Back to School with our Easy Lunch Box and Deliciousness!

Make sure you enter my Food Should Taste Good Tortilla Chip Giveaway!


First Day of 2nd grade for the Girl, packed in our Easy Lunchbox!

Snack is in one of my older bento containers - a chewy granola bar, a spotted fruit roll up, and a juice.

Lunch is a chocolate chip mini bagel (store bought) with cinnamon plum tea jelly, a heart shaped hard boiled egg, a couple cheddar cheese crackers, homemade greek yogurt with vanilla syrup stirred in, some carrots with ranch, and a mini cherry almond princess cake.

Here's to another fantastic school year!  Happy Lunch Packing!

(This post shared on What's For Lunch At Our House)

Recipe: King Arthur Flour Chewy Granola Bars

I was perusing the King Arthur Flour website, and found this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars - no nuts required, no peanut butter either (and while I *think* the Girl's classroom doesn't have any nut allergies this year, just to be safe...), and great reviews.  Sounds like a winner to me!  I made some granola bars last year, but I was kind of disappointed in them.  These look much better.
If you follow the link, you will see the King Arthur Flour Recipe.

I did not have their sticky bun sugar, so I used the substitution recommended in the side bar of the recipe.

For add-ins, I used a mixture of chopped dates, jumbo raisins (yellow and regular), cinnamon chips, cinnamon flav-r-bites, and beveri flax seed with berries.  For the liquid sugar, I used real maple syrup.  Because I'm a Vermonter, and maple calls to me.  I did not add in the extra 1/3 c of sugar.

I lined the pan with foil and sprayed it with cooking spray, and pressed the mixture down pretty tightly before baking.

They turned out perfectly!  I can't wait to pack these in school lunches (and my own, too!).  I'll wrap them up and keep them in the freezer.

Mommy & Daddy's Lunch: 8.31.10

It's the last lunches before The Girl returns to school, just for Daddy and I.  And they are going to be good ones.  Come Wednesday, it's Back to School with our Easy Lunchboxes!  Daddy and I will still get lunches, though!

Don't miss my Food Should Taste Good Tortilla Chips Giveaway!  I'm picking a winner on September 3.  So enter!  It's easy!

Elephants like peanuts.

Daddy and I each have a turkey sandwich on a mini bagel, some baby carrots, slices of apple, a couple homemade cheddar cheese crackers, a couple mini cherry almond princess cakes, and in the animal containers, some peanuts.

Taking one for the team... I dislike pink, but I took the pink doggie for my peanuts...

Recipe: Homemade Instant Oatmeal

The Girl loves oatmeal for breakfast.  But, we've gone terribly wrong somewhere along the way.  She doesn't like honest-to-goodness cooked on the stove, old fashioned oatmeal.  No matter how much maple and brown sugar I put in it.  Nope.

She only likes instant oatmeal.

And that gets expensive.

So, I decided to see how homemade instant oatmeal works out.

Please ignore the directions on here - use a 1:1 ratio instead.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal (Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Variation)

3 1/2 c quick cooking oats
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c beveri flax seed milled with berries
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 c dry milk

In a food processor or a blender, pulverize 1/2 c of the oats.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Store in an air tight container.  For each bowl of oatmeal, add 1/4 c of the mixture to a bowl.  Pour 1/4 c -1/3 c boiling water over it (depending on how thick you like your oatmeal), stir, and let sit for about 2 minutes. 

The variations are endless - Stir in what you like, make it to your own desired sweetness, add peanut butter for a really interesting treat!

The recipe as written, per 1/4 cup mix =

Nutrition Facts
20 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		86.4
Total Fat		1.8 g
	Saturated Fat	0.3 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.5 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		146.5 mg
Potassium		89.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		17.4 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.3 g
	Sugars	7.6 g
Protein		3.0 g

Vitamin A	15.2 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	18.3 %
Vitamin C	0.1 %
Vitamin D	0.6 %
Vitamin E	0.5 %
Calcium	9.8 %
Copper	3.1 %
Folate	12.1 %
Iron	18.7 %
Magnesium	5.6 %
Manganese	26.6 %
Niacin	13.5 %
Pantothenic Acid	1.8 %
Phosphorus	6.8 %
Riboflavin	8.3 %
Selenium	10.3 %
Thiamin	17.5 %
Zinc	2.9 %

Mommy & Daddy's Lunch (plus Lunch for a Friend): 8.30.10

Don't forget to enter my Food Should Taste Good Tortilla Chip Giveaway!

I've got Daddy's and my lunches in our Easy Lunchboxes today, and also lunch for a friend who is staying with us right now.

Daddy has a ham and cheese sandwich on pain de mie, with cheddar cheese crackers, homemade greek yogurt with maple syrup stirred in, and some apple slices.

I have the same thing as Daddy.

Our Friend has a turkey and cheese sandwich on pain de mie, cheddar cheese crackers, homemade greek yogurt with maple syrup, some homemade polka dot fruit roll ups, and a couple apple slices.

Lunches for an Outing: 8.30.10

Don't miss my Food Should Taste Good Tortilla Chip Giveaway!!!

Ok, so not really an outing, but a fun and different day - the kids are hanging out with our wonderful friend for the day, and I'm sure she'll have some good fun with them!

The Girl has a ham and cheese sandwich on pain de mie (my best loaf yet!  Very very soft and delicious), some cheddar cheese crackers, homemade greek yogurt with some maple stirred in, and a polka dotted fruit roll up.  Her sandwich has an E for her first name.

The Boy has a cheese sandwich on pain de mie (with a P for his name), some cheddar cheese crackers, homemade greek yogurt with some maple stirred in, and a polka dotted fruit roll up.

Recipe: Polka Dot Fruit Roll Ups!

I got the recipe from Fix Me a Snack - and I knew I had to try it!

I used unsweetened applesauce and a berry puree (with a little added sugar) made with Costco frozen berry mixture.

I tried to do the reverse - with the berry base and applesauce dots.  It didn't turn out so well.  The lighter color was necessary as a base.

I couldn't find my squirt bottle, so I used a baggie with the corner cut out.  Not the best dots, but passable.

And, I have a really old and crotchety dehydrator, so the drying probably took longer than it should have...

Still, I think these are a winner!