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Topic: Lunch ideas?  (Read 1402 times)

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Lunch ideas?
« on: March 21, 2007, 02:10:10 AM »
I've been going crazy trying to come up with quick and relatively simple recipes/concotions/slop to make for lunch.  I'm trying to be very good about eating with my 3 year-old son, but I'm at a complete loss for something to make that we can both eat.  In addition to being a typical picky eater, he has a bunch of food allergies which make simple meals anything but.

I'm hoping that some of the much more capable cooks out there can help me with some ideas.  Foods I need to avoid are: dairy, eggs, nuts (tree & peanut), and fish/shellfish.  And, yes, I've tried tofu.  He won't touch the stuff.

Signed,

Desperately Seeking Lunch


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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2007, 06:28:22 AM »
Will he eat avocado? avocado on toast with some chopped tomato is quick & simple.

Pasta with a tomato sauce. I make a sauce with butternut squash which my 2 1/2 year old loves, probably because it is fairly sweet.  Bit labour intenstive for lunch but you could make up a batch of sauce and freeze it.

Beans on toast! (see beans on toast thread!)

Vegetable croquettes with baked beans. (Mashed potato & veg made into little patties and rolled in breadcrumbs - bake or shallow fry).

I have a really good kids cookbook I'll dig it out later & post some more ideas.



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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2007, 07:49:01 AM »
Cant' really help you with ideas but I so hear you on the lunch thing.  I got to a point with my kids that I just could not make one more lunch.  Fortunately, they were old enough to make their own.  I hate making lunches.

What about soups? The great thing about soups is you can hide a plethora of good things!
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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2007, 08:30:05 AM »
david and i both love a can of red kidney beans in chilli sauce (from your supermarket) over brown rice

rice and beans! supah cheap and easy!  i ususally dice part of an onion, stir in with the beans and then tip in the cooked rice


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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2007, 08:46:28 AM »
I have a good cookbook as well. What veggies does he eat? Let us know and I'll look some recipes up... Liz's idea of avocado on toast is good (he may prefer the avocado done up more like guacamole though with some lemon and a tad of salt in it...)

Pizza with soy cheese and any veg or meat he will eat as well?

Does he help with making lunch? Getting him involved somehow may make him more inclined to try new things, too.
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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2007, 09:37:56 AM »
how about a nice, homemade veg soup?

load it up with dried beans, carrot, potato, leek, onion, celery, chopped tomato, green beans, peas, corn, tomato juice & water as a base, herbs & salt to season, and barley or noodles to thicken.
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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2007, 09:45:23 AM »
My book suggests dippy things like guacamole or hummus with bread or vegetables cut into sticks. Also various foods on sticks, ie kebabs, satay (without the peanut sauce). 

You could also try this recipe, I might even try it myself as I have a big bag of polenta in the cupboard!

Tomato & Polenta (cornmeal) fingers:

Chop small onion & a garlic clove & fry with some sprigs of thyme. Add 40g (2 tablespoons) tomato paste and 250 ml veg stock, simmer for 10 mins. Stir in the polenta and simmer another 10 mins.  Season with salt & pepper. Spoon the mixture out into a square container & leave to cool, then put in fridge until set, about 1-2 hours.

Turn the polenta out onto a chopping board & cut into fingers. Shallow fry in vegetable oil. Drain on kitchen paper & serve.

The recipe does actually also have a small amount of parmesan cheese but I am sure it is just as good without.  You could put in anything you think your son would eat really.

Other suggestions from the book, let me know if you'd like any of the recipes:

- Sweet potato rosti
- Colcannon
- Sausage, mash & onion gravy
- Carribean vegetable hotpot
- Cumin roasted sweet vegetables
- Home made hamburgers
- Lancashire hotpot
- Crispy pigs tails
- Little chicken & ham pies
- Shepherds pie
- Home made baked beans

Soups are good, you could put in some alphabet or animal shaped pasta to make it more fun.


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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2007, 09:46:47 AM »
Maybe a chilli? Minced beef, chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, baked beans, a bit of taco seasoning and rice... Speghetti bolognese?

Butternut squash minus the cream, it tastes the same with and without. And I'm sure you can find a butter reaplcement.
1 small butternut squash, about 700g, halved and with seeds scooped out
25 g butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 litre veg stock
142 ml pot single cream


Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2007, 01:50:05 PM »
What veggies does he eat?

This made me laugh out loud.  The boy HATES vegetables.  I know I'll break him eventually with repeated offerings, but right now they have to be snuck into foods like pasta sauces.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.  The polenta fingers sound so good!  I may have to try them this weekend.



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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2007, 05:29:01 PM »
Baked beans on jacket potato is one of my fave lunches. 

Britwife - I have to ask what the recipe for crispy pigs tails involves?  :)
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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2007, 06:34:01 PM »
This made me laugh out loud.  The boy HATES vegetables.  I know I'll break him eventually with repeated offerings, but right now they have to be snuck into foods like pasta sauces.

Check out this blog for interesting 'hide the veg' recipes.
http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/


Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2007, 06:41:00 PM »
Check out this blog for interesting 'hide the veg' recipes.
http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/

Wow! That looks like a great website! I' going to share it with my sister. She's not even at solid foods with my nephew yet but she will someday be able to use this, I just know it!


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Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2007, 07:20:21 PM »
Baked beans on jacket potato is one of my fave lunches. 

Britwife - I have to ask what the recipe for crispy pigs tails involves?  :)

It involve frying pigs tails! The guy who wrote the book reckons his kids like chewing meat off bones.  :-\\\\


Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2007, 07:46:33 PM »
It involve frying pigs tails! The guy who wrote the book reckons his kids like chewing meat off bones.  :-\\\\

I shuddered a little when I read that. I thought for sure it was some kind of spin-off of pigs in a blanket and the like.

As for lunch ideas, does he like mexican food type stuff? You can avoid dairy and all that by making little grilled burrito-type things. (then again I have no idea if you can find tortillas easily in the UK! you can also use pitas though)

So usually I put a variation of some/any/all of the following:

beans (black, pinto, or refried)
ground meat (can be beef, turkey, or pork as all taste good. You could also cheat with ground tofu replacement. I don't know what it's called)
tomatoes
oignons (green or regular)
shredded soy cheese
avocado (sliced, cubed, or mashed up, works all ways)
mushrooms
lettuce

I put my ingredients in a warm burrito sized tortilla (sticks better when you fold it), fold it up as tightly as possible (like at Chipotle), and put it on a non-stick skillet pan. I don't use any butter or oil, but you could use some if you prefer. Then I just wait for it to char a little on the outside and take it back off. Afterwards, I put it directly into some foil and put it in my purse. At lunch I pull it out and eat it at my desk because you can just peel the foil off and eat as you go. All the stuff can be prepared before hand and just thrown together in the morning. I make a lot of salads so I usually have cut up stuff around. I can see how this might be time consuming though if you don't usually.



Re: Lunch ideas?
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2007, 08:30:37 PM »
It involve frying pigs tails!

Oh, ick!  I thought it was one of those silly food euphemisms like 'pigs in a blanket'.

Check out this blog for interesting 'hide the veg' recipes.
http://greatbigvegchallenge.blogspot.com/

Cool site, thanks!


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