On average, children attend school 180 days in a year and while it’s not practical to expect 180 different lunches, packing the same meal every day can be redundant and nutritionstarved.
Founder of Weelicious.com, Catherine McCord’s second book, Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunchbox serves as both a cookbook and an inspirational how-to guide. An acclaimed chef and food blogger, Catherine, mother of two school-age children, speaks for countless parents faced with the daily challenge of packing lunches while taking into account individual taste, allergies, and food preferences.
Book highlights include:
- Full meal pairings that suit everyone from picky eaters, to those with food sensitivities or allergies and the devout seasonal eater.
- Product recommendations such as sturdy, compartmentalized lunch boxes to leak-proof water bottles and re-useable sandwich bags.
- Sensory guidelines that help engage the little ones come meal time. Catherine spells out the importance of each of the five senses and how taste, sight, touch, smell and even sound matter when packing the perfect lunch.
- Advice for how to pack a proper lunch – hot or cold? Protein, carbohydrate or veggies?
- Ideas for a well-stocked pantry.
Weelicious Lunches:
Think Outside the Lunchbox can be pre-ordered through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-
A-Million, IndieBound, and iTunes. If you would like to win a copy of Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunchbox email us at info@activekidsbayarea.com and include ‘Weelicious’ in the subject line!
Baked Whole Wheat
Raspberry Doughnuts
This book wouldn’t be complete without a doughnut recipe. But these aren’t the sugary, greasy doughnuts we all grew up on; these are baked, made with whole wheat flour, and full of fresh raspberries just bursting with sweetness. It may seem unusual to find a doughnut inside a lunchbox, but I promise you’ll hear major praise from your kids, and you’ll feel good about including it. Makes 10 doughnuts
- 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter,
- softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a doughnut pan and lightly dust it with flour.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a standing mixer (or in a bowl using a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar.
4. Add the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Gently fold in the raspberries.
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared donut pan (filling each well three-quarters full).
8. Bake for 14 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
Tip: To make buttermilk, place 1/2 cup milk in a measuring cup less 1 ½ teaspoons and fill with that amount of white vinegar or lemon juice.
Tip: To make them even more dessert-like you can mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with about 1 tablespoon of milk, whisk and glaze the doughnuts.