School lunch woes again :(

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Household Management -> Kosher Kitchen

1 2 Next

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

seeker

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 10:41 pm

Yes, we did this already. Yes, I'm going to search for that thread again to refresh my memory. Meanwhile I want to both vent and fish for new ideas.

School rules: No peanuts, no fleishig
Our allergies: No tree nuts, no soy
Our sensitivities: No gluten, minimal dairy (I'm doing yogurt in moderation, though, hoping the fermentation cancels out the dairy-ness...?)
NEW FRUSTRATION: DD is returning her tuna untouched and refusing to eat any form of eggs (e.g. scrambled, hard boiled, egg salad. She'll still eat it as an ingredient, e.g. french toast.)

Vegetables are under control. Starches we already have too much of. One of my goals for her diet is to reduce the amount of empty starch. The issue is that GF starch substitutes have much more empty starch than gluten products so I need to reduce the fake pasta and bread even more than I otherwise would have been aiming to reduce pasta and bread. I just think we were all doing a lot better on GF. Maybe after another cleanse we'll do another trial run to see if that's the real answer, because there were other things going on at the same time last time. Meanwhile we're in a rough patch so I'm trying to stay on the safe side, in case it's that I'm desperate for improvement.
Anyway, what I need now is more protein or non-starchy main dish ideas.

We do sun-butter sandwiches but with a thin layer of sun-butter between two slices of GF bread, that's very starch-heavy.
Same with french toast - it gets about one smallish egg into her, but only with two generous slices of bread.

I send a smoothie that includes a little yogurt plus flax or chia seeds, that's snack, and she better not get bored of having it every day.

I try to slip in some more protein-y vegetables like peas and green beans. They don't go over so great but she does eat a respectable amount of them, most of the time.

Bring on your creative, ingenious ideas MINUS the nuts, peanuts, soy, and gluten!

gibberish

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 10:44 pm

Chickpeas or bean salads?
Avocado and vegetable sandwiches?

tichellady

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 10:46 pm

Quinoa?

seeker

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 10:54 pm

She hates quinoa and anything with beans in it. But sometimes I've had luck making things OUT of quinoa. Will look for recipes to try...

I don't see vegetable sandwiches being much of a help because she's ok with eating vegetables, that adds the empty starch to it, without adding a protein.

I wonder if there's a GF bread that has less empty carbs and more protein.

Iymnok

Wed, Sep 14 2016, 11:11 pm

I saw a recipe once that included toasted quinoa. Maybe it as growing also?

amother

Tangerine

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 12:03 am

That's a hard combo!

- Falafel balls?
- Veggie burgers?
- Fish sticks?
- Tuna patties?
- Sushi?
- Lox?

rowo

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 3:10 am

Does she eat rice paper wraps?
That way the starch is a thiner layer. I sometimes make it with lettuce and shredded vegetables, pickles and tuna.
Or make sushi without the rice, or just a bit of rice and more veg and fish.
I've started to make parev fried rice, it's still rice... But it's something that my kids will eat and I put in eggs and peas along with the other vegetables. Just seasoned with and big of tamari - I guess for soy free you could use coconut aminos.

I've played around with using quinoa to make muffins, sometimes it goes down well...

Can she eat oats? My fussiest eater has just started to eat my homemade granola with some yoghurt at school.
I make it with buckwheat, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds that I soak, plus oats, shredded coconut and chia seeds.
Mixed with oil and a tiny bit of honey then baked till crispy.

Raisin

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 3:33 am

is it so bad to give them carbs during the day at school and protein at night for supper? Some people believe in eating like that.

yOungM0mmy

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 3:52 am

Stuffed pepper with tuna salad. GF fish sticks. Lentil burger or portobello burger. Risotto with flakes of salmon. Chick pea salad or homemade chickpea waffles.

If you have a unprocessed carb and vegetable, and she's having protein in the morning and at night, that's actually more than enough protein for her daily intake. My son is allergic to eggs, dairy, fish and nuts, and when speaking to his gastro paediatrician about not having enough protein, he said unless you're a starving child in Africa, you're getting enough. Enriched breakfast cereals have enough protein for the day. Pasta (which your DD is not eating) has protein. Whole grains have protein - I make my kids homemade granola bars with whole wheat or spelt flour, whole oats, Enriched rice cereal - that's a protein punch there, even without the nuts which I skip for our allergies.
Your meals sound extremely balanced and nutritious and I'm not sure you need to worry about it more, unless your DD has some extreme dietary requirements beyond the few allergies you mentioned.

anonymrs

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 5:58 am

I have a dd with multiple food allergies. Do you think the school might be a bit flexible on the fleishig rule? That sounds really really tough to deal with.

FranticFrummie

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 6:50 am

I feel your pain. When DD was in the lower grades there was no meat allowed, and she was extremely lactose intolerant, so no diary whatsoever for her. She's also a Picky Princess, and hated just about everything. I wish I had some suggestions for you. In the meantime, lots of hugs!

B'H, her new school is more flexible, and is just nut free.

5S5Sr7z3

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 1:30 pm

Maybe sit down with her and make a lunch menu for the month. She may have some ideas of her own of what she wants to eat.

suremom

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 1:46 pm

quinoa pizza patties, rice pasta, lentils, chickpeas as a snack (cooked in bulk and frozen in bags) gluten free oat bran (from red mills?) cooked with water cinnamon and sweetener. all of these are good at room temperature. btw if you live in Brooklyn, I like to try items from organic circle to see what we like, then I imitate the recipes. (their puddings are yum! parave) they deliver too.

yogabird

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 4:49 pm

Didn't read the other responses but is Ezekiel bread GF? What about salmon burgers (you can sneak quinoa and veggies in there)? Dr. Praegers makes quinoa or rice crusted fish sticks.

ra_mom

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 5:00 pm

Well seasoned hummus with veggie sticks

Tirza

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 5:30 pm

How about fruit?
Fruit salad, fruit kebabs on a stick, melon cubes, fruit smoothies... It's not protein but it's healthy and seems to meet her dietary requirements.

amother

Purple

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 5:42 pm

Costco sells chickpea pasta (gf) it takes really good and it's full of protein. ...just a thought

mamamia1

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 5:48 pm

Good luck op
Hard one to deal with.

Hows Gf oatmeal pancakes?

I put in chia seeds and flax seeds

Some of these suggestions/recipes sound so good
- I hope to be back to check them out.
Good luck

seeker

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 6:35 pm

I should try veggie burgers again, they seem to go in and out of favor. I also need to make them myself because I've never seen any in the store without soy, but they're not such a big deal to make. Tuna patties are probably worth a try too, though I'm not optimistic.

Never heard of rice paper wraps, thanks for the suggestion. I'll look for them... where? Is this the type of thing Trader Joe's would have? I don't think I've seen in the regular supermarkets. Then again I might just not be looking in the right places. Is it a shelf or freezer type of thing?

I'm OK with rice. It's a whole or almost-whole grain. It's the fake gluten substitutes that are trashy - potato starch + tapioca starch + some other starch + rice flour + some other very empty flour = a whole lot of carbs with zero value.

Yes I use oats and plenty of them. As far as carbs go I think they have a lot more value. I'm sending baked oatmeal cups for snack just about every day and intend to start making granola bars for variety so we don't have the ennui issue.

Raisin I do try to make supper relatively more protein-rich but I still don't want to be sending GF sandwiches (which are basically garbage) to school every day. Once or twice a week maybe.

Thanks for all the ideas. Also for the reassurance that pasta and bread aren't that bad Wink

Though I see it in her, similar to me, if we eat these kinds of things then we end up getting food cravings, eating too much, and being cranky. I don't know what it is, it just is. I think it's sugar-related and I wish I had the mettle to be more religious about it but I just can't deal with the emotional fallout.

gold21

Thu, Sep 15 2016, 6:46 pm

I personally would discuss the issue with the school administration and pressure them to allow me to send fleishigs with my child. When dairy products are not an option, and usually nuts and seeds are out due to the prevalence of those allergies amongst children, allowances have to be made. That's what I personally would do. There are ways to keep it all nice and kosher, it just requires a bit of effort on the part of the school.

Page 1 of 2

1 2 Next