I’ve been scouring the web lately for healthy ideas for my kids’ lunchboxes. And I’ve been coming up empty. Kudos to you if  bell peppers in the shape of a face is all it takes to get your kids to eat them. My kids are, uh, smarter than that. They won’t eat it UNLESS IT TASTES GOOD. And frankly, I’m not seeing a whole bunch of healthy snack ideas for kids that meet that criterion.

Fortunately, I have this ancient, out-of-print book called the Penny Whistle Lunchbox Book, with recipes that both the kids and I have LOVED. Here’s one for Applesauce Nut Bread. It’s loaded with good stuff and my whole family LOVES it.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, (sifted if you have time. I never sift- I just whisk it to make sure it isn’t lumpy.)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup granola (I use low-fat granola)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ (You don’t have to use this, but I do because it’s so good for my kids & they can’t taste it in the bread.)
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

-Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray one 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray (I really love PAM Baking Spray) or one 12-cup muffin tin.

-In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in Granola, nuts, raisins and wheat germ.

-In another bowl, mix together applesauce, egg and oil. Add to the flour mixture and stir until all ingredients are combined.

-Pour into loaf pan or muffin tin. Bake one hour for bread or 35 minutes for muffins– or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

-Cool bread in the pan for 30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

-This bread is dense enough to cut fairly thinly and spread either with cream cheese (recommended in the book) or peanut butter (my preference). It’s also great on its own. I’ve been packing it in lunchboxes with peanut butter and serving it for breakfast after heating a slice in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Adapted from The Penny Whistle Lunch Box Book

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