AUSTIN, Texas — Chef and cookbook author Ann Cooper, who has teamed up with Whole Foods Market to transform lunch in schools across the country with the "School Lunch Revolution" campaign (thelunchbox.org), offers these alternatives to peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches:
— Cashew or almond butter and honey on 12-grain bread.
— Add dried cranberries and walnuts to chicken salad.
— Stuff a salad in a pita (keep the dressing on the side if it's going in a lunch box).
— Turkey, cranberry sauce and a thin layer of mashed sweet potatoes or leftover stuffing.
— Grilled vegetables with goat cheese on toasted whole-grain bread.
— Grilled portobello with melted Swiss cheese, avocado and honey mustard.
— Instead of the standard mayonnaise or mustard, use pepper jellies on ham, turkey and chicken sandwiches.
— Skip the bread and use lettuce leaves as sandwich wrappers.
— How about a fruit sandwich? Put slices of your favorite fruits between thin slices of banana bread.
— Sit down with your kids and ask them to brainstorm sandwich ideas with you. You might be surprised by the combinations they come up with.
Additional school lunch tips:
— Don't dump the lunch duty on kids, especially young ones, on the morning of the first day of school. Talk with them a few days or a week ahead of time to prepare everyone for the change.
— Avoid rushed mornings by packing lunch the night before.
— Get creative with a Thermos. It's great for soup, but you can also keep smoothies cool or things like chicken nuggets relatively warm.
— Some quick, easy-to-pack foods include dried fruit, cheese, crackers, lunch meat, rice cakes, yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese and fruit like apples, oranges, nectarines, plums and bananas.
— Grains such as couscous and quinoa, which can be eaten cold, are a blank palette for vegetables, nuts, herbs or anything your kids like.
— Look over the school's lunch menu and pick out a few days each month to eat the school's lunch. It will give your kid a break from lunch-making duties and might encourage them to eat the school's lunch more often.
Addie Broyles writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: abroyles(at)statesman.com.