Packed lunches and a carrot bread recipe
Updated: Feb 14, 2018
2 years into school and we have agreed we cannot carry on having battles over school dinners so A started packed lunches after Christmas. On the first morning back at school his first comment was "am I on packed lunch today?" When I responded with a yes he said that was it, he now loves school :-). Right packed lunches can't be too hard can they? After research (a chat with a few friends who already provide packed lunches) I was ready with all the necessary equipment! A Sistema Bento box (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072K4GS3C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and a food pod - perfect for leftovers! And again how did it not quite go to plan?!?! First day was going to be some leftover pasta and peas in the pod, a yoghurt, some fruit and a banana muffin in the bento box. Hmmm... no it wasn't!
Apparently packed lunch means a picnic style lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY! A doesn't eat any of your usual protein sources (so no chicken, meat, cheese, fish) on a sandwich - all he has is nutbutter (with honey if I'm feeling generous). And most of his after school snacks contain nuts too as it's a great source of nutrients, minerals, healthy fats and protein. Big problem -no nuts allowed in packed lunches at all. I completely understand the reasoning behind this and would not want to put any child's life at risk so will omit nuts from this meal. Other guidelines are a bit more vague -no sweets (again fair enough, we don't eat sweets daily anyway!) So off to the internet again to look for recipes for healthy, tasty food to go into A's packed lunch.
One recipe I found was for carrot muffins, but it called for cooked, pureed carrots. I decided to try and make this into a loaf instead which I did and popped it in the oven. Almost 2 hours later the crust had hardened but the middle was still soft and raw! It didn't go down very well at all so I've tweaked the recipe and made something much better.
(This recipe is adapted from www.keeleypowell.com)
Carrot Bread (makes 1 loaf)
Sift together 1c plain flour, 1c whole-wheat flour and 1t bicarb of soda
Beat together ½ c butter and ¼ c honey. Add 2 beaten eggs, 1T vanilla essence and 1 cup carrot puree
Add wet ingredients into dry and mix, without overdoing it until you have a thick batter.
Pour into a loaf tin and bake at 180 C for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, slice and enjoy.
Tasty with butter, cheese or a cup of soup!
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