What's for Lunch? Link Up!

Scroll down for our awesome news about The Striderling!

Kim C at Life in a Shoe

 Connie at Smockity Frocks 

Kimberly at Raising Olives

And ME!

What do four moms with 35 kids do for lunch?  We've done different things over the years.  Back in the days when I had three in diapers and five under 9, mostly we ate baked potatoes, bread spread with beans, soup, and popcorn for lunch- not all on the same day, you understand.

The baked potatoes we like with butter and cottage cheese. You bake them until they are thoroughly soft and mealy.  I would scrub the potatoes clean with a steel scrubby (not a soapy one, just plain steel).  Then I put a large nail in each one (possibly giving us all lead poisoning?  I do not know).

Next, I put the potatoes in large baking pans with an inch or so of hot water in the bottom of the pan.  I put a cookie sheet over the top (instead of covering with foil), and baked for 30 to 45 minutes until the potatoes were soft enough to poke a fork into them.  I would slice the potatoes lengthwise, then make multiple cuts the opposite direction, and put butter and cottage cheese in them, then cut it all up together.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Potatoes are very nutritious, packed with good things, in fact.I usually served this with slices of apples on the side.

Another favorite fall dish was fried apples and onions, something we read about in a pioneer book. See the first lunch listed here.

Popcorn, diced fruit and cubes of cheese was a special treat for when Daddy was overseas, and we would usually sit on the floor in teh living room eating this while listening to somebody read aloud.

"Bean bread"- we made this easy and tasty whole wheat bread recipe once a week. Then we would slice it, spread it with refried beans and a bit of cheese and broil it until the beans bubbled and the cheese melted. it took about ten minutes to make. Home-made bread, I find, works best for open faced sandwiches.

In the summer, we favor salads and always have- but this corn bean relish was a nice cold favorite for several years, especially served with corn chips.

This BLT Chicken and pasta salad is a good way to use leftover cooked chicken and lettuce and tomatoes when they are plentiful in the garden.

Cheese tortillas or quesedillas are also quick and easy when you are pressed for time. I used to grate a lot of cheese as soon as I got it home from the store. I would also chop up vegetables or grate them for salads and stir fries later. That was back when I did the grocery shopping at midnight as often as not, sometimes even wtih kids in tow.  My husband worked nights, and we kept to his schedule.

  Now I mostly buy cheese grated because it's cheaper that way, and I never go anywhere at midnight. We're still odd though.  Add sour cream and salsa to our quesedillas, and strange things could happen.

For a few sadly short years we followed up lunch with afternoon tea- a snack at about 4:00. 

Lately, noodle fritters have been a frequent lunch.


What about you?  What are some of your lunch ideas for a large family?  Share in the link below. You must link back to one of us, and your link must be to your actual lunch post, not the main page of your blog. If you see your link missin g(or rather, if you don't see it), just repost, after following the rules.=)

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

Postscript: The Striderling had his sleep study a couple days ago to determine whether he still needs to be on supplemental oxygen at night and when doing his physical therapy. The results:

NO MORE SUPPLEMENTAL OXYGEN!!! 

That was even with him being very upset about the way the study has to be done and screaming his sweet little head off at times, so this is really encouraging!