Lunches: 9.7.17

We are leaving for a vacation tomorrow (more on that, I hope, while we are gone!) - so the food is low in the house on purpose...

Using things in the fridge up is a fun way to pack lunches...

Egg: 0g, apple slices: 10g, yogurt: 9g, muffins: 16g (4 g each).  Snack: 28g

The Boy has Breakfast for lunch again.  He has apple slices, a hard boiled egg, yogurt, and muffins - and a cereal bar for snack.

The Girl wanted more than a hard boiled egg, so I made her a quick egg salad sandwich on homemade bread, apple slices, and Inner Peas.  She also has an audition after school for the school play, so I included a snack of a cereal bar for her, too.

Operation Clean Out the Fridge is fun...

Lunches: 9.6.17

I made a fresh loaf of bread last night from this King Arthur Flour recipe (baked it in my oven, not bread machine, replaced some all-purpose flour with white whole wheat), so we have nice sandwiches for lunches today.

Sandwich: 40g, apples: 10g, Inner Peas: 8g

The Boy has a ham and cheese sandwich with hummus, along with apple slices, and Inner Peas.  His snack is a cereal bar.

The Girl has a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo, along with apple slices, and Inner Peas.

Lunch: 8.30.17

The Girl saved her lunch from yesterday, because they had a free Freshman BBQ, but The Boy has a fresh lunch for today.

Sandwich: 35g, string cheese: 1g, apple slices: 10g, Inner Peas: 8g

He has a sandwich on homemade bread, with hummus, ham, and spinach, along with a string cheese, apple slices, and Inner Peas.

Today is the first day where all of the students are in each school, instead of just first years... so I am looking forward to hearing how it went!!

And so it begins... First Day of school 2017: 8.29.17

We had many adventures over the summer, and I packed lunch for most of them... but I just took the summer off from blogging here.  I continue to write the Mealtime column for KidsVT - so be sure to check that out!

But, here we go... The Girl is entering high school, and The Boy is starting in Middle school!  Unbelievable!  They both have half days today, because they are both in transition years, and we are not entirely sure that they need lunches, but better safe than sorry!

The biggest change that has happened around here this summer is that The Boy is now on an insulin pump!  This will help his independence a lot - lessening trips to the nurse for insulin injections, he can just do it himself by plugging numbers into his pump.  Very cool.  (The nurse, of course, is still there for assistance, so he's not all on his own yet)

For this first (half) day of school, I made some fresh pain de mie (using this recipe for Bee Keeper's Pain de Mie from King Arthur Flour - lovely, but I will modify with some whole wheat flour next time).

Sandwich: 40g, cheese: 1g, apple slices: 10g, sesame sticks: 14g

The Boy has a sandwich on pain de mie with hummus, spinach, and ham, along with a string cheese, apple slices, and sesame sticks.

The Girl has a sandwich on pain de mie with mayo, spinach, and ham, along with a string cheese, cherries, and sesame sticks.

And... if we have packed preemptively, they can eat these when they get home.

Lunches: 1.10.17

I was out of bread yesterday, so I threw some King Arthur Flour Oatmeal sandwich bread in the bread machine overnight.  I don't normally bake in the bread machine, only using it to mix, but it is really nice to wake up to the scent of fresh bread wafting through the air.  It is a pleasant alarm clock.

For lunches, we kept it simple.

Sandwich: 45g, melon: 5g, raisins: 8g

The Boy has some melon,  raisins, and a sandwich on homemade bread with peanut butter and jelly.  His snack is seaweed snacks (no picture, 1g)

The Girl has an orange, raisins, and a peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread.

Lunches: 10.28.16

Happy Friday!

I made a fresh loaf of King Arthur's Bake-along for the month, Everyday Whole Wheat bread.  I have gotten lazy and haven't been making bread for the past few months, and I want to get back to it.  It's super easy (dough in my bread machine), and the family loves it.  Thank you, KAF, for the reminder.

Sandwich: 40g, apple slices: 8g, grapes: 5g

The Boy has a sandwich with Muhammara and ham, along with apple slices and grapes.  His snack is a granola bar (not pictured, 24g).

The Girl has a sandwich with Muhammara and ham, with apple slices, grapes, and a granola bar.

Lunches: 10.25.16

I had Monday off, so I decided it was high time I made some bread!  It's been too long... and I need to get back at it!  The timing was perfect, too, because King Arthur Flour is having a Bakealong challenge, for their Everyday Whole-Grain Bread.  Wonderful.

So, the kids have homemade bread in their lunches!

Sandwich: 40g, apple slices: 8g, carrots: 2g, star cookies: 16g

The Boy has a sandwich with muhammara and ham, along with apple slices, carrots, and yogurt star cookies.  His snack is sesame sticks (not pictured, 10g).

The Girl as a sandwich with muhammara and ham, with apple slices, carrots, and yogurt star cookies.

Recipe: Lemon Berry Mousse Tart

Whoa!  Where has summer gone?  I have been so very busy, but I've still been cooking!

This is a recipe I made for the 4th of July (see, told you I've been crazy busy!  At least it's still July when I get to blogging this!) My sister's birthday is July 1, so I usually make a dessert of some sort to celebrate.  She loves citrus and berries, so I came up with this recipe for her.

And wow, is it great.  Seriously.

You could make this mousse separately and just serve it as part of a trifle or a parfait, too!

The crust I used was a variation on King Arthur Flour's Citrus scented tart dough - except I added a LOT more lemon.  A lot.  It had a real citrus punch, and was really wonderful.

So, if you want to make a really special dessert, try this one!  It is going onto the list of "Make Again" recipes, for sure!  I used a jar of pre-made lemon curd from Trader Joe's, but you could make your own if you desire.  BUT - try the stuff from Trader Joe's if you have one near you.  Great stuff.

Lemon Berry Mousse Tart

Lemon Mousse
1 (10.5 oz) jar lemon curd
1 c whipping cream
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Lemon Tart Dough

1 c sugar
3 Tbsp lemon zest
4 3/4 c All-Purpose Flour (adjust if dough is too sticky or too dry)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c  unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 to 2 Tbsp water (adjust if dough is too sticky or too dry) 

1-2 cups assorted berries (I used blueberries and strawberries)

To make mousse:

Whip cream until it forms peaks.  Fold in the lemon curd until well incorporated.  Add extra lemon (zest and juice) - adjust to your taste.  We like it super lemony, so we went all out.  Set mousse aside in fridge until the crust is ready.

To make crust:
Mix together sugar and lemon zest in a food processor.  Add the flour and salt, and mix until well combined.  Add the butter, one small chunk at a time, until the texture of the dough resembles rolled oats.  Add the egg and egg yolks and mix well.  Add water until the dough sticks together when pressed between your fingers.  Separate into two parts, pat into disk shapes, and wrap in saran wrap or parchment paper.  Cool for at least 30 minutes.

After cooling, place each disk into the bottom of a 11"-13"tart pan (preferably with a removable bottom - I used 1x13" tart pan and 2 rectangular tart pans.  Press dough down evenly around the shell - really press it down so that it bakes up evenly.  If you have a tart tamper, this is the perfect time to use it.  You can also use the bottom of a heavy glass (put parchment on top of the dough to make it easier to press down)

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line the tart shells with parchment paper or waxed paper filled with pie weights, or dried beans.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the tart crust is golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Assemble Tarts:

Once the tart shells are completely cool, fill with the mousse (I piped it in to make sure it was even).  Top with assorted berries, and chill until ready to serve.

Lunches: 11.4.14

I made this King Arthur Flour Microbrewery Honey Wheat Bread the other day, and I am absolutely going to throw another loaf in tonight.  It is wonderful! Instead of orange juice, I used apple cider, because that is what I had on hand.

Sandwich: 35g, cheese stick: 1g, strawberries: 9g, grapes: 5g

The Boy has a sandwich on the bread with hummus and turkey, a cheese stick, grapes, and a couple white chocolate dipped strawberries.  His snack is an applesauce (not pictured, 16g).

The Girl also has a sandwich on the bread with hummus and turkey, a cheese stick, a couple clementines, and white chocolate dipped strawberries.  Her snack is an applesauce (not pictured).

Recipe: Orange Maple Granola

Back-to-school season always puts me in the mood to make granola.  It's a great start to the day, and the kids love it.

My go-to recipe is my Grandma's granola.  I stand by her adage that if you are eating more than 1/4 c, you are overeating.  She was Swedish, and believed in "lagom" - not too much, not too little, but just enough.  It's really a wonderfully Swedish ideal .  1/4 c is the lagom amount of granola for breakfast.  Add some yogurt, and you've got a meal.

Granola in Grand Central Station

When we were recently in New York City, my mother and The Boy got parfaits for breakfast with pine nut honey walnut granola.  I wanted to give a nod to that, but make it my own.  I grabbed some sunflower seeds (because pine nuts are six times as expensive as sunflower seeds) and walnuts, but decided to use maple instead of honey, because I am a Vermonter, after all.

The Boy has an adoration for marmalade, so I used some in this granola.  I love how it turned out!

Granola is a wonderful thing to experiment with, and you can really play with the flavors a lot.  I hope that you give this variation a try!  I would love to get some pine nuts to make some granola at some point ... it really was delicious granola.

Orange Maple Granola

4 c rolled oats
1/2 c wheat germ
1/2 c dried milk
1 c sunflower seeds
1 c chopped walnuts
1 c shredded coconut (I used unsweetened - if you use sweetened, the granola would be sweeter. You could reduce the maple in that case)

1/4 c orange marmalade
1/4 c maple syrup (real syrup only, please!)
1/4 c vegetable oil

1/2 c dried fruit (I used King Arthur Flour's Fruitcake Fruit Blend)
1/4 c cinnamon chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 F.  Stir together the rolled oats, wheat germ, dried milk, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and coconut in a large mixing bowl.  Combine the marmalade, maple syrup, and vegetable oil.

Before mixing the liquid into the dry ingredients

Pour the liquid over the oat mixture and combine very well.

Spread on a large sheet pan (or two half sheet pans, or any combination of pans that will fit your mixture in a thin layer).  Bake for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 10-12 minutes.  Watch it carefully!  As soon as it looks toasted and smells good (and oh, does it smell good!), it is ready to take out of the oven.  Burned granola is a very sad thing.

A variation of Grandma's Granola, in a spoon my Daddy made for me.. 

Once the granola is removed from the oven, allow to cool before stirring in the dried fruit and cinnamon chips.  Transfer to well sealed containers and enjoy, 1/4 c at a time.

Lunches for an Outing: Camp Drop-off and another Trip to the Montshire Museum - 7.13.14

The Girl is off to her first ever sleep-away camp!  She worked very hard to sell a ton of girl scout cookies to earn some of the camp tuition, and she carefully chose the camp she wanted to attend.  She ended up choosing a swimming and water based camp, and she couldn't have been more excited.

It turned out that the camp was only about 15 minutes away from the Montshire Museum, which we visited on Friday.  I asked a friend to join us on the trip, because I know that he adores fossils.

Basically all of the pictures I got at the museum are of him playing with the exhibits.  It was wonderful.

For lunches, I packed a caramelized onion cheddar sandwich on a sandwich thin, a couple Saturn peaches, ginger cat cookies, and cherries.  We also had some cheese puffs on the side.  It was a happy lunch.

Happily, the Montshire is also around the corner from King Arthur Flour, so my friend and I got some fuel for the drive home.

The Girl said that she was worried about going to camp for only one reason - she would miss my cooking.

... then, she saw that they were planning on serving pizza for dinner, and she didn't seem so worried anymore.

Her brother is going to miss her this week..

I hope that she has an amazing week at camp, and I think we might stop by the museum again when we pick her up on Saturday!

Family Lunches: 5.15.14

I love fresh bread. Sometimes, I get out of the habit of making it, and we have store bought bread for a while.  Then, I make it again and vow to never buy bread again.  I know the current homemade jag won't be likely to last forever, but I am certainly enjoying the bread right now.  I made King Arthur Flour's recipe for whole wheat pain de mie.  It is just the perfect texture for sandwiches, and we all love it so much.

Sandwich: 50g, carrots: 1g, babybell: 1g, apple slices: 8g, rainbow goldfish crackers: 12g

The Boy has a pesto, Muenster, salami, ham, and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat pain de mie, baby carrots, a baby bell, rainbow Goldfish crackers, and apple slices.  His snack is yogurt (not pictured, 24g).

The Girl has a pesto, Muenster, salami, ham, and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat pain de mie, baby carrots, a baby bell, rainbow Goldfish crackers, and orange slices.  Her snack is also a yogurt (not pictured).

I have a pesto, Muenster, salami, ham, and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat pain de mie, baby carrots, a baby bell, cherry tomatoes, and orange slices.

Family Lunches: 5.7.14

Happy Wednesday!  I made homemade pizza for dinner tonight, using a great dough recipe from King Arthur Flour, and we have leftovers for lunches.

Pizza: 40g, honeydew melon: 5g, apple slices: 4g

The Boy has a slice of cheese pizza, a slice of barbecue chicken pizza, honeydew melon, and apple slices.  His snack is a granola bar (not pictured, 24g)

The Girl has a slice of cheese pizza and a slice of barbecue chicken pizza, apple slices, and a babybell cheese.  Her snack is an applesauce and a banana (not pictured).

The Hubby has a slice of barbecue chicken, a slice of Buffalo chicken, and a slice of cheese pizza, along with apple slices and honeydew melon.

I have a slice of Buffalo chicken, a slice of barbecue chicken, and a piece of cheese pizza, with honeydew melon and apple slices.

May the Fourth Be With You: Star Wars Breakfast and a Blog Hop!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day, everyone.  As a happily admitted geek, I couldn't let the day pass without some sort of celebration, even if it is a Sunday, and I won't be making lunches.  Breakfast it is!

Image from Wikipedia

... And what food is more Star Wars than cinnamon rolls?  Thanks, Princess Leia.

I won't lie.  I totally wanted her hair when I was a kid.  Unfortunately, though my hair is long, it is very fine and thin, and when I try to do Princess Leia buns, I end up with tiny little nubs smaller than my fist.  *sigh*  I guess I could never be a bad-ass rebel Princess.

So, I make my Leia Cinnamon Buns in the more satisfying edible version.

I modified a recipe from King Arthur Flour for my cinnamon buns.  (The dough is pretty much the same as their recipe, except I made the dough in my bread machine, but I modified the filling)

Leia Cinnamon Buns
(modified from King Arthur Flour)

Dough
1 1/8 c water
6 Tbsp butter, room temperature
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 c dry milk
1/2 c instant potato flakes
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp yeast

Filling
1/4 c butter, melted
3/4 c King Arthur Flour Baker's Cinnamon Filling
3 Tbsp water
1/4 c King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Mini Baking chips (optional)

or

1/4 c butter, melted
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Mini Baking chips (optional)

Place dough ingredients in bread machine in the order indicated by your bread machine's instructions.  Set to dough setting and let go through to the end of the cycle.  (You can also make the dough by hand or stand-mixer).

Buttery

Prepare two 9" cake pans by lightly greasing or spraying with nonstick spray.  When first rise is done, transfer dough to a lightly greased work surface.  Roll out to about a 16" x 12" rectangle.  Spread melted butter on top of the rectangle.

If using the baker's cinnamon filling, mix the dry filling with 3 Tbsp water to form a paste.  Spread evenly over rectangle and sprinkle with the cinnamon baking chips.  If using the cinnamon/brown sugar mixture, sprinkle both evenly over the buttered rectangle and then top with the cinnamon baking chips.

Roll tightly, the long way, to form a tight log.  Pinch the seam closed.  Cut into 16 even pieces using a sharp serrated knife.  Place 8 pieces into each prepared pan.

All risen

 Cover with a towel to rise until nice and puffy - 1-2 hours (this will depend on your yeast, the temperature in your kitchen, and any other number of variables).

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are browned, and the centers are lightly golden brown.

Out on the plate

Your favorite Princess's bun, ready to eat

The Force did it... the force of my mouth.  Yum yum.

Turn out onto a plate and serve (warm is best!)

Head on over to Keitha's Chaos to see what Star Wars fun she has in store for you, and on through the hop by the Bento Blogger & Friends.

Time to watch our own Star Wars marathon (original trilogy only, thanks) - and May the Fourth Be With You.