green is the new brown.

Green may very well be my favorite shade of brown.

Green is a special word, by itself touting all things healthy, farmed and critical to our fate. Walking through a farmer's market or produce section in a grocery store, you will be welcomed with long, green arms. Green is an important part of our diet, offsetting brown and offering essential contrast to all the other colors.

Green should probably be the color of our blood.

So, insert some healthy goodness, some greenified godliness into the lunch of your little ones. Their bodies will thank you. And don't make green out to be the bad guy, green can be just as playful and fun and tasty as the next color:

• celery
• snap peas
• broccoli
• cucumbers
• sliced green bell peppers
• sliced zucchini rounds
• asparagus, steamed
• pesto tortellini pasta salad
• lime yogurt
  
• green figs
  
• pesto ranch or green goddess dressing (for salad or veggie dipping)
• dehydrated peas (at whole foods or just tomatoes)
• green chips (I love the Snapea Crisps variety from Trader Joes; aren't there guacamole chips?)
• green olives (my son adores these!)
• dried green apples
• dried edamame
  
• green jello
• pears
• kiwi
• green grapes
• granny smith apples
• honeydew melon
• spinach tortilla with green salsa and cheese (pre-melted)
• guacamole with tortilla chips
• dill pickles
• pirate booty (the kale version is green; find in organic section of store)
• green salad
• green apple juice
• limeade
• green tea

Happy go Green!

slices of salami.

For the love of salami.

My 10 year old adores salami. He would happily eat the same sandwich every day: salami, mustard and [sometimes] cheese, preferably shredded.

Just to push the variety button, I sometimes just stick a pile of salami and maybe some tiny chunks of cheese in his lunch.

We have had salami slices in our lives for YEARS. Recently, we upped the caliber a notch and started supplementing our salami stash with Salumi Salami (cool photo here).

Salumi Salami is famous; it is made in Seattle (nice article here), by Mario Batali's father. You can stand in line for sandwiches at his shop, but get there early because the lines are long. We lucked out; our nearby grocer started stocking Salumi, so we only have to travel a few blocks and no lines out in the rain!