Sunday, January 31, 2010

Lunch: 2.1.10

Happy Monday!

For snack, the girl has yogurt, ham & cheese on an english muffin, and a juice.

For lunch, she has some homemade chicken noodle soup, snowflake shaped homemade cheddar cheese crackers, and some grapes.


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Mom and Dad's Lunches: 2.1.10


For lunch, Daddy is having a cheddar and ham sandwich with miracle whip on a whole wheat English muffin, some of a fresh batch of homemade cheddar crackers, and grapes.

I am having a small bowl of my homemade chicken noodles soup, some cheddar crackers, grapes with some brown sugar dip, and yogurt.


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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Recipe: Homemade Tomato (and other veggie) Soup

This is one I'll be making again!  We love tomato soup around here.

(I tripled the recipe, because I had friends over.  Pictures are of the tripled recipe.)  I of course forgot to take a picture of the finished soup.  Typical.  It was smooth and delicious, trust me!

Homemade Tomato (and other Veggie) Soup

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
~1/4 c olive oil
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 c vegetable broth (or chicken broth - I was making it for vegetarian friends)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp dried basil (or 1/4 c chopped fresh basil)

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Strain the tomatoes, reserving the juice, and spread into roasting pan.  Drizzle with olive oil.

Roast for 15-20 minutes, until caramelized, stirring occasionally.

In your soup pot, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat.  Add celery, onion, carrots, and garlic.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened




Add the roasted tomatoes, reserved juice, broth, bay leaf, and butter and tomato paste.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender. 

Remove bay leaves, add basil, and puree with an immersion blender until smooth.  (You could also transfer to a blender carefully to puree.  The immersion blender is much easier).



Fantastic with crackers or grilled cheese.


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Friday, January 29, 2010

Lunch 1.29.10


Snack today is ham on skewers and a fruit cup and a juice.

Lunch is chicken noodle soup (she asked for a bowl, so it would be easier to eat), yogurt, and granola.


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Mom's Lunch: 1.29..10

Daddy is fending for himself today (his choice).

I have some lasagna from the other night, a 100 calorie pack of piroette cookies that Santa brought for me, and a fruit cup.


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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Lunch 1.28.10

The girl has afterschool rehearsal for a little musical that she has a speaking part in, so she has an extra snack.


Morning snack is a junior banana, carrots with ranch, and a juice.


Lunch is some of last night's Chicken Noodle Soup, granola with yogurt, craisins & raisins, and a couple heart shaped buttered bread bites.


Afternoon snack is some cinnamon toast crunch and the last of our Bug shaped grahams.


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Mom and Dad's Lunches: 1.28.10

Daddy and I have leftovers for lunch.
Sorry for the bad photography.  Our containers are not as photogenic as the girl's cute lunches!



I have leftover chicken noodle soup, a junior banana, and a yogurt.  This will be supplemented by copious amounts of coffee.


Daddy has leftover rotini in pasta sauce and a fruit cup.


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Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Whole Wheat Noodles

I had some leftover pasta dough from last night, and my daughter has been begging me for chicken noodle soup, so I decided to throw one together.

For the noodles, I cut them into linguine, and then chopped them into shorter noodles with a pizza cutter.



I used my lovely electric pressure cooker and it was done pretty quickly, and had an all day flavor, but you could absolutely do it the old fashioned way on the stove, or even in a crockpot.


I started with a rotisserie chicken carcass that I had frozen.  I usually have a couple of them in the freezer - we eat what we are going to off the chicken, and I pull off as much meat as I can, and then throw the rest in a bag in the freezer.

I let it thaw in the fridge overnight, and then went on with my recipe.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Whole Wheat Noodles

Rotisserie chicken carcass (can use chicken pieces, I just like the convenience of a picked clean rotisserie chicken)
~ 4 quarts water (enough to cover the chicken carcass)
2 c chopped carrot
3 stalks chopped celery (with greens is fine!)
1/2 onion, chopped fine
½ teaspoons Turmeric
¼ teaspoons White Pepper (more To Taste)
¼ teaspoons Ground Thyme
2 teaspoons Parsley Flakes
1 chopped chicken breast, raw or pre-cooked (I like it cubed)
1 c frozen peas
homemade whole wheat egg noodles (or store bought, if you must...)
Salt to taste (I used about a tablespoon)

Put chicken carcass in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover it.  Close lid to pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes.  Turn off pressure cooker, then let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes before switching to quick pressure release.  Remove chicken carcass and any stray pieces.  (If you have any meat left on the bones, you can remove it from them now and put it aside to add to the soup later)

Alternative method:  Cover chicken carcass with water in a large soup pot, and let simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove lid from the pressure cooker and stir in vegetables (except for peas), spices, and chicken pieces.


Put cover back on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure again for 6 minutes. (or, add ingredients to soup pot and let simmer, covered, for another half hour or so, until vegetables and chicken are cooked through).  Let pressure release naturally for 5 minutes again, before switching to quick pressure release.

Remove lid and bring soup to a boil.  My pressure cooker has a "browning" setting which brought it to boiling pretty quickly.  Stir in frozen peas and uncooked noodles.  Boil until noodles are cooked (about 5 minutes for fresh noodles).  Serve and enjoy.



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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Question

I have been packing lunches for myself and for my husband recently, and I wanted to know if my readers would like to see some of them, too?  Comment to let me know.  If you think I should keep it to the kid's lunches, that's fine, too.  Just let me know!


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Lunch 1.27.10

She may end up eating this kind of mixed up, because I know she has a peanut allergy in her classroom, but I am not sure if there is a tree nut allergy, and the granola has almonds in it... so she may end up eating the granola with lunch and some of her lunch as snack.


So, as I packed it, snack is some of my homemade granola and yogurt with juice.


Lunch is a junior banana, carrot sticks with ranch dressing, craisins & raisins, mini heart shaped tangerine tea jelly sandwiches, and some ham on skewers.


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Recipe: Whole Wheat Lasagna with homemade noodles

I wanted to make lasagna and didn't want to buy noodles, so I decided to whip out my lovely pasta machine and give it a go (with some help).





Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles

3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
~2 Tbsp water
1/4 c ground flax seed (optional)


In a bread machine, combine flours, flax seed, eggs, oil, and water.  Allow to knead until the dough is well combined and forms a ball.  It should not be sticky or too dry when you touch it. You may need to add a little water or more flour to adjust the texture.  I like to knead it for about 10 minutes.

Cover the dough ball with saran wrap and let sit for 15-30 minutes.

Keep the dough covered with saran wrap, cutting off a small piece at a time (about palm sized).  Flatten into a disc and pass through pasta machine, progressively getting thinner and thinner until the dough is very thin - setting 6 on my pasta machine.

You can cut them into any desired shape and dry, or you can use the sheets directly in lasagna, no boiling required.



Whole Wheat Turkey and Mushroom Lasagna

Meat Layer:
1 lb ground turkey
1 pkg mushrooms (I used sliced baby portobellos)
1/4 c sundried tomatoes
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 jar spaghetti sauce (any flavor - I used double garlic)

Ricotta Layer:
~15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
2 eggs

Shredded Part Skim Mozarella

Whole wheat lasagna noodles (store bought or homemade)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a food processor, chop mushrooms and sundried tomatoes finely.  In a saute pan on medium high, saute ground turkey, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes until turkey is cooked through.  Drain excess grease with a paper towel, and stir in most of the jar of pasta sauce.


Place a layer of noodles in lasagna pan, then layer meat mixture, ricotta mixture, and a little mozzarella.  Place another layer of noodles on top, then repeat with the other layers.



Repeat until all the meat and ricotta are used (I got three layers down), put another layer of noodles on top, and then top with remaining sauce and some more mozarella cheese.


Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes.  Let cool for about 5 minutes and serve.



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Monday, January 25, 2010

Lunch 1.26.10

Did not take a picture of snack today, because it's another day of oatmeal in a thermos and a juice.


But lunch is yogurt, two pieces of ham on skewers, a junior banana, carrot sticks with ranch, and craisins & raisins.


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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Lunch 1.25.10

It's a new week, and I've been grocery shopping!  These are good things.


Snack is oatmeal and a juice.


Lunch is a mini banana (not a baby banana, but they call them "junior" bananas), carrots with ranch dressing in one of the green containers, craisins & raisins in the other green container, yogurt, and whole wheat biscuits with tangerine tea jelly.


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Lunch: 1.22.10

Sorry for not posting on Friday!  I did make her lunch!

Snack was oatmeal and juice (no picture).


Lunch was applesauce, bug shaped grahams, flower shaped Good Tidings tea jelly sandwiches, and craisins & raisins.


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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Lunch 1.21.10

This week is pretty much the same thing...


Snack is oatmeal and juice.


Lunch is a yogurt, good tidings tea jelly sandwich, apples, bug shaped grahams, and craisins & raisins.


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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Lunch 1.20.10



Snack was oatmeal and a juice.


Lunch was a yogurt, a Pomegranate Vanilla Tea Jelly sandwich, bug shaped grahams, craisins & raisins, and apples.


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Lunch: 1.19.10

Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday!



Snack was oatmeal and a juice.


Lunch was a yogurt, a Good Tidings Tea Jelly sandwich, bug shaped grahams, craisins & raisins, and apples.


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Friday, January 15, 2010

Lunch: 1.15.10

Snack today is acorn shaped Good Tidings Tea Jelly Sandwiches, craisins & raisins, and juice.


Lunch is two pork & leek dumplings with Trader Ming's Gyoza dipping sauce, yogurt, a babybell, apples, and pineapple.



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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Lunch 1.14.10

Snack today is apple pieces, small heart shaped Good Tidings Tea Jelly sandwiches, and juice.


Lunch is half a kiwi, a babybell, pineapple (in the white container), yogurt, and three pork & leek dumplings with Trader Ming's Gyoza Dipping Sauce (which the girl asked for specifically, and told me that she missed when I forgot to pack it)




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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Lunch 1.13.10


Snack is pineapple, teddy bear mango ceylon tea jelly sandwich, craisins & raisins, and juice.


Lunch is some apple slices, half a kiwi, babybell, some bug shaped graham crackers, three pork & leek dumplings, remnants from the jelly sandwich (she asked for them!), and a yogurt.

As a heads up, I'll be having another giveaway of the Lunchbox Love notes from SayPlease next month!  I am loving them, and so is the girl.


Disclaimer:  I bought my own Lunchbox Love Notes, and have not been compensated in any way for my giveaways of them, nor for my use of them.  I just think they are darned cute, and the company is kind enough to provide for the giveaways.


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Monday, January 11, 2010

Lunch: 1.12.10

She'll be trying the granola for breakfast, so she ought to have a good start to the day...


Snack is pineapple, two snowflake Mango Ceylon tea jelly sandwiches, craisins & raisins, and a juice.


Lunch is three pork & leek dumplings, cran-raspberry yogurt, half a kiwi, the remnants of the tea jelly sandwich, and some apple slices.


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