New lunch boxes!

Our new (systema) lunch boxes arrived this afternoon, and the kids are quite excited to try them out tomorrow. Unlike the laptop lunchbox, they both are able to open these independently, which will be very helpful when I'm not able to join them for lunchtime.

Top section:
Pizza bagel half made with Udi's gf plain bagel, daiya dairy free cheese, and spaghetti sauce (the girl doesn't like much cheese)
1 organic turkey hot dog, cut into bite sized pieces for dipping

Bottom section:
Small container of dried cranberries, golden raisins, peanuts, and Enjoy Life chocolate chips
Tiny dipper of ketchup
2 large garlic stuffed green olives (girl) / 5 tiny Greek olives (boy)
Homemade rainbow flannel napkin

Snack (not in photo):
Organic nut and fruit bar

I've been taking the easy road with some of the lunch choices. It can be so difficult to get protein into the boy, and he's fairly reliable with the salty/smoky ones. We only recently got rid of soy when I started reacting to it, but since we already can't do wheat, dairy, mushrooms, or white beans, we had to find another source of protein to replace it. The only other major source of protein the boy could eat was black beans, and he was starting to rebel against eating them every day. I had been either vegetarian or vegan for going on 28 years, so it was a difficult decision to start adding poultry to our diet (from local/ethical, antibiotic-free, chemical-free sources). However, it's really made a difference. He's eating better, trying new foods occasionally, and his growth has improved.
For the coming week, I'm going to work on increasing the veggies, and including less animal protein in the kids' lunches.