<p>Sadly, my school district allows no more home-backed goods. Every piece of food brought in for students must be commercially individually wrapped and sealed, and have nutritional info on each piece. This is for “the safety” of the students. Doesn’t matter if one with nut or other allergies is given an alternative. Or if it is nut free and mets every kid in the classroom’s criteria.</p>
<p>We used to have a big Thanksgiving meal at our elementary school for 4th grade. It was a day about a week before Thanksgiving were parents/grandparents etc could come to school for lunch. Donations were sent in to cover the chicken or turkey or chicken strips. And every parent who could brought in something–a pie, a side, a vegatable. That no longer happens, either. </p>
<p>So now you can send in the most digusting individually wrapped junk food for birthdays or whatnot, but no homebaked goods, no fruit, nada.</p>
<p>Oh, and they “cannot be served before lunch, and must not compete in any way with our cafeteria lunches.”</p>
<p>Here’s the banana bread, from cookinglight.com:</p>
<p>Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze</p>
<p>Best Quick Bread. This recipe originally appeared on the cover of our September 2003 issue and remains one of our best banana breads. --Recipe by Jean Patterson (September 2003) </p>
<p>2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice</p>
<p>Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.</p>
<p>Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack. </p>
<p>Yield: 1 loaf, 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)</p>
<p>CALORIES 193 (21% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.1g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 2.9g; CHOLESTEROL 35mg; CALCIUM 15mg; SODIUM 179mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35g</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, It’s a shame about the prohibition of home-made food at your school. And I am the mother of a child with life-threatening food allergies. Our school district does not have these rules, and I don’t think they’re necessary. My son knows that he cannot eat anything except food from home, or from the cafeteria. I have always brought him a substitute when there was a party or birthday. No big deal.</p>
<p>NYMomof2- You are one of a few parents that don’t agree with the bans on foods in the school; I am another. My daughter also has life threatening food allergies and I didn’t feel the entire school should forgo peanut because of her! Since she could speak she told people she was “lergic to peanuts.” Monthly when she was in the elementary school, I would send some sort of prepackaged treat that she could have while the other kids had the birthday cake, etc… Yea, she sometimes complain that she couldn’t have the birthday cake, but most of the time she was good about it. Because she attended a small school, most parents were aware of her allergy and would call me to inquire what she could have. There were bakeries in town that we felt were safe so most would get their cake from these bakeries.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, I love Cooking Light! I’ve been cooking with “light” recipes for years and my family can’t tell the difference. I can’t wait to try the banana cupcakes!</p>
<p>At my kids’ high school, there was a peanut ban because of allergies, and the way we understood it was, if a peanut-allergic person even came into contact (as in touching) a peanut substance, it would cause problems. I remember going to Sams and our local grocer to buy cookies for a school event and every single package contained “this may contain peanut residue” (or whatever it says…). We didn’t serve peanuts even in the concession stand for sporting events, although other team fans would come in with bags of peanuts.</p>
<p>Peanut allergies are so scary and more and more kids seem to be experiencing them. Our school system is also peanut free, but home baked items are still allowed. It’s just made very clear that it’s a NO PEANUT zone. My sister-in-law has a gluten allergy and when she visited I was surprised by how many products have gluten, even soy sauce! I made a dessert with rice flour but it didn’t turn out extremely well. We’re lucky to be fairly allergy free, but my heart sure goes out to those that struggle with them.</p>
<p>doubleplay, there are people who are so allergic that even touching a substance will provoke a reaction, but this is rare. Even in those cases, usually a peanut-free table in the lunchroom is good enough. I hate those warnings on everything about shared equipment, obviously written by some lawyer to preclude lawsuits. </p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words, Sarahsmom. Allergies are difficult to deal with, but usually they can be managed. My son is very good about not eating anything questionable, and he reads labels carefully. And of course we have Epipens always. Nobody ever complains about my “light” recipes, either!</p>