Solo Mother

Food, it’s what’s for dinner.

by christina on October 27th, 2006

I have cooked exactly one meal since we’ve been living la vida nomadic homeless loca. I hate cooking in Other People’s Kitchens. I just don’t know where everything is, and when I’m in the middle of the process, I don’t want to have to stop and wonder where the measuring spoons are.

My kid and I only have three hours together on weekdays, unless he wakes up in the middle of the night from a bad dream, in which case I usually end up crashing with him in his little bed. I don’t want to spend that time cooking, unless the boy is in the mood to help. He used to drag his kitchen stool up to the counter when we lived in Dubai and announce, ‘We’re COOKS, mama!” and that’s what we’d do. We’d cook.

So we do a lot of organic heat ‘n eat. It’s not great, but what can you do? Like I have time to make daube.

But for all of us who are rushing out the door every morning, I leave you with some lunch box ideas:

• Tortellinis stuffed with (cheese, etc) and olive oil if served room temperature, though I have a little wide mouthed food thermos for hot foods that keeps everything just right until noon. If served hot, I use Alfredo sauce, tomato sauce, etc.
• Zucchini muffins, carrot-orange muffins, banana nut muffins, etc. Home made, with whole wheat four, honey, OJ, maple syrup for sweetener, extra bran and such thrown in for strong boy bones. Sent along with cheese for protein.
• Quesadillas, cheese and bean usually.
• Fritattas. Veggie fritattas with egg and cheese. If you want to know how to make them, i’ll post a recipe.
• Mini quiches. So simple to make, if you’ve got muffin tins you can make mini quiches.
• Pinwheel sandwiches, made with spinach tortillas, cream cheese, sandwich meat, diced cucumbers or red peppers or some such veggie.Roll up the tortilla and then slice into wheels.
• In the frozen food aisles, look for hors d’oeuveres and finger foods, use them as kid meals. Think mini quiches, enchiladas, etc. Bite sized means kid sized.
• Dips and pitas, they have mini pitas which are great for tiny sandwiches — think chicken salad with mayo, nuts, raisins, celery, etc.
• You can make your own lunchables, too. Cut lunch meat into appropriate sizes/shapes, add squares of cheese, crackers, yogurts, etc to your lunchbox.
• I add dried fruits, nuts, mini cheeses (baby bel and string cheese), yogurt, favorite cereals sans milk, fruit, veggie sticks and whatever dip my kid seems to favor that week (hummos, usually)…
• If I make him a regular sandwich, I use the sprouted bread for more protein, and sometimes cut the sandwich into shapes with cookie cutters. He loves getting heart shaped sandwiches.
• Chili with crackers for dipping.
• Mini burgers with baked sweet potato fries — or try the Morning Star veggie burgers cut in quarters and served in mini pitas with sauce, guac, etc.
• Meatloaf — vegetarian or full test.
• One of the most popular snacks in the UAE was cup corn, hot corn flavored with garlic powder and butter, or lemon, or chili, or whatever.

Bento boxes are getting incredibly popular for lunches, kids and adults. I’m still in search of milk boxes that don’t cost more than a half gallon of milk does! I guess we were spoiled for that in the UAE, every gas station had a dozen different mini milks and juices to choose from.

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