What’s for Lunch?

Cooking with Kids: Back to School Lunch

Making your own school lunch doesn’t need to always include the same “old and tired” (to quote my daughter when she was in elementary school) ingredients. Every child should have the opportunity to create their own lunch, different from the others, and making a sandwich is a good place to start. Most of us have the regulars, peanut butter and jelly, tuna fish, ham and cheese, or bologna. But, there is so much variety in the market, just in breads alone: white bread, wheat bread, cinnamon bread, pita, wraps, and bagels. Did you think that a bread discussion can also include culture and geography? Make cooking fun and adventurous and it will never be a chore.

Sandwiches

Bread: You can always try making your own bread or buy from your favorite bakery.
Tuna with mayo: Drain a 6 oz. can of tuna, then put the tuna in a small bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons mayo. If you’re out of mayo, use ranch dressing. Or mix 1 tablespoon mayo and 1 tablespoon ranch dressing. Or use 1 tablespoon mayo and 1 tablespoon mustard. Or 2 tablespoons mayo and 1 teaspoon horseradish. My favorite bakery made a tuna with minced purple onion and chopped apple. In England, you find corn mixed into tuna. Two other additions are cucumber and celery. Or…put it in a celery stick.

Pita Bread: Pita is a bread that originated in the Middle East. It comes in white or wheat. To use: cut it in half and fill half, or split it open on an end and fill it whole. Middle Eastern foods are great in it such as hummus, carrots and raisins, or just egg salad or chicken or turkey salad.

Bagels: There are as many varieties of bagels as there are bagel stores that sell them: Asiago, sunflower, potato, jalapeno, cinnamon, spinach, sesame seed, poppy seed, and plain. Slice them in half carefully and eat them with any filling you like. Or, just spread them with cream cheese.

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