Monday, February 27, 2012

Lunch for the Nature Lady: 2.28.12

My friend Lisa, of Explayration, AKA The Nature Lady, asked if I could make her lunch tomorrow for an unexpected day at work.  The kids aren't in school, so I thought, why not?

I gave her a little jar of leftover soup, along with this lovely lunch.
She has a couple pieces of no-knead oat bread with some Price Chopper Strawberry & Cream Spread, grapes, watermelon hearts, some ruffled potato chips, and some mango from Peeled Snacks.  (Review coming soon!)
I think that's a pretty good lunch for a Nature Lady and her day at vacation day camp.  :)


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Recipe: Pressure Cooker Potato Cheddar Cider Soup

I saw this recipe for Cheddar-Ale Soup on Pinterest, and thought that I would put my twist on it.
Served with No-Knead Oat Bread from King Arthur Flour
I had some Woodchuck Hard Cider in the fridge that I thought would be a good compliment, and I didn't want to buy pre-cooked potatoes, so I turned to me previous (and totally delicious, if I do say so myself!) Pressure Cooker Potato & Ham Soup to use it as a base for alterations using fresh potatoes and quick, convenient cooking!


Pressure Cooker Potato Cheddar Cider Soup

1 large onion, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 box (~4 c) vegetable broth
1 12-oz bottle Woodchuck hard cider (or non-alcoholic apple cider, if you prefer)
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese (Cabot preferred!), shredded
~ 2 tsp salt, to taste

In the pot of  a pressure cooker, saute the onion and celery in the oil until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, the broth, vinegar, and the bottle of hard cider.  Cook on low pressure for 5 minutes, and then allow pressure to release naturally.
After cooking, before pureeing.
Puree using an immersion blender (or by transferring to a regular blender, but this could be treacherous, as things cooked in the pressure cooker are extra hot!!), then stir in the cheese until melted. 
No-Knead Oat Bread from King Arthur Flour


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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Giveaway - King Arthur Flour WINNER!

Image courtesy King Arthur Flour
Thanks to everyone who entered my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

As chosen by Random.org, the winner is #23, *~*~*Stephani*~*~*:
I love King Arthur! :) I'm not a berry person at all. I think the only fruit pie I'll eat it apple. I'm more of a Pecan Pie or Chocolate Cream pie kinda gal!
Congratulations!  I'll send you an email to get your contact information, so that I can send it on to the good folks at King Arthur Flour so that they can get your prize right out to you. 

I've got another review & giveaway coming soon, so stay tuned!


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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Lunch: 2.24.12

There's still time to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

The Girl's snack for Friday before break is a couple pancakes with strawberry & cream spread from Price Chopper.

Her lunch is a plum, apples from Peeled Snacks (watch out for a review on these coming soon!), a ham sandwich on whole wheat bread, pretzels, and a babybell.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.24.12

So happy it's Friday!  The kids are off from school for the next week and a half - and they are so ready for this break!  Don't forget to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!
Pancakes with strawberry spread: 35g
The Boy's snack is a couple pancakes and some strawberry & cream spread from Price Chopper.
Peeled Fruit Bananas: 19g, watermelon: 5g, sandwich: 25g, pretzels: 12g, cheese: 1g
His lunch is some banana peeled snacks (review on these coming soon!), watermelon flowers, a ham sandwich on whole wheat bread, some pretzel sticks, and a babybell.


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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Lunch: 2.23.12

There's still time to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

The Girl's snack is some homemade granola.

Her lunch is some steamed broccoli, strawberries, apple slices, a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, and some pretzel sticks.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.23.12

There's still time to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway! Don't miss your chance - it's a good one!
Granola: 20g - a pretty good educated guess
The Boy's snack is some homemade granola.  I'm out of yogurt, and the kids have break next week, so it's not really the best time to make some... so I hope that they enjoy the plain granola. 
Watermelon: 5g, apple: 5g, sandwich: 25g, babybell: 1g, pretzels: 12g
Lunch is watermelon hearts, apple slices, a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, pretzel sticks, and a babybell.


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Recipe: Peanut-Sesame Noodles with Broccoli Slaw

There's still plenty of time to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

My parents went out of town, and gave me a big bag of produce so that it wouldn't go bad while they are gone.  In the big bag was plenty of broccoli slaw.  Mmmmm.

I saw this recipe for cold sesame noodles on Pinterest and I really wanted to use it as a starting point for something with the broccoli slaw.  I wanted to make homemade noodles.  You could easily use store bought spaghetti.

I've made peanut noodles before, but I wanted to try a different recipe.  This one called for tahini, which I happen to have, and need to use.  There you go.  And, it's always fun to make healthy food for kids - and with kids!  Wish I'd gotten some pictures of The Boy helping me make these noodles!  He did a stellar job.

Peanut-Sesame Noodles with Broccoli Slaw

Homemade Noodles:
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
~2 Tbsp water



Sesame Peanut Sauce:
3 Tbsp tahini
1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tsp fresh ground ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sweet Thai chili sauce

2-3 c broccoli slaw
cilantro (optional)
sesame seeds (optional)




To make the noodles - Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix until combined.  Add extra water if it's needed to make the dough hold together.  Form into a ball and wrap in saran wrap to rest for 15-30 minutes.  Using plenty of flour, roll as thin as possible - to 6 on my Atlas pasta maker - and dust the sheet with flour before running though the thin noodle cutter (spaghetti) in the machine.  Cook in a large pot of boiling water for about 3-5 minutes, or until al dente.  Drain.
To make the sauce - heat the oil in a sauce pan and cook the ginger and garlic for about 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and stir in the additional ingredients.
They boy's bowl
Pour the sauce over the noodles, and stir in the broccoli slaw.  Chill if desired.  Serve topped with a sprinkling of cilantro, sesame seeds, and extra Thai chili sauce if desired.

Mine... mmmm!


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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Lunch: 2.22.12

Don't forget to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveway!

The Girl's snack is an apple stuffed with granola - this went over super well in Tuesday's snack.

Her lunch is a couple tilapia fish sticks from this recipe, which the kids flipped for, along with some heart shaped raviolis from Costco, strawberries, and grapes.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.22.12

Happy Wednesday!  Don't miss your chance to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!
Apple + Granola: 20g (this is a good guess...didn't guess high enough yesterday, because his lunch blood sugar was very high)
The Boy loved his apple stuffed with granola, so he has another one for snack.  His apple has to be cut into quarters because he's lost his top front teeth recently...

Raviolis: 30g, fish sticks: 5g, grapes: 6g, strawberries: 6g
Lunch is a couple tilapia fish sticks (made according to this recipe slightly modified - WINNER), some heart raviolis from Costco, strawberries, and grapes.


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Monday, February 20, 2012

Lunch: 2.21.12

Don't miss your chance to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

The Girl's Tuesday snack is a hollowed out apple with homemade granola in it.

Her lunch is a couple sesame Wasa crackers, grapes, strawberries, and some homemade mac & cheese with ham, made according to this recipe.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.21.12

Don't miss your chance to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway!
Apple + Granola: 17g
The Boy's Tuesday snack is a hollowed out apple with some homemade granola stuffed into it.

Mac & Cheese w/ham: 20g, hard boiled egg: 0g, pretzels: 9g, grapes: 6g, strawberries: 6g
His lunch is some leftover mac & cheese (made via this method) with ham - which The Boy swears he will eat cold! - along with strawberries and grapes, a hard boiled egg and pretzels.


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National Cherry Pie Day - Chocolate Cherry Pie & King Arthur Flour Giveaway!

A while back, I got an email from the wonderful people at King Arthur Flour, inviting me to take part in a celebration for National Cherry Pie Day.  Of course, I accepted!

I received a great box o' goodies from them to aid in the celebration - a 5 lb bag of King Arthur Flour, a package of their pie filling enhancer, a pie essentials dvd, an adjustable silicone pie crust shield, and the current copy of Baking Sheet, their recipe "magazine."
 
For my cherry pie, I wanted to do something different.  I am not a huge fan of goopy cherry pie, the kind you can make by simply tossing the canned pie filling into a pie crust and calling it a day.  I wanted to incorporate some creaminess - and why not some chocolate? - into my pie.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any fresh cherries.  Nor could I get my hands on any frozen cherries.  So, I picked up a couple cans of sweet dark pitted cherries, and I rinsed the heavy syrup off before using them.

I found a sour cream cherry pie recipe that I used as a starting point, and from there, I made it my own!

For the pie crust, I used this quick recipe I found... it rolled out well, and I hope that my pie crust curse is really over, and that Thanksgiving wasn't a happy fluke!


Chocolate Cherry Pie

1 pie crust
2 cans sweet dark cherries, drained and rinsed
6 oz plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 3/4 c sugar
3/4 c flour
1/4 c cocoa
1 Tbsp espresso powder (optional)
1/4 c pie filling enhancer

Topping:
1/4 c yogurt covered dried cherries
1/4 c dried cherries & berries
1/2 c flour
2 Tbsp lemon juice powder

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Roll the pie crust out thinly and place in a 9" pie dish.  Place the drained and rinsed cherries into the crust.

In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (not the topping ingredients), and whisk until smooth.  Scoop into the pie to cover the cherries and smooth the top.

Combine the topping ingredients in a food processor until they form a coarse crumb.  Spread on top of the chocolate and cherries.  Cover the edges of the pie crust with a silicone pie crust shield, and bake at 400 F for 10 minutes.  Lower the heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the filling is set.

Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate before serving.
A little gooey, but Oh-My-Goodness Yum!

******
Now for the exciting part!

The good people at King Arthur Flour are offering one of my lucky readers the chance to win the items I listed above - a 5 lb bag of King Arthur Flour, a package of their pie filling enhancer, a pie essentials dvd, an adjustable silicone pie crust shield, and the current copy of Baking Sheet, their recipe "magazine." 

To enter - let me know how you like your cherry pie (or if you don't like cherry pie, let me know what kind of pie is your favorite!).   I encourage you to "like" them on Facebook, because they are cool, but I won't make that a requirement.  (While you are at it, if you don't "like" Lunches Fit For a Kid on Facebook yet, you should.  This is also not required, but I love to see you all over there!  It puts a big smile on my face.)

As always, I need a way to contact you.  Anonymous commenters, with no contact information, cannot win.  If I can't contact you, I can't get your information to King Arthur Flour, and you can't get your prize.  Simple as that.  US entries only, please.

One comment per person, please.

I will choose a winner, using Random.org, on Sunday, February 26th at 7 PMish, EST.  If the winner doesn't get in touch with me within 48 hours, I reserve the right to pick a new winner.  Good luck!

*Disclosure:  I received the items listed above free of charge from King Arthur Flour, but I was in no other way compensated.  All opinions are my own.


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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lunch: 2.20.12


Snack for the Girl is apple slices and Biscoff.

Her lunch is Sesame Wasa crackers, turkey, a babybell, strawberries, grapes, and a couple Sunkist fruit leather hearts.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.20.12

Happy Monday!  The kids have school, though I am off work for President's Day.   Their break is next week.  Day of fun for me!
Apple slices: 8g, Biscoff: 8g
Snack for The Boy is apple slices and some Biscoff.
Wasa: 18g, cheese: 1g, turkey: 1g, grapes: 6g, strawberries: 6g, fruit leather hearts: 4g
His lunch is two sesame Wasa crackers, swiss cheese, turkey, strawberries, grapes, and a couple hearts cut from Sunkist fruit leather.


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Giveaway: Crunch a Color WINNER!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Crunch a Color Giveaway!

As chosen by Random.org, the winner is #2, MJ/Sweetwater Cloth:
My kids are really into games right now, so this would be awesome for them! We're vegetarian, so my kids eat their colors pretty well already, but I'm sure there are few that would be eaten with more enthusiasm if there was a game to go with it! :)
Congratulations!  If you email your contact information to me at  lunchfitforakid@gmail.com as soon as possible, I'll send it right along to the good folks at Crunch a Color and they will get your prize to you!


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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Lunch: 2.17.12

Don't miss your chance to enter my Crunch a Color giveaway - I'm picking a winner on Sunday!

The Girl's Friday snack is apple slices and Biscoff.

Her lunch is strawberries, grapes, a small banana, a flower shaped swirl bread sandwich with turkey and cheese, and a Krackel from her Valentine's stash.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.17.12

Hooray for Friday!  Don't miss your chance to enter my Crunch a Color giveaway - I'm picking a winner on Sunday!
Apple slices: 6g, Biscoff: 7g
The Boy's snack is some apple slices and some biscoff spread to put on them.
Strawberries: 7g, grapes: 5g, banana: 25g, Sandwich: 20g, Krackel: 10g
His lunch is a small banana, grapes, strawberries, a flower shaped swirl bread turkey and Swiss sandwich, and a Krackel from his Valentine's treat bag.


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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Lunch: 2.16.12

Don't miss your chance to enter my Crunch a Color giveaway!

The Girl has a whole wheat tortilla with some Biscoff spread and raspberry jelly, along with a slice of apple.

Her lunch is flower shaped swirl bread with turkey, along with a few pieces of heart shaped cheddar, a kiwi, apple slices, mandarin oranges, and a fun size krackel from her Valentine's Day treat bag.


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Lunch for The Boy: 2.16.12

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win Crunch a Color!  It's easy to enter and it's a really fun game. 
Biscoff & Jelly Tortilla: 30g
The Boy's snack is a whole wheat tortilla with some Biscoff spread and raspberry jelly.
Apple slices: 6g, oranges: 15g, swirl bread & cheese: 35g, pepperoni: 0g, watermelon: 4g, krackel: 5g
His lunch is star shaped swirl bread, swiss cheese, some heart shaped pepperoni, apple slices, mandarin oranges, watermelon, and a treat from his Valentine's bag - a mini Krackel.


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Lunch: 2.15.12

Don't miss your chance to win Crunch a Color in my Giveaway!

The Girl's snack is a hard boiled egg and some pretzel sticks.

Her lunch is a plum, a kiwi, a turkey sandwich on star shaped swirl bread, leftover tater tots, yogurt covered pretzel rings, and a treat from her Valentine's bag - a cookie from her teacher.


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