Last week’s lunch wrap up continued

After dinner my son likes to sit on the couch next to me and play “driving a car.” He puts a cushion over our legs and we both drive. We pretend we’re firemen or policemen. He’s so active that I relish sitting next to him and snuggling.
Last week we were playing car. I love sitting next to him and looking at him. I started stroking his hair. I was sort-of combing it with my fingers and I saw more of his hairline than I usually do. I saw short wisps of hair coming in, creating a “mini-fringe” hidden by his longer hair.
He is getting more hair. I never even thought he had thin hair.
I asked my husband and he confirmed that he has been noticing our son’s hair is thicker. I hadn’t noticed it until I was sitting next to him that day. I can’t help but wonder if it’s related to his gluten-free diet (which we started in October)…
(it’s all gluten and dairy free)
Rice and ground lamb with peas, blueberry coconut milk yogurt
with blueberries, sliced pears,crackers in soccer ball snackTAXI, pepitas, and applesauce.

My kid was eating the above while the other kids were eating ground beef, tater tots, applesauce, baby peas with snacks of yogurt and fruit. So I didn’t do too badly matching what he was eating to his little buddies’ food.


Sliced apples, vegan gf muffin (bakery-bought),
mini-bologna sandwiches,broccoli, blueberry yogurt with blueberries, bar

I made him mini-sandwiches with the sandwich bread I made. We also made our own muffins “together,” (if you can really do that with a two-year old) but I put walnuts in them and so I couldn’t send them to daycare because of the nut ban. So I sent the last one of these that I had in the freezer. The kids at daycare were eating cod nuggets, blueberry muffins, pineapple bits, green beans, with snacks of fruit and cheese and crackers.


Homemade chicken nuggets, quinoa, sweet potatoes,
passion fruit yogurt with blueberries applesauce, bar, sliced pears

The chicken nuggets I made were easy and fast: chopped up chicken thighs, breaded with crumbs, and dropped into a pan of oil I made a ton of them for dinner and then sent him with some leftovers. The kids at daycare had chicken nuggets, rice, diced peaches, diced carrots, with snacks of ice cream and fruit.


Rice vegan cheese, clementine, hard-boiled egg, crackers,
peas, rice, lentils, passion fruit yogurt with blueberries

I packed this before I left so that my husband didn’t have to work too hard in the morning. The kids at daycare were eating diced ham and beans, mandarin oranges, peas, with yogurt and bread with soynut butter as snacks.

(husband on his own)

broccoli pasta soup sans broth (oh well), yogurt with blueberries,
chicken nuggets, sweet potatoes, sliced apples and honey bread

I asked my husband to take a photo of what he packed so I could share it. In comparison my son’s daycare buddies got tuna with pasta, pineapple bits, green beans with snacks of blueberry muffins and fruit. Props to my husband!

When my husband has a snack, my son will go up to him and ask, “has guten?” It’s adorable and hard to watch all at the same time.

Check out these photos on flickr of 1950’s packed school lunches!

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11 thoughts on “Last week’s lunch wrap up continued”

  1. Wow, you're doing a great job with your son's lunches. They all look so yummy and so much healthier.

    I make my own chicken nuggets/fingers too. But instead of frying, I spray some olive oil on them and bake them at 400 degrees on a lined cookie sheet until they are nicely brown. I flip them half way. They are less greasy and healthier. Plus no oil splatters and cleanup is a breeze, which I love. We use breast meat since hubby only likes white meat, but thigh meat is so much tastier to me!

    Keep up the great work Mrs. Q!

  2. I never tried making my own chicken nuggets because I always thought it was easier store bought. I have to try making it one day when school lets me.

    Your son is adorable. It's good to that he knows what he can and cannot have.

    Btw, I think your son eats a lot of different foods compared to what I ate as a kid. Which is great! I wish I ate this stuff when I was a kid. I was a really picky eater, and sad to say, I still am, but not AS picky. (I'm 22!)

    Just Better Together

  3. when one is intolerant to gluten and/or casein (the biggest problematic dairy protein), one generally is unable to uptake minerals and vitamins in the gut because the gut lining is constantly inflamed. by eliminating those problematic proteins, you SHOULD notice a change, like improved hair growth, easier teething, etc. because he'll be better able to uptake the important nutrients. in addition, YOU should start to see (if you haven't already) a reduction in inflammation – perhaps no more creaky joints?

    oh, a recent genetic study suggests that there is a shared genetic history for Crohn's disease and Celiac disease. i wouldn't be surprised if we find out that all IBS, IBD, and similar conditions are derived from a combination of nutrition + genetics with an overlay of epigenetics.

  4. I loved leftovers in my school lunch when I was younger. It was like having a proper meal!

    I also make chicken tenders (or chicken nuggets) with bread crumbs in the oven. Super quick 🙂


  5. you are such a good mother to prepare his meals to seem similar to the ones the other kids are eating, but are in reality healthier and allergy free! I bet he really appreciates it 🙂

  6. Yum! I love that your son asks if it is gluten free. It is so important for kids with allergies (or serious intolerances) to advocate for themselves. In one way you don't want him to know he is different, but in another, you do want him to be aware of these things. Imagine if you had known which foods made you sick way back when?

  7. How is the fat content of these lunches for your son? They seem a bit skimpy on the fat (and young children do need more fat than the rest of us for healthy brain development)

  8. Great job. In preschool my son was allergic to wheat, eggs and nuts, so packing his lunch took some work. (He's still allergic to nuts, but he outgrew the allergy to wheat and eggs.)
    Some days his lunches looked similar to your son's: diced cooked potatoes and broccoli, leftover chicken I'd cooked the night before, peeled sliced fruit, diluted juice or milk, maybe some rice pasta in tomato sauce. Other (lazy) days, they were more like home-assembled lunchables: rice crackers and deli meat, supplemented with some grape tomatoes, yogurt, and a snack of fresh fruit. On average, I think he was pretty nutritionally balanced, and now that he's older, he prefers a packed lunch to the cafeteria food. I think his cafeteria does a pretty good job nutritionally (whole grain everything, unlimited servings of fruit and veg, baked not fried) but the appeal factor needs some work. For example, fruit he gets from home is way better (ripe mango, organic berries, pomegranate) than the hard crunchy pears and mealy apples they have in bulk at the caf. And the waterlogged veggies in the hot food line aren't winning over the broccoli haters anytime soon. I still have issues with things like the quality of meats used in the meals (it's that ammoniated beef and industrial poultry that can't walk around or reproduce unassisted), the lack of entree variety (definitely an over-reliance on nuggets, and it's the same 5-7 entrees looped over and over again) and how freely they like to dispense the chocolate milk.

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