Lunch: 9.29.11

The Girl's Friday snack is a homemade gogurt (with homemade yogurt and fruit puree, in a vacuum sealer bag), and the last of the homemade pear sauce.

Her lunch is a sandwich on pain de mie with turkey, cheddar, and a little lettuce, along with chocolate covered pomegranate, a couple of lentil taco balls (no recipe, totally made them up the other day on the fly), Goldfish crackers, and a clementine.

Lunch for The Boy: 9.30.11

It's the last day of September (how did that happen?) and it's Friday!

Yogurt: 10g, Granola: 10g

Snack is his current favorite of homemade Greek yogurt with some apple peel jelly stirred in, and my Grandma's granola.  (A note: I think I was overestimating the carbs in this - his blood sugar has been going low at lunch time... So, the carb counts listed today are different than the carb counts listed for previous mentions of the same thing.  I hope this accounting is better for him)

Dumplings: 32g, applesauce: 15g, raisins: 15g, Goldfish: 11g, ABC Grahams: 22g

Lunch is the last of the Costco Chinese dumplings, raisins, applesauce, the last of the ABC Grahams, and some Goldfish crackers and pretzels.

Lunch: 9.29.11

The Girl's Thursday snack is a clementine and some Goldfish pretzels.

Her lunch is a wrap with lettuce and shredded carrots, turkey and cheddar on a whole wheat tortilla, pear sauce in a vacuum sealer bag, dehydrated sugar snap peas with ranch powder sprinkled on them, and chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for The Boy: 9.29.11

Yogurt: 10g, Granola: 15g

The Boy's snack for Thursday is  homemade Greek yogurt with some apple peel jelly stirred in, and my Grandma's granola.

Dumplings: 39g, applesauce: 15g, cheese: 1g, Grapes: 8g, Goldfish: 11g

His lunch is Chinese dumplings, applesauce in a vacuum sealer bag, some cheddar cheese, grapes, and Goldfish pretzels and crackers.

Lunch: 9.28.11

The Girl's snack for Wednesday is some homemade pear sauce, along with Goldfish crackers.

Her lunch is a wrap with a little lettuce and shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, and ham on a whole wheat tortilla, a clementine, ranch sprinkled dehydrated snap peas, Goldfish pretzels, and some chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for The Boy: 9.28.11

Applesauce: 15g, ABC Grahams: 11g

Snack is applesauce in a silicone push pop mold and some ABC Grahams.

Yogurt: 10g, Granola: 20g, Carrots & ranch: 2g, string cheese: 1g, watermelon: 6.5g, Goldfish mix: 11g

Lunch is homemade Greek yogurt with some apple peel jelly stirred in, my Grandma's granola, a string cheese, carrots with ranch, watermelon, and some Goldfish crackers & pretzels.

Lunch: 9.27.11

The Girl's Tuesday snack is grapes and some Goldfish pretzels.

Lunch is a ham and cheddar sandwich on pain de mie, a few barley & lentil taco seasoned balls (no recipe, I made them up as I went along... and the kids liked them!), Goldfish crackers, a clementine, some dehydrated sugar snap peas with ranch powder sprinkled on them, and some chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for The Boy: 9.27.11

Watermelon: 6g, yogurt: 10g, granola: 15g

Snack for The Boy for Tuesday is watermelon, homemade Greek yogurt with a little apple peel jelly stirred in, and some of my Grandma's granola.

Dumplings: 39g, applesauce: 15g, carrots & ranch: 4g, Goldfish: 11g, ABC Grahams: 22g

For lunch, he has Chinese dumplings, carrots with ranch dressing, applesauce, Goldfish pretzels and crackers, and some ABC Grahams.

Lunch: 9.26.11

The Girl's snack for Monday is homemade pear sauce and my Grandma's Granola.

Lunch is a wrap in a whole wheat tortilla with turkey, cheddar, and a little lettuce, dehydrated sugar snap peas with ranch powder sprinkled on them, a clementine, goldfish crackers, dried plums, and a few pieces of chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for The Boy: 9.26.11

Monday again!

Applesauce: 8g, goldfish crackers: 12g

The Boy's snack is homemade unsweetened applesauce and rainbow goldfish crackers.

Apple slices: 4g, dumplings: 39g, carrots & ranch: 4g, pretzel goldfish: 12g, ABC Grahams: 22g

His lunch is some Chinese dumplings (from Costco), carrots with ranch, goldfish pretzels, apple slices, and some ABC Grahams.

Recipe: Apple Peel (and Core) Jelly

I love finding uses for things that I would otherwise throw out! 

I was looking for something to do with peels and cores, and after making a batch of Apple Pie Filling, I had peels and cores aplenty!

So, how about something different and fun - Apple Peel Jelly!

I took the apple peels and cores and put enough water in the pot to make them "swim" a little - not enough to cover them.  Then, I simmered them for about 20-30 minutes.  I then used a strainer to remove the peels and cores, and measured the liquid that was left - I ended up with 10 cups of a beautiful light pink liquid.

I made the jelly in two batches - 5 cups of liquid each batch.

Heat 5 cups of liquid in a large pot, and stir in 1 packet of liquid pectin (or 1 box of powdered pectin), bringing to a rolling boil.  Add in 7 c sugar, boiling for 1 minute, and then transfer to sterilized jars.  Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

You could make this prettier by straining through a jelly bag, and to be more careful about foam and bubbles... I was just going for preserving, and if my jelly is a little cloudy, the world will not end.

Recipe: Apple Pie Filling (Canned)

I have a couple apples.

Still have these leftover...

And these...

Prepare for some apple recipes!

Apple pies and other apple desserts are simple with this canned apple pie filling.  It's thickened with Clear-Jel, which is what is recommended for canning of pie filling and the like.  I got mine from King Arthur Flour.  As a warning, this recipe uses nearly an entire bag of it.

Each quart makes about enough for a 9" pie, so all you have to do is open a jar, pour it in, and bake!  I can't wait to make pies!

I've also had problems with runny apple pies in the past, and the clear-jel ought to fix that with no problem.


Apple Pie Filling (Canned)

6 quarts apples
Fruit Fresh or Ascorbic Acid
2 1/2 c sugar (to taste)
1 1/2 c Clear-Jel
1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 c cold water
5 c unsweetened apple juice
3/4 c lemon juice

You could use an apple-peeler-corer-slicer machine...

Unless your apples look like mine... in that case, you're stuck with a peeler and a knife.

Peel, core, and chop apples (I saved my peels and cores for another use).  Put in a large bowl or pot and soak in some water with Fruit Fresh stirred in - you'll want enough liquid to soak the apple pieces to keep them from discoloring.

Blanching

Boil a large pot of water.  Blanch the apples in small batches, 1 minute at a time, and drain.

Goopy... mmmmm.

Combine the sugar, water, juice, spices, and clear-jel in a large pot.  Heat and stir until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble.  Stir in the lemon juice and boil for an additional minute.  Fold in the drained apples.

Turn off heat, and immediately fill hot canning jars with mixture, leaving a 1-inch headspace.  Use a damp paper towel to wipe off rims of the jars. Add hot lids and rings and tighten to just finger tight. Process immediately in a water bath for 25 minutes.  As they cool, the lids should "pop" with vacuum.  If they do not, you can re-process the jars.

Lunch: 9.23.11

Friday snack for The Girl is apple slices and some ABC Grahams.

Lunch is a hard boiled egg (it's in the mold right now - will be out for lunch), a honey wheat roll, a clementine, ranch sprinkled dehydrated sugar snap peas, and chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for the Boy: 9.23.11

Grapes: 13g, yogurt: 8g

Friday!  For snack, The Boy has grapes and some homemade Greek Yogurt with honey stirred in.

Apple slices: 8g, carrots: 3g, dumplings: 28g, sauce: 4g, raisins: 8g

For lunch, he has leftover take-out Chinese dumplings with sauce (he could live on those things, I swear), raisins, carrots, and apple slices.

Lunch: 9.22.11

 
The Girl's snack for Thursday is a clementine and the last of the mini cookie bites, with a juice.

Her lunch is a ham sandwich on a honey wheat roll, a string cheese, apple slices, grapes, ranch sprinkled dehydrated snap peas, and a few pieces of chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for the Boy: 9.22.11

Apple: 8g, ABC Grahams: 22g

The Boy's snack for Thursday is an apple and ABC Grahams.

Sandwich: 30g, string cheese: 1g, pretzels: 8g, peas: 4g, meatball: 1g, grapes: 4g, raisins: 8g, cookie bites: 4g

Lunch is a ham sandwich on a honey wheat roll, cheddar pretzels, string cheese, grapes, a meatball, steamed peas with some ranch powder sprinkled on them, raisins, and a couple of mini cookie bites.

Recipe: Barley and Lentil Slowcooker Stew

I wanted a quick and healthy dinner for us tonight, and I noticed I had some barley in the pantry.

Ah, barley.  The forgotten grain.  I really do enjoy it, but I never remember to cook it.

So this stew is perfect for it!

It's pretty simple.  You could add all sorts of other things to it.  I think it would be delightful with mushrooms.  It's vegetarian as written - I think even vegan.  You could add some spices in if you like.  I bet curry powder would be delightful.

For some reason, with this little cold I have, plain was appealing when I was making it.

I served it with some honey wheat rolls from this recipe - very delicious.  The Boy, of course, only ate the bread.  Typical.  *sigh*  He's 5.  What can I say?  He did try it.  That's a start.

I put some sweet Thai chili sauce in mine, and that was nice. 


Barley and Lentil Crockpot Stew

6 c water
1/2 c pearl barley, uncooked
1/2 c lentils, uncooked
1 onion, chopped
1 c carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 tsp Better than Boullion Vegetable soup base (or, use vegetable broth instead of water)

Combine all ingredients in a 3 1/2 quart crockpot.  Let cook all day (6-9 hours) on low, or until the barley and lentils are cooked through and tender.  Serve with rolls, like these honey wheat rolls.

Lunch: 9.21.11

Snack for The Girl is a clementine and some mini cookie bites.

Lunch is a ham and cheddar sandwich on pain de mie, cheddar pretzels, an apple, carrots, and some chocolate covered pomegranate.

Lunch for the Boy: 9.21.11

Yogurt: 8g, Granola: 20g

Snack for The Boy is homemade Greek yogurt and my grandma's granola.

Apple: 6g, carrots: 3g, hummus: 4g, crackers: 12g, pretzels: 11g, ham and cheese: 2g, raisins: 8g, cookies: 6g

Lunch is apple slices, carrots, hummus, crackers, ham, string cheese (cut up), cheddar pretzels, raisins, and a couple mini cookie bites.