Lunch: 4.1.11 - April Fool's

For snack, the girl has nilla wafers with nutella (they look a little like burgers... maybe, if you stretch), and some dried plums.

Lunch is a couple meatloaf "cupcakes" with mashed potato "frosting," along with ketchup, some dried pineapple, grapes, and a jell-o orange.

Lunch for the Boy: 4.1.11 - April Fool's Day!

Not as wonderfully interesting as I was hoping for April Fool's Day, but ...

The boy has a fruit cup for his snack again, drained as yesterday.  (~15g carbs, no picture).

For lunch, and I hope he'll eat it, he has a meatloaf "cupcake" (~8g) with mashed potato "frosting,"(~8.5g) with ketchup on the side for him to eat on the cupcake (3g), along with a few dried pineapple pieces (10g), homemade shaped flatbread with butter (10g), grapes (8g), and a "hamburger" cookie - two nilla wafer "buns" with a thin "mint burger patty".

For this cookie burger, I microwaved the thin mint for about 10 seconds, popped the nilla wafers on either side, and then froze it until it was solid again.

Recipe: Meatloaf Cupcakes (for April Fool's Day)

I looked high and low for good April Fool's Day lunch recipes that weren't centered around cookies, candy, rice crispy treats, and cake.

I just want something clever to send to school for a decently healthy lunch.

I didn't come up with much (this year!), but I did decide to make these - Meatloaf Cupcakes.  The recipe is altered slightly from Family Fun's recipe.  Here's what I did.


Meatloaf Cupcakes

For the meatloaf:
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/2 c Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
3 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 c shredded Mexican cheese (or your favorite cheese)
3 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 Tbsp Teeny Tiny Spice Company Perfection Spice Rub

For "frosting"
Mashed potatoes
desired food coloring (I used instant mashed potatoes and added food coloring to the water and the milk directly)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a bowl, combine meatloaf ingredients.

Mix well.

Distribute meatloaf mixture into lined muffin tins (makes 12).  Bake for ~15 minutes until cooked through. 

See?  These needed to be drained...

Thusly drained.

If you have a lot of "juices" from your meat and cheese in your "cupcakes," you can remove the liners, drain on a paper towel, and then place in a new liner for "frosting."  You may not have this problem if you use turkey or very lean beef.

In new wrappings, all "frosted"

Place tinted mashed potatoes in a pastry bag.  Snip off tip and "frost" the "cupcakes," using a decorative pastry tip if desired.

Lunch: 3.31.11

For snack, the girl had some banana cream blueberry mini muffins, along with a juice.

Lunch was some rotisserie turkey breast (store bought), on a shaped sandwich thin, with grapes, a jell-o orange, dried plums, and a fortune cookie.

Boy's Lunch: 3.31.11

For snack, the boy had a cup of mandarin oranges with the juice drained (not pictured, ~15g).

For lunch, he had a couple shaped sandwich thins (~10 g each, average), with homemade peanut butter (10g) and jelly (7g), along with some grapes (16 g) and a fortune cookie (3g).

Lunch: 3.30.11

The Girl's snack is some banana cream blueberry mini muffins and some dried pineapple, along with a juice.

Her lunch is a couple cheese sandwiches on homemade sandwich thins, raisins, apple slices, a cookie, and a jell-o orange.

Lunch for the Boy: 3.30.11

For his snacks, the boy has some pretzels - yes, I know... found some bags in the pantry from Halloween!) (11 g carbs), and a couple mini banana cream blueberry muffins (8 g each).

For lunch, he has a couple heart shaped sandwich thins (homemade!) with nutella (20 g each), apple slices (8 g), raisins (8 g), a jell-o orange (he complained about the green one yesterday, so I am sending black cherry - see if he eats it! - 3 g), and a girl scout cookie (9 g).

Recipe: Shaped Sandwich Thins

I recently fell in love with Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Sandwich Thins.  They are simply adorable.

But, I hate buying bread.

So, naturally, I needed to try to make them myself.  One of my lovely readers found this recipe, and it looked great.  I used whey because I just made some fresh yogurt, and I used flax seed and wheat germ instead of wheat bran.  And I'm out of vital wheat gluten.  Don't judge.

And because I made them myself, I made them in fun shapes!!

Try them... they are wonderful - and pretty easy.

Shaped Sandwich Thins

1 egg
1 1/4 c water or whey (from making yogurt)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c wheat germ
1/4 c flax seed meal
2 tsp yeast
1/4 c sugar (I totally forgot this in my first try, but leave it in... it would be better with it)
1 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in your bread machine in the order specified by your machine.  Run through the dough cycle.  On a floured surface, roll small portions of the dough thinly (~1/8" thick).  Cut with desired cookie cutters.

See the dots?

With a wooden skewer or a chopstick, dock the shapes several times (this keeps them from over-rising) - this is poking the dough, not really making holes all the way through.

Risen - going into the oven.  Including the blob of leftover dough at the bottom.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Place shapes on cookie sheets and cover with towels while they rise for about half an hour.

All baked and puffy!

My version of the fish bread!

Letter sandwich thins!  Hurrah!

Bake for 10-12 minutes, and wrap in a kitchen towel when they are out of the oven.

Shapeless lump, tested for texture... and it's wonderful!

Recipe: Crockpot Asian Roasted Chicken

Amazing deal on chicken leg quarters!  I got them for 59 cents a pound.  Really?  Almost 6 lbs of meat for $3.50!  Unbelievable!  I love sales.

So... what to do with it?

I had a house full of people (several overnight guests), and decided to try a variation on Crockpot 365's Vietnamese Roasted Chicken.

I made a sauce using evaporated milk and the crockpot drippings, and it was a little salty, but delicious.

As sides, I made some brown basmati rice, roasted brocollini, and roasted brussel sprouts.  Mmmmmm.

So try this chicken!  I made a lot, but you could easily halve it.  And you could use your favorite cut of chicken, bone or no bone.


Crockpot Asian Roasted Chicken
(modified from a Crockpot 365 Recipe)

~6 lbs chicken leg quarters, skin removed.
3 Tbsp soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
3 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp black pepper
8 cloves chopped garlic
2 Tbsp canola oil (could omit - didn't seem to add too much)

~1/2 c evaporated milk

Lay the chicken in a large crockpot.

Combine sauce ingredients (except for evaporated milk) and pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Chicken should end up fall-off-the-bone tender.

For the sauce, remove the chicken from the crockpot and place on a serving plate.  Strain the liquid from the crockpot to remove any bones and/or chunks leftover.  Reduce the liquid by about half (by boiling it down in a saucepan), and then stir in about 1/2 c skim evaporated milk.  Whisk over medium heat for a couple minutes, put in a gravy boat, and serve over the chicken (and accompanying rice if desired).  I also used a little Teeny Tiny Spice Company Vindaloo spice in the sauce, but that is optional.  Just added a little something-something.

Lunch: 3.29.11

Snack is homemade yogurt with vanilla, nutella granola, and juice.

Lunch is ham and cheese on a goldfish sandwich thin, half a kiwi, apple slices, and a jell-o orange.

Lunch for the Boy: 3.29.11

He has two snacks for the day - peanuts and raisins (about 13g), and two girl scout cookies (18g).

Lunch for him is a peanut butter and jelly on a goldfish sandwich thin (35g), a jell-o orange (3g), apple slices (8g), and some pretzels (11g)

Lunch: 3.28.11

Snack for the girl for Monday was nutella granola, and some homemade yogurt with honey, along with a juice.

Lunch was a goldfish sandwich thin, with ham and cheddar, jell-o oranges, a half a kiwi, and a fortune cookie.

Lunch for the Boy: 3.28.11

 Monday's snack for the boy was homemade yogurt with honey (15g) and a couple mini muffins (8 g each) - no picture.

Lunch was some Chinese dumplings (10g each), some sauce (3g), a jell-o orange (3g), ants on a log (about 28g), and a fortune cookie (2 g)

Recipe: Jell-O Oranges

This would be a great April Fool's snack - I used the same recipe from my Juice Jell-O Jigglers.

I did not use orange jell-o, because it is not a favorite of the kiddos, but it would look cooler with orange jell-o.

I made three orange halves, and they leaked a little, so I cut the rind down to the top of the jell-o before I sliced them.

Jell-O Oranges

1 small box Jell-O (3 oz regular, or 0.3 oz sugar free), desired flavor (orange would look best)
2/3 c juice (don't use pineapple juice)
Orange

Cut an orange in half and scoop out the orange innards, being careful not to puncture the skin. 

Boil juice, and stir in jell-o powder.  Put the orange halves into a shallow dish.  Pour carefully into orange halves - one packet makes about one and a half orange halves, so you can make several flavors or several packets at a time.

Leaked a little, and please ignore the contents of my fridge...

Carefully place in the refrigerator for several hours until the jell-o has solidified.  Can be stored in the fridge for a couple days.

Remove from the fridge and slice to serve.

Recipe: Cream Soda Waffles

For Waffle Day, we had a waffle brunch at my house!

I made Cream Soda Waffles and they were wonderful.  So good.  I used my Soda Stream soda maker to make my own cream soda, but you could absolutely use store bought.

Cream Soda Waffles

2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 1/3 c cream soda (or diet cream soda)

Mix dry ingredients together, and then stir in liquid ingredients until well combined.  Cook using a waffle iron or a Belgian Waffle iron and serve with desired toppings.

Lunch: 3.25.11

It's Waffle Day!

For snack, the girl has a mini banana waffle with peanut butter, apple slices, and raisins, along with a juice.

For lunch, she has a ham and cheddar sandwich on cheddar mini waffles, a small banana, raisins, and a couple nilla wafers.