week 33: red as running theme

our jon is a big boy now… tomorrow he will move from the vuggestue to the radisstuen (from 30 months to 4 year olds) with the big kids. he is really looking forward to it

when it comes to food, he is far more picky these days than he has ever been before. all of a sudden he does not like spinach… nor avocado… nor…. a lot of foods he is no longer interested in. maybe it is just a phase.

the running theme this week was red: lots of tomatoes and red peppers. (boxes came back empty unless stated otherwise).

p.s. we hardly ever put fruit in his lunchbox because he gets fruit twice a day while in daycare. they provide a wide variety of fruit for the kids.

monday

box 1: roasted potatoes with soya sausages box 2: cucumber box 3: fresh red peppers with some homemade mayo box 4: sesame and sunflower crackers

tuesday

box 1: spinach tagliatelle with an amazing tomato sauce made by papajon (home made pesto made with lots of roasted almonds, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, olive oil then added to the tomato sauce box 2: cucumber box 3: fresh red peppers box 4: babybel (a lot of babybel in our lunchboxes — one day i will write a thesis on why we use babybel over other brands — and no, i don’t get a fee for using the red-baby-cheeses!)

wednesday

box 1: boiled broccoli box 2: eggplant/aubergine rolls: a little treasure from Moldova that i discovered just 2 weeks ago while having dinner at a friend’s house – it is a must try (will have to upload the recipe on the “recipes” page…) box 3: ovos recheados (boiled eggs with filling of yolks and homemade mayo) box 4: walnut bread with gouda cheese outcome: the box came back intact. it was the mystery of the evening, papajon and i trying to figure out why he had not eaten anything that day. well, as it turns out, he had; he had gone for a special lunch of spaghetti and meatballs at the radisstuen.

thursday

box 1: fresh colourful red peppers box 2: sweetcorn box 3: green rice: cooked with peas and broccoli box 4: rice cake

friday

box 1: recycled green rice from previous day (delicious with freshly grated parmesan) box 2: sweetcorn and tomatoes box 3: spinach and salmon quiche box 4: cucumber slices outcome: was informed when i picked him up at daycare that jon told sarah (educator) that he does not like spinach quiche…” – that was news to me

week 32: fast food nation

we live in a fast food nation, a fast food society. it is alarming to see children and even toddlers already overweight. children constantly snacking. children eating oversized ice creams… children feasting on large portions of oily and saturated french fries. who am i to judge, i like to feast on french fries once in a while my self, but the health of my child is another matter altogether.

we want our son to have the best start in life, and we really prioritise nutrition at home. it is a huge responsability to teach your child to eat right, to get him to love eating vegetables and fruits, foods that will make him grow healthy and have the energy to be active. when he’ll be older, he will make his own choices about foods, but now, it is our duty to set him on the right path.

monday

box 1: supposedly a spanish tortilla (except the frying pan gave up on me and it became scrambled eggs with diced potatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil! ) box 2: homemade frikadeller (these ones made by papajon with minced lamb) box 3: tomato and sweetcorn salad box 4: rhubarb and strawberry yoghurt (sugarfree) with blueberries

tuesday

box 1: cucumber and red peppers box 2: 2 babybel cheeses (it was the week of babybel!) box 3: quorn and peas in a coconut sauce and curry box 4: grilled tortilla with grated cheese and tomato

wednesday

box 1: tagliatelle with an tomato, aubergine and zucchini sauce box 2: whole wheat crostinis box 3: organic raisins box 4: mozzarella with red pesto outcome: for the fist time in a long time, the lunchbox was not empty… jon left the mozzarella behind

thursday

box 1: rugbrød (ryebread) with nutana sandwich cream and sliced cucumbers box 2: babybel and some homemade mayonaise as dip to the quorn fillet box 3: mini cucumbers and tomato box 4: 1 boiled egg with half a quorn fillet

friday

box 1: lentils with onions and masala spices box 2: cucumber and tomato salad box 3: 1 apple from the garden box 4: white and wild rice outcome: jon scrapped all boxes as usual, except the lentils – we know he does not like it, but we still try to introduce it in his diet now and then, hoping for a breakthrough

week 31: grill fests

this was a week very few lunchboxes – they had summer grill parties at the vuggestue (daycare). on friday, i was told that jon ate 3 grilled sausages and an ice cream cone with soft ice with chocolate sprinkles. we are not in a habit of feeding him sugar at all, but we can not really control what he eats at daycare. we have indicated that we would prefer for him not to eat sugar, but what do you do, if all kids are enjoying ice cream on a hot day…

this past week, we have received some comments (mailbox, referrals or in the blog) regarding the refrigeration of jon’s food (considering we serve meat, dairy etc…). i am not sure how it works in other daycare centres around the world, but in denmark, it is the norm for vuggestues to have refrigerators available for parents to store their toddlers’ lunchboxes. the boxes are kept refrigerated from the time we drop jon in the morning until he gets served his lunch at 11:30 am. then, one of the educators will warm up the box that needs warming up.

wednesday

box 1: basmati rice with a tomato sauce with quorn, green peas and carrots. box 2: salad: lettuce, tomato and sweet corn box 3: natural yoghurt with fresh raspberry box 4: 2 babybels

thursday

box 1: sliced red peppers and tomatoes box 2: falafels box 3: homemade spinach puff pastry “envelopes” box 4: dried apricots

week 30: back from a long break

in my wisdom i forgot the camera at my in-laws house a couple of weeks ago and was not able to upload the pictures from that week and take any pictures since. we came back to visit farmor and farfar this weekend and at last i am able to upload one week’s worth of pictures.

we have been feeding our toddler, rest assured; we just have not been able to take pictures… (i got a worried email from a friend in canada who was having some doubts…).

monday

box 1: fresh blueberries with natural yoghurt box 2 and 3: rye bread with gouda slices box 4: coloured  crips (parsnips, beetroot, potato, carrots) – deliciously produced by urtekram.

tuesday

box 1: fresh tagliatelle with tomato sauce and butter beans with sprinkled parmesan box 2: babybel box 3: carrot sticks box 4: fresh cherries

wednesday

box 1: natural yoghurt (unsweetned) with fresh raspberries and blackcurrants picked from our very own backyard box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: sunflower seed bun with nutolene slices, lettuce and tomato box 4: rice and cooked carrots

thursday

box 1: home made pizza with homemade pesto (pesto was made by papajon with 6 whole garlics – it is the pure truth – lots of olive oil, fresh basilico and broad leaf parsley, salt and roasted almonds) box 2: slices of chicken pålæg box 3: cucumber sticks

friday

box 1: fresh juicy pineapple (certainly NOT from a can/dåse!) box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: fusili pasta with spinach, garlic and feta cheese box 4: corn (unfortunately it was canned sweetcorn….)