The hardest part of my day is meal planning. Not just the meals we eat ensemble as a family but planning healthy tasty school lunches for my primary schooler. It has many levels of stress for me, first it has to be healthy: given our propensity to gain weight, family history of diabetes and elevated blood pressure, not to mention the cheese-butter-meat-sugar society we live in, it is a monster task I have to struggle with. Both the husband and kid are not too fond of the upma-poha-chilla indian kind of power packed breakfasts and lunch and I juggle with bread, meat, rice, pasta, tortilla options endlessly.
Next comes the time factor, it has to be doable in a half hour or less...groan. It has to be easily transportable, easily eatable by a 5 year old with minimum fuss and spills and has to be big on taste too. If I ever had a choice between being slim for life and having magical superpowers in the kitchen, the superpower prowess option would win hands down..(sigh!)
I am a one pot kind of girl. I like to throw things together into one pot and not bother with too many options and choices. Give me my meat veggies and carbs together please and see me smile.
Of course I love the elaborate indian curries and dry sabji/torkaris, daals and meat, but only if someone else(read my mom) cooks it for me, slaving the day in the kitchen, but certainly not for me. I can happily survive on bread and butter and watch my waistline expand.
I am the lazy cook, so that doubles my lunch stress.
My daughters school does offer the option of a hot lunch and believe me it's infinitely appealing on many levels especially in-21 degrees cold Montreal winters, but she insists that she wants mommy to cook her lunch..(she is still 5 after all and mom is still wearing her halo) so I suck it up, put all my motherly love into the wok and get a reasonably decent lunch together at 5.45am in the morning. I take comfort in knowing exactly what goes into my daughters tummy and that she likes my cooking for now. In a few years the same stuff that she loves to eat now will be labelled Yucky and moms halo will be replaced by red gleaming horns so I hope to enjoy it while it lasts.
It's a huge struggle coming up with ideas 5 days of the week. I have apps like Foodily and Food on the Table and I can rattle off stuff for Epicurious with my eyes closed, but my struggles continue.
Just yesterday I got the idea to chronicle the school lunches I make, everyday for a month from my favorite blogger Bong moms cookbook. She posted her kids lunch menu and other fans and followers contributed their ideas and comments. How cool was that!
Maybe if I can record the kind of lunches I made and what went into it, I will know when and how to put it in rotation. In a few years too when I lock horns with my much older daughter, we can both look back to the days when the same school lunches were fun for her…
So here goes:
Jan 8, 2013…
Lunch: Tortilla wrap with chicken keema and peas
Sweet peppers
Snack: Dan Active drinking yogurt in banana strawberry flavor.
Verdict by the 5 year old: YUMMY...polished it off completely. A high point for mommy. She's shining her halo.
Chicken keema:
400 gms minced chicken marinated with lots of crushed garlic( 5 big pods), a 1/2 inch grated ginger, 2 tbs onions minced, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder ( a pinch), coriander powder and garam masala, salt to taste
I let it all marinade overnight.
next morning i got it out of the frig along with 2/3 cup of frozen peas and one boiled potato
I heated 2 tsp oil in my non stick wok and added some more garam masala, 2 tbs more or minced onions and let it get fragrant
Next I added the chicken with all the marinade and spices etc and let it cook well breaking up the pieces. When almost done, I added the chopped boiled potato, the thawed and microwaved peas,2 tsp of tomato sauce and cooked it till fragrant and done. Checked the salt and then added a handful of fresh green coriander leaves....Hmm heaven!
I put the mixture in the frig and used it inside one warmed whole wheat tortilla
I copped a few mini sweet peppers to accompany the wrap.
Next comes the time factor, it has to be doable in a half hour or less...groan. It has to be easily transportable, easily eatable by a 5 year old with minimum fuss and spills and has to be big on taste too. If I ever had a choice between being slim for life and having magical superpowers in the kitchen, the superpower prowess option would win hands down..(sigh!)
I am a one pot kind of girl. I like to throw things together into one pot and not bother with too many options and choices. Give me my meat veggies and carbs together please and see me smile.
Of course I love the elaborate indian curries and dry sabji/torkaris, daals and meat, but only if someone else(read my mom) cooks it for me, slaving the day in the kitchen, but certainly not for me. I can happily survive on bread and butter and watch my waistline expand.
I am the lazy cook, so that doubles my lunch stress.
My daughters school does offer the option of a hot lunch and believe me it's infinitely appealing on many levels especially in-21 degrees cold Montreal winters, but she insists that she wants mommy to cook her lunch..(she is still 5 after all and mom is still wearing her halo) so I suck it up, put all my motherly love into the wok and get a reasonably decent lunch together at 5.45am in the morning. I take comfort in knowing exactly what goes into my daughters tummy and that she likes my cooking for now. In a few years the same stuff that she loves to eat now will be labelled Yucky and moms halo will be replaced by red gleaming horns so I hope to enjoy it while it lasts.
It's a huge struggle coming up with ideas 5 days of the week. I have apps like Foodily and Food on the Table and I can rattle off stuff for Epicurious with my eyes closed, but my struggles continue.
Just yesterday I got the idea to chronicle the school lunches I make, everyday for a month from my favorite blogger Bong moms cookbook. She posted her kids lunch menu and other fans and followers contributed their ideas and comments. How cool was that!
Maybe if I can record the kind of lunches I made and what went into it, I will know when and how to put it in rotation. In a few years too when I lock horns with my much older daughter, we can both look back to the days when the same school lunches were fun for her…
So here goes:
Jan 8, 2013…
Lunch: Tortilla wrap with chicken keema and peas
Sweet peppers
Snack: Dan Active drinking yogurt in banana strawberry flavor.
Verdict by the 5 year old: YUMMY...polished it off completely. A high point for mommy. She's shining her halo.
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| The keema and peas |
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| Jan 8th 2013: Lunch: Tortilla wrap with spiced chicken keema and peas. Snack: DanActive drinking yogurt |
Chicken keema:
400 gms minced chicken marinated with lots of crushed garlic( 5 big pods), a 1/2 inch grated ginger, 2 tbs onions minced, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder ( a pinch), coriander powder and garam masala, salt to taste
I let it all marinade overnight.
next morning i got it out of the frig along with 2/3 cup of frozen peas and one boiled potato
I heated 2 tsp oil in my non stick wok and added some more garam masala, 2 tbs more or minced onions and let it get fragrant
Next I added the chicken with all the marinade and spices etc and let it cook well breaking up the pieces. When almost done, I added the chopped boiled potato, the thawed and microwaved peas,2 tsp of tomato sauce and cooked it till fragrant and done. Checked the salt and then added a handful of fresh green coriander leaves....Hmm heaven!
I put the mixture in the frig and used it inside one warmed whole wheat tortilla
I copped a few mini sweet peppers to accompany the wrap.
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