SCHOOL LUNCH IDEAS,
RECIPES & HEALTHY SNACKS

Review by

Good Food to Go - Healthy Lunches Your Kids Will Love
(Random House Canada) ISBN 978-0307358974 0307358976

Healthy school lunches are a priority for parents, but it is a challenge to provide nutritious foods that kids will eat.

This lunch box cookbook has 180 recipes for sandwiches, salads, soups, desserts and after-school snacks that are both nutritious and tasty.

Meal plans for kids' lunches each week make it easy to avoid boredom. Sidebars provide nutrition information.

Ideas for packed lunches

Organized by type of food, this 227-page cookbook is packed with school lunch ideas. Good Food to Go provides alternatives to sandwiches, such as healthy pizzas, quiches, omelets, soups and salads.

School lunch recipes for peanut butter alternatives include SunButter (an organic sunflower seed butter) and jam pinwheels and nut-free trail mix.

Alternatives to peanut butter

Numerous sidebars add nutrition information. One, for example, notes that seeds provide similar nutrition to nuts, so children can bring sandwiches made with seed butters instead of nut butters to schools that are nut-free. Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch provide delicious nut-free recipes, such as birdseed cookies for school lunches.

There are no photos other than on the covers. B&W images illustrate Canada's Food Guide.

Healthy lunches for kids

Even picky eaters will love foods that children can dip (e.g., veggies with homemade hummus dip and fruit with low-fat yogurt dip).

A chart lists fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticides in them (e.g., apples, cherries, celery and potatoes). It also specifies which vegetables and fruits are lowest in pesticides (e.g., melons, pineapple, asparagus and sweet corn). Cheryl Mutch and Brenda Bradshaw suggest substituting organic fruits and vegetables for the produce in the high-pesticide category.

One sidebar provides advice on low-calorie school lunches (e.g., pack filling high-fiber foods like bean and whole grain sandwiches and salads in lunch boxes). Another sidebar includes tips on preventing soggy sandwiches, such as using frozen bread and separating moist fillings from bread with dry lettuce leaves.

Sample recipes

Cucumber hummus pinwheels. Veggie tuna bagels. Ellie's lunch box pizzas. Mango chicken curry wraps. Italian meatball soup. Roasted tomato and red pepper soup. Orange honey dressing. One pot turkey taco salad. Kid's pesto pasta salad. Turkey sweet potato shepherd's pie. Mini banana chocolate chip muffins. Cinnamon loaf. Strawberry creamsicles.

Good Food to Go - Healthy Lunches Your Kids Will Love by Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch, MD

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Getting Started
  • Vegetables and Fruit
  • Sandwiches
  • Picnic-style Lunches and Snacks
  • Soups
  • Super Salads
  • Encore Performances (Leftovers)
  • Baked Goods and Desserts
  • After-School Snacks
  • Recipe Index
  • Health and Nutrition Information Index

Authors

Brenda Bradshaw is a teacher and co-author of The Good Food Book for Families with pediatrician, Dr. Cheryl Mutch.


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