Welcome to Week 16 at Lunch Matters

Monday1501, originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

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Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

Congratulations to Jennifer McGann of Vegan Lunchbox for her recent award. We're delighted to hear about this well earned honour. Lunch Matters is eagerly awaiting the next shipment of the Vegan Lunchbox cookbook after a flurry of sales over the Christmas/New Year period.

This weeks photo features the refired bean dip and "Back-to-School" cookies from the book - both have been big hits here.

Congratulations to all the other Food Blog Award winners - if you click on the icon above you'll see them all listed and find a wealth of recipes and ideas from around the globe.

NEWS

Week 16 at Lunch Matters sees us in the midst of the back-to-school rush. Hard to believe that tomorrow week my little fellow will be marching off through the school gates for the first time. I don't think that it will really hit me until I help him hang his little bag on it's hook and wave goodbye. Luckily for me, they have short days for the first month so that the children (and their parents) can get used to the idea of 5 days a week 9-3 school days. I shall miss his company during the day, that much is for sure.

On the organization front it will also mean stepping it up quite a few notches. Last year lunch packing was reserved for the couple of lunchtimes that he spent at kinder. Having to pack lunches each and every day will be a new frontier. We have decided to all opt for packed lunches where appropriate. We figure that if there's one lunch to be packed then it makes sense to pack one for us all. It will mean significant savings, as lunches bought at work are notoriously expensive and often not as healthy as they could be.

I have had some lovely emails from customers over the last few weeks. Many of them are facing their first year as full time 'lunch packers' and are gearing up for it too. Some are still concerned about what's on offer at the school canteen and it amazes me that in 2007 with all the talk of children eating well, some schools are still offering lollies, chips and pies as the staple fare at the canteen. Forums everywhere are abuzz with chat about what healthy options they might choose for their children so we can only hope that as parent education continues to improve, all schools will be encouraged to move away from supplying processed and nutritionally inferior food at the canteen.

For many of you, this will be your first look at the Lunch Matters blog. It is important to note that many of the meals that are featured here as lunch options are the left overs from the night before. So to cut down on the thinking and the preparation time, always try to cook a little more the night before so that there are some goodies left to pack for lunch the next day.

One last tip before we get into the recipes. When your child returns to school next week, or the week after, make sure you find out where their lunch is stored. Is it inside in a cool spot or hanging on a hook outside where it's warm/hot? Knowing what temperature the food will be stored at is really important in terms of planning for what goes inside. If their lunchbox is in a hot spot over the summer months - avoid packing and dairy, poultry or deli items that need to be kept cool. It will help if you have an insulated bag to pack their lunch in, but even the best insulation won't be sufficient if their lunch is out and exposed to the elements on those really hot days.

Without further ado - here are a couple of back-to-school recipes...

Recipes

Lunch Matters' Museli Bars (LMMB's) not to be confused with...

Unfortunately these didn't make it to the photo shoot this week as they were gobbled up before they had the chance. I'll make a new batch this week and feature them in Week 17's photo set. Where possible all ingredients are organic.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rice puffs
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots (really worth looking for the sulphur free option here), soaked in hot water then drained
125grams butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey

METHOD

Preheat oven to moderately slow (160 degrees/ 140 degrees fan forced)

Grease and line a 20cm X 30cm lamington pan.

Combine butter, sugar and honey in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat, without boiling until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Place remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, add butter mixture, stir to combine.

Press mixture into prepared pan, bake in oven about 1 hour or until golden brown and crisp. Cool in pan before cutting into bars.

CHICKEN DIPPERS

A great meal to have hot the night before served with rice and stir fried vegetables and pack the leftover dippers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients (Makes 10 dippers)

250grams organic chicken breast cut into thin strips

1 tbsp cornflour

60grams wholemeal breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp paprika

1 small egg beaten

a little good-quality vegetable oil for frying

METHOD

Dip the chicken strips in cornflour, covering them completely, and shake to remove excess flour. Mix the breadcrumbs and paprika together. Dip the chicken strips in the egg then roll in the breadcrumb mixture until entirely coated. Refridgerate for 1 hour (this will stop them from losing all their coating when they hit the pan).

Heat the oil in a good non-stick pan and fry the chicken strips over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, turning them at least once, until golden on both sides.

Pack with a little organic mayo/lemon juice in the dipper.

Links of interest:

Worth checking out is www.gastrokid.com - I think it's a bit of a mad name for a food blog but the content is good and it links off to a million other interesting sites.

If you're looking for a visual feast check out this Flickr group for some inspiration: http://www.flickr.com/groups/kideats/

See you next week with a photo of those LMMBs...