Lunch.

Our rood to eating healthier (at least when we are home) is going swimmingly well.  I feel so good about all the food we are bringing in the house.  Slowly we've eliminated packaged foods that had dyes, high fructose corn syrup/corn syrup, preservatives, enriched flour, and lots of refined sugar.

Lunch has posed an issue for Sam.  She is tired of turkey sandwiches and would prefer to eat noodles 24/7.   Um, no.  That is not happening.  Even if it is whole wheat pasta.  I consulted my new bible, "100 Days of Real Food" cookbook and got inspired to think out of the box.

Voila!

The heart-shaped cut-out item on the left are apple slices (cut horizontally) stacked two high with peanut butter in the middle.  A new take on the peanut butter sandwich.  On the right side of the container, you have carrots, cheese cubes and a banana muffin.  Let me tell you about this muffin!  It is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and free of refined sugar.  Whoa baby! Now that is a muffin we can feel great eating.  The kids love them!!   Throw in a bottle of water and lunch is ready to go to school.

Here is my new favorite container I pack Sam's lunch in:

 It folds up compactly, keeps everything separate and fits nicely in her lunch box.

I am so proud of this.  If I was in school, I would love this lunch!  The first morning I put this together, Sam came into the kitchen to see what I was up to.  She took one look at the finished product and opened her mouth ready to complain about something.  Get this, she couldn't find one thing to complain about.  She ended up closing her mouth speechless.  Ha!

Since I've done this, Sam has asked me to stop putting so much peanut butter on the apples.  No problem, easy enough to fix.  I can mix up the sections with cucumber slices (another favorite of Sam's), grapes, whole wheat crackers, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

Here's another version I've packed for Sam:

The saltine crackers are organic and all natural ingredients.  Next to it is turkey for Sam to put on top of the crackers.  I've also included cucumber slices, grapes and a healthy version of a vanilla wafer.

Here is a link to this awesome new cookbook I've been using.  So far everything I've made has been a winner.

http://www.amazon.com/100-Days-Real-Food-Wholesome/dp/0062252550/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411558698&sr=1-1&keywords=100+days+of+real+food

This author also has a wonderful website, facebook page and email newsletter under the same name.  She truly makes the overwhelming task of label reading much easier.  Brings it down to my level.  We are not anywhere near perfect, but we've made huge strides in the last 6 months.