Linguine & Salmon

I am a horrible lunch packer. For myself anyway. My children do a great job packing their own lunch everyday, but this is task that I really need more practice in. With that said, I was thinking about how a good lunch is an important part of the day for everyone, not just children. There are a lot of websites devoted to helping parents find new and nutritious (new-tritious? Hmmmm…) lunchtime food alternatives for their children. I’ve determined the problem with most of the web recipe ideas is that many of them view children as little people who will be excited to try something new and interesting for lunch. Most adults I know don’t want ‘new and interesting’ for lunch. They want familiar and yummy. Here is a sampling of some lunch ideas for children that I found on-line today: Easy Clam Chowder, Lemon & Garlic Tiger Prawns, Lime Marinated Pink Salmon, Easy Linguine with Clams, and Slow Roasted Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce. Seriously? I’ve never, ever seen a child break out some Tiger Prawns in a lunchroom, or known a parent to wake up at 3am to slow roast the pink salmon for their little one’s lunchbox. As a future teacher, I feel like it’s a responsibility to model the behavior I expect from my future students so I’m going to make a concerted effort now to follow the written suggestion my wife posted on the inside of our pantry and simply pack a lunch that follows the food pyramid. I’ll save the clam chowder for dinner.