened paper towel, then cover bowl with plastic wrap.
To ice cookies, with an offset spatula, spread white icing over half of flat side of each cookie. Starting with cookies you iced first, spread chocolate icing over other half.
Note: Once icing is dry, cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
-- Recipe from Gourmet magazine
