Podcast 72: Lunch Box Salads

by The Meal Makeover Moms on September 15th, 2009

Now that kids everywhere are finally back in school, we suspect that many may already be suffering from brown bag boredom. To shake things up in the lunch box, we created two new cold noodle salads that we hope they’ll all love. We feature them on this week’s Cooking with the Moms podcast and dish about a bunch of other fun ideas to keep the troops happy.

Today, Liz’s 10-year old, Simon, took our new Better-Than-B-Plus Pasta Salad to school. When he got home, he said (and this is no lie), “the flavor of the bell pepper was heaven in my mouth.”

Better-Than-B-Plus Pasta Salad
Makes 5 Servings

  • 8 ounces dried bow tie pasta (3 generous cups)
  • 1 small red bell pepper, cut into 3/4-inch dice (about 1 cup)
  • 8 ounces cooked chicken, cut into 3/4-inch dice (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/3 cup Italian or Caesar salad dressing

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. When done, drain, rinse with cold water and drain well.

2. Place the pasta in a large bowl. Add the bell pepper, chicken, feta cheese, and salad dressing and stir to combine.

3. Serve in individual lunch box containers.

Moms’ Tip > Add a little bit more dressing if the pasta gets dried out the next day.
Moms’ Tip > If your kids don’t like bell peppers, add a cup of peeled, seeded, and diced cucumber instead.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 ½ cups): 330 calories, 10g fat (3.5g saturated, 0.3g omega-3), 460mg sodium, 38g carbohydrate,2 g fiber, 23g protein, 20% vitamin A, 60% vitamin C, 10 % calcium, 15% iron

Our second recipe for this Asian-inspired noodle salad took a lot of tweaking and retooling before we gave it our Meal Makeover Moms’ seal of approval. We took a photo of Janice’s kitchen to prove how hard we worked to get it right!  Can you guess who did the dishes (hint: it wasn’t Liz)?

Squiggly Chow Mein Salad with Snow Peas & Tofu
Makes 4 Servings

  • 3 tablespoons lite soy sauce, divided
  • 2 tablespoons honey, divided
  • 2 tablespoons tahini (also known as ground sesame seeds) or 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, divided
  • One 8-ounce package cubed super firm tofu (we like Nasoya), drained and patted dry with paper towels
  • 4 ounces snow pea, strings removed and sliced on the diagonal into 3/4-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • One 6-ounce package chow mein stir-fry noodles

1. In a large bowl, make the sauce by whisking together 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, the tahini, red wine vinegar, sesame oil, and ¼ teaspoon of the ground ginger. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, and ¼ teaspoon ginger. Gently stir in the tofu and snow peas until well coated.

3. Heat the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tofu and snow peas and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, 5 minutes. Set aside.

4. Cook the chow mein noodles according to package directions. When done, drain, rinse in cold water and drain again.

5. To assemble the salad, mix the noodles in with the sauce and stir well to combine (we find that tongs work well for this task). Once the noodles are well coated with the sauce, gently stir in the cooked tofu and snow peas.

6. Chill and serve in individual lunch box containers (or heat and store in a lunch box thermos).

Moms’ Tip > If you can’t find chow mein noodles, use 6 ounces of linguini or spaghetti, broken in half before cooking (we like the whole wheat blend options from Barilla Plus)

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 ½ cups): 330  calories, 12 g fat (1.5g saturated), 550mg sodium, 45g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 15g protein, 25% vitamin C, 10% iron

If you have a favorite lunch box salad, sandwich or snack recipe, feel free to share it by posting a comment to the blog.

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4 Comments | Filed Under Lunch, Pasta, Podcast, Vegetarian 

4 Responses to “Podcast 72: Lunch Box Salads”

  1. Jenifer on September 16th, 2009

    Cute recipes ladies!!

  2. Lauren on September 23rd, 2009

    Yum! This Better Than B Plus Pasta Salad looks so good! I want to make it for dinner. Thanks for the great, easy recipe.

  3. jaden on October 21st, 2009

    my kids will love this!

  4. Sarah on October 26th, 2009

    Yummy! I made the Better than B+ Pasta Salad and it was delicious. To combine everything I put all the ingredients in a big storage container, snapped on the lid, and shook vigorously!

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