What's for Dinner and School Lunch: Week of 5/4
Happy Sunday!
Wow May! The end of school is around the corner which blows my mind... anywho….
Fun fact: we lived in Mexico City for four years! We moved shortly after getting married and I actually had my oldest son there! It’s safe to say we ate our way through that country lol and it’s still probably my favorite cuisine. So, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, ( which by the way, no real Mexican actually celebrates) there is a bit of Mexican food inspired recipes this week!
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.
DINNER
Monday: shrimp fried rice
OK not Mexican lol but yummy and quick for a weeknight diner! I will use wild caught shrimp and avocado oil for this recipe.
Tuesday: Crockpot Green Chicken Pozole
A staple in our home because we all love it and it’s so easy to make (hi crockpot!). The kids just love adding different ingredients to their soup and deciding what they eat and what they don’t. traditionally, pozole is eaten over the holidays in Mexico- but this light yummy version we enjoy all year round!
Wednesday: Vegetarian tacos
Before you pass this recipe over… wait! these are vegetarian tacos everyone LOVES: sweet potatoes and blackbeans are loved by most I feel! If you feel extra adventurous, you could also make cauliflower chipotle tacos, and serve those too!
Thursday: Meatball soup
Will my kids eat this very green soup? Likely not (LOL) but they’ll probably pick out some of the beans and definitely eat the mushrooms and I will enjoy the broth and veggies and mushrooms. Sometimes you just have to expose them to it knowing that they’ll likely say no…. the meatballs will be loved though!
Friday: gnocchi with homemade tomato sauce
There is no quicker meal :-). Gnocchi literally takes 2-4 minutes to cook! Now, you can definitely make your own, however I will be serving store-bought! For the gluten-free I like Cappello’s ..... homemade tomato sauce is definitely significantly tastier than store-bought, but no judging if you need to serve store-bought! I usually make a big batch of tomato sauce and then just freeze it so I have some frozen for this week!
The recipe link above has both a recipe for homemade gnocchi and sauce
SCHOOL LUNCH
We use bento style school lunch containers for my preschooler and larger containers made out of stainless steel for my sixth grader. For the preschooler, items I usually send her with include: berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, kiwi, grapes, carrots and hummus, edamame, organic corn, green bean ( with some butter)... These are usually snack foods that we find travel well.
quesadillas
leftover fried rice without the shrimp
sliced turkey, tomatoes, rice crackers, cheese, tomatoes
black beans ( leftover) and quinoa
green lentils (will make on Sunday and keep frozen until Thursday!)
Here is to a great week! xx Aida