The classic road trip: driving hours across the country in a vehicle, the kids crammed in the backseat, books and screens stuffed in pillowcases in between their bodies. A small, high-pitched whine comes over the never-too-high seat barrier, making its way to your ears for the 57th time in the last two hours, “Are we there yet?”, “How much farther?”

At some point on this journey, likely multiple points, you’ll have to stop and eat, no matter how many snacks you stuff in the box between the front and back seat. If you are going long distances or just trying to avoid fast food stops, you’ll likely need to plan ahead for major meals.

• The Basic Brown Bag: Sandwiches, grapes, chips. This is what I think of when I think disposable lunch in the car, but that is probably because I grew up with it and then translated that into doing the same for my family. Sandwiches stack easily and pack flat, and grapes are a low-key fruit to store and eat, along with apples.
• Greens and grains salad: This instant favorite will be making an appearance in our travels this summer. It packs plenty of protein and healthy fats from the avocados to keep you full and satisfied for several hours in the car, but none of the greasy gut rot that you’d get from fast food.
• Mason jar salads: Like this chicken salad in a jar, mason jar meals are easy to pack and travel with. They stack neatly in the cooler, and they are served and eaten straight from the container they are packed in, which always makes things easier. Perfect for a rest stop, eaten in the car, or even taken to a park for a proper picnic.
• Cold peanut noodles make a great divergence in the lunch department. Plus, flavor! Easy to make ahead and pack, and there’s not a lot of risk of spoilage here, which is always a plus.
• Of course, you could always cook your food on the engine while you are driving. Sorry, I couldn’t resist!

The New Foods Lunch

I’ve mentioned before that it can take 15 exposures to new food tastes and textures before you become accustomed to them, making introducing new foods to children, especially picky eaters, a lesson in patience and persistence.

Summer offers a bit of a unique opportunity when it comes to new food exposure. If you stay home with your kids or even if you have just a few more hours with them than during the school year (say, lack of homework) this is a chance to introduce a few new food items in different ways. I’ve found that mixing up how to present the food can help make it more fun and exciting than saying, “Yes, you must put the limp, steamed asparagus in your mouth,” multiple times over.

• Hummus and Pita Platter: Hummus and pita might be the constants that pull your kids in and open the door to including new vegetables on the plate. Try kohlrabi or other dippable vegetables.
• Fried Okra versus Raw Okra: Have a battle of the okra, serving fried next to raw so that kids can experience both. Serve with corn chip chicken tenders to offer a familiar face on the plate as well.
• Try a cool gazpacho and introduce your kids to a summer soup. You can make a few different mixes, leaving cilantro in one and out of another, for example, to see if they can taste the difference or compare a tomato-based gazpacho to a creamy avocado one.

The On-the-Go Lunch

Between sports clinics, band camp, swimming at the beach, and just general summer fun, you’ll need a lunch that you can pack in the morning and take out when the afternoon hunger pains hit.

• Two words: Freezer + smoothies. I can’t stress enough how much I love having a load of smoothies available in the freezer. They’re easy to grab in the morning to have available for a lunchtime treat or a snack in a few hours. Stop procrastinating and make some.
• Fried rice is my favorite packable lunch. It packs tight, which means it retains heat better, and I use all leftover ingredients from rice to proteins to vegetables as the mix-ins. Eventually you’ll get sick of hearing me tout the wonders of fried rice in your to-go lunch, but until you start vocally complaining, it will make the list.
• Wrap it up. Wraps are a wonderful catchall term, but try thinking outside the box. Monkey tacos, which are simply chocolate peanut butter/sunbutter with bananas are some of our favorites, but you can experiment with all different kinds of proteins and spreads: a different combination for each on-the-go day.
• Any one of your lunchbox favorites can easily turn into a camp lunch or an on-the-go summer meal. This one is easy. What do you pack for school lunch? Do that.

The Lazy Summer Days Lunch

“I’m bored,” comes the voice from the living room. The television isn’t interesting. Video games have ceased to amuse. The stack of summer reading stares up at you from the side table. The sunshine is either too hot or nonexistent, skies covered in grey clouds and rain drops streaming down the window. Whether it happens sooner or later, summer always seems to have a handful of those days where minutes seem to stretch into hours, and there is no promise of the beach in 30 minutes or soccer practice at 3p to break time into more manageable fragments.

For these days, I look around and find something that involves the kids in lunch. Getting them involved in feeding themselves is something I do anyway, but the simple act of empowering them to eat on their own sometimes helps burn a few of those hours away.

• Make waffles or pancakes. Waffles and pancakes are both easy to mix up and cook. Top them with whatever fresh fruit is in season at the moment, and you’ve got a lunchtime activity worth eating. Let your kids experiment with mix-ins and toppings.
• Make your own soda. My kids are always up for a soda-licious activity as soda is just not a staple in our home. Ginger ale is an easy favorite, but we also enjoy lemongrass, pear, and most recently, we’ve been sipping our very own orange soda creation.
• Set up a sandwich bar. My kids have very different tastes when it comes to sandwiches, and what better way to figure out what they are than giving them the option to top their own sandwich with whatever their heart desires. This will be quite useful when packing school lunches come fall.
• Make ricotta. Use this as a jumping point to all the different things you can make with it: crostini, gnocchi, lasagna, pancakes, bread pudding. This is a great lesson in how different ingredients are used in different ways. Plus, if you’re really ambitious, you might get a few freezer meals out of the activity, too.

As always, you can check out what others are writing in the Eat Well, Spend Less series this week:

• Aimee from Simple Bites
• Amy from Kingdom First Mom
• Carrie from Denver Bargains
• Jessica from LifeasMOM
• Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
• Mandi from Easy Homemade

Notes from Shaina:

• I had to go back and forth with Ole multiple times in the last 4 years to get this recipe to come to light. Even when he had agreed, I still had at least three conversations where I called him out on leaving things out.
• Like any good barbecue recipe, ingredients are going to make a big difference in the end product here. The type of yellow mustard you use, the apple cider vinegar of your choosing, the particular brand of hot sauce or whether you make it yourself all come into play. Keep this in mind and come up with a barbecue sauce that is all your own.
• Here in MN, mustard barbecue is a bit prodigious. People look at it slathered on the pork as if you’ve poisoned the meat (incidentally, the meat can appear a bit green when the pink smoke ring and the bright yellow mustard sauce mix). Then they taste it, ever so gingerly, and they can’t help but ask for the recipe. To their dismay, my husband will say no. Until now.
• While you can eat this right after you make it, the flavors improve with age. Make it at least a day ahead of time for best results.
• You don’t make vinegar-based coleslaw to top your barbecue pork sandwich? I’m sorry. You are missing out on greatness.
• Those baked beans can be found over on Food Fanatic today, along with a little giveaway for a Crock-Pot Connectable Entertaining Set you should probably enter to win.
• Make extra. Trust me on this one. You won’t be sorry.

This post is dedicated to all of our friends made in South Carolina (John Bolten, I’m lookin’ at you), our family still there (hi, Nate and Vanessa, Amy and Dan!), and Trudy, who can’t wait wait to head back.

The Preparation Shortcuts:

1. Make extra chicken on Monday, and then slice it and prep the mason jar salads for Wednesday in advance. It’s a great grab-and-go option for busy nights when you just won’t be home. They can be packed a few days before. Check out Aimee’s tips for packing jar salads for more ideas, too.
2. Grill one steak that just has salt and pepper. Use it for a protein in your fried rice and just toss it in to heat it up towards the end of cooking.
3. Use any leftover vegetables from the orzo salad, fajitas, and the salmon skewers for the fried rice.

This weekend we planted our new garden box, something I really should plan on telling you about. When I requested a small box at the top of the hill that slopes up the last quarter of our yard, I didn’t expect Ole to sign on at all, much less suggest a tiered box that follows the hill right to the base. Two weeks later I have more garden square footage that I thought possible in our urban lot, generous as it may be.

I am anxiously awaiting the day when I can claim the pictured heirlooms as mine and not hot house grown beauties. In the meantime, after consuming the tomatoes, I moved my new basket to a home on the wall.

Pictured above is my new plateau basket from Indego Africa. It does double duty as both wall décor and fruit basket on my dining room table, but in addition to serving as a piece in my home, it also helps a Rwandan artist gain independence as she practices a trade. A member of the Fair Trade Federation, Indego Africa works to give women sustainable income and lifelong skills.

If you’re looking for a way to treat yourself or a friend, consider a piece that helps more than just fill that need and helps someone else as well. You can read more about Indego Africa and check out their bowls, baskets, and jewelry. (Plus, they have a great sale selection right now, including several of the plateau bowls.)

Disclaimer: That bowl was not provided as compensation for this post. I was given a discount for my purchase, but you’re hearing about it because I like it, and I hope you do, too.

I decided I wouldn’t let our delayed start on the season stop me from sharing this dish with you. It is a play on pasta carbonara, woodsman style with a bit of steak in place of bacon and ramps in place of shallots, onions, or garlic. The pairing of beef and ramp seems fated, with the bit of earthiness the sweet caramelized bulbs add to the dish. Heartier than your traditional carbonara, it still manages a delicate air about it.

While we paired it with a lasagnette pasta from the market, a simple spaghetti or pasta of your choice will also work.

Notes on Ramps and Such:

• Ramp season is early spring, even if early spring doesn’t happen until May in your area. In lieu of ramps, whether due to summer approaching or the lack of availability in your area, try substituting spring onions or blanched and chopped wild garlic.
• Ramps are also known as wild leeks – err, sometimes wild garlic, too, which can get confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for – (related to ramsons in the UK), and they have a garlic-like flavor about them. Both the tender bulb and green leaves are edible.
• Ramps are an oft-foraged food found growing along the deciduous forest floor. If you forage for ramps, be sure to only harvest 15% of what you find. Leave the majority of the pants in the ground for next year. In Quebec, ramps are a protected species, and in certain states like Rhode Island they are threatened because of poor harvesting practices. It’s important to preserve the plants so we can continue to enjoy them.

Tips for Last-Minute Entertaining:

• Open up the outdoor space. Whether or not you have a patio or porch for hosting, entertaining outdoors during the warmer months frees you from the pressure of having a perfectly clean house. Invite people for a barbecue, a bonfire, drinks on the driveway.




• Clean less. Clean your bathroom and generally pick up the main area, but ignore the rest of the house. If you’re hosting outside this is even easier. What they can’t see won’t make a difference here, so close the doors to bedrooms and let the laundry downstairs remain downstairs.




• Prepare easy food. Recently we invited the neighbors over for dinner 30 minutes before it was time to eat for barbecue pork. The pork was already smoked and in the refrigerator. All we needed to do was sauce it and heat it up and prepare a bowl of coleslaw. Grillables, simple salads, and easy appetizers make the food come together quickly.
  
  Ole’s quick grilling tips:
  1. Reach for thin cuts of meat or grillable fish like salmon for shorter cooking times.
  2. Finish with a glaze or sauce instead of marinating for hours.
  3. Add grilled vegetables to the menu. Toss them in oil and salt and cook them while the meat is resting.




• Empty the dishwasher if you have one. Even when I’m cooking or baking, the first thing I do is clear out clean dishes from the dishwasher. This means I can load dirty directly into the open space and keep the clutter off the countertop.

This month’s Eat Well, Spend Less theme is entertaining, and rightfully so. As always, you can check out what others are writing in the Eat Well, Spend Less series:

• Aimee from Simple Bites
• Amy from Kingdom First Mom
• Carrie from Denver Bargains
• Jessica from LifeasMOM
• Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
• Mandi from Easy Homemade

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get ready for my in-laws to arrive. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!