Well, as two of my children have began school I have been hard pressed to figure out how to send nutritious (grain free) lunches was a challenge. So, I did my fall back and made a school lunch menu! Menu planning is what makes my life so much easier and my grocery bill smaller. The lunch plan that I came up with is below. I hope it give you some good new ideas. After you read the ideas see below for notes and recipes!
*Hamburger Rice Hotdish, celery with peanut or sunbutter topped with either crasins or raisins (wrap the in wax paper to contain mess), apple sauce,carrot sticks
*Grassfed Hotdogs, cherry tomatoes, "cutie" oranges, cucumbers sprinkled with sea salt, pea pods, banana, blueberries
*Soup n' Salad, organic grapes, almond joys, freeze dried bananas, lettuce with peanut butter or sunbutter wraps
*Quinoa n' Black beans, power bars, orange, freeze dried mango, almonds and apricot, and carrot sticks
*Flax Cracker Stackers: flax crackers, meat, and goat cheese (usually goat gouda in chunks), kiwi and strawberries, fresh raw green beans (cleaned and ends clipped), cashew and craisin
**NOTES: To keep food hot make sure to get a good stainless steel "THERMOS" brand (is the one I have had the best luck with in the past. To decrease your use of plastic bags and plastic containers check out www.planetbox.com they have awesome options for lunch boxes!
Make quinoa and black beans and hamburger hot dish is large batches and then freeze in lunch portions (for me I freeze it in 2 portions: 1 for each child). Then night before you are sending it to school you just take it out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning heat up the thermos and then heat up meal, put it in the thermos and you are ready to go!
***Recipes:
HAMBURGER HOT DISH
Ingredients: *1 lb. grass fed ground beef (fried)
1 c. diced celery
1 c. uncooked brown rice
1 c. water
3 T. Tamari gf soy sauce
*gravy: use drippings from frying the ground beef. Scrape as much "stuff on bottom of pan" loose as possible (this gives flavor). Add 1 1/2c. water. Add 3T. coconut milk creamer original. In a separate cup mix 1/2 c. water with 2T. arrowroot powder until dissolved. Use a whisk and pour arrowroot mixture into gravy to thicken, heat until it begins to thicken and then remove from heat. (This sounds hard but, after you do it a few times it is very simple!)
Directions:
Get a 9 x 13 glass pan. Dump in beef, celery, brown rice, water and Tamari. Mix well. Add gravy and mix well. Put in the oven for at least 1 hour on 350 degrees. Depending on the type of brown rice you use can vary the baking time, some rices take longer than others!
QUINOA AND BLACK BEANS
3/4 Quinoa
1 tsp. Olive Oil
1 Chopped Onion
3 Cloves Crushed Garlic
1 1/2 c. GF Chicken Broth
1 c. Frozen Organic Corn
1 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper (optional)
Sea Salt (to taste)
2 (15oz.) Cans Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 c. (or more) Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Directions: Soak quinoa for 5 minutes in cold water and drain. Heat oil in sauce pan on low. Saute onion and garlic until tender. Add quinoa, broth, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add frozen corn and cilantro. Serve over brown rice, top with Tofutti sour cream and salsa.
POWER BARS:
Ingredients:
2 c. almonds(raw)
1/2 c. golden flax meal
1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c. almond butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 coconut oil
1 T. vanilla
maple syrup to taste
gf/df dark chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
In food processor put almonds, flax meal, coconut, almond butter, and sea salt. Pulse until chopped fine and mixed. (Set aside) In a small sauce pan melt coconut oil. Stir vanilla into coconut oil. Pour oil mixture into food processor and pulse to a course paste. Add maple syrup to taste. If you want to add chocolate chips (totally does not need it) stir them in. Pour into a 8 x 8 glass pan evenly. Put in refrigerator until firm. Cut into granola bars and enjoy!
Here is a jump start into healthy lunch box meals. Keep an eye on the blog as I come up with more ideas to send to school!
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