Nicholas Day explains why most family cookbooks fail -- and offers one glimmer of hope.

If you've ever emptied the contents of your crisper into a batch of grains to make an odds and ends salad, well, Amanda is right there with you. Here's the latest look into Walker's and Addie's lunch:

"I picked up a piece of tuna at the Greenmarket and poached it in oil with garlic, thyme and sage -- and then made a "refrigerator" rice salad with it, adding bits of things I had hanging around. Jasmine rice, capers, pickled ramps, kalamata olives, celery, Russian red kale, and lemon juice.

The carrot sticks are for a little crunch. And the mango is the Rum-Spiked Roasted Caramelized Mango leftover from our photo shoot."

There's a secret special ingredient snuck in with the Greenmarket fare in today's peek into Amanda's kids' lunchboxes. Here's what they're having, straight from Amanda herself:

"Smoked ham topped with sautéed turnip greens, kale, and fresh garlic. I think a few asparagus spears are snuck in there as well. The local strawberries are nice this year so I've been putting them in every lunch -- sometimes whole, sometimes sliced and mixed with yogurt, and sometimes on top of stewed rhubarb. My kids went to a birthday party where there was a piñata, thus the lollipop and Hershey's Chocolate. I let our kids have commercial candy now and then, but I draw the line at fast food!"

Today's lunchboxes reveal a Middle Eastern influence for Walker's and Addie's lunches. There's stuck-pot rice (it's simple: basmati, yogurt, curry powder, and lime juice), a celery and Israeli cucumber salad (remember, Walker loves cucumbers!), and Fage yogurt with honey.

What are you having for lunch?

Nicholas Day's household runs on shu mai, and yours should too.

"When I don't have much inspiration or if I have a more challenging ingredient, cream cheese is my secret weapon. Kids love cream cheese so it can help soften the blow of flavors like radish or pickled ramps. That's just what I packed here, along with fresh strawberries from the Union Square Greenmarket."
- Amanda

We hope Walker and Addie packed enough to share, because their lunch looks fantastic. What are you having?

This week's peek into Walker's and Addie's lunchboxes is as easy as 1, 2, 3: liverwurst over ricotta on one slice of bread, another slice sprinkled with garlic oil to top them, and container of clementine sections for dessert.

Raise your hand if you're having a liverwurst sandwich for lunch, too. Nobody?

Nicholas Day's one piece of child-rearing advice? Feed your child sardines.