Back to School! Pack Lunches Kids and Adults Will Love!

                      

Chicken Salad Wrap



Veggie Skewers with a Yogurt Herb Dip

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fruit Salad with Mint

“Back to School” As a child these three words struck horror deep into my heart.  I would see the signs pop up in store windows in August and a long shadow of gloom was cast over the rest of the summer.

Decades later as a mother of four I have a slightly different reaction to these signs.  Dare I say there is a twinge of relief? That there is a certain comfort in purchasing a jumbo box of No 2 pencils and the obligatory two pocket folder with the cute kitten on the front.

It really gets interesting when it’s time to buy a new lunch box.  Gone are the days of a PB&J sandwich, juice box and an apple.  The lunch boxes now days are so complicated it’s an intelligence test just to work out how to stack all the mini boxes into the main one.  It does however open up a host of culinary options.

Just as my children gear themselves up to be better than their best for the upcoming school year, every September I pledge to provide better than ever lunches.  At least we all start out on the right foot.

The following are some tried and true favorites that have featured in their lunch boxes over the years, and there have been a lot of years.  Not being a believer in “kid food” these recipes work beautifully for portable adult lunches too.

Late Summer Pasta

It's been a long time and I've sorely missed the blogging world.  Over the past few weeks we've covered a lot of ground and racked up some impressive mileage surveying college after college.  Thank Heaven I'm back in my kitchen where I'm delighted to belong. 

The tomato bushes (they refuse to give up) are still producing little cherry tomatoes in pretty shades of red and orange.  Honestly they're like fruit candy, so sweet and easy to pop into the mouth.  I rustled up this pasta dish tonight, full of the flavors of late summer. Tomatoes, zucchini and basil pulled from the garden and some toasted pine nuts and salty fresh feta crumbled over the top.  It's good to be back!

So Long, Farewell - a college visiting we must go!

As I type this I have a chicken casserole gently simmering in the oven and a flourless chocolate cake standing proudly on the sideboard. Really, I do. Far from having my camera at the ready to document these beauties, I'm about to charge upstairs to throw a few necessities into a suitcase and head for ......  well, all over really.  More college visiting adventures are in store and while I would love nothing more than to wax lyrical about my chicken casserole (which does smell divine) I will be criss crossing the country instead. 

By the time I return we will be bidding adieu to summer, thank goodness no more tomato recipes. I'm already feeling a slight stirring of excitement for the first autumn squash.  Meanwhile I will leave you with a photo of my favorite rose flowering in the garden and send all good wishes to you and your families for the remainder of the summer.

Mary oxo

Homemade Tomato Sauce and Car Trouble!

It's been a while since my last post.  The reason being I've spent much of the previous two weeks whizzing up and down Interstate 95 visiting colleges with my eldest daughter.  It's been an education! We've wandered around many beautiful campuses, listened to countless information sessions and driven hundreds and hundreds of miles. 

I think the best part, at least for me, is having my daughter all to myself, a sort of captive audience, poor girl.  Things were going beautifully until after an afternoon tour with another long drive ahead of us, we climbed back into the car, turned the ignition and NOTHING!!  Not a chug or whimper. We called for a tow truck and sat in the admissions parking lot for 2 1/2 hours amusing ourselves with "practice interviews."    "Just think" I told my daughter, "they're bound to remember you here."  "Oh yes, you're the one with the mother who had a meltdown in the parking lot."  We eventually got the car working, which was a little sad as I was considering renting a convertible, were assured that as long as we didn't turn off the engine we would make it another hundred miles.  We did.