Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 13

I WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28. 1985 LINCOLN. HE. JOURNAL 13 4A coJo Variety adds fun when children brown bag it To bag it or not to bag it big question of school kids v- I UN Susan MTL Vf" i vn nrTnr I iJSiM Lsl WIT, jt- mm i tJrT I if I i I I Jjr 'I i School lunch usually cheaper than packing a good meal example, are a good nutritious food.

She calls them "nature's fast Buying foods in containers can prove safer for lunches than buying in bulk and transferring foods to smaller containers, Henneman sail Although they may cost more, "what price is a child's healthr she Ask the child his likes and dislikes, Henneman suggests, and work tip menus to fit those recycle them. Be flexible. Watch the newspaper for what's to be served nt the school cafete-; nas.if the menu is something your child doesnt like, then pack a lunch. This basic cheese sauce can be used i as a dip, a spread, a salad dressing or a replacement for sour cream. It comes from the American Heart Association Cookbook.

Garlic Cheese Sauce Basic Sauce: 2 Cups (1 pound) low-fat cottage 'H'- cheese Many parents soon will be facing the dilemma: to bag it or not With school starting, some children will insist on packing their own school lunches. If that is the case, Alice Hennemajva registered dietitian and Lancaster County home extension agent, has lots of tips to keep the brown bag blues at bay. Don? recycle brown bags, Henneman advises. Buy new ones expressly for car rying lunches. Don't use bags in which you bring home leftovers, groceries or other items because of possible insect infestation or contamination from food leakage, she said.

Lunch boxes, especially insulated ones, hold the cold much better than paper bags. Plus, a lunch box is easy to keep clean and sanitary. -1' Keep hot food hot and cold food cold, she said. Bacteria thrive at tempera-- tures between 60 degrees and 125 de- grees. Food should not be held at these temperatures for more than two three hours, counting preparation time.

Use Insulated containers: Preheat the container with hot water before pouring in boiling foods or pre-chill with ice water for cold foods, A frozen liquid or gel freezer pak will help keep lunches cold. Or fill a plastic magarine tub with water and freeze. Hake sandwiches ahead and freeze. Frozen sandwiches will thaw in their freezer wrap in three to four hours. They also will keep other foods in the lunch sack cool for several hours.

Eat soon after thawing and dontrefreeze. Sandwich fillings that freeze well include cooked, sliced or ground pork, beef, ham or poultry; tuna or salmon; sliced cheese and cheese spreads; peanut butter; baked beans; and mashed beans or lentils. Hard-cooked egg whites, fresh vegetable pieces and salad greens don't freeze well Lettuce or tomatoes can be packed separately and added to the sandwiches just before eating. Mayonnaise and salad dressing may not freeze well and can result in a soggy sandwich. Caution children about putting their cutting them' into special fftapes.

Use biscuit of donut, cutters, or on special holidays like Halloween make the bread the shape of a cat; on Valentine's Day, make it in the shape of a heart Cut bread into triangles, loaf squares or fin- ger shapes. Specialty breads can be made into checkerboard patterns; or have one side of a sandwich one variety of bread, -other side another variety. Vary combi- nations, such as raisin bread cream cheeselot peanut ''Open-face sandwiches can be pleasant surprises by making a face of raisin eyes, carrot mouth and Celery eyebrows. From the vegetables and fruits group, -try carrots, cabbage i florets, cucumber sticks or slices, eel-. ery, green pepper strips, kohlrabi slices, small tomatoes, spinach leaves, apples, apricots, bananas, berries, cherries, grapes, oranges, peaches, pears, pineap-' pie wedges, plums and tangerines.

v'T1 keep them fresh, pack cut fruits and vegetables in plastic bags or containers. To prevent cut fresh fruit from darkening, dip in citrus juice Before packing. For canned fruits, drain off syrup, then pack in tightly covered container. From the dairy group, Henneman suggests yogurt and cubed cheeses. Milk can be purchased at most schools, which eliminates the hassle of keeping it cold until mealtime.

Instead of chips, Henneman suggests making up your own munchies of cereal, raisins, nuts and dried fruits. "Let's get people to like plain food," she said, explaining that plain fruits, for Cottage cheese can be combined with raisins, crushed pineapple, sunflower seeds, chopped apple, shredded carrot or other foods, but it tends tomake bread mushy by lunchtime. So, pack it in a separate container include a plastic spoon or knife in the lunchbox and let the child spread it on the bread at lunch-time. Pita, Middle Eastern pocket bread, works especially wen for such moist fin-' ings. As for the perennial favorite, peanut 'butter, consider alternatives to jelly such as unsweetened apple butter, sliced banana, chopped apple and raisins.

Besides fruit children often clamor for a sweet treat Consider baking cookies, muffins or quick breads, with the. i i Cooking lunch on top of a classroom radiator, which will speed the growth of bacteria. Keep utensils and countertops clean. Wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water. The same goes for your bands.

If you have cuts or sores, use rubber gloves. Use tongs or a fork not your fingers to place meat, poultry or cheese in the sandwich. Fingers spread bacteria. -i. Keep In mind the four food troops when making your daily selections; Pro-' teins "(meat, poultry fish, eggs; peanut dried beans; peas, lentils); breads; vegetables and fruits; and dairy products.

Go lightly with foods high in sugar, fat and satt, Henneman said. These include soft drinks, rich cakes, cookies, pies, pastries, potato chips and corn chips. "These foods are frequently high in cost and calories and low in nutritional values." She suggests these protein foods: sliced or chopped beef or pork, meatloaf, cold baked chicken, tuna or salmon with dressing (add chopped eggs, celery, onions, shredded cheese, parsley, green pepper or sprouts for extra flavor), eggs (hard boiled for egg salad sandwiches add some of the same items as listed for the fish), peanut butter (serve plain or mixed with raisins, chopped prunes, chopped dates, applesauce, mashed ba- nanas), cold baked bean sandwich, mashed beans, or lentils with chopped onions or chili sauce. For breads, she suggests whole-grain 1 varieties and pita bread stuffed with a filling. Make breads more fun to eat by perhaps using the opportunity to explain the nutritional virtues and evils of the items chosen.

Consider the overall structure of lunch. Ideally, it should contain a protein-rich food, a complex carbohydrate (usually bread), vegetables or fruit and a beverage. Dessert other than fruit is optional from a nutrition standpoint but imay be a social necessity. Children! whose lunch, boxes are devoid of cookiesj jor similar fare often trade their fruit for! someone else's sweet Far better to give! children both the fruit and a cookie or! Itwo. You might even suggest that the second cookie be used for trading, but insist that the fruit be eaten or traded only for someone else's fruit I tin i it-- it i w-f 4f Good nutrition and inexpensive eating arent necessarily in the bag when brown bagging it In fact it is more expensive to pack a good lunch than to eat in the school says Connie; Stefkovich, a registered dietitian and a nutrition and management consultant with the Child Nutrition Programs, Nebraska Department of Education.

She emphasizes "good lunch." Many lunches brought from home are nutritionally unsound. She gave as examples small packages of chips, which are high in fat and puddings, which are high in sugar. Often the novelty of packing lunches wears off quickly. Children with new lunch boxes are excited at first about taking them to school but soon it becomes boring. Peer pressure dictates a lot of it too, she said.

"Children do what their friends do." 'y This year, school lunches win cost students in the elementary grades 95 cents and secondary grades $1.05. Stefkovich gives these examples of costs of typical lunches brought from home: '-f' Sack lunch No. 1: Minced bain sandwich (1 ounce meat at 13 cents, 2 teaspoons margarine at 4 cents, two slices bread at 8 cents) for 25 cents; eight carrot sticks at 6 cents, one medium apple 'for 17 cents; Hostess Cupcakes at 55 cents and one cup whole milk at 15 cents (if purchased at Lincoln Public Schools), for a total of 1118. Sack lunch No. 2: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (2 teaspoons margarine at 4 cents, 2 tablespoons peanut butter at 10 cents, 1 tablespoon jelly at 3 cents, two slices bread at 8 cents) for 25 cents; cup chicken noodle soup for 19 cents; 1 ounces raisins at 14 cents; four Oreos at 16 cents; and soda pop for 17 cents, for a total of 91 cents.

Sack lunch 3: Ham and cheese sandwich (1 ounce ham at 13 cents, 1 ounce cheese at 12 cents, 1 teaspoon mustard at 3 cents, 1 teaspoon margarine at 2 cents, two slices bread at 8 cents) for 38 cents; one small banana for 20 cents; 1 ounce potato chips for 16 cents; one pickle for 7 cents; one brownie for 8 cents; and milk for 15 cents for a total of $1.01 Sack lunch No. 4: Roast beef sand-. 1 Consider child's likes, dislikes when making lunches wich (2 ounces beef at 62 cents, 2 teaspoons iruu-garine at 4 cents, two slices bread at 8 cents) for 74 cents; stuffed celery (one. large celery stalk at 6 cents, 4 tablespoons peanut butter at 20 cents) for 26 cents; cup tomato soup (made with milk) for 24 cents; and Hostess Twinkles at 45 cents, for a total of $1 J. Sack lunch No.

5: Cold fried chicken breast at 82 cents, one sman orange at 26 cents, 1 ounce Fritos at 17 cents and chocolate pudding at 36 cents, for a total of 81.61. Stefkovich said school lunches not only emphasize reducing sugar, fat and salt, they also are planned to meet one-third of a student's daily nutritional needs (for children 10 to 12 years old). From this chart, we can see those five examples of lunches brought from borne sometimes fan short in nutritional offer- TMe 27 44 Vtt.A 7 20 30 1 35 11 44 .06 16 VH.C Lunch No. 1 44 42 7 54 74 20 0 40 34 10 15 24 167 2 71 Lunch No. 2 Lunch No.

3 Lunch No. 4 73 17 LunqhNo.5 Lunch No. 1 41 14 55 24 17 18 30 25 16 Lunch No. 2, Lunch No. 3 Lunch No.

4, Lunch No. Unlike school lunches, lunches from home often lack variety, Stefkovich said. School lunches give children the chance to try more foods, she said. School should be viewed as a total educational experience, Stefkovich said. Not only do children read different books at school -than they do at home, they can try a variety of foods as wen.

Last year, 66 percent of the students in public schools statewide chose to eat the school-prepared foods, she said. Parents might be surprised at bow much food brought from home is wasted, she added. She invites parents to visit the schools and eat with their children to see what is available. Parents are welcome to make suggestions to the school's tood service directors, she said. If a child has special needs, such as food allergies or diabetes, Stefkovich recommends that the parents contact the school's food service director for assistance in developing a program to meet their child's requirements.

EQUAl HOUSING LENDER 2 Tablespoons lemon lulce '4 Cup skim milk Garlic: 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise -1 or 2 Tablespoons chopped onion Dash of garlic powder 2 Sprigs parsley For basic sauce, mix cottage cheese, lemon Juice and milk into blender container. Blend until creamy, adjusting the milk measure to produce the desired consistency. For garlic sauce, to one cup sauce add remaining ingredients; mix in blender at high speed until smooth. Chill To, vary, add 2 teaspoons dry onion 'fisoup mix and I teaspoon finely chopped green onion to one cup basic sauce. children helping, using less sugar than most recipes call for and substituting vegetable oil for hard fats and whole wheat flour for some of the white flour.

Homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies, peanut butter baUs rolled in wheat germ and cakelike cookies made with cottage cheese are nutritious substitutes for the average commercial fare. So are bran muffins and zucchini bread." School menu Elementary 'Thursday: Hot dog and bun, ranch fries, relish, fresh fruit milk. Secondary Thursday: Hot dog and bun, trench fries, peas, tauerkraut. lettuce wedge, fruit salad, sliced cold meat sandwich, brownie, milk. up philosophy at Gateway Bank New York Times NEW YORK An parents packing school lunches for their children must realize that no food can be nourishing if a child will not eat it So the first rule is to consider the child's likes and dislikes, which are typically extreme, especially during the preteen years.

For some children, finding just one piece of mushroom in the tomato sauce win prompt them to refuse the whole dish. There are questions of peer pressure, such as that faced by a sardine-loving child who refused to take sardine sandwiches to school because friends ridiculed the selection. It may help to have children participate in lunch selection and preparation, Kitchen barter "Kitchen barter" la a column designed to rtelp you, the reader, to-cate lost or forgotten red pes, or to share your favorite ones. Addreee all correspondence to Kitchen bar- ter, Lincoln Journal, 926 St, Un- -coin 68501. All Questions and rec- Ipeamust be signed.

Sorry, but due to the volume or responses, not all recipes will always be printed. Can you help? I would like a recipe for zucchini muffins that have a similar spicing to that of a spice cookie. The texture is moist and fine. H.H.Kildaw! Lincoln! Pie is peanutty, chocolate-chippy NEW YORK (UPI) Is there any spare peanut butter, peanut brittle and chocolate chip ice cream around the house? If so, use them in the Mowing recipe from the Peanut Advisory Board's newsletter, "Update." Chocolate Triple-Peanut Pie 1 6ft-Ounce package chocolate wafer cookies, crushed 1 Cup finely chopped peanuts Cup smooth peanut butter 1 Quart slightly softened choco late chip Ice cream Vi 12-Ounce package peanut brlN 1 tie, coarsely cracked (about cup) In a 9-inch pie plate, use fork to combine crushed cookies, peanuts and peanut butter until well blended. Press onto bottom and side of plate to make crust Spread ice cream in pie sheQ.

Sprinkle peanut brittle over top and press gently into Ice cream. Cover. Freeze until firm, at least one hour or overall Maxes servings. 61st Main Bank-Real Estate Loan Center uvinaahomereauiresalot oftime. effort and knowledae.

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