purple is the new brown.

What child wouldn't chuckle at an all-purple lunch? Even better would be some musical attachment where the bag, once opened, belted out a raucous rendition of "Purple People Eater."

In the very least, color-coded lunches provide the brown bagger a new way of coming up with lunch ideas. Think 'purple' and scour your pantry and fridge, think 'purple' and visit the grocery store or farmer's market. And tell me what you find! Here is just a small little list to get you started:

• purple cow drink (mix small amount grape juice with milk and put in thermos)
• blue corn tortilla chips (with black refried beans for dipping)
  
• blueberry yogurt
• grape fruit leather
• red grapes
• blueberries
• prunes
• plums
• figs
• raisins
• kalamata olives
• blueberry cream cheese on a bagel
• grape or raspberry jelly on wheat or pumpernickel bread,
• grape juice
• Purple cabbage slaw (with black sesame seeds?)
  
• Radicchio---or purple tinted endive---with raspberry dressing
• prune juice
• blackberries
• eggplant

Sometimes I cheat and include a 'purple package' of food like the picture of the granola bar or vanilla milk, above. The contents might not be purple, but the package is!