Tonight, I got a request for tomorrow's lunch. Molly was in the mood for a good old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can't say that I blame her. There is something almost serendipitous about the old standby lunch. Do you remember getting to lunch and seeing the pb&j that your Mom or Dad packed for you? First, the smell when you opened the lunch box, the smell of stale bread and apple cores. Then the visual, there was usually a little bit of the jelly escaping from one of the sides and a spot on the top, that can only be classified as a bruise, where the sandwich had been squished. Sometimes the crust was cut, sometimes it wasn't. There was usually a faint hint of banana on the bread because that was the fruit that always seemed to accompany a pb&j, at least at my house. But, the taste was always awesome...always. No matter what had happened that day or what was going to happen after lunch, there was an element of comfort in that sandwich that could get you through anything. Spelling test be darned, I've got my peanut butter and jelly!
We start with the old standby Peanut Butter and Jelly. Nothing fancy, plain old creamy peanut butter and some strawberry jam from the store all spread on whole wheat bread. We did fancy it up a little bit with the shapes because the heart shape sandwich today was a big hit. Also, Molly is not a fan of crust so this cookie cutter thing only takes a few seconds more than actually cutting the crust off.
Our veggies include the other half of the crazy red/orange/green pepper from our garden. We used the crinkle cut knife on those to bring out a more playful aspect. Our other selection is a seedless cucumber that was cut with the same knife. We turned the cucumber a little after every cut to make a "waffle" look.
Orange wedges are the selection for our fruit. This orange is very sweet and juicy, plus the citrus will cut the oils of the peanut butter. Molly's favorite thing about orange wedges is to take a bite, leave the peel in her mouth and smile so that her teeth look funny. She an her sister crack each other up every time they do it. A timeless trick, indeed.
A "Wheat Krispie Treat" rounds out our meal as dessert. Molly was so thrilled with it today that she requested that one to be included in tomorrow's lunch box. No matter how little time she has for lunch, she always has time for dessert. That's my girl!
