Lunch: 12.8.10

Snack is some juice jigglers (strawberry banana jell-o with some Fruitables juice), apple slices, and some juice.

Lunch is homemade cheese crackers, gingerbread man cheese cut outs, carrots and ranch dressing, some lightly iced animal crackers (got a big bag on sale at Kmart last night.. they are so cute!), and the rest of the apple from snack.

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Pasta Making

This is  a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog. 

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

I've had a great time with my Atlas Pasta maker.  It's perfect for making pasta, of course, but also good for rolling out naan or tortillas, other dough.

If you have a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, they also have a pasta roller plate set that gets very good reviews.

Once you have your pasta made, you will need a drying rack, like this one.  Or, you could use a clothes drying rack like I do!

For cutting the pasta, I like the Pasta Bike, which you can adjust to different sizes for cutting.

And, if you want to make ravioli, try using this crimper for hand cut shapes - don't bother with the ravioli attachment for the Atlas.  I got it and returned it because it was a total waste of money.  The raviolis were tiny and ridiculous and the filling squished all over the place.  If you don't want to cut them by hand, try something like this or this, or if you want to go extra adorable and spend a little extra, this one makes stars!
Want to try a simpler pasta?  Spaetzle is the easiest!

Homemade pasta is fun!  You can put whatever you want into it, and even sneak in some healthy things, like beets..

Happy Holidays!

Lunch: 12.7.10

Snack today is some strawberry banana Juice Jigglers, three apple butter spritz cookies, and some mini angel shaped nutella sandwiches on fresh pain de mie, along with a juice.

Lunch is some freshly made cheddar cheese crackers, cheddar snowmen (someone gave me some food writing pens - fun!), fruit salad, and in the heart, taco meat layered with taco sauce and refried beans.

Recipe: Apple Butter Spritz Cookies

I bought myself a new cookie press because I realized that I lost the part of my old one that attaches the disk to the barrel.  Oops.  I love making spritz cookies, and to make spritz cookies, you need a cookie press.

I also attempted to make cheese crackers using the cookie press, but it kind of failed.  I ended up slicing them into circles and baking them that way, and they turned out well.  (I used the King Arthur Flour recipe I've used before).

Then I saw this recipe for Cinnamon Apple Butter Spritz cookies, and I knew I had to try it.  After all, I had some of my crockpot apple butter leftover from my apple butter pie and also my mini apple butter pies.

So, I changed the recipe a little (because my apple butter was already so flavorful!) and gave these a go.  Delicious.

Apple Butter Spritz Cookies
(modified from Wilton)

1/2 c crockpot spiced apple butter
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

 Cream together apple butter and butter.  Add sugar and egg yolk and mix until light and fluffy.  Slowly add flour until well combined.

Transfer dough in batches into a cookie press.  Press into desired shape (not all shapes worked well for me - you may need to experiment) and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.  Cool on cooling racks and enjoy.

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Cookie Cutters!

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog!

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

I have a wall of cookie cutters in my house.  Seriously.  A giant peg board,  covered in cookie cutters.  I need better hooks, so they are always falling off, and are not always prettily put away, but some day I'll get them up there and take a picture for you.  It's impressive.  I've been collecting for a long time.

Cookie cutters are wonderful for lunches.  They can make boring things interesting.  Nothing like a carrot flower to perk up a carrot!

I love this little butterfly set, but then again, I have a true butterfly lover!

These are from a larger butterfly set, but I used a mini one on the babybell

I don't own this fairy tale set (yet) but it looks lovely!

Like to spell messages in lunches?  Here's one big alphabet set from Wilton, and another one, too.  I have a large alphabet set and a mini one, and both have their uses.

These mini animal cracker cookie cutters would be perfect for lunches, don't you think?

Whatever you get, cookie cutters are good fun, for way more than just cookies!

Happy Holidays!

Lunch: 12.6.10

Happy Monday!

Today's snack is some oatmeal (I was given some Quaker - but I've made my own before!) and a juice.

Lunch is a baked potato, taco meat, fat free refried beans, cheese in the little container, and some fruit salad.

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Breakfast Fun

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog!


I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

It's not all about the lunch.  I like to send The Girl off to school with a good breakfast in her tummy, too.  And sometimes, we also have breakfast items in snack, or lunch, or for dinner.

Because, really?  Who doesn't love waffles or pancakes?

I enjoy Nordicware Silver Dollar Pancake pans.  They make small, English muffin sized pancakes (or waffles!), which are perfect for a good breakfast sandwich or a stack of yummy breakfast fun.  If you want something more than the plain pancake, there are different designs available, too.  I have the barnyard animals pan, but they also have a zoo animal pan, a bug pan, a Christmas design pan, and a snowflake design pan available.

For a family breakfast, I love my griddle.  I have the Presto Cool Touch griddle, and we use it almost every weekend.  And sometimes for breakfast for dinner, as well.  It's nice and big, so you can make lots of pancakes (or eggs, or bacon, or french toast) on it.

Another quick favorite around our house is eggs.  The Girl loves eggs - scrambled, fried, over easy, soft boiled, hard boiled, poached... she really could eat them any which way.

I recently got her this adorable egg cup with feet, and it's a hit.  And though it seems silly, this little egg timer that you put right in your pot with your eggs removes the guesswork from boiling eggs to your desired point - it changes color (from red to purple) for soft boiled, medium boiled, and hard boiled.

These slick silicone egg poachers work really well, too.  They just float right in your water, and the poached egg pops right out.

And what if you want just a really good non-stick pan for your eggs (and many other things)?  In my opinion, the best non-stick pan out there is Scanpan, and this 8" frying pan is perfect for an egg or two.  It is made in Denmark, is completely BPA free, and has a titanium-ceramic nonstick coating, which can withstand metal utensil use, and can be cleaned in the dishwasher.  How great is that?

Enjoy contemplating breakfast, and Happy Holidays!