2 in 1

posting madness – 2 posts in 1 day or maybe i am just too keen…

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

friday

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 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 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 29: one week to go

we fly to seattle tomorrow the 12th and will be back to posting in one month! enjoy the summer sun!

monday

box 1: potato salad (boiled potatoes, shredded lettuce, peas, spring onions, olive oil and lemon) box 2: tomatoes box 3: chicken sausages and ketchup (one of the best around, no added sugar, no aspartam) box 4: pita bread

tuesday

box 1: homemade pizza (tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, onions, oregano), box 2: dried apricots box 3: cucumber slices

wednesday

box 1: penne pasta in a spicy bean sauce with cheese slices on the side box 2: tomatoes box 3: mini pita breads box 4: cucumber

week 27: 30 degrees celcius in may…

they went to the mini-olympics this week with other 5 daycares/kindergartens. jon won his first medal for relay-running. it is proudly hanging on his bedroom wall.

the weather continues to be absolutely fabulous which means another day at the beach.

the lunchboxes come back empty every week.

monday

box 1: mixed salad with corn, lettuce, tomato and cucumber box 2: pita bread box 3: rye bread with beef salami and a mini-babybel mini box: crème fraîche box 4: falafel

tuesday

they went to the mini-olympics and competed with other 5 institutions. they had a blast, or so jon tells us we packed sandwiches in a paper bag, with some babybel and fruit. no picture available.

wednesday

box 1: 2 pastes/dips: red humus (chick peas blended with olive oil, lemon juice, roasted red peppers, salt and a bit of crushed cummin) and burta (an afghan delight: blended one roasted eggplant with yoghurt, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice and salt) box 2: naan bread box 3: carrot and cucumber sticks box 4: fresh strawberries

thursday

box 1: kidney beans in a tomato sauce spiced with a bit of chili and crushed cummin with a spoon of crème fraîche box 2: raw broccoli box 3: rye bread sliced turkey breast and cucumber slices box 4: sweet corn

friday

box 1: greek yoghurt with peaches and strawberries box 2: sweetcorn box 3: rye bread and beef salami box 4: cucumber slices

week 19: party party at daycare

due to all the easter related activities and parties and easter bunny visits, only 3 lunchboxes were required this week. they had so much cooking and preparing meals at daycare.

jon, papajon and mamajon are getting ready to get on a plane to lisbon. one whole week in the sun. one week without having to worry or think about lunchboxes. we are all looking forward to comida caseira drenched in olive oil. overdose on black olives. oranges from the backyard. lettuces and tomatoes also from grandpa’s garden.

monday

box 1: tomato and cheese toasts on rustic bread box 2: boiled broccoli box 3: home made apple sauce box 4: soya sausages and cocktail tomatoes outcome: empty box

tuesday

box 1: actimel box 2: cucumber, tomato and corn salad box 3: beans in spicy tomato sauce (mexican style) box 4: lavash outcome: empty box

wednesday

mamajon never found out what jon had for lunch. but it must have been good. no doubt.

thursday

box 1: cucumber sticks box 2: soya schnitzel box 3: boiled potatoes with peas and a bit of remoulade box 4: natural greek yoghurt with cherry sauce outcome: empty box

friday

spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs!

week 13: carrot craze

they celebrated fastelavn (carnival) towards the end of the week at the vuggestue and jon went dressed as an cute elephant! he has been going through an “elephant” phase and he likes to read books about elephants (Dumbo), elephant lego, elephant costume, toy elephants  

monday 

box 1: mexican mix (kidney beans in a tomato sauce, lots of onions and garlic, red peppers with some grated cheddar cheese) box 2: oat crackers (healthy and delicious) box 3: salad (tomato, lettuce, carrot, cucumber) box 4: corn mini-box: crème fraîche outcome: some of the salad left behind – those oat crackers dissapeared!

tuesday

box 1: on a bed of lettuce – red peppers and tomato slice box 2: mini carrots box 3: wasa runda with smoked salmon and crème fraîche box 4: wonder mash (inspired by Auntie M.’s lunch – boiled carrots, parsnips and broccoli mashed with a bit of olive oil and raw garlic! it looks dubious but it tasted delicious) outcome: the lettuce and a bit of the mash were not eaten.

wednesday

box 1: oat crackers – one with a slice of gouda and the other with smoked salmon box 2: wok veg (mange-tout, peas, carrots, broccoli and carrots with some soy sauce) box 3: greek yoghurt with home made applesauce box 4: curry chicken outcome: empty box

thursday

box 1: baby carrots with crème fraîche box 2: physallis (a box of them is quite cheap at the moment!) box 3: rice with peas with a good portion of cooked spinach with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic and pesto paste box 4: slice of gouda outcome: some rice was not eaten – have concluded jon is not a great fan of rice. he will eat it, but not one of this favourite staples.

friday

box 1: cherry tomatoes and rice box 2: baby carrots box 3: falafel box 4: red peppers outcome: a couple of carrots and most of the rice was abandonned – i expected that… but one has to try… he never starves though – i got quite early to the daycare on friday to see him eat a plate full of fruit; kiwis, apples, pineapple, pears… he was eating fruit like there was no tomorrow! the daycare provides free fruit for the kids which i think is great!

week 6: colour me orange

last sunday afternoon was spent baking. we have not done much baking as we try to avoid to introduce sugar in jon’s diet. but it is almost christmas… and i had always wanted to try making cookies with jon… we made cookies with a christmacy touch: vanilla, cinammon & cardemom. we used shapes of all sorts: hearts, angels, hearts, christmas trees, dogs… jon loved to get his hands into the dough – we had a blast!

monday

box 1: smørbrød (typical danish open sandwiches – økologisk bread with gouda cheese + slice of cucumber and gammeldags smoked salmon with dill) box 2: one of our home baked cookies – dog shape box 3: thick cucumber slices with yellow and red cocktail tomatoes box 4: farmor’s (grandma’s) hytteost (cottage cheese) roast outcome: a bit of bread and a corner of cottage cheese roast were left in the box…

tuesday

box 1: peixinhos da horta (traditional portuguese recipe: boiled green beans dipped in egg and flour batter and fried in olive oil - these are not truly originals because i added a bit of curry seasoning to the batter… the japanese serve a similar dish called tempura, but it seems that it was the portuguese that brought it over in the mid-16th century!) box 2: green bean salad (with the left over green beans that i had boiled for the peixinhos, i decided to make a salad with tomatoes, onions and olives box 3: rice and freshly grated parmesan box 4: babybel outcome: most of the green bean salad was abandoned.

wednesday

box 1: mixed salad with crème fraîche (lettuce, tomato, cucumber + red pepper) box 2: freshly sliced carambola box 3: falafel box 4: pita bread outcome: empty box!

thursday

box 1: boiled and mashed broccoli with olive oil and raw pressed garlic box 2: red and yellow cocktail tomatoes box 3: home made pizza (tomatoes, black olives, raw garlic, mushrooms and drizzled with red pesto and olive oil, grated gouda) box 4: sliced cucumber outcome: EMPTY lunchbox!

friday

box 1: whole wheat pasta (penne + fusili) with a quorn mince tomato sauce box 2: sundried apricots box 3: sliced orange box 4: juicy carrot outcome: empty box! (i had to ask the daycare assistant who supervises lunchtime: “when the box comes empty, does it mean jon ate everything?” – “yes” she replied “he eats very well“)

week 4: quiches and all

so far november has not been an easy month. a great deal of sick children at the vuggestue (daycare) and this week was no exception. jon had diarrhea last night but he was fine by the following morning and ready to play.

this week was different in terms of packing lunchboxes – we got a break on thursday because the vuggestue usually cooks for all the kids once a month. they had spaghetti and sauce.

monday

box 1: egg salad with rye bread box 2: spicy oatmeal muffin (oatmeal, flour, nutmeg, cardemom, cinnamon -no sugar nor sweetners) box 3 + mini box: carrot sticks and crème fraîche with dill box 4: banana halves outcome: box licked clean (assuming he did not eat the banana peel though….)

tuesday

box 1: mixed salad (cucumber, lettuce, sweet corn and tomatoes) box 2: natural yoghurt (non sweetened) and strawberry sauce/purée) lower half of lunchbox: spinach quiche (spinach, cream, eggs, nutmeg, garlic and domyati feta) outcome: a quarter of the quiche was left. they had cake for freja’s birthday, so…

wednesday

box 1: spinach ravioli with a veg tomato sauce (containing aubergines, green peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes) box 2: halloumi cheese sticks box 3: cucumber binoculars with mini carrots box 4: strawberries (not the season but still pretty good when defrosted!) outcome: 2 halloumi sticks left…

thursday

— all 12 kids from jon’s daycare room had spaghetti and sauce today, prepared by the sweet ladies of the vuggestue —–

friday

box 1 & 3: calzones (papajon made the pizza dough – he is the expert – and the filling is made out of aubergines, sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, black olives, and onions – the recipe was  roughly based on something mad jamie whipped up once on tv. click here for the real recipe) box 2: oranges box 4: carrots outcome: all 4 boxes came back empty. considering he had diarrhea the previous night… we are impressed. unless his little friends at daycare are helping him with scuff it down at lunch… we will have to investigate.