School lunch seems to be a hot topic these days. I think much of the buzz about school lunch program in the United States stems from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution...a TV program that reveals the travesty that exists in the nutritional quality of the lunches being served in a lot of public schools around the country. The issue is so big and so troubled but I do believe that as parents become more and more informed about how food is affecting their children's health and behavior there will be an increasing demand for change. I recently stumbled across this video of Robyn O'Brien explaining why there has been an alarming increase in the number of kids diagnosed with food allergies since 1997. She does a wonderful job of explaining the correlation between synthetic proteins and the rising number of allergy, cancer and diabetes diagnoses among children in the United States! If you have 18 minutes to spare this is WELL worth watching.

Yesterday a school in Chicago is banning kids from taking cold lunch to school. It's not very often that my feathers get ruffled but this news story sure did the trick. The school board claims school lunch is healthier than the cold lunches most students are bringing into the school. This to me is absurd! Taking away a parent's right to choose what we believe is best for our children is ludicrous. Having said that, I'm thankful for this news story because it seems to have people talking about food and nutrition. My Facebook friends were up in arms over this topic yesterday . I can only hope this encourages people to take a closer look at the quality of food being served in public schools and energizes them to call for change.

The second season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premiers tonight at 8/7 c on ABC and I simply cannot wait to see what this season brings! If you're interested in the topic of school lunch this is definitely a show you don't want to miss!

Today's "revolution" lunch includes: roast beef and cheese robot sandwich with yellow pepper, olive and cucumber accents, blackberries, strawberries, pea pods, almond flour blueberry muffin

A few weeks ago we traveled to Nebraska to celebrate my grandparent's 70th wedding anniversary. Meme and Popo lived two blocks away from my childhood home so I spent a great deal of time with them growing up. On our recent trip to their home for the anniversary celebration we were pouring over hundreds of photographs. While the rest of the family was drawn to the traveling photos or the funny family pictures I couldn't believe my eyes when it came to Meme's food creations. Cakes, fruit displays, gingerbread houses...all made from scratch. Seeing the photos reminded me of all the times I ooohed and awwwed over Meme's food displays as a child. It dawned on me that part of why I make these fun lunches probably stems not only from my desire to feed my kids healthy foods, but also carry on this tradition of making food art. I've developed quite a passion for this little project and now I think I know why. Thanks, Meme!

Here's a photo of Meme and Popo with a cake Meme made for a party they were hosting:

Today's lunch was inspired by Meme's boat cake and includes: ham, cheese and lettuce pita pocket with a green bean pole and cheese stacks for the flag, broccoli & carrots, grapes, almond flour cookies (I substituted regular honey with sugar free honey from Nature's Hollow and I use sugar free chocolate chips). The almond flour cookies are VERY filling and are loaded with protein making them a GREAT "desert" to throw in a lunch box. (If peanut allergies are a concern you might consider using this sunbutter cookie recipe.)

One question I get asked often is how I get my kids to eat the different foods I use in their lunch boxes. I'll admit that when we first transitioned to a healthier lifestyle it was a bit of a challenge. My kids were so accustomed to packaged, processed, high fructose corn syrup filled foods so introducing them to a variety of fruits and vegetables was a process to say the very least. A friend recommended the book "Eat This, Not That for Kids" which outlines a variety of superpowers kids gain by eating various colors of fruits and vegetables. As a mama of two boys this certainly grabbed my attention so when the book arrived I immediately color copied the pages, laminated them and put them up on our refrigerator. Each night at dinner we spent time going over all the superpower foods we were eating. Over time the kids kept asking for more and more superpowers...on any given night I was serving three or four different fruits and vegetables taking full advantage of their willingness to try these foods! Here are a few photos from the "Eat This, Not That for Kids" book:

It's been a little over a year since I first introduced the "superpower" concept to the kids and they are still excited about eating different colored fruits and veggies on a daily basis. My 8 year old son is a bit more adventurous and tends to eat a bigger variety of vegetables than my 5 year old, but we just keep presenting him with different vegggies on a regular basis. Right now he is eating FAR more vegetables than he did before we started this process so at least there is progress and that's good enough for us. Every morning my youngest son comes downstairs and asks me to tie on his superhero cape (a.k.a. his blankie). When he sits down to eat his meals I can just see the wonder in his eyes as he digs into the different colored foods...I love it!

Today's superpower lunch includes: ham and cheese sandwich, snap peas, peppers, blueberries, strawberries, trail mix (protein bar, almonds (you can leave these out if nut allergies are an issue)cheerios, sugar-free chocolate chips)

It's another busy morning here at the Schultz household so there wasn't enough time to pull anything creative together today. Days like today remind me of just how much I enjoy piecing together fun lunches. Don't get me wrong...it's not that I mind slapping together a quick lunch, but it doesn't bring nearly as much joy as creating fun food arrangements. So while this isn't the most creative lunch you'll see here on my blog I hope it gives you an idea of something quick and easy you could pack on a cold lunch day. On a side note, I want to thank all of you who have commented on the blog posts or who have taken the time to e-mail me with words of encouragement. This truly has become a wonderful hobby for me and I love hearing that some of you are feeling inspired to make changes to how you feed your children. That information really gives me the motivation to keep doing what I'm doing so thank you!!

Today's lunch includes: peanut butter/banana bites (replace peanut butter with sunbutter or sweetened cream cheese for nut allergies), broccoli/carrots, grapes, cheese curds, almonds, brownie (I froze a batch of these so I can pull one out on day's like today for a quick and easy desert)

Last Saturday I was responsible for baking some goodies for the cake walk at the school carnival. I found some owl themed cupcakes in one of my cooking magazines and thought the kids might enjoy them. On the morning of the carnival I snapped a photo of my owl friends before they were packaged up and again after. I had to laugh because I thought my little friends looked much more relaxed and at ease before they were placed in their boxes.

The boys loved the owl treats and played the cake walk several times at the carnival with the hopes of winning so they could bring them back home. Neither boy had any luck at the game, but luckily I made two extras and had them waiting for them when we returned. Disclaimer...there wasn't anything healthy about these cupcakes but the boys sure enjoyed eating them.

I thought I'd surprise my son by putting another owl friend in his lunch box. This time I "healthified" it a bit by making an owl sandwich out of a Joseph's pita pocket instead of a cupcake.

Today's lunch includes: turkey, cheese & lettuce pita "owl" with provolone cheese and summer sausage for eyes, snap peas, orange and plum slices, almond flour spice cake

Oh, how my kids love April Fool's Day! The jokes start first thing in the morning and they carry through right up until bed time. My boys have been known to play some pretty silly tricks on me (with help from their Daddy) so I thought it would be fun to have a little fun with them in return. I found this moldy lunch bag on-line and I thought it might just be enough to gross my son out. I hollowed out an orange and filled it with grapes and strawberries and made a pancake stacked "cupcake" with strawberry cream cheese frosting.

Here's a peek at my son's April Fool's Day lunch:

We had pancakes for breakfast this morning so I made some mini pancakes while I was at it and cut them out using a various sized cookie cutter shapes to build this pancake "cupcake". I used strawberry flavored cream cheese as the frosting.

My son's class just completed a project inspired by the "Flat StanleyBooks" they've been reading in class. Each student made a flattened version of themselves and mailed them to someone who would photograph their adventures in their new environment. My son chose to send his Flat "E" to his Grandma & Grandpa (a.k.a Papa John) in Nebraska. While in Nebraska he got to go with Papa John to work, out for lunch, to a board meeting and even got to ride home in the front seat! Needless to say, Flat E had a fantastic trip to Nebraska and enjoyed spending a full day with Papa John! He will arrive back to school today along with bags Jolly Time popcorn which is made where Papa John lives! Today's lunch was made in honor of Flat E's trip to the Cornhusker State...Go Big Red! Here are a few photos of Flat E on his Nebraska adventure.

Today's lunch includes: turkey & cheese Nebraska and Flat E sandwiches, cucumber slices, banana, strawberries, Jolly Time popcorn & Trader Joe's alphabet cookies.

My husband and I love sushi and the boys are always so intrigued by this delicious Japanese cuisine. My oldest son tried a simple California roll the other day and loved it, but he wasn't quite ready to try the more exotic rolls in the spread. He's off to a good start at least. The one thing we did discover is that our boys love eatingtrying to eat with chopsticks. I found these great "trainer chopsticks" and knew we had to have them!

Today's sushi inspired lunch includes: sushi sandwich with tuna, carrots & cucumbers, plum slices, snap peas, homemade fruit roll-up.

To make the sushi sandwich I cut the crust from a slice of bread. In the middle of the bread I spread out rows of tuna with carrots and cucumbers in the middle, then rolled the bread using a piece of saran wrap (I did use a bit of mayo on the edge of the bread to keep the edge "glued" down), then sliced the roll into sushi-sized pieces.

The little guy pops off the top of the chopsticks so they fit perfectly into the box.

Today was another one of those busy mornings! Combine that with the fact that we were in Nebraska over the weekend celebrating my grandparent's 70th wedding anniversary so our grocery supplies are limited at the moment. Luckily, we had a few of my son's favorite staple foods available so I was able to piece together a quick and easy lunch for him.

On another note...I saw a preview of the new season of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night! The show is scheduled to air on April 12th on ABC. If you have any concerns over what the public schools in America are feeding our children, this is definitely a show you'll want to watch!

Today's lunch includes: whole wheat bagel bites (half with peanut butter, half with strawberry cream cheese), oranges & kiwi, celery & p.b., spice cake mini muffin with cream cheese frosting, almonds, cheese. (If nut allergies are a concern you might consider using sunbutter in place of the p.b. OR cream cheese & bananas on the bagel bites.)