Welcome to Week 17 at Lunch Matters

First Day, originally uploaded by Lunch Matters.

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NEWS

Well today was the day, my son started school.
We had a great day, I am so thrilled that he was happy and that his little eyes were twinkling when I picked him up. It's the twinkly eyes that I look for every time. When I was teaching - it was the thing that I really noticed. Some kids had that look like it was all out there and they couldn't wait to get at it and some had a look like their fire had been extinguished (think I'm mixing some serious metaphors there!).
So Day 1 was an unmitigated success, twinkly eyes and an "It was better than kinder mum!".
School lunchpacking 101 was also passed with flying colours - I asked him what he would like for lunch Vegan Lunchbox mum style and packed the lunch he ordered. It was all packed this morning and it only took a moment. Homemade huumus - it's so easy and so yummy and so quick, it will be a school day favorite.
On the Lunch Matters' front we are pleased to let you know that the Vegan Lunch Box cookbook will be shipped express mail from the States on Friday - hot off the second run press so we expect the books to be here very soon for those of you already waiting on orders. The book will be reviewed in a number of publications this month which will be very exciting for us and for Jennifer.
For those of you who have been waiting on the egg molds from Japan - they are back in stock now. This month we also welcome the BuiltNY Gourmet totes to the store for those adults out there looking for some lunchpacking pizazz. They are gorgeous, but stock is limited. As far as I know we have the only stripey bags in the country!
Finally, before I get to the recipes of the week, a note that BentoTV is back upadating regularly. For those of you wanting to know how to make the most of your sushi molds and various Japanese lunchpacking goodies - this is the place to visit. The video tutorials are excellent and they are entertaining too :o)

Recipes

This was an absolute winner for a day out lunch last week - the details (such as they are) are in this link from Playschool

I always feel that cooking with kids, especially young ones, is really quite difficult due to the relative complexity of even fairly basic 'kid friendly' tasks, but this one is a winner. Even my two year old assembled what he believed to be a face with gusto! We picked up some wholemeal, organic, homemade bases at the farmer's market. Lots of people that I know make their own bases, I should give it a try but the whole bread area is something that I have yet to embark on.

Hummus

Ingredients

1 tin organic chick peas
A couple of lugs of olive oil
Lemon juice
Fresh parsley (continental or regular)
Garlic (optional - for kids)

Method

Blend to a smoothish consistency and add taste - add more lemon juice if it needs more zing. Enjoy.
Will last for 2-3 days in the fridge.

Can be packed with fresh veggies, grissini, corn chips or used as a spread in a sandwich or wrap. Yummo and sooooo good for you.

Links of interest:

Whilst this Breakfast Blog doesn't quite come under the Lunch Matters blogs of interest umbrella - it's an interesting read and if you are a Melburnian or Sydney sider looking for a breakfast out, you may too.

And continuing on from last week's recommendation for those of you looking for a visual feast: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mrbento/pool/ is definately worth a look.