Being smaller has a lot to do with genetics, but he also struggles to eat as much food as the other 3. Combine that with the time constraints of a school lunch - not to mention all the distractions - and I figure I'm lucky he eats anything at all during school.
So, my Spidey Challenge is to create a school lunchbox menu that requires very little chewing (so no chewy fruit roll ups), no assembly (like homemade lunchables), but is also something he'll eat. I've learned to stay away from all sandwiches besides peanut butter and jelly, because he just picks them apart. But, as much as I like a good PB&J, I think even I would get sick of them after a while.
I came across a recipe for "healthy breakfast bars" that promised to be packed with protein. The original link is here: http://watching-what-i-eat.blogspot.com/2012/06/peanut-butter-banana-oat-breakfast.html
It looked decent: peanut butter, bananas, applesauce, and even added a scoop of protein powder. AND you could add carob for chocolate chips! Score!
But mine didn't quite turn out. Although I enjoyed them, the kids fussed about the chocolate chips. Which COULD BE because, unable to find carob at my local grocery store (not a complete surprise) I opted for the 100% cacao instead - hey - it's supposed to be full of antioxidents and it's still chocolate, right? Well, as far as my 4 were concerned, I couldn't have been more wrong.
So, for my next attempt I made a few changes and here is the final result (notice the pink silicone baking mat):
Here's what I did:
1 ripe and mashed banana
1/3 cup Nutella
2/3 cup plain/unsweetened applesauce
1 scoop vanilla protein (I use ProFlex from Melaleuca)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup quick oats
Mix indredients in the order listed. Let it rest about 10 minutes. Put your handy-dandy baking mat on top of the cookie sheet and place spoonfulls of the mix on the mat. I usually end up with about 18 cookies by the time I'm done, but you could obviously make more or less depending on the size of your cookie-scoops. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. When done, let them cool off before storing them in an air-tight container.
I keep these in the refridgerator, but I don't think you really HAVE to. Mine just like the cookies cold. They are a little soft, so keeping them in the refridgerator helps keep them in cookie form. :-)
Although I haven't packed these in a lunchbox yet, the kids did try out an earlier batch and they were big hits. And it's great as a mom to say, "Why, yes, I can pack a cookie in your lunchbox today," and NOT feel the urge to send an "I'm sorry" note to the after-lunch teachers for all the sugar pulsing through my children's veins.
I've thought about bumping up the protein a bit by adding a second scoop of vanilla protein mix. Protein is especially important for Spidey since he eats so very little and so very slowly. As I've gotten more comfortable cooking with milled flax seed, I have also toyed with the idea of adding in a scoop of that. Milled flax seed is a great way to work in extra fiber, a bit of protein AND reduce the amount of extra fats (like oils) you have to add into recipes.
See, our trick with Spidey is - get the extra protein in to maintain his weight, BUT due to some other issues he's got, he also could use extra fiber (or, um, help getting things to move along). So it's always a very delicate balance of getting the extra protein without clogging him up but not too much extra fiber that he just flushes everything through his body.
If I have further success (or not-so-successful) renditions of this basic recipe, I'll give an update. :-)
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