week 37: pumpkin time!

we bought a huge pumpkin last weekend and it has been sitting in our backyard waiting to be cooked and eaten. am looking forward to pumpkin pie later this coming weekend. but 1/4 of the pumpkin was used by papajon to make something sumptuously delicious!

jon and mamajon made banana pie sunday afternoon. jon is so good at helping in the kitchen. he plastered the pie crust inside the mould and cut 2 bananas with his child-safe knife then he was certain he wanted cinnamon on top of the banana!

i have to say a big thank you to heather for her suggestions last week! we tried the risotto with peas, white beans with herbes de provence and the zucchini pancakes. we had tried variations of the risotto and white beans before, but the zucchini pancakes was pure innovation!! it was loved by all in the house!! should have asked for a recipe though…

monday

papajon went to croatia on a project monitoring visit. he took the camera with him, so i could not take pictures of his monday lunchbox…

tuesday

box 1: banana pie – crust: blend oats, honey, almonds and coconut oil; slice banana on top of crust, sprinkle cinnamon and bake until crust is cooked box 2: cherry tomato box 3: risotto rice with peas and sprinkled with parmesan box 4: white beans seasoned with herbes de provence and a spoonfull of green pesto outcome: box came back CLEAN!

wednesday

left side of box: zucchini pancakes: what an excellent idea (thanks to heather) i used 4 eggs, whole meal flour, lots of ginger, a pinch of nutmeg, 1 large raw grated zucchini, pinch of salt, baking powder+soda box 2: boiled broccoli and olive oil box 3: cherry tomato outcome: when i picked him up in the afternoon, he left kindergarten chanting: i ate 3 pancakes, i ate 3 pancakes!!

thursday

kindergarten served lunch today. no lunchbox needed. they served pita bread, falafel and lots of crunchy vegetables like carrots and peppers.

friday

box 1: rice cooked with cinnamon, cardemom and cloves box 2: pumpkin curry: cooked pumpkin with chick peas, onions, salt + olive oil and curry spices (papajon’s twist) right side of box: 1 peach and a couple of whole meal crostini outcome: kindergarten was closed today, as all teachers had to attend a 6 hours training session. i took the day off to go for a picnic with my son

week 36: more nori mom!

jon was madly in love with nori this week. he could not get enough. he would cut nori sheets with his small scissors and then eat them by small squares!

we tend to emphasise “homemade” and locally grown in our lunchboxes because we think that buying organic and locally grown has an impact on our health as well as taking the time to make good home made food. it tastes much better than canned or prepackaged foods

monday

box 1: calzone with minced soy in tomato sauce, red peppers and onions with cheese box 2: cherry tomatoes box 3: carrot soup (potatoes, carrots, onions and raw garlic, olive oil and fresh parsley blended in after cooking), box 4: cucumber sticks outcome: would you believe he did not eat the soup. he usually licks the bowl clean!

tuesday

box 1: home made apple sauce with a pinch of cinnamon (no sugar added) box 2: sweetcorn and green olives box 3: walnut bread from our local bakery with cucumber and chicken slices box 4: an odd combination but it had to fit in the box somehow: dried apricots and cherry tomatoes

wednesday

box 1: maki-zushi (cucumber and sliced omelette filling) with soy sauce in mini-box box 2: dried apricots box 3: onigri box 4:cucumbers from the garden of papajon’s aunt outcome: his favourite lunch this week by far! he had been begging for sushi since morning and feasted on nori sheets while mamajon was making the makizushi rolls.

thursday

box 1: natural yoghurt with homemade apple sauce and raisins box 2: fresh red peppers box 3: pita bread box 4: homemade humous outcome: lunchbox came back clean. when i picked him up, he went to pick up his empty lunchbox in the fridge at kindergarten and told me proudly that he had finished his lunch.

friday

box 1: oven baked fusili pasta with spinach, garlic, soy sausages, sundried tomatoes and cheese box 2: sliced red peppers box 3: soy sausages and cherry tomatoes box 4: tangerine basket (jon likes to peel his own fruit – be it banana, oranges or tangerines/clementines) but i found that peeling just a section helps to peel the rest.

week 35: taking in suggestions

lots of play at kindergaten (yes, you have now officially graduated from daycare to the next step…. you are now a pre-schooler…. i still can’t believe you are 2 1/2….), we keep thinking that we need to bring the lunchbox concept to the next level and start making it more exciting, but at 22.45 hrs… our creative juices are low non-existant. we just want to go zzzzzz…… and you ask, but why not pack the lunchbox a bit sooner? it would be a good question but one that would require another post.

since it is hard to get fresh and new ideas at 22.45 hrs, i am going to ask the readers to drop ideas in the comments box. do you have healthy suggestions for a toddler’s lunchbox, ideas…. i am also taking requests (we don’t use pork, nor shell fish in our cooking though)

monday

box 1: white and orange carrot salad with raisins box 2: box of raisins box 3: fusili in tomato sauce with soya meatballs and peas box 4: italian inspired snacks (thyme and cheese)

tuesday

box 1: greek yoghurt with blackberries box 2: fresh red peppers box 3: ryebread with beef salami (not my idea of a healthy meal…i am not going to mention any names, but there are 2 of us packing that lunchbox ) box 4: cucumber sticks

wednesday

box 1: boiled potatoes with the traditional danish brown gravy/sauce (papajon’s version) box 2: red peppers box 3: quorn fillet box 4: cucumber

thursday

box 1: pinto bean (with red peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander seeds) fajita with sweetcorn and greek yoghurt box 2: fig + date paste (jon used to love to eat this paste but this paste ain’t cool no more) box 3: juicy peaches box 4: cucumbers

friday

lunch provided by the kindergarten – pita bread and vegetables.

week 34: headless chicken

the headless chicken is mamjon, or at least i am running around like a headless chicken these days. days should have 25 hours. or maybe i should look into reducing my work load to part time…

we had a long weekend. spent the weekend at farmor and farfar’s place (papajon’s parents) – jon loves running around in their backyard. jon loves the proximity to beach and forrest. so we all took friday off and enjoyed hanging out

monday

box 1: spinach pasta with butter beans in tomato sauce with fresh basil, garlic and onions box 2: cucumber and tomato box 3: sunflower seed bun with økologisk beef chorizo (all local stuff, no additives, no colourings, no funny business in this chorizo…) box 4: norwegian crisp bread (knekkebrød) with babybel

tuesday

box 1: falafel (chick pea goodness) with a mini-box of crème fraîche and dill box 2: mixed salad with white and orange carrots (white carrots!!!), sweetcorn and tomatoes box 3: knekkebrød (see link in monday’s lunch), with slices of dill flavoured arla havarti box 4: dates from an exotic land far away outcome: jon finished the lunchbox, but he did not dare eat the dates. mystery yet to be solved.

wednesday

box 1: mexican salad (as we call it at home) with boiled green beans, green peas and fresh red peppers – drizzled with olive oil and lime juice box 2: vegetable chips (parsnips, beetroot and potatoes) box 3: økologisk lamb sausage (lamb, paprika, onions, garlic, and other-that-i-can-not-remember-now and that is it!) – i don’t eat meat (i grew up vegetarian and eat fish once in a while and white meat once in a blue moon) but papajon said that it was the best sausage ever! i was diagnosed with anemia a month ago due to lack of iron, so we want to avoid jon getting iron deficiency by being purely vegetarian. if he eats meat, we are very careful to chose meat directly from the butcher, and papajon will then prepare it all at home. box 4: mashed potatoes with cheese, butter and milk (bring on the comfort food!)

thursday

box 1: pizza made with a tomato base spread on a large focaccia bread and topped with onions, beef chorizo and cheese. sinful. but homemade. box 2: cucumber sticks box 3: egg soufflé – eggs with left over mashed potatoes and feta cheese. delish. mini-box: homemade mayo with dash of cervera ketchup (sugarfree/aspartamfree/nonesensefree)