<<<I'm so glad you brought up this topic! My daughter is so picky, hates

sandwiches and it's driving me nuts trying to find ideas for a protein
source. Could you share some of the things that your daughter enjoys?>>>

Here are my daughter's top 11 lunch favorites:

1.  Vegetarian refried beans spread on a milk-free flour tortilla.  I
roll it up and put it in a ziptop bag.  She also likes to take tortilla
chips and dip them in refried beans.  She calls it bean dip.

2.  Boiled eggs!  This is simple but she really loves them!  I add
another ziptop bag with cut up carrots, celery, cucumbers and green
pepper strips.  When I can get it, I make a simple dip with no-milk mayo
and a few seasonings to dip the veggies.

3.  She loves cold cooked (a bit easier to chew) broccoli.  I send this
as often as possible as it is high in calcium.

4.  Peanut butter and jelly on a milk-free flour tortilla.  I roll it up
and put it in a ziptop bag.

5.  I use small Tupperware type containers for fruit, applesauce, etc.
I send lots of fruit and fresh veggies.  Luckily my daughter likes
both.  Frozen peas are nice and thaw by lunchtime.

6. Whenever I make homemade biscuits I make a few extra and make
miniature sandwiches the next day using bologna, pb&j, etc.

7.  My daughter likes pasta of any kind.  She especially likes elbow
noodles.  She will eat  them with tomato sauce.  She prefers them cold
and plain.....just a bit of non-dairy margarine and salt & pepper.

8.  I buy lots of 100% juice boxes.  Edensoy has soy milk in 8 oz.
boxes.  I sometimes buy these.  More often I use a refillable juice box
size plastic container by Rubbermaid.  It is flat and has a straw
inside.

9.  LEFTOVERS!!!  Anything that I think will be safe with a small
reusable blue ice thing and can be eaten cold.  I have not found a
thermos-type container that she can open easily without spills.  If I
found one, I'd probably send more leftovers.

10.  Pita bread with sandwich stuff inside.  Sometimes I scramble eggs
and put them inside with a little lettuce and bacon that is chopped up.

11.  I make lots of muffins to send to school.  I use Imagine puddings
too.

I always send a spoon and napkin as my daughter does not even go through
the lunch line with the other kids.  She goes directly to the table.
Her class eats first and she sits on the end of the row of tables so she
can get up if there is a spill of some sort.  The lunch monitor throws
her trash away so she does not have to be near the area where students
are carrying trays and dumping milk cartons.

Of course I send other things sometimes but this is our regular fare.
Any ideas would be appreciated.  I like to prepare most things myself
rather than using canned/ready-made foods.  I keep a few Mrs.
Manischewitz Pasta with Vegetable meals at school in case a lunch is
forgotten.  These are Kosher pareve.  Is one of the cup-a-soup type
meals where you just add boiling water. These are nice to take on trips
too!

Deborah