Bag Lunch: Healthy Meals on the Go

Three Sisters Stew

Orange and Jicama Salad

Twelve-Grain Muffins

Three Sisters Stew

This recipe features the "three sisters" of Native American cuisine: corn, beans, and squash. It was developed by the cooking teachers in the Berkeley Unified School District, where I am director of nutrition services. The students make this in class, and then we serve it in the cafeterias -- it's delicious and nutritious.

Eight servings

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cups squash cubes (butternut or buttercup)
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup cooked hominy
• 2 cups cooked pinto beans
• 4-6 cups water or bean liquid
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 6-8 leaves chopped greens (kale, chard, or collard greens)
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 4 leaves sage, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• dash of pepper

1. 1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion, squash, celery, and pepper. Sauté for two to three minutes.
2. 2. Add hominy, beans, chopped tomatoes, cumin, sage, and water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes.
3. 3. Add greens, salt, and pepper. Cook until greens are tender, about five minutes.

Orange and Jicama Salad

Citrus is synonymous with winter in California, and I have come to love this bounty -- from Meyer lemons to heirloom limes and grapefruit. The flavors often astound. This recipe pairs the shining top notes of fresh citrus with the crunch and sweetness of jicama and the bite of jalapeño and cilantro. It makes a lovely side dish for sandwiches and burritos and satisfies the urge many of us have for something crunchy.

• 6 oranges
• 1 medium jicama
• 5 sprigs cilantro
• 1 tsp. jalapeño pepper, minced
• 1 lime, juiced salt to taste

1. 1. Peel the oranges and jicama with a paring knife and cut into small pieces.
2. 2. Pick the leaves off the cilantro sprigs and discard the stems. Roughly chop the leaves.
3. 3. Combine the oranges, jicama, jalapeño, and cilantro in a mixing bowl.
4. 4. Add the lime juice and salt, mix well, and let marinate for one hour before serving.

Twelve-Grain Muffins

These muffins were developed by the FullBloom Baking Company for the Berkeley Unified School District's pilot Universal Breakfast program, which began in spring 2004. The muffins are a healthy, delicious, and nutritious component of a great breakfast, but they also can top off lunch or satisfy a late-afternoon snack craving. Like the other muffins we feature, these freeze well. In fact, freezing is preferable to refrigeration if you want to save them for more than a couple days, because it locks moisture in, while refrigeration dries foods out.

Twenty-four mini muffins

• 1/2 cup twelve-grain or ten-grain cereal
• 1 cup water, boiling
• 1/2 cup dates, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup raw mixed seeds and nuts (pumpkin, sesame, flax, sunflower, walnut, cashews), chopped

The night before: Combine cereal, boiling water, chopped dates, and salt, and soak for eight hours.

The next day:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a mini-muffin pan.
2. 2. In a small bowl, combine honey, maple syrup, egg, oil, and buttermilk, and set aside.
3. 3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, and mix well.
4. 4. Mix the cereal mixture with the mixed wet ingredients and add to the mixed dry ingredients, stirring only until combined. 5. Scoop into muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with a mixture of colorful seeds and nuts. 6. Bake until done, about twenty minutes.

Credit: Getty Images

Ann Cooper, as director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District, in Berkeley, California, works to transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms for students. Her latest book, cowritten with Lisa M. Holmes, is Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children. Visit her Web site, Lunch Lessons, at www.lunchlessons.org.