Bag Lunch: Healthy Meals on the Go

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Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Chile Cornbread

This is a great warming lunch for the bone-chilling days of winter. Squash, eggplant, and even greens can be added for different flavors. If you're not a fan of seitan (flavored wheat gluten), you can replace it with extra-firm tofu or ground turkey for a nonvegetarian version. Soak the beans overnight to shorten the overall cooking time. Take it to school in a widemouthed Thermos.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Eight servings

• 1 1/2 cups black beans, sorted and soaked
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 1/4 cups Spanish onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 t. ancho chile, toasted and ground
• 1 1/2 t. chipotle chile, toasted and ground
• 1 1/2 t. whole cumin seed, toasted and ground
• 1/2 cup seitan, crumbled
• 1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 T. cilantro, chopped

1. 1. Cook beans (fill pot to several inches above top of beans) with bay leaves until tender, and reserve cooking liquid.
2. 2. Sweat (slowly cook under a cover) onions and garlic until translucent.
3. 3. Add chiles and cumin, stir, and check seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
4. 4. Add seitan and cook for five minutes.
5. 5. Add peppers and continue cooking until peppers begin to soften, then add tomatoes, beans, and enough cooking liquid to bring mixture to consistency of chili.
6. 6. Check and adjust seasoning one last time and stir in fresh cilantro. Serve.

Chile Cornbread

This cornbread recipe can be a snack, a side to Vegetarian Black Bean Chili, or even part of a balanced breakfast. It is a great complement to egg dishes, including spicy Southwestern breakfast burritos. Sweet pepper jam or jelly are healthier alternatives to butter.

Nine servings

• 5 T. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cake flour
• 1 T. + 11/2 t. white corn flour (or fine corn meal)
• 2 T. sugar
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 T. + 3/4 t. milk
• 1/4 cup + 2 T. buttermilk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup fresh corn kernels
• 2 T. + 1 1/2 t. green chile pepper, roasted and roughly chopped

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-by-8-inch pan.
2. 2. Melt butter and cool.
3. 3. Combine corn meal, flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. 4. In another bowl, combine milk, buttermilk, butter, and egg and blend thoroughly. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.
5. 5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake twenty to thirty minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut into squares and serve. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days.

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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.