Welcome to Week 14 at Lunch Matters

Tuesday0512, originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?

Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

NEWS

Week 14 at Lunch Matters has seen the beginning of the wind down leading up to the holiday period. Schools and Kinders are wrapping up their years and children are bouncing all over the place, too excited at the prospect of Santa making his way down their chimney in the not too distant future.

It has also meant that here in Melbourne we are well into the summer season and the sweltering heat has arrived early this week. On the lunch packing front this has made life easier for me as there is nothing that my children and I love more than cold noodles and cold soups!

So this week I am featuring two of my all time favorite meals for those days when it just is too hot to think about eating anything heavy. Both dishes make ideal dinnertime options, with left overs making their way to the lunchbox without any effort the next day.

Recipes

Gazpacho

This soup is different every time that I make it as it is one of the few dishes that I prepare Jamie Oliver style - aka a splash of this, a lug of that, however, here is the basic recipe and you can splash or lug as you see fit.

Ingredients

250 g tomatoes (tinned are ok to substitute if you don't have fresh tomatoes)
225 g green peppers
1 cucumber
2-3 cloves of garlic
50 g good white bread, 2-3 days old
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3oz/90ml olive oil
1-2 cups homemade chicken stock
Ice cubes

METHOD

Throw everything in a food processor and blend. If you like your soup with lumps only process lightly, if you like it smooth process for longer.

Chill in the fridge.

Pack for lunch in a thermos so that it is nice and cold for lunchtime. If you are packing your LTLB for work where you have access to a fridge, pack in the lidded container and place in the fridge until lunchtime.

COLD SOMEN NOODLE SALAD

Ingredients

1 packet Somen noodles

1 cucumber

5 eggs

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

seaweed cut into fine strips

Dressing:

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon light soy

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1.5 teaspoons mirin

METHOD

Cook noodles according to directions on packet.

Drain and rinse under cold water.

Cut cucumber into matchsticks.

Japanese omlette

Stir eggs and add soy, sugar, mirin - don't beat the eggs to much just a quick whisk.

Heat omlette pan and spray with a little oil.

Reduce heat to medium and pour in 1/3 egg mix.

Cook omelette, remove from pan and roll in a sushi mat.

Slice thinly.

Repeat until all the egg mix is used.

Place noodles in lunchbox and put the egg, cucumber and seaweed on top.

Make dressing for saladby mixing dressing ingredients together and dress noodles either before you pack your lunch or in the dipper to be poured over at lunchtime.

Pack an ice pack with this lunch as the noodles really are at their best when eaten nice and cold.

WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST: For Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's lunches this week as Thursday and Friday's are two of the lunches created by those amazing 15 year olds.

Fruit:

cherries

kiwi

orange

lemon

passionfruit

Vegetables:

tomatoes

Red pepper and green pepper

avocado

cucumber

In the pantry:

mini bagels

lavash bread

plum and grape paste

organic eggs

Homemade chicken stock

flour

Baking soda

Baking powder

golden syrup

ginger

sugar

soy

mirin

rice vinegar

somen noodles

olive oil

sesame oil

balsamic vinegar

silver balls for decorating biscuits

In the fridge:

creme fraiche

yoghurt

butter

NEXT WEEK: LUNCHBOXES FULL OF FESTIVE TREATS...

Welcome to Week 13 at Lunch Matters

Lunchbox1, originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

Got a favorite photo or recipe to share?

Email it to us at lunchmatters@lunchmatters.com.au and we'll publish it here!

Click here to see this week's menu suggestions

NEWS

This week's blog is a little different to those that have come before because we are featuring five of the amazing lunchboxes prepared by some very clever 15 year olds in Melbourne. I had the priviledge of going out to observe these young chefs in action on Wednesday and I was so impressed with what they were able to achieve with their teacher in such a short time. There were busy bodies everywhere chopping herbs, browning mince and garnishing their lunchbox creations like professionals. They all were working from plans that they had developed and submitted to their teacher in advance, with the criteria of including something from their cultural background, and a healthy amount of fruit and veg. They worked from the start of the lesson to the finish and supported each other in their efforts brilliantly. As you will see from the photos that I have posted this week (more to follow next), what they have achieved is incredible and certainly a strong indication that they are well on their way to developing the life skills that we all need to plan and prepare healthy meals.

They have the recipies for all that you see in the photos and if you'd like to know more - don't hesistate to post some comments on their photos, I'm sure that they'd be delighted to have some feedback from the world wide web.

What was very interesting to note as I moved around the kitchen amongst such industry, was the number of students who commented on having seen someone at home preparing some of the dishes that they had chosen. When I remarked on some of the super professional looking items that they were including, they often commented that they had seen nana or mum making whatever it was many times before. There was also a general sense that many of them played a part in the meal preparation at home. One of the boys chopped his herbs for the Tabboleh that you'll see next week, like a pro and said he did it all the time at home. So in terms of lessons for others, it was a big vote for getting everyone on board at home. They all seemed to understand the food that they were preparing, tasting and adjusting flavours as they went. As a mother of young children, I know that sometimes it can seem like more trouble than it's worth to get the kids working in the kitchen - the prospect of flour from one end of the kitchen to the other and the subsequent cleanup not thrilling at the end of the day, but clearly the foundations that are laid in these experimental years are all important.

It should be added that these students all cleaned their workspaces from top to bottom, washing all their varied utensils and leaving their benches sparkling without a single complaint. So the clean up is part of the process and an important life skill too!

With the students doing all the work for me this week - I'm going to end it here and get on to organising our Christmas tree for next week. We'll have some recipes and ideas for those end of term lunches next Sunday but until then, take care and see if you can find some youngsters of your own to engage in the kitchen. If Wednesday is anything to go by, you may just find an amazing assistant in your own living room.