Monday, October 31, 2011

Lunch: 10.31.11 - Halloween!


For The Girl, snack is again pumpkin granola.

Her lunch is ghost strawberries, a clementine jack-o-lantern, apple slices (cut out and decorated with my new Betty Crocker food pens), bbq "toes" (mini hot dogs), candy corn crackers, cheese fingers, and a tropical granola bar.


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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Lunch for the Boy: 10.31.11 - Halloween!

Snack isn't so fun, but lunch is...
Granola: 15g, yogurt: 8g

You guessed it, Pumpkin Granola and homemade Greek yogurt.
Strawberries: 6g, apple slices: 8g, cheese & pepperoni: 1g, crackers: 6g, granola bar: 15g, applesauce: 10g
Lunch is apple slices, ghost strawberries, pepperoni pumpkins, cheese fingers, candy corn cheese crackers, a homemade tropical granola bar and applesauce.


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Recipe: Kaleidoscope Cookies

You could do these in any flavor and color, with sprinkles on the outside our without - They really are pretty and make a statement!

For Halloween, I made half the dough vanilla flavored with purple food coloring, and the other half chocolate using King Arthur Flour's black cocoa, along with a tiny bit of black food coloring, to really make them nice and dark.

 Kaleidoscope Cookies

3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp Fiori di Sicilia (optional)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
2 Tbsp black cocoa (or regular unsweetened cocoa)
food coloring if desired
sprinkles if desired

Cream together sugar and butter, then add the egg and the vanilla and fiori di Sicilia (if using).  Add the flour and baking powder and beat together until well mixed.  Separate the dough into two equal portions.  To one half, add any desired food coloring (if you aren't doing a white swirl).  To the other half, stir in the espresso powder, cocoa, and black food coloring if desired.

Pat the doughs out into rectangles, cover with parchment or saran wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling.  When you roll, the two colors should be rolled separately into thin rectangles of the same size (about 1/8" - 1/4" thick each).  I cut the edges to make sure they would be nice and even.


Layer one color on top of the other and roll tightly into a "cinnamon roll" style roll.  If desired, coat the exterior of the log with sprinkles.  Wrap tightly in parchment paper, and freeze for at least an hour.  This log could be frozen much ahead of time, and then you could just cut and bake as desired.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F.  Remove the log of dough from the freezer and slice into even slices about 1/4" thick with a sharp knife (serrated will probably work better).  Place on lined cookie sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until cooked but not overly browned.  Remove and cool on wire racks and enjoy.


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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Lunch: 10.28.11


The Girl's snack for Friday is Pumpkin Granola.

Her lunch is a couple of spider web pancakes with honey sandwiched in between them, along with dried plums, a homemade tropical granola bar, candy corn cheese crackers, a string cheese, a spider designed clementine, apple slices.


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Lunch for The Boy: 10.28.11

Granola: 15g, yogurt: 10g

The Boy's snack is the same as it has been all week - Pumpkin Granola and homemade Greek yogurt with a little maple syrup.
Pancake sandwich: 30g, granola bar: 15g, crackers: 5g, raisins: 8g, cheese: 1g, oranges: 15g, apple: 8g

His lunch is a couple of spider web pancakes with some honey spread between them, a string cheese, homemade tropical granola bar, candy corn cheese crackers, mandarin oranges, and apple slices.


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Recipe: Spider Web Pancakes


Remember when I made Firework pancakes for the Fourth of July?

I made Spider Web pancakes for Halloween (for dinner tonight) - and I used some of the Black cocoa from King Arthur Flour to make the black pancake batter.  I just added a quarter cup of the cocoa to a cup of pancake mix (yes, I know, I could have made the pancakes from scratch, but I was in a hurry and tired).
Concentric circles, made using a squirt bottle, but you could use a pastry bag.
Drag through the circles with a skewer.  Boom, spider webs.


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Lunch: 10.27.11


The Girl has Pumpkin granola for her snack.

For lunch, she has a jack-o-lantern and a bat shaped ham and cheese sandwich on homemade pain de mie, a homemade tropical granola bar, candy corn cheese crackers, dried plums, apple slices, and a clementine.


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Lunch for The Boy: 10.27.11

The kids are really loving this Pumpkin Granola!
Yogurt: 8g, Granola: 15g

The Boy has some homemade Greek yogurt and some of the Pumpkin Granola in his snack.
Oranges: 15g, apple: 8g, raisins: 16g, granola bar: 15g, sandwich: 20g, crackers: 6g
For lunch, he has a jack-o-lantern shaped ham and cheese sandwich on pain de mie, candy corn cheese crackers, a homemade tropical granola bar, raisins, apple slices, and mandarin oranges.


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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Recipe: Candy Corn Cheese Crackers

Sometimes, I make something that makes me giggle while making it.

These are one of those things.

I saw the idea for Candy Corn Sugar cookies over on Pinterest, but I really didn't need any more sweet recipe ideas (I'm having a Halloween party on Saturday.  It's going to be really fun, and I am going to go totally overboard on food.  This should come as no surprise to anyone.).  So - how about crackers?

I made a double batch of dough exactly from King Arthur Flour's Vermont Cheese Crackers - I won't reiterate the recipe here, I didn't change it.  Then, I divided the dough into thirds and colored one third yellow and one third orange, using gel food coloring.  I layered the dough into a rectangle, with yellow on the bottom, orange in the middle, and white on top.  This dough rectangle was wrapped in parchment paper and refrigerated for about half an hour.

From there, I preheated the oven to 400 F.  I sliced the dough into thin slices, and then cut the slices into triangles to form candy corn.

Put the crackers onto lined baking sheets and bake for 6-8 minutes, then cool and store in an air tight container.


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Recipe: Sloppy Joe Tacos

I think the kids would eat anything if I put it in a taco shell.  I'm going to have to try out other things, but this one is a hit...


Sloppy Joe Tacos

1 lb ground turkey
1 can sloppy joe mix (could make from scratch)
1-2 Tbsp taco seasoning (to taste)
Taco shells
shredded carrots
shredded cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend cheese)

Cook the turkey until browned.  Drain.  Stir in the sloppy joe mix and the taco seasoning.

Prepare taco shells according to the package (mine bake at 325 F for 6 minutes), and then stuff by adding a layer of cheese, a generous layer of the sloppy joe meat, and then top with shredded carrots.    Enjoy!


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Lunch: 10.26.11


Snack for Wednesday for The Girl is Pumpkin Granola.

Her lunch is a ham and cheese sandwich on Goldfish bread, a Tropical granola bar, apple slices, raisins, and a clementine, along with a Hello, Panda cookie.


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Lunch for The Boy: 10.26.11

Yogurt:10g, Granola: 15g

The Boy's snack for Wednesday is Pumpkin Granola and homemade Greek Yogurt.
Sandwich: 20g, Carrots & ranch: 3g, cookie: 2g, oranges: 15g, apple: 8g

His lunch is a ham and cheese sandwich on Pepperidge Farm Goldfish bread, some baby carrots that my friend (Lisa, from Explayration) brought home for the kids from Farmer's Market, ranch dressing, mandarin oranges, sliced apples, and a Hello Panda cookie.


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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Lunch: 10.25.11


For snack, The Girl has pumpkin granola.

For lunch, she has a Goldfish bread ham & cheese sandwich, a banana, apple slices, a clementine, and a tropical granola bar.


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Lunch for The Boy: 10.25.11

The Boy really loved yesterday's food, and so today is almost exactly the same.
Yogurt: 10g, Granola: 15g
Snack is homemade Greek yogurt (strained now!), with a little homemade apple peel jelly stirred in, along with some pumpkin granola.
Sandwich: 20g, granola bar: 15g, banana: 20g, raisins: 8g, mandarin oranges: 15g, meatballs: 3g
His lunch is a Goldfish bread ham & cheese sandwich, a banana, mandarin oranges, raisins (in the little container), a homemade Tropical granola bar, and today he asked for a couple Swedish meatballs.


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Monday, October 24, 2011

Lunch: 10.24.11


The Girl's snack is a string cheese and a homemade tropical granola bar.

Her  lunch is a banana, apple, clementine, ham and cheese sandwich on a Pepperidge Farm goldfish bread, and some ranch flavored pumpkin seeds.


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Lunch for The Boy: 10.24.11

Happy Monday!
Granola: 15g, Yogurt: 10g
I made some Pumpkin Granola that I found on Pinterest, and The Boy has that in his snack along with some fresh homemade yogurt (unstrained, just made it last night).
Granola bar: 15g, Mandarin oranges: 15g, raisins: 8g, banana: 20g, sandwich: 20g

His lunch is a banana, a ham and cheddar sandwich (on Pepperidge Farms Goldfish whole wheat bread, a splurge for the kiddos), a homemade Tropical granola bar - I'll blog these soon, but they are a variation on the King Arthur Flour recipe for Chewy Granola bars - along with mandarin oranges, and some raisins.


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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Recipe: Black Cocoa Roll-out Cookies


This recipe is based on this one from Smitten Kitchen, which I have used before and adored.
Image courtesy King Arthur Flour
The good people at King Arthur Flour recently sent me a sample of black cocoa to try out, and I was super excited to try it in some Halloween cookies!

Black Cocoa Roll-out Cookies

3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
1 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 c black cocoa

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cocoas.  Sift together flour, salt, espresso powder, and baking powder.  Add the flour mixture to the butter and cocoa mixture slowly, and mix until smooth.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour (I chilled overnight).

Preheat oven to 350 F.  On a floured surface, roll cookie dough to about 1/8"-1/4" thick.  Cut into desired shapes (I used these cutters, which I adore),  and brush off any excess flour.  Put baking sheets in freezer for 5-10 minutes to help stop spreading of the shapes.

Bake for 8-11 minutes, until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.  Cool on wire racks and enjoy, or decorate if desired.


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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

We carved a couple pumpkins...

(I got them for $4 each - No matter what size!  Hooray for good sales!)

So, we had a couple seeds.

Roasting ahoy!

I made five different flavors
  • taco seasoning
  • cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little sugar
  • Teeny Tiny Spice Company's Garam Masala
  • Salt and Garlic powder with parsley
  • Ranch seasoning
After pulling the seeds out of the pumpkins, we rinsed them in a colander, and then boiled them for 10 minutes in salted water.

Draining them after boiling, they then were left to dry for a few minutes on a towel.

Then, I put them in single layers on separate baking dishes, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, and then tossed with the desired spice.  Then, I roasted them for 10-15 minutes at 400 F, tossing halfway through.




Allow to cool thoroughly and put in bags or jars and enjoy.


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