The BiG Story

Little Brown Bag

So he's a nice guy.
You don't have to keep your dentist in business.
Try replacing your children's candy snacks with these great treats.

Sharon Monello Borstein
Special to The AppleTree

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Fresh fruit is a basic standby for a
sweet (and healthy) treat. But many
children will sum up in a word their
ecently I asked my son,
feeling about a plain apple or
Sam, a first-grader, what is
pear: boring. For variety, try fruit
his
kabobs: Skewer
favorite part of
alternating
school. Not
chunks of fruit
surprisingly, he
and serve with
1 told me, "Gym,
fruit-yogurt on
recess, and
the side for dip-
lunch." When I
ping. Before
asked what he
using fresh fruit
liked about
such as apples,
lunch, the
pears, or
answer did not
bananas, which
involve carrot
turn brown after
sticks or peanut
being cut, dip
butter sand-
them in a bit of
wiches. It was
orange juice
dessert.
before skewer-
Many other
ing. When a
children feel
variety of fresh
the same.
fruit is not avail-
Lunch is a time
able, canned
Sink your teeth into something healthy
to relax, and
fruits work well.
and toss__out that junk!
dessert is an
Fruit salad is
anticipated
especially fun to
treat. The question is, what to pack
eat when using a toothpick to spear
for dessert in a brown-bag lunch?
the bites of pear, orange and
Over the course of a year, packing
I peach. Try a mixture of canned
lunches for school and camp, it's
drained pineapple cubes, mandarin
easy to fall into a rut. Just drop in a
orange sections, and a sprinkle of
candy bar and send the child off to
coconut for a dessert with a tropical
begin the day. Well, dessert can be
taste.
more than candy. It can be easy to
In the supermarket, you'll find fruit
make and still be interesting and fun.
cocktail and applesauce in individ-
Sharon Borstein, a former
ual-serving-size cans, or you can
Detroiter, in addition to being a cre-
get a large can and place a por-
ative mom is an artist who creates
tion into a small plastic container
custom-designed ketubot. You can
(margarine tubs work great).
I
reach her at borstein@ix.netcom
Fruit leather and dried fruits are
.com
lots of fun to eat and easy to pack.

1 They are most economically bought
at a bulk food store and kept in the
freezer to preserve freshness. Look
beyond raisins and you'll find apri-
cots, papaya, pineapple, peaches,
dates, cranberries and cherries.
They are tasty by themselves, and
even better when made into "gorp."
There is no real recipe for gorp; just
mix dried fruit with nuts and, if you
want to make it really special, add
in a handful of chocolate chips. I
1 like yellow raisins, apricots and
almonds; my son, Sam, usually
picks cherries, pistachios and white
chocolate chips.
If you don't mind your child play-
ing with her food, try a combina-
tion of mini marshmallows and tiny,
thin pretzel sticks. The salty-sweet
combination is tasty and can be
used like tinker toys to build all sorts
of interesting edible structures.
Another fruity dessert is gelatin
cubes. These keep well and are
easy to make:
Empty 2 packages of gelatin
dessert (4-serving size) into a medi-
um-size bowl. Add 1-1/4 cups
boiling water and stir until gelatin
dissolves completely. Pour into an
8x8 inch pan and refrigerate sever-
al hours until firm. Cut into cubes
and pack in lunch box.
Sam tells me the best desserts
contain chocolate. If your child
says dessert must be a sweet
baked good, consider making bar
cookies. They take little time and
are easy to pack. Brownies are
always a hit, as are chocolate
chip and oatmeal raisin cookies. If
you don't have time to bake, try

packaged cookies and graham
crackers. You can even use gra-
ham crackers to make a no-bake
"cheesecake:" Just spread the
cracker with cream cheese. Un-
iced cupcakes travel well, as do
muffins (mini or regular).
Packing (and eating) brown-bag
lunches can easily become a bor-
ing routine. With a bit of imagina-
tion and minimal effort, though, you
can make the dessert part of lunch
something really special.

Fruit Cocktail Cake

My morn used to make this for my
lunches; now, I make it for my fami-
ly. It's a nice, moist spice cake, with
fruit, nuts, and chocolate — deli-
cious (and because it is made in
one bowl, easy, too)!

1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup. brown sugar
2 eggs
2-1 /4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
17 oz. fruit cocktail (do not drain)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup nuts, broken in pieces
(walnuts work well)

Dump all the ingredients in a large
bowl and mix well, without over
mixing. Batter will have some
lumps. Pour into a greased 9x1 3
pan.
Bake 35 minutes at 350 dgrees
and test for doneness with a tooth-
pick, which should come out
clean. ❑