Baon Ideas: What To Pack For Light Lunch/Snacks

In two days, my little girl is going to start a fresh adventure as a grade schooler. We're all set. I managed to get everything done at crunch time. Books all covered, bag's packed and ready, school uniform waiting to be pressed, organized her drawers and sorted everything out (socks, undies, hankies and towels). Am I excited? Or am I excited? Can you tell? Haha.

I'm all set...except for the menu plan for her snacks and light lunch. We just learned a few days ago that her school schedule overlaps lunch break and now that school day is getting nearer I'm starting to panic (only in my head. i'm still smiling from ear to ear as I write this).

Thank God, I came across another blogger mom's post about baon ideas (thanks Mrs. C!) and I had a light bulb moment. Some days, the pack rat in me comes handy indeed. I dug up some of Maia's old menus when she still was enrolled in a "nutrition program" in school. I'm partly wishing they still offer that in grade school because that would really save me from the headache of planning menus week in and week out. I guess the good thing about this is I don't have to crack my head thinking about the household menu as well. The challenge here is for me to come up with a sustainable way to plan this (or maybe find a way to delegate the task to Ate Inday without me having to closely monitor).

For now, I will rely on the ones listed on the little girl's previous nutrition program menus. What's good about it is, they sent us copies of the menus and it was good for one quarter. At least I am safe for the next 8 weeks or so. And I know that they have been tested and proven since the kid hardly went home with left overs then.

Also I have a couple of the little girl's favorites that I've shared here and they will probably going to see their way into our weekly menus more frequently from now on. Unless, I find a way to convince the preschool canteen to still offer the nutrition program to the little miss at least for this year.

Recipe: Creamy Tomato Macaroni With Cauliflower and Broccoli Florets

With the new adventures comes new struggles as well. I used to obsess about my little girl's picky eating. She still isn't totally over that picky eating phase so imagine what it's like now that she's fully distracted by school. The picky eating has doubled. It takes about an hour for us to convince her to eat. and eat more. I also now have to slave myself over what snacks to pack for her and also since her school schedule overlaps with her lunch schedule I also have to think of what to pack for lunch as well. So Bento lunch boxes are such a great idea. I am actually burning the midnight oil browsing through blogs and online articles about meal planning but I've sort of gotten myself stuck in this particular site call Kitchen Cow and it's quite riveting and inspiring. I can only wish though that Maia will be fooled by the presentation enough to convince her to give my veggies and fruits a try. 

I still have a long way to go before I even get into level one of Kitchen Cow's bento magic. But for now, I'm hoping that playing sneaky mommy will help me get to my goal (which is to get the little girl to eat healthier food). I usually do my groceries with no particular menu in mind (I wanted to really list down a menu even for just 5 days but I can never get myself to start making that list. The mere thought of starting is already exhausting me. Sigh). So anyways, today, I rummaged thru what's in our vegetable crisper and in our pantry and I was able to come up with this recipe.

The daddy of the house says this really looks appetizing. He isn't fond of creamy sauces though so he didn't get to taste this particular recipe.

For now, here's what I used to make this recipe:

• about 200g elbow macaroni, cooked per package instructions (I always make sure it's al dente because that's really how my family likes our pasta)
• half a pack of all-purpose cream (the version I used was the full-cream kind so it was really rich)
• 1 cup of broccoli and cauliflower florets (cut into little miss bite size pieces), blanched (we actually dropped it on the boiling pasta water 2 minutes before we put the flame out and drained the pasta)
• about 1/3 of a packet of ready-made pasta sauce (I used the three cheese variant here since my little girl's really BIG on cheese)
• grated parmesan cheese for garnish
• 2 slabs of Canadian bacon, chopped into small even pieces (that's about 1/3 cup)
• chopped white onion (I used half of a med sized onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil and a dab of butter for sauteing 

How I did it:

This recipe's main ingredients

1. Saute onion and garlic over combined olive oil and butter on low fire until onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant.

2. Add in chopped bacon bits and cook till the meat changes color. 

3. Add in the cream. Stir and simmer for about a minute. 

4. Add in tomato sauce and stir till white and red sauce is incorporated thoroughly.

5. Toss over cooked pasta and vegetables. 

6. Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh herbs (basil and italian parsley would be great).

Surprisingly, my girl loved this so much she finished 2 servings at breakfast and ate another serving before she left for school (brunch). I couldn't be happier. I hope that tomorrow I can come up with something interesting again. Wish me luck.