I changed up my menu style this week. For a variety of reasons, I decided to give meat free lunches a try. I've toyed with this for a while, but never felt confident to do it for more than the occasional meal. I'm posting for 2 reasons. First, I'm just excited about the challenge and I wanted to share with someone! Second, I'm hoping for some feedback in regards to how this would be viewed from a food program point of view. I'm not on the food program, but I do work hard at meeting their guidelines just to hold myself accountable and try to maintain a well balanced menu. Can you count cottage cheese or yogurt as my protein for a lunch? What about peanut butter, does it have to be combined with another protein? My parents are all on board so I guess it doesn't really matter that my meals meet the guidelines necessarily, but I just feel it gives me a more professional feel if they do.

I've been serving small amounts of a variety of foods this week and my kids are all loving it! I have a couple that typically fill up on the meat/grain and don't eat anything else, but they're actually trying all their food now. I think it helps that the colors are so diverse and appetizing. It's a fun change! Whether or not I'll stick to it long term we'll have to see, but I'm enjoying this week for sure!

Here's a few of our lunches for this week:
Rosemary Herb Quinoa, cottage cheese, steamed carrots, half ears of corn on the cob, blueberries, and watermelon

Yogurt, homemade granola, mixed veggies (corn, green beans, carrots), steamed broccoli, mandarin oranges, blueberries

Whole grain tortilla triangles with peanut butter & honey, black beans, tomatoes, scrambled eggs with cheese, brown rice, steamed broccoli, diced peaches

Anyone doing meat free lunches want to share some of their ideas?

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