The Brook Cook: Reinvent your school lunches

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Chopping your ingredients into smaller pieces, like in the image above, makes your pasta salad easier to eat. A pasta salad is a fantastic lunch option that will definitely keep you full throughout the long school day.

Justine Hooker, Staff Reporter

It can get boring bringing the same lunch to school every day. Lunches typically consist of a sandwich and a piece of fruit. There is nothing wrong this, but if you are looking for something new to eat for lunch at school, The Brook’s Cook has you covered.

  I am sharing two recipes that will give you more diverse lunch options to have in your arsenal. When you are sick of having repetitive meals, try making a wrap. A peanut butter and banana wrap is a good substitute to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Pure natural peanut butter has healthy monounsaturated fats that promote cell production. Bananas are a great choice to incorporate into your lunch because they have fiber and many nutrients. If you are in the mood for something sweet, this is perfect. You can add honey, cinnamon, dried fruit, or nuts if you like. The peanut butter can be exchanged with any nut butter or sunflower butter if you have an allergy. If you do not like bananas, other fruits like strawberries can work just as well. Make this lunch savory by exchanging the sweet ingredients for vegetables and spreads like hummus. Making this lunch will take you five minutes to complete and is super simple.

Ingredients

*One tortilla

*Two tbsp of natural peanut butter

*One banana

*Honey

Steps

  1. Lay out your tortilla on a flat surface.
  2. Evenly spread the peanut butter over the entire tortilla.
  3. Slice the banana.
  4. Place banana slices across the peanut butter.
  5. Drizzle honey across the tortilla with the peanut butter and banana.
  6. To fold, pick up the tortilla from the bottom, and roll the bottom until you reach the top. The sides should look like a spiral.
  7. Cut your wrap into 2-4 pieces, and enjoy!

 Another lunch idea you can make for school is a pasta salad. To make a good pasta salad, the key is to add ingredients that you personally like. Often times when buying premade ones in the store, there are always one or two ingredients you dislike. This dish is a Greek-inspired pasta salad with a lemon vinaigrette. I would recommend using a twisty or tube-like pasta so the vinaigrette can coat the noodles, and it will be easier to eat with chunks of vegetables. Feel free to swap any items in this recipe. The process to make this is very quick and comes together in about five minutes.

Ingredients

*One cup of cooked pasta

*A fourth cup of tomatoes

*A fourth of a cucumber

*One ounce of Feta cheese

*A fourth of a red onion

*A fourth cup of kalamata olives

*One lemon

*One tbsp of olive oil and red wine vinegar

*One tsp of dried oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper

Steps

  1. Cut the tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives into one-inch pieces.
  2. Thinly slice the red onion into strips.
  3. In a large bowl, put in the pasta, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, red onion, and feta cheese.
  4. To make the vinaigrette, pour the red wine vinegar, olive oil, the juice of a lemon, oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
  5. Pour the vinaigrette over the pasta mixture, and stir in all the ingredients to make sure everything is incorporated. Enjoy!

 It is important as teenagers to receive the right fuel to help maintain energy throughout the school day. Having a substantial lunch which you enjoy eating can really turn a day around. Have lunch be the time during the day that you look forward to. Enjoy lunch again with The Brook’s Cook!

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Adding nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, as seen above, can add texture to your wrap. Personalizing lunches allows you to enjoy what you are eating.