Salad bar to the rescue

Today I had the dubious opportunity to travel right from school to Alamosa, a 45-minute drive, after I was done with my Monday after-school tutoring. Of course the kids came with me, where else would they go? I had to pick up supplies for my band festival on Wednesday, and then attend the meeting, or part of it, at which I would drop off the fees and seating charts and such. We had about half an hour to kill, so I took the kids to the grocery store.

All the way to town I kept wondering, where on earth are we going to go to get quick food for everyone? I don't want to eat fast food, Andrew could eat it all day and not complain, and of course, Chloe has her milkeggwheatpeanut-free needs.

And then it dawned on me, when I saw it, of course. Not a minute before. We could each get a little container from the salad bar at the grocery store and fill it with things we like and could eat. Brilliant! I love the salad bar anyway, and it turned out to be a perfect solution.

Andrew requested croutons, some from each bin, some cheese, some noodles, some pepperoni and black olives.

I put lots of legumes in Chloe's bowl--red beans, garbanzos, peas--and vinegary green bean salad. I added some tiny diced ham, and black olives.

In mine, of course, went bulgar salad, krab salad, hard-boiled eggs, peas, and beans.

It was so lovely to be able to get everyone a little something they liked, keep it in separate containers, and cover everyone's dietary needs. And, do it all in about ten minutes, tops.

Andrew carried the forks and he ate his in the car. I gave Chloe hers when we finally got home, and she proceeded to eat all the black olives, reject the rest, and then request cereal. I think the beans and legumes were just a tad on the tangy side for her. I'm hoping that with repeated serving, she'll come to really like red, white, and brown beans and garbanzo beans. For a girl with barely one molar, she does pretty well.

I saved mine until the kids were all in bed--after tickle fights and teeth-brushing and turning on the music--and then added a wad of lettuce and savored it all together.

When you find a find, so to speak, you want to make sure you add it to the positive column. A table groaning with separate little containers of perfectly milkeggwheatpeanut-free food that you can take as much or as little of as you like, well, in my book that's a find.