Lunch box for Thursday

In my research into lunchboxes I found 2 government/food agency guidelines on how to put together a healthy lunchbox. The first is from the UK the second which I got from a friend is from Japan. Today I will do an example of a UK one and tomorrow I will do a Japanese one.

So in the UK it is recommended to put the following into a lunchbox:

• 1 portion starchy food – bread, pasta, rice
• 1 portion milk or dairy food
• 1 portion fruit
• 1 portion vegetables
• 1 portion protein such as meat or fish

Snack - small pot of yoghurt with granola (recipe to follow), pot of fresh fruit
Lunch - brown rice salad with tuna, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, carrot, boiled egg, olive oil, lemon juice with salt and pepper. Chop all the vegetables quite small and the same size as with the egg. You could also add cubes of cheese or put them in a separate pot to add more bits, kids like opening different pots. Banana in a banana box.
Granola
350g porridge oats
50g wheatgerm
50g unsweetend shredded coconut
50g sesame seeds
75g sunflower seeds
75g hazelnuts, finely chopped
125ml sunflower oil
75ml runny honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
175g dried fruit, chopped into small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Grease a large baking tin.
2. In a large bowl, mix the oats, wheatgerm, coconut, seeds and nuts.
3. In a large saucepan, combine oil, honey and vanilla. Heat gently until the honey has melted. Pour the honey mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. Spread the mixture out in the tin. Bake in the oven for 35-45 mins, stirring every 10 mins.
4. Cool then add the dried fruit.