Counting two children, 21 combined years of education and 167 school days per year, I calculate I’ve composed 1 billion lunches. Not one of which has been thoroughly dispatched.
Excuses abound: Sandwich squishage. Tepid grapes. Classroom birthday, with cake. In the weekday struggle that pits nutrition against child, lunch loses.
This despite my heroic attempts at salade nicoise and checkerboard PB&J and poached chicken with pesto on baguette. I’ve also tried the opposite tack. Once I permitted my schoolgirl to purchase a vile plastic-wrapped contraption from the convenience case. Followed by a call from the teacher, who was certain I’d expired. Still, the plastic lunch came home, largely intact.
I bought into the fancy packaging fantasy, hiring Curious George or Wonder Woman as lunch escorts and welcoming Curious George or Wonder Woman home, still fiercely guarding hummus, carrot and plum, ever so lightly mauled.
So when it comes to lunch-packing I offer this advice: Good luck.
I’ve surrendered. I serve after-school snack. Snack has not huddled under Wonder Woman watch all morning, nor monkeyed around with Curious George all afternoon. It needn’t be foil-secured or thermos-sealed or ice-pack protected. And it comes — significantly — with parental supervision.
Post-bus my schoolchildren make quick work of fresh fruit, skim milk and sweet treat. Because if they shun fruit and milk, treat retreats. This equation contains the recommended daily dose of coercion and ensures snack success. Plus, they’re hungry. After all, they’ve barely touched lunch.
After-school chip cookies
Prep: 15 minutes
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Cook: 8 minutes per batch
Makes: 4 dozen
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 bag (12 ounces) chocolate chips
1 cup roasted, salted peanuts
1. Mix: Whisk together flour, salt and soda in a medium bowl.
2. Cream: Beat butter soft with an electric mixer on medium, 1 minute. Add sugars and vanilla; beat fluffy, 1 minute. Add eggs, beating 1 minute after each. Switch to low speed; briefly mix in dry ingredients. Stir in chips and nuts with a spoon.
3. Bake: Heap 1-tablespoon mounds of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slide into the center of a 350-degree oven; bake until cookies turn golden at edges and soft in the center, 8-10 minutes. Cool on a rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Serve with milk and leniency.
Provenance: Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking.”
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