What's for Dinner & School Lunch: Week of 1/12
Happy weekend!
this week both boys have after school sports games and club soccer practices meaning it will be busy in the second half of the day until late night. So I am focusing on relatively quick recipes on most nights, including a slow cooker recipe ( if you do not have a slow cooker I highly recommend this one that is all stainless steel.)
As always, these recipes are mostly gluten-free ( 2 of us are gluten-free at home, if any changes have to be made to make the recipe gluten-free, I do specify in the recipe.) and designed for two adults and three kids ages 15,12 and 4.
Scroll down and you will find what I send for lunch for two of my three kids. School lunch is yet another source of harmful chemicals for most kids so, while it can be a pain to prep lunch in the morning, it is an important way to reduce overall toxic burden in kiddos, especially the youngest ones! I often send leftovers to make my life easier.
This week, because you asked, I added a list of our common snacks that I send To school for the kids.
DINNER
I am trying really hard to stick to my one day a week all vegetarian meal so we will make this recipe without the turkey ( the smoked paprika, gives it a smokiness on its own) but if you're going to use turkey sausage, I highly recommend Applegate farm organics because they do not use synthetic nitrates
I read that my friend @Pamelasalzman tends to do slow cooker Thursdays and I kind of love that concept. There's nothing easier than preparing a slow cooker meal and nothing more satisfying than arriving at home at the end of the day and not having to do anything and the food being ready! This recipe I know my older kids will absolutely love. For a gluten free version ( and for lunch the next day) will serve with quinoa
My mom didn't make a lot of meatloaf when I was growing up but when she did, I used to love it so I do try to make it once every like 4 -6 weeks. We make it gluten-free.
If you have been following my weekly meal plans, you know that we love this recipe. We also love using the super yummy chicken the next day for lunch.
I don't really follow this recipe, but it's a good starting point. We don't add any kind of peppers because me and the kids don't love spice. We also don't add refried beans nor canola oil. Basically, we put the green tomatillos in the oven with some onion and garlic and a dprinkle of salt, toast and then mix that up into a sauce, which we later mix with the shredded chicken ( A common shortcut is to buy a rotisserie chicken in the store and use that chicken instead of cooking it at home, however, those rotisserie chickens often are sitting hot in plastic bags, so I don't love using that unless it's an emergency. I simply boil the chicken and then shred it and then add the sauce to it. It's pretty easy and quic). and the masa harina is always organic
SCHOOL LUNCH
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but both my kids have Bento style lunchboxes from the good kind which we love because not only are they stainless steel lunchboxes, but they have a silicone cover that seals everything into its compartment and doesn't allow spillage which was a pet peeve if you sent anything that was in completely dry. So every week I usually list the main."meal" I am sending them, but in addition to that, the other compartments of the lunchbox are being filled too! as always, I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible, but sometimes I will send a healthy process food. In case you're wondering, here is a list of common items I send as sides
All kinds of fruit
Carrots and hummus
Edamame
Capresa salads with little grape tomatoes, and mozzarella balls
A veggie mix with organic corn and green beans
Cucumbers
Feta style salad with cucumbers, tomato, and feta cheese
rice crackers
top seedz
fresh figs
corn on the cobb
Monday: Grazing lunch- basically a little bit of a lot . Will include a hard boil egg, half an avocado, carrots with hummus, berry salad and so e rice crackers
Tuesday: left over lentils and quinoa
Wednesday: leftover barbecue chicken for my daughter I will place it inside a pita bread and for my son who is gluten-free it will sit on top of a salad of greens with some avocado and corn
Thursday: pasta with pesto
Friday: quesadilla with leftover shredded chicken with green tomatillos sauce and cheese
Have a wonderful week!!