Summer is nearly over and school’s about ready to begin. I noticed that my readership dropped this summer. At first, I thought it was because you were all running off to the beach. But now I’m guessing that turning My Readable Feast into a mostly writing blog, with some book reviews and recipes, wasn’t as successful as I hoped. Lesson learned. (And if you have suggestions about what you’d like to see at My Readable Feast, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.)

So no more writing prompts and Tuesday haiku. Instead, let’s go back to what this blog was all about – books and food!

With that said, are you looking for some school lunchbox ideas? Last year around this time I posted information on:

• The art of the bento box – how traditional Japanese lunch boxes can inspire our school lunches
• What’s in your lunch box? – with a recipe for Rachel Ray’s Turkey and Black Bean Tostadas

Frankly, I’m a bit concerned about what to feed Nathan this year. Some of the old standbys, like fruit rollups, are going bad in the pantry. Plus, Nathan has become a “pasta-terian” this summer – he doesn’t eat meat or vegetables, only noodles and eggs.

Luckily FamilyFun.com has a whole section devoted to Back to School food ideas. I guess there’s always Nathan’s favorite PB&J, but how can I make it more exciting? How about peanut butter and jelly stars? This looks like a great way to sneak in some whole wheat bread into Nathan’s diet, too.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Stars

Ingredients:

1. 2 slices white bread
2. 2 slices whole wheat bread
3. Peanut butter
4. Jelly
5. 1 1/2-inch star cookie cutter

Directions:

This is different than the directions on the FamilyFun.com site. From the comments it seems too hard to spread the peanute butter and jelly after you cut and swap the stars. Maybe making the sandwiches first, then swapping mini-star shaped sandwiches would be better? I’d have to experiment. Maybe try a simpler shape like a circle would be easier. It’ll be messy, too, but the results will certainly be cool.

1. Make two PB&J sandwiches by spreading peanut butter on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Then spread jelly on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Make one wheat sandwich and one white bread sandwich.
2. Carefully use mini cookie cutters to cut puzzle pieces out of white and whole wheat sandwich. Swap the whole wheat shapes with the white, then press them into place.

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