Back-to-School Lunches with PB&J

Sometimes its hard to come up with ideas of what to pack yourself (or your kid or spouse) for lunch but bringing your own lunch is a great way to to care for yourself, family and our earth: decreased packaging & waste, increased nutrition & love, and where ever you might buy your lunch I'm pretty sure they're not using much in the way of local and organic ingredients.  When I was little, it was the highlight of my day when I found "I love you" written on the napkin my mom tucked into my lunch box.

So there's the obvious choices:

• fresh or dried fruit
• fresh cut veggies
• nuts
• thermos of soup
• sandwich or wrap
• crackers or baguette with cheese or avocado
• leftovers (might require kitchen access it heat stuff up)
• salad (green, pasta, potato, etc)

Or you could pack any number of combos of bruschettas, dips, spreads, or salsas with veggies, crackers, pita, or baguette.

Here's a twist on a brown bag classic:

Roots' PB&J
On Sadie Rose multigrain bread, spread freshly ground peanut butter (or your favorite nut butter) and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Add a layer of sliced banana (but bananas are have a short season locally and are very unsustainable otherwise so try sliced apples instead). Sprinkle with a generous tablespoon of chopped toasted walnuts from Terra Bella Farm and drizzle with local honey. Spread the other slice of bread with Jackie's BRB Jam (or another local seasonal goodie - there are lots to try these days at the farmers markets)

Enjoy gooey deliciousness!