Minoo decided to do some lunch box recipes at the Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen since it’s the start of another school year. I’m sure many parents are scratching their heads on what to prepare for their kids after the summer break. So, here are some of the ideas. Most of the recipes Minoo selected are adpated from Alive Magazine.

Minoo also shared a few tips from Alive Magazine on school lunch solutions.

• Plan ahead school lunches over the weekend
• Get the children involved in the planing, preparation and pick some healthy food of their choice
• Make the lunch fun to eat like this Alphabet Soup, or lunches that involve squirting, dipping or slurping
• Make colorful lunch i.e. include vegetables and fruit of different shades of colour

Bear in mind the following when preparing lunch solutions for kids who are growing fast and with high metabolism. Meals should include all food group that include:

• a source of protein (meat, egg, beans, legume, tofu or seeds)
• a source of calcium (milk, fortified soy, almond or rice milk, cheese, yogurt or sesame paste)
• vegetables and fruit especially dark green veggies like broccoli, spinach and orange veggies like carrot, sweet potatoes
• two serving of grains or bread like pasta, rice, oatmeal, couscous, with whole grain preferred
• a healthy treat like homemade cookies, muffin or granola

A hot bowl of noodle soup is always welcoming in colder fall days. To make it appealing to kids, alphabet noodle is used here. You can use any other noodles of your preference. Home made soup is much more healthier than store bought ones which are laden with salt. Thermos is the best way to store the soup to keep it hot.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (500ml) hot water plus 2 cups (5000ml) chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon (15ml) tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 125ml) alphabet noodles or your preferred noodles
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 small potato, diced
• 1/2 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 cup green peas or corn
• salt and pepper to taste

Source: this recipe is adapted from Alive Magazine #275, September 2005

Serves 4

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, bring water and chicken stock to a boil.

In a frying pan, saute onion with olive oil until soft. Add carrot, celery, potato and red pepper in such a sequence that harder vegetables go in first because they take longer to cook. When the vegetables are soften, add tomato paste and stir to mix well.

Add the vegetables to the broth and bring it to a boil again.

Add noodles and cook for 10 minutes. Add the green peas and cook for another 2 minutes. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve hot or store a preheated thermos.