Jazzing Up School Lunches with Orzo

How much do you experiment with your kids' school lunches? We're pretty adventurous at the dinner table in our house, pushing the envelope with honey duck and Cornish game hens, but if you took a peek in my kids' lunchboxes, day after day, you'd get pretty bored.

Messing with the lunch my kids expect to find is a dangerous proposition. Whenever I've changed things up from cold cut sandwiches or breaded chicken bites, the kids are downright furious with me after school. They don't mind the repetition, in fact, they love the same lunch every day.

But I can't leave well enough alone. I'd like to see them eating healthier lunches, with less nitrates, and some veggies other than raw baby carrots. Ideally I'd love to see them excited to discover what they'll find in their lunchbox, and to have their friends be jealous of their lunches. A girl can dream, can't she?

So this week, I took the plunge with a little help from Orzo. Orzo is a great pasta to layer with flavors. And it's a great fit for a thermos - not too big, not too small. I tossed the warm orzo in a little olive oil and parmesan, added some cut up roasted chicken, and some steamed broccoli florets.

Then I headed to my closet to hide, afraid of their reaction. They might hate it so much that they use the cold orzo to make pasta snowballs.

Orzo with Roasted Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients:
1 cup of orzo dried pasta
1/2 cup of cut up roasted chicken breast
3/4 cup of frozen broccoli florets
3 tablespoons of grated parmesan
3 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Boil water for pasta. Cook orzo according to package directions. (Mine were to cook it for 9 minutes).
2. Drain pasta. 
3. Add olive oil and toss until well coated.
4. Add chicken bites and broccoli. Mix thoroughly.
5. Toss parmesan. Taste. If needed add salt (and even pepper if your kids are much more adventurous than mine!)
6. Place in your child's thermos while still hot. Two to three hours later, it should still be warm.

Kick Your Grilled Cheese Up a Notch by Stinking It Up

I love a good grilled cheese. At a diner, there's nothing like biting into the brown and slightly greasy crust before reaching the nirvana of melted American or cheddar cheese. Add a little bacon and a fresh tomato, and the experience is out of this world.

But at home, I like to kick my grilled cheese up a notch, with the help of some French and Swiss cheeses, or as Juju calls them, "stinky cheese." I once brought a half-eaten grilled cheese to one of my kids' gymnastics classes and sat there eating it while watching through the window. The moms around me started sniffing the air and asking each other if the sewers were backing up. I had to come clean and reveal that my lunch was the cause of their offended noses!

I like to use a combination of Morbier and Raclette, two semi-soft cow's milk cheeses that melt extremely well. They're a little pungent, but so flavorful. Full of nutty bite. Morbier comes with a layer of gray ash in the middle and of the two has the strongest flavor. Raclette is a Swiss cheese, traditionally served melted on top of potatoes with various cold cuts in Switzerland. Having raclette is one of the perks of skiing in Europe, something I haven't done since I was a kid, but remember well. Raclette is a little more mellow, more sweet and less sharp than Morbier. The two pair together really well. I've been so excited to discover that I can find these cheeses in many local supermarkets, not just fancy specialty cheese shops. My local Kroger's stocks both as well as, of course, Whole Foods.

These stinky cheese grilled cheese sandwiches need to help from bacon or tomato. The cheese packs enough flavor on its own. Throw a few chunks of each cheese between two slices of country bread, and you have the makings of a memorable lunch.