We’ve been stuck under gray skies so long, I can hardly remember what the sun looks like. It sure feels melancholy around here towards the end of winter. Time to get out of town and take a road trip! Yesterday we packed lunches and rode along with my dad and his sweet dog Libby, up into the pretty foothills of the Blue Mountains.For shmoo’s lunch I packed a veggie dog in a whole wheat bun, two corn-on-the-cobs, and a Sunsweet Ones. What clever marketing is that? They’ve packaged individual pitted prunes in little wrappers to look like candy!! I saw these at the store and just had to give them a try. It seems like they would make the perfect, healthy treat to tuck into the corner of a kid's lunchbox.
For myself I made a hummus, sprout, tomato, and lettuce sandwich on sprouted wheat bread packed in our Lunch Skin bag. I also packed a tiffin container of mini cucumber slices, baby carrots, celery, and green grapes, and two Golden Delicious apples.
We started out worried about the weather; the car was wrapped in dense fog and the cold was bitter. We guessed we wouldn’t be able to get too far into the hills and would probably have to turn back. But as the car headed up into Dayton we climbed out of the cloud cover and suddenly, there it was! The sun was shining down on us from a blue sky! We had a wonderful, warm tramp about in the hills. The snow was mostly melted away. The ground was mucky but mostly clear.Verdict: Shmoo wolfed down the hot dog and an apple but wouldn’t eat the corn ("too mushy" – it was cooked frozen corn), then said "This is my treat? Nice try!" and handed me the prune. Oh well, I still think it's a great idea. Maybe it will work better with younger children?
We nibbled on the veggies and grapes together on the drive back. I discovered that I love popping a slice of mini cucumber and a green grape into my mouth at the same time. Nice flavor combo!
9 comments:
Do you have a favorite veggie dog? The kind we used to like is no longer made and we haven't found one that has the right texture/flavor combination. I'd love to hear your opinion!
I usually buy Yves brand. Shmoo's not really picky about them, though, he seems to like them all. I haven't found any veg dogs that I really like.
The Ones are a nice lunch idea.
A fun idea for sprouts is to add them to smoothies. Yum!
Yea road trip! I've never been to the Blue Mountians, but glad the sun came out! Whoa, you read my mind! Those are my ideal "on the go lunches", a hummus and veggie sandwich or a veggie dog and some fruit/veggie... haha, shmoo is outsmarting the old prune, but maybe your niece would like it? (try telling her it's "tiny plum candy"!) Sounds like a lovely day mrs. McCann! ;)
P.S. totally off topic, but I am BEGGING my mother for a vitamix for my B-day in March, any persuasive suggestions?
Hey, I just happen to be working on a big post all about my new VitaMix!!
The Sunsweet Ones are really neat, I agree, but the excess packaging is definitely a concern. All that oil-based plastic heading to the dumpster for a clever marketing ploy? I'd vote 'not worth it'.
I love your blog though - just started reading!
I love the prunes, they're so handy for those times when my daughter's a little constipated. I can't get the old "Nature's Candy" slogan out of my head...fortunately, my DD is only 3 and loves them.
I ate prunes as a kid because my grandma ate them. I don't think I've ever known anybody else who eats them! I like to tuck two of them in my lunchbox for dessert, so keep trying with the prunes.
I got my 6 year old son to eat prunes by telling him they were giant, mutant raisins. ;) Cabbage is a giant, mutant brussel sprout, etc. Really, I can tell him anything is some sort of mutant or lab experiment, and he'll eat it for the Mommy gross out factor.
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