Lunchtime at School

Mom Musings:

When the start of the school year approached, I had some elaborate lunch plans. With LP now in preschool, and me back at work, I wanted to figure out a system that would make sure we both had easy-to-pack lunches ready to go. So, I borrowed Vegan Lunch Box from the library for inspiration, and I skimmed some more blogs and cookbooks. for ideas. After much pondering I decided that every week I would make some kind of dip or sauce (such as hummus, peanut sauce, herbed tofu spread, etc.) Then, one day I could make us both a sandwich with the dip, the another day I could pack dip and some crackers (or dip and noodles, in the case of peanut sauce). Because, I didn’t want lunch to be boring, right? I had big dreams about how I would make this healthy, delicious variety of vegan lunches, oh-so-easily (and, yes, probably a bit smugly).

Want to know what really happened?

The first week the G-man make a huge batch of hummus. So LP and I went off to school with hummus, crackers and carrots. And he came home with hummus and carrots (the crackers always seem to be consumed). I did a little better. I only came home 1/2 my carrots. Then, for the next week, I planned to make some tofu spread. But we still had more hummus!! So, week two was more hummus and crackers, hummus sandwiches, etc. When I got smart I put the carrots (sliced thinly) in the sandwich, where they were gobbled up. I also topped the hummus container (when it was separate) with olives. That day there was a lot of hummus left, but the olive topping was definitely gone! Meanwhile, I got royally sick of hummus and started packing leftover lentil soup in a thermos. Except for the day I was running late and had instant oatmeal for lunch.

Fast-forward to now. The G-man took over lunch duty for LP because he was sick of having random containers of hummus coming home. Now, pretty much every day, LP has a peanut butter sandwich (no jelly, just the peanut butter) and some kind of fruit, like apple slices or grapes. And he eats it. Even though he has it every day. I still try to figure out my lunch the night before, but pretty often it is either soup/chili in a thermos or a peanut butter and banana sandwich. But that works too. So, I have no cute pictures of interesting and exotic school lunch to share. But I do have time to write this post, instead of rushing off to make the dip-of-the-week.

Oooh, and maybe that means I also have time to make a batch of zucchini bread. Yep. Win-Win.

Kiddo Update:

We went to visit my parents in Arizona last week. This kids had a blast, and so did the G-man and I! LP talked pretty much continually the whole time. Actually, that is pretty much how he operates now. I can’t believe we ever had a moment when we were worried about his language development. That was pretty much a waste of brain cells. One of my favorite moments during our visit when when he told my parents (who own two dogs named Hilly and Boomer) this:

“We are going to get a kitty. And then we will bring the kitty to Arizona. The kitty will come to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Then the kitty will come in and CRASH into Boomer and Hilly. Then they will all run around and be friends and play together!“

Ummm, I’m not sure where he got the idea that friendship starts with a CRASH. But I really do love the visual of a double-dog and kitty crash. Could be hilarious, a long as it ends in friendship 🙂