How to Spice Up a Chicken Salad Sandwich

No doubt you already have a tried-and-true recipe for chicken salad. I know I do.  I love chicken salad, whether it's served on a salad, on crackers, in a sandwich, or in a wrap.  Like most of my recipes,  my chicken salad recipe is vague on measurements.  I don't bother with the measuring cups and teaspoons, I just mix it up to taste.

Tofu Spinach Sandwich

Tofu is one of our favorite sources of protein, but there's really only one way we enjoy it -- fried.  I tried baking it once, but it turned out so salty and unappetizing that I've stuck to good old fried tofu ever since.  Last week I attended a blog event where one of the lunch choices was a tofu sandwich.  Tofu in a sandwich?  I was intrigued.  I was even more surprised to discover that the tofu in the sandwich was cold and uncooked.  I've come to associate raw, cubed tofu with salads (and they're not my favorite salad topping either), but this sandwich was so delicious that I knew I'd have to try and recreate it at home.  I made a version of the sandwich today, and my test subject (Alfie and The Pea) loved it.  This one's a keeper!

What's for lunch this week?

Avocado, ham & tomato sandwich, strawberries, peaches

This is the last week of classes for my kids.  I can't believe I made it through a whole schoolyear's worth of school lunches!  It certainly has been a lot easier to resist the temptation of sending my kids off with prepackaged lunches or money for school lunch, now that I have the right equipment (i.e. the perfect bento box!).  Setting myself a goal of photographing each and every lunch also helped with the motivation!  While I can't say that I made and photographed each and every school lunch that my kids ate this year, I think I came fairly close.

What's for lunch this week?

Ham, cheese & Ritz crackers, blueberries, grape tomatoes

This week I'm going to be out of town for 2 days, so I can't make lunch for the kids on those days.  OR CAN I?  At first I thought of buying Oscar Mayer's Lunchables packs for them in advance and storing them in the fridge for Thursday and Friday, but then I realized, I can make my own lunchables!  It's so easy to cut ham and cheese into squares and pack them with Ritz crackers.  They'll keep in the fridge just as well as the store-bought Lunchables -- and my lunchables come with blueberries and tomatoes!

With that in mind, this week I'm featuring lunches that can be made ahead of time. I normally make each lunch fresh each morning because I don't want any sandwiches to get soggy (or worse, dry out).  But the lunches below can be stored in the fridge overnight, or even a couple of nights ahead.  Just wrap the sandwiches in cling wrap and freeze them; the rest of the ingredients can stay in the bento box container in the fridge.  When it's time to pack lunch, add the frozen sandwich to the bento box and it should thaw by lunchtime.

What's for lunch this week?

 Scones with peanut butter and jelly, cherry tomatoes, honeydew melon

Holy cow, where has the time gone?  I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted my lunch photos!  I've been faithfully snapping away every weekday morning, but when Monday rolls around, I've either been too busy, too sick or too lazy to actually write the post.   It doesn't help that school is ending a lot earlier than usual (our school district altered the school calendar to end in May instead of mid-June because the earlier calendar will give high school seniors the chance to finish their mid-term exams before the holiday break).  It also doesn't help that I'm going to co-president of our school PTA board for next year.

What's for lunch this week? Who cares?

Without a doubt, this was a week that sucked.  So far we've had the horrible tragedy at the Boston Marathon on Monday, an earthquake at the Iran-Pakistan border on Tuesday, and a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas on Wednesday.  I actually need a calculator to figure out the total number of dead and injured (I'm lazy at mental math).  The US Senate voted down an already watered-down background check bill for gun purchases (the Manchin-Toomey amendment), which means even more bodies added to future death/injured tolls.

On the shallower side (far shallower, but focusing on the inane helps calm my agitation at the injustices of the world), my favorite soccer team Arsenal tied 0-0 with Everton and Manchester United managed to pull off a last minute goal to tie the score and deny West Ham a well-deserved victory.  To top things off, a virus has entered our home.  I've felt crappy all week and I've infected the rest of the family.  Is it any wonder that I don't feel like making lunch?

This was not my week for homemade lunches with colorful fruit and interesting sandwich fillings.  It was a week for school hot lunches, for bread and cheese, for bagels with cream cheese and PBJ, for Oscar Mayer Lunchables.  It was a week to sit on the sofa and watch the news and explain to the kids the meaning of words like pressure cooker and fertilizer and amputation.  Yes, a healthy, beautifully presented lunch shows your kids that you care, but so does a hug.  This week, I chose hugs.

What's for lunch? And how much is too much?

 California rolls, dried pineapple, Girl Scout Thin Mints

A reader left a comment on one of my "What's for Lunch" posts that left me thinking.  She had the opinion that I wasn't packing enough lunch to fill my kids up.  She was nice enough to say that she meant no offense, and none was taken, but it's an interesting topic of conversation.

Packing the right amount for lunch is like reliving the story of Goldilocks.  Pack too much, and you've wasted good food (unlike dinner leftovers, these have been out all day so I can't save them for another day.  Pack too little, and the kids come home hungry and cranky.  Pack just the right amount, and everyone is happy!

So how do I figure out how much to pack?

What's for lunch?

Veggie pizza, cherry tomatoes, Samoas

If you missed out on buying Girl Scout cookies, you're out of luck:  cookie selling season is over, and you won't see any Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Do Si Dos or Tagalongs until 2014.  The good news is, you can make the cookies you've already bought last longer by storing them in the freezer.  Assuming you have any left over to freeze, that is.  I've been trying to pace our consumption of Girl Scout cookies, but it's not easy, given that any one of us could probably gobble down a whole box.  Each.  We each have our favorite flavors, and fortunately they're all different:  3Po and I like Samoas, Jammy likes Thin Mints, The Pea likes Tagalongs, and Alfie likes Trefoils.

What's your favorite Girl Scout Cookie flavor?  Are they too precious to pack in your kids' lunchboxes or are you free and generous with your Girl Scout Cookies?

What's for Lunch? St. Paddy's edition

Green fruit salad (kiwi, grapes, apples), green-tinted vanilla yogurt, Lucky Charms cereal

Each holiday in the year has a different focus.  The 4th of July is all about the fireworks. Christmas is all about presents.  Mother's Day is all about ME.  Valentine's, Easter and Halloween are all about candy (with the addition of costumes for Halloween).  Thanksgiving and St. Patrick's Day are all about the food.

Every St. Paddy's Day I like to make a corned beef and cabbage dinner, with scones for dessert.  This year I extended the celebrations to the kids' school lunches; I tried to add something green in their lunchboxes every day of the week.  I've been making liberal use of our bottle of green food coloring to dye our milk and yogurt and lemon bars green.  I bought mint chocolate chip ice cream for grasshopper shakes.  I even broke my sugary cereals rule and bought a box of Lucky Charms!

What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Celery salad, green grapes, spinach and cheese quesadilla

Lunch Fails

Chinese chicken salad (with orange chicken bits on the side), Apple Newtons, mandarin orange

My kids are, for the most part, good eaters.  They have all been blessed with a healthy appetite, and Alfie and I have exposed them to a variety of foods and cuisines.  Even more important, we raised them with an open-minded perspective on new experiences, a willingness to try most new foods, and the hope that they would not pre-judge a new food based on its looks.  As a result, I never have to cook a separate meal for any of them, and their lunch boxes usually come back clean as a whistle.

What's for lunch?

Buttered bagel, applesauce, lowfat milk

One of things I like best about packing my kids' lunches is that I get to control how much packaging and waste I'm using.  With reusable lunch containers I not only eliminate the need for paper plates or plastic sandwich bags, I can also buy things like crackers, cookies, chips, tomatoes, cut-up veggies, and even yogurt in economy packages instead of individual packages, saving both money and packaging.  In theory, anyway.  There are still days when I pack individual juice boxes instead of filling up a water bottle, or give in to applesauce in squeezable pouches instead of spooning it from a big jar into a little container.  But I've come a long way from the days when plastic sandwich bags and plastic water bottles were one of my grocery staples.  Every little bit helps, right?

Lunchtime love

Cream cheese sandwich, cherry tomatoes, strawberries

Last week just flew by!  What with coordinating Valentine's Day parties, crafting Valentines, supervising the arduous process of thank-you-note writing for the boys' birthday presents, helping The Pea choose her electives for next year, signing the kids up for summer camp, getting two root canals and catching a cold, I totally forgot to put up my weekly lunch post.   I really enjoyed putting together the kids' Valentine's Day lunches -- I did the whole cutesy red hearts theme -- and I just had to show the photo off today.  Not that any of my other lunches are packed with any less love!

What's for lunch? Football, football and more football!

Cream cheese & tomato sandwich, freeze-dried banana chips, brownie with cream cheese icing

Last week I saw an infographic making its way around Facebook listing what the 49ers would be having to eat on Feb. 3, 2013, Superbowl Sunday:

Breakfast: Beignettes

Lunch: Red Beans and Rice

Dinner: Baltimore Ravens

Sadly, it was the Ravens that had the 49ers for dinner in New Orleans last night.  Even though the 49ers were thwarted in their quest for their 6th title, I'm happy they rallied in the second half and gave everyone a cliffhanger of a game in the end.  The San Francisco Bay Area is still rooting for the Niners, so even though the Superbowl is over, I decided to pack a fun, football-themed lunch for the kids today.  I'm sure they'll all be talking about the Big Game over lunch anyway!

What's for lunch this week?

Lentil, mushroom and tomato wrap, blueberries, pineapples

I rarely pack hot lunches.  Getting hot food to stay hot is just too much of a challenge for me, so until each classroom in school gets a microwave oven, almost all of the lunches I pack are going to be some variety of cold sandwich.  But for the kids' sake as well as mine, I try to avoid using the square sliced bread each and every day.  My favorite variations include bagels, english muffins, tortillas, lavash, pita and nan.  I've put together a week's worth of lunch ideas that are anything but, um, square -- hopefully you'll find inspiration and use these lunches as a jumping-point to creating lunches that work for your family!

What's for lunch this week?

Ham & cheese on whole wheat bread, sweet potato chips, trail mix

Did you know that yesterday was Blue Monday?  The third monday of January is supposedly the most depressing day of the year.  I don't know if there's any science or statistics behind it, and it seems to apply only to Northern Hemisphere countries (I first heard about it on the UK channel Sky Sports), but apparently the  combination of the cold/snow/rain, limited daylight, post-holiday blues, post-holiday BILLS and failed New Year's resolutions get people down in the dumps.

What's for lunch this week?

PBJ bagel, fruit cup, red pepper strips

Happy New Year!  It's back to school and back to packing lunches, and I'm excited to be planning, packing and photographing our weekly school lunches throughout the year.  

Starting tomorrow, that is.    

If you're reading this post and hating me for being organized enough to prepare a whole week's worth of lunches ahead of time on the last weekend of winter break, don't be silly.   These are the lunches the kids ate the week before winter break (I didn't post any lunches that week).  Hey, I just got back last night from a 14-hour international flight!  In fact, when this post goes live, I'll probably still be sleeping in.  Hmmm, I guess I should wake up and get the kids to school....zzzzzz.......

What's for lunch this week? Cookies!

Okay, not really.  I've just decided to give myself a break from posting lunch photos since this is the last week of school before the winter break.  So instead of a nutritious, well-balanced meal I'm treating everyone to a photo of two sugar cookie snowmen that we made recently (note to self: never use Nerds for snowman eyes or mouth because they will melt in the oven and the snowman will come out looking like a zombie snowman).

I'll resume my lunch photo posts when school returns in January.  Until then, happy holidays and happy feasting!

What's for lunch this week?

Brie & cranberry panini, cucumbers with ranch dressing, blueberries

For our wedding anniversary this year, Alfie got me a panini press.  I know, it doesn't sound very romantic, but whenever I use it, it brings back memories of our lovely trip to Bruges this summer, eating panini and sipping espresso at a sidewalk cafe, so it's actually quite a romantic present.  Plus, it makes awesome panini.  Our poor grilled cheese sandwich maker is sitting in a cupboard, gathering dust!

What's for lunch this week?

Burrito (I forgot what was inside it), extra lettuce, tortilla chips, strawberries & blueberries

The crazy holiday season is already starting to wreak havoc on my stress levels -- mail holiday cards!  decorate home!  supply cookies for class holiday party!  volunteer for Nutcracker!  shop for presents!  prepare for trip! lose sanity!   -- but so far I'm still managing to pack lunch every day.  I almost caved in one day and asked The Pea to buy a hot lunch at school instead, but she told me, "No, mom, the school lunches are so disgusting and unhealthy, I'd much rather have a packed lunch!".  With that kind of praise, how could I not pack her a lunch?!

What's for lunch this week?

 Crackers, ham & cheese skewers, cucumber slices, ranch dip, vanilla yogurt, brownie

Recently I bought a bunch of bento lunch box supplies: silicone baking cups, plastic picks, and plastic sauce cups.  They certainly improve the presentation of the food and make it a whole lot more fun to eat!  Even my kids aren't immune to the cuteness factor.  Of course, garnish can be more than just for appearances:  the blue sauce cups in the photo above are garnished with a cilantro leaf and orange sprinkles.  Sure, it looks nice, but I also did it because I didn't want the kids dipping their cucumbers into vanilla yogurt or pouring ranch dressing onto their chocolate brownie!