Darth Vader Dip

With trepidation I tried to plan ahead this week for lunches for the 2010 school year. Inspired by Gillian McKeith's lunch ideas, and my kids' love for hummus and dips in general, I've created some dips that are safe for nut-free schools, and should work for most food sensitive kids.

Thinly slice 2 types of raw vegtables your kids like (french fry shape is good).

Some options are:
-carrots
-red peppers
-yellow peppers
-orange peppers
-cucumber
-cherry tomatoes
-celery

Darth Vader (or Witch, or Bat Man) Dip
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/8-1/4 cup water
1 can black beans
freshly squeezed juice from 1/2 lime
dash of salt

Raw Seed Dip - General
3/4 cup of seeds (examples: sunflower, pumpkin, sesame).
1/8-1/4 cup of water
1 can beans (examples: white beans, black beans, chickpeas)
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
dash of salt

In food processor make paste of seeds and water, then add beans and citrus. Then salt to taste. You can add garlic if they like or can tolerate it. Skip the lemon or lime juice if it's not tolerable. Herbs are a nice thing to add too - but I have to be careful not to put too many adult-like flavors in there - my kids like it bland.

USE RAW SEEDS because they are far more nutritious than roasted.

In addition to creating fun names for your dips, get an interesting container. I found some great ceramic containers with plastic lids at my Asian market, but you can make something cool out of small Pyrex containers with special paint pens from an art store. Let the kids decorate their own or make that Darth Vader Pyrex yourself and surprise them!