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)

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 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….)

week 22: chicken pox alert

at home all week with chicken pox. recovering very well. the lunchbox is taking a vacation short break.

week 20: back from procrastination mode

after one week in portugal and one week of business work related travel (where we did prepare lunchboxes for jon, but they were never photographed…) we are back to business as usual.

on friday, jon did not have a lunchbox because we had to spend lunch at the hospital – nothing serious – it was a scheduled appointment.

a big thank you to WORDPRESS for making even easier to post and upload pictures!!!

p.s. jon emptied the lunchboxes every day this week.

monday

box 1: vegetable (zucchini, aubergine, tomatoes, red peppers, onions) quiche with some stincky yummy cheese box 2: greek yoghurt with fresh rasperries (they were picked last summer by grandma and frozen) box 3: cherry tomatoes

tuesday

box 1: spinach tagliatelle with tomato sauce + fresh parsley box 2: cooked zucchini in tomato sauce and onion and parsley box 3: cucumber sticks box 4: fresh strawberries picked this very spring!

wednesday

box 1: grilled tortilla wrap with kidney beans in spicy tomato sauce and cheddar cheese box 2: fresh strawberries box 3: long winter cupcakes (they have p-l-e-n-t-y of sugar, but they are delicious… jon does not usually eat sugar, but once in a blue moon….) on the side: celeri sticks

thursday

box 1: greek yoghurt and raspberries box 2: soya pølse (sausages) box 3: broccoli and tomato quiche with the quintensential cheese ingredient (we could not survive without dairy products in this house – that much we have established!)

week 15: yellow and red tomatoes

weeks are just flying at present! where is the time going? i am some 2 weeks behind in my postings that i truly can’t remember the outcome… did he eat everything? my memory fails me…

monday

box 1: tomato sauce with zucchini box 2: delicious soya nuggets box 3: creamy mashed potatoes (with cheddar cheese, milk and mixed herbs) box 4: cucumber slices.

tuesday

box 1: fusili pasta with fresh salmon in a spicy tomato sauce box 2: green olives box 3: cucumber and carrot sticks box 4: yellow and red tomatoes

wednesday

box 1: home made apple sauce with a physallis to decorate box 2: yellow and red tomatoes box 3: grilled tortilla (filling: melted cheese and fresh cherry tomatoes) box 4: sweet corn

thursday

box 1: home made apple sauce box 2: rice with soya sausages box 3: spinach quiche with feta cheese box 4: yellow and red tomatoes outcome: i know for sure he ate the whole of the quiche our household is quiche-mad!

friday

box 1: crêpe with home made apple sauce box 2: banana chips (dried with drizzles of honey) box 3: rice with red peppers, carrots and black beans box 4: yellow cherry tomatoes outcome: i recall this box coming back empty… i usually remember the empty boxes!

week 10: eating less than a bird

unlike previous weeks, jon did not eat much this week – be it at home be it at daycare. have read that children go through different stages of development, and when they are going through a growing stage they will eat a great deal more than usual. with jon, most times he eats for 3 people (well…i exaggerate ) yet this week, a bird could have easily gotten more down than he did. but we never push him, we know he eats when hungry and he is good at communicating when he is full. but for me as a the mother who is used to seing an empty box when i pick him up in the afternoon, bringing a half full box home was….

monday

box 1: quiche with left overs – yes, it happens, we re-use the good stuff – the filling was used the previous day to fill the mexican burritos (tomatoes, soya mince, red peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander seeds) – all this goodness could not have gone to waste! box 2: home made apple sauce (boiled apples from great-grandma’s garden, no sugar, just some lemon juice) box 3: fresh tomatoes. outcome: empty box

tuesday

box 1: lentil stew (the recipe is actually avó’s (grandma) recipe that has been slightly adapted) – it has lentils, sweet potatoes, onions and a generous portion of red pesto box 2: physallis box 3: crunchy salad (grated carrot, sliced celeri, lettuce, tomato) box 4: brazilian nuts + raisins outcome: he just ate the raisins, a few spoons of the lentil stew and some of the grated carrot and the physallis of course.

wednesday

box 1: cucumber and celeri sticks with some greek yoghurt as dip box 2: physallis and grapes box 3: good old yummylicious gratin (potatoes, soya sausages, onions, garlic cooked in the oven with part milk and part cream) box 4: sweetcorn and red bell peppers outcome: he ate all the fruit, some of the corn and some of the gratin, the rest was untouched

thursday

box 1: couscous with fantastic sauce made by papajon (tomatoes, carrots, red peppers, dried apricots, cinnamon, curry, chili – in moderation selvfølgelig!) box 2: hard boiled eggs box 3: boiled peas box 4: seedless grapes outcome: the grapes and eggs were eaten happily, the rest was barely tasted.

friday

box 1: spaghetti + tomato sauce + soya meatballs box 2: greek yoghurt + passion fruit box 3: roasted zucchini with grated parmesan and herbs + raw cawliflower box 4: banana outcome: cawliflower + zucchini + spaghetti left behind.

week 9: first lunchbox of 2008

the daycare center was only opened for 2 days this week. jon was happy to see his little friends again.

in thinking up the lunchboxes of this week and comparing to our usual lunchboxes, i came to the realisation that we eat a lot of cheese! but we love all that bacterial goodness!!

thursday

box 1: aspargus quiche with creamy cheese sauce box 2: mango cubes box 3: ratatouille (tomatoes, onions, zucchini and yellow bell peppers) with spinach ravioli box 4: fresh tomatoes outcome: empty box

friday

box 1: greek yoghurt with the last of the blackberry jam (no sugar added – jam is sweetened with grape juice) box 2: sliced red peppers box 3: risotto with broccoli and green bell peppers and grated parmesan box 4: fresh goat cheese outcome: the goat cheese must not have been very inspiring… it was the only ingredient in the lunchbox that was saved for the garbage bin…

week 7: our first review

it is a first for us and we are amazed and honoured to have been featured in blogolandia and gotten our first blog review! You can read Alice’s review at Balancing Motherhood over here – thank you for highlighting our lunchboxes in your blog! There is also another review here by Nomad Mama. Tusind tak (thousand thanks) as they say here in Denmark

this week went by so very fast. mamajon was gone to brussels for some meetings at the beginning of the week; jon baked some  luciabrød (photo by sagte) at the vuggestue with his daycare mates to be eaten and shared at the daycare’s luciafest (albeit it being a swedish tradtion…)

papajon made pizza for dinner one night and jon was the one that spread the ingredients on top of the pizza (the tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions and cheese) . he is going to make a great chef one day

this past summer in portugal, we discovered that jon loved to eat physalis (cape gooseberry) – my parents have a small shrub in their front garden, and jon knew how to pluck them and take the cape off and eat them! they were on sale at the local supermarket this week…. so we could not resist buying a few…

monday

box 1: whole wheat spaghetti + minced beef tomato sauce with zucchini and garlic + sprinkled with parmesan and black olives box 2: tomato + cucumber sticks box 3: oranges box 4: physalis outcome: half of the spaghetti box left.

tuesday

half box: calzone with left-over sauce from the previous day (zucchini tomato sauce) box 2: physalis box 3: cucumber slices + raw red peppers + tomatoes outcome: half of the calzone was left.

wednesday

box 1: salad with lettuce + tomato + cucumber box 2: rice + sweet corn box 3: soya sausages + ketchup (sugarfree and E-number free and conservatives/other-evil-substances-free! from Beauvais and no, i don’t get paid to do marketing on their behalf)+ remoulade box 4: physalis outcome: 2 sausages left – he usually loves the sausages….

thursday

box 1: penne pasta with red peppers and zucchini tomato sauce box 2: babybel box 3: meatless meatballs box 4: fresh banana + frozen rasperries + frozen mango smoothie outcome: 1 spoonful of smoothie was left behind.

friday

half box: home made pizza (ingredients spread on top of dough by jon himself!) box 2: cucumber slices box 3: juicy orange slices outocome: empty box!

week 5: marmite fan

as i write, jon is having his afternoon siesta. we have been home for the past 3 days because he was diagnosed with hand-foot-and-mouth disease (viral infection that generally affects pre-schoolers) and his fever has been up to 39.7 C with no clear signs of it coming down. at least his appetite is not altogether gone, he still eats very well, and has been more active today than he was yesterday. hope it will all clear over the weekend.

we still packed his lunchbox every night, hoping that the following day he would feel better. but we ended up eating its contents at home.

we discovered this week that jon is absolutely mad about marmite. after his cereal/oatmeal breakfast, he will usually have a toast with marmite. and if i forget he will quickly remind me to get him one.

monday

box 1 & 3: little rustic buns with home made burgers (papajon’s skills), box 2: left-over pasta from the previous night – tasting even better box 4: tomato, cucumber and a few lettuce leaves. outcome: gone with the wind. empty box.

tuesday

box 1: marmite rectangles: butter and marmite spread on økologisk bread box 2: tartelettes aux champignons (pastry bottoms filled with fresh mozzarella and portobello mushrooms with a drizzle of pesto oil) box 3: mango and rasperries (again… frozen) box 4: carrot + cucumber + tomato salad (lemon and olive oil dressing) outcome: half of the fruit box was left… defrosted fruit is never as exciting as fresh fruit.

wednesday:

box 1: potato salad (boiled potatoes, a whole lot of crème fraîche, sliced radishes, dill) box 2: fresh radishes box 3: 2 chicken sausages and 1 sojapølse (soya sausage) with remoulade and ketchup box 4: baby carrots outcome: he only ate the sausages – the night before he feasted on radishes. you can tell papajon put the lunchbox together, because that is the only time jon enjoys treats like remoulade and ketchup…

thursday

box 1: quorn fillet with roasted green beans and sliced tomatoes with herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano) box 2: fresh papaya swirls (emphasis on the word “fresh”) box 3: risotto with herbs box 4: champignons farcis (portobello mushroom roasted upside down with  fresh mozzarella and a spoon full of parmesan) outcome: another meal eaten at home, despite the fever, he still ate a great deal of the risotto and all the green beans and half of the quorn fillet.

friday

box 1: whole wheat pasta with spinach sauce (spinach, leeks, onions, garlic, fresh salmon and cream) sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan box 2: rye bread in winnie the pooh shapes box 3: fresh papaya strips box 4: cheese and økologisk bread “stars” outcome: ate most of the pasta and 3 strips of papaya but did not eat the bread. thought it was cute and kept saying peter plys (winnie the pooh in danish) but did not touch them.