Menus for a lunch box full of healthy choices

Newsday (MCT) - When it comes to knowing which foods kids will like, we're all just wishing and hoping. The five menus here have been designed to provide ideas, but we are assuming that you, the parent, are the ultimate arbiter of what your kids need, what your kids like _ and what they can't have. Adjust the menus and recipes to avoid gluten, sugar, nuts, etc.

Nutritional advice changes on what seems a weekly basis, making "healthy" a constantly moving target. In devising these menus, we are holding certain dietary truths to be self-evident:

EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Yes, some are higher in vitamins, others in minerals, still others in fiber, but the bottom line is that eating a large quantity and variety of fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the most powerful steps you can take to improve your dietary health.

Don't fret if your kid doesn't like a particular fruit or vegetable. If your son hates broccoli, don't make him eat it _ that will just confirm his worldview that vegetables are yucky. Possibly he likes beans or corn or carrots or peas. Or even broccoli rabe.

EAT MORE WHOLE GRAINS

You can substitute brown rice for white and integrate foods such as barley, quinoa and whole-grain pasta into your diet. But, from a kids-lunch perspective, the easiest fix is to substitute whole-wheat bread for white.

Beware: The label may trumpet "unbleached wheat" or "multigrain" or some other evocative phrase, but unless the first ingredient listed is "whole wheat flour" it is not whole-wheat bread. Furthermore, a bread made from whole wheat may well contain other, less attractive constituents such as high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening or enzyme modified soy lecithin (all found in Pepperidge Farm Natural Bread 100 percent Whole Wheat bread).

FAVOR WHOLE FOODS OVER PROCESSED FOODS

It's the rare family that has the time or inclination to make everything from scratch. Canned soup, packaged cereals, store-bought sweets _ these are nonnegotiable items for most of us. But even a cursory look at certain products' nutritional panels can prove quite stunning as you contemplate the sheer number (and unpronounceability) of artificial ingredients.

Making your own salad dressings, baking your own cookies and muffins and roasting your own chicken are all sound investments in your family's health.

RECIPES DEVELOPED BY ROSEMARY OLANDER AND ERICA MARCUS:

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Hummus, chickpeas and sprouts in pita pockets

Grape tomatoes

Yogurt and honey

Here's a Mediterranean-themed lunch for your adventurous eater. Made from chickpeas, hummus is a good source of both fiber and protein, and it is now so mainstream that tubs of it can be purchased at virtually every supermarket. We've livened it up by adding whole chickpeas; if your kid can't handle two different textures, just go with the straight hummus.

We've also brightened the hummus flavor by adding sprouts. Alfalfa sprouts probably deserve their reputation as a form of vegetable only a health nut would like, but nowadays the sprout seeker has more to choose from. If your children like broccoli, they may well like broccoli sprouts.

To continue the Mediterranean theme, a container of grape tomatoes, rich in vitamin C, and handy Greek yogurt-and-honey packs from Total.

HUMMUS WITH CHICKPEAS

half a (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas

1 cup hummus

Drain chickpeas, rinse them in cold water and place in a colander to drain again. Blot any extra moisture with a paper towel and then gently fold them into the hummus. Makes enough for 3 to 4 sandwiches.

1 Rice and beans

Jicama sticks

Nut bar

Beans are a wonderful source of fiber and low-fat protein. If your child has sworn off meat, they can be a godsend. Adding a few aromatic ingredients to canned black beans improves them immeasurably.

And this menu reminds us that lunch doesn't have to be a sandwich, and it doesn't have to be cold. A thermos will keep soups and stews piping hot for hours. And an insulated lunchbox (or Tupperware lunch cylinder, in this case) will keep rice and beans safely warm until lunchtime _ just make sure they are fresh from the microwave when packed.

We're accompanying the beans with some jicama sticks. Jicama is a Latin-American vegetable that is served raw and tastes somewhere between an Asian pear and a potato. It contains good amounts of potassium and vitamin C and, for an exotic vegetable, it has a pretty good success rate among picky eaters.

Finally, we've included a Kind fruit-and-nut bar made. Generally we stay away from "energy bars," as they tend to be filled with all sorts of industrial byproducts and questionable sweeteners, but Kind's contain only nuts and/or fruits and a few other natural ingredients. Another brand of bare-bones bars is Larabar. Both brands are available at Trader Joe's.

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DOCTORED CANNED BLACK BEANS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

½ medium onion, finely chopped

½ red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

½ teaspoon Adobo seasoning, optional (available at most Hispanic markets)

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1/3 cup water

1. Put olive oil and garlic in a small saucepan and heat to medium; when garlic just starts to sizzle, add onion and pepper and stir well. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften but do not brown, about 10 minutes.

2. Add drained beans and stir well; add seasonings and water and stir well. Turn heat to medium high and heat until beans just start to bubble. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until beans soften and begin to break down, about 10 minutes.

3. Serve with cooked rice; makes 2 servings.

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Tuna-and-carrot salad on whole wheat

Red and yellow pepper strips

Chocolate-chip cookies

The popularity of tuna salad never wanes, and it remains an effective way of introducing fish into your child's diet. If you are concerned about the mercury levels in tuna, Whole Foods, Wild by Nature and other health-oriented markets carry low-mercury brands such as American Tuna, Oregon's Choice Gourmet, Wild Planet and Dave's Gourmet Albacore.

While green peppers have a bitter undertone that some kids dislike, red andyellow peppers usually pass muster. Of course, it's always more fun to have more than one color.

Any homemade chocolate-chip cookie is going to make you a star, but this one is particularly addictive.

TUNA-AND-CARROT SALAD

1 (6-ounce) can tuna, drained

¼ cup finely diced carrot, about ½ of a medium carrot

1 tablespoon mayonnaise or low-fat mayonnaise

Combine tuna, carrots and mayonnaise. Makes enough for 2 sandwiches.

PERFECT CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES

If your child doesn't like nuts _ or if nuts don't like your child _ eliminate them and increase the amount of chocolate chips.

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1½ cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

18 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and mix well with a fork. In a mixer or food processor mix butter and sugars until they are well integrated, then add vanilla and eggs, mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well. Add chips and nuts by hand and mix in with a spatula.

2. Divide mixture into four equal portions. Spoon each portion onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and form into a long "rope," 1½ to 2 inches thick. Roll the rope tightly in the plastic wrap and twist each end to seal. When they are wrapped, use your hands to even out the rope's thickness. Refrigerate for at least a few hours. (The dough will keep for 2 days in the refrigerator and for many weeks in the freezer.)

3. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap as much dough as you need, and cut each rope into about 24 pieces. Roll into balls and place on baking sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. If you are using more than one baking sheet, switch their shelf positions and rotate them, back to front, 5 minutes into baking. Makes about 8 dozen cookies.

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Chicken-and-broccoli wrap with honey-mustard spread

Crinkle-cut carrots

Chocolate pudding

One of the key tenets of kids' lunches is that Everything Tastes Better in a Wrap. Leftovers _ even leftovers that were pointedly left over by your kids _ may take on new appeal, and kids who can't bear to look at a vegetable will sometimes eat one if it's concealed in a wrap. Here we've used some grilled chicken breasts and steamed broccoli, but virtually any meat and/or any vegetable will work. You also can raise the intrigue level by using flavored wraps.

Giving the wrap its kick is a honey-mustard spread that takes less than a minute to prepare.

Carrots, the go-to vegetable for vitamin A, become more interesting if sliced with a crinkle-cutter.

We have a soft spot in our hearts for Kozy Shack pudding, since it is made right here on Long Island. We've selected chocolate here (for obvious reasons), but the company makes terrific vanilla pudding, rice pudding and flan _ and many of the flavors are available in sugar-free versions.

CHICKEN-AND-BROCCOLI WRAP

2 to 3 ounces cooked chicken, shredded or sliced

6 to 7 broccoli florets, halved

Flour tortilla or wrap (we used a 10½-inch tortilla)

1 to 2 tablespoons honey-mustard sandwich spread (recipe follows)

1. Mound chicken in center of tortilla, about 1 inch from each end; place florets on top of chicken and dress with dollops of honey-mustard spread.

2. Fold ends of tortilla over chicken and broccoli, and then flip the tortilla over the ends and roll to secure. Wrap in waxed paper and cut in half with a serrated knife.

HONEY-MUSTARD SANDWICH SPREAD

We particularly like Honeycup "uniquely sharp" mustard for this recipe.

Honey mustard

Mayonnaise (regular or low-fat)

Combine equal parts of the mustard and the mayonnaise and mix well. This will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.

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Chef salad with ranch dressing

Banana muffins

Chef salad, infinitely flexible, can be tailored to any kid's taste _ as long as your child likes salad. We like to pack all the ingredients in individual containers so that they stay separate until the salad is tossed. It's also fun for kids to "make" the salad themselves, and this may encourage them to eat larger quantities. We've pictured a vegetarian salad here, but you could easily add some shredded chicken, ham, shrimp, etc.

It takes less than 5 minutes to mix up a batch of ranch dressing, and the result is delicious, low-fat and devoid of sugar, fillers or additives.

The banana-muffin recipe calls for nuts, but feel free to eliminate them. They still will be delicious and serve up all that good potassium in the bananas.

CHEF'S SALAD

2 to 3 leaves romaine lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces

½ carrot, peeled into ribbons

5 or 6 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 to 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

ÂĽ cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Ranch dressing (see below)

Combine lettuce and carrot ribbons in one container; the other ingredients will travel best if kept separate and combined just before eating.

DE-LIGHT-FUL RANCH DRESSING

This recipe is adapted slightly from one that appears in "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger (Taunton, $28).

½ cup nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, or 1/3 cup nonfat or low-fat Greek-style yogurt

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1½ teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

ÂĽ teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons dried chives

Salt and pepper

1. If using plain yogurt, place it in a strainer lined with a paper towel and place the strainer over a bowl. Let the yogurt drain and thicken for 20 minutes.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the strained or Greek-style yogurt and the rest of the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.

BANANA MUFFINS

Adapted from "Beard on Bread," by James Beard (Alfred A. Knopf, $16.95).

½ stick (¼ cup) butter

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup honey

2 eggs

1½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (3 heavy ones should do it)

1½ cups all-purpose flour (you can use

whole-wheat flour for up to half of the total quantity)

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup sliced nuts, almonds or your choice

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add the sugar and honey, and beat till creamy and light. Add the eggs, one at a time; then thoroughly mix in the bananas.

2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and blend thoroughly with a whisk. Adding flour mixture about 1/3 at a time, blend it thoroughly into batter. Fold in nuts.

3. Coat a 12-muffin tin with pan spray or line it with cupcake papers; spoon batter into muffin tin, filling nearly to the top. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until fully risen and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

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