Lunches: 1.30.15

Last lunches for the first month of the new year!  Man, has it flown...

Sandwich: 30g, almonds: 9g, raisins: 16g, broccoli: 5g, mandarin oranges: 15g

The Boy has a sandwich with salami and cheese, almonds, raisins, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, and some mandarin oranges.  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured, 18g).

The Girl has a leftover cheddar sausage in a bun with raisins, almonds, mandarin oranges, and mixed crispy dried fruit.

Lunches: 1.29.15

I had a late work meeting last night, so lunches are a bit of a hurried jumble.  Should I call these "Mom's tired" lunches?

We had crescent rolls with Monterey Jack cheese in them last night with soup for dinner, and so I put leftovers of the crescent rolls in lunches.

Crescent rolls: 25g, almonds: 9g, crispy crunchy broccoli florets: 3g, raisins: 10g, apple slices: 6g

The Boy has two crescent rolls with cheese, almonds, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, apple slices, and raisins.  His snack is a popcorn ball he's been wanting to eat for a while (and I'm finally letting him - not pictured, 22g).

The Girl has two crescent rolls with cheese, almonds, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, apple slices, and raisins.

Lunches: 1.28.15

Happy Wednesday!

We had some snow yesterday (though not the blizzard that other places in the Northeast saw), so I decided to go with super comfort food for dinner.  I made chili - and added bacon.  This was a good decision.

The kids loved it, so they have leftovers for lunches today.

Chili: 30g, cornbread: 24g, crispy crunchy mixed fruit: 15g, raisins: 10g

The Boy has chili with bacon, cornbread, crispy crunchy mixed fruit, and raisins.  His snack is a Fruigees fruit and veggie pouch (not pictured, 19g).  (I put plastic wrap over the chili before closing the box).

The Girl also has chili with bacon, cornbread, crispy crunchy mixed fruit, and raisins.

Lunches: 1.27.15

It's a little-bit-of-this-and-that lunches for the kids today.

Fruit & Veggie Pouch: 19g, almonds: 9g, crispy crunchy broccoli: 3g, egg: 0g, cookies: 9g, raisins: 18g

The Boy has a fruit and veggie pouch from Fruigees (review to come!), almonds, a hard boiled egg, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, raisins, and some mini chocolate mint cookies.  His snack is a fruit bar (not pictured, 19g).

The Girl has a fruit & veggie pouch from Fruigees, almonds, a hard boiled egg, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, orange slices, and some mini chocolate mint cookie stars.

Lunches: 1.26.15

It's Monday, and both kids finally feel better enough to go to school.

We had some pancakes for dinner on Sunday night, so I made leftovers into lunches.

Pancakes: 45g, syrup: 5g, hard boiled egg: 0g, strawberries: 3g, crispy crunchy mixed fruit: 15g

The Boy has some pancakes, a small container of syrup, a hard boiled egg, crispy crunchy mixed fruit, and a couple of strawberries.  His snack is a fruit bar (not pictured, 19g).

The Girl has pancakes, syrup, a hard boiled egg, crispy crunchy mixed fruit, and a couple of clementines.

Lunch for The Boy: 1.23.15

The Girl is home sick again today, but The Boy is in school.  I asked him what he wanted for lunch, and he told me "I don't know, a bunch of random stuff."  Voila - random stuff lunch.

Mini star cookies: 9g, apple slices: 4g, pancake maple cream sandwiches: 55g, almonds: 9g, crispy crunchy broccoli: 1g

His lunch is a few mini chocolate mint star cookies, apple slices, silver dollar pancakes with maple cream sandwiched between them, some almonds, and crispy, crunchy broccoli florets.  His snack is a fruit bar (not pictured, 19g)

Lunches: 1.22.15

The Boy is finally back at school after being sick all week!  The Girl, however, is down for the count.  Oh, winter...

Sandwich: 20g, strawberries: 8g, apple slices: 8g, mini star cookies: 9g

The Boy has a sandwich with turkey and cheese, strawberries, apple slices, and some mini chocolate mint star cookies.

Seaweed snacks: 1g, veggie-go's: 5g

His snack is some seaweed snacks and a new Veggie-Go's fruit and veggie leather.

Experimentation in Fermentation: Water Kefir

I've been experimenting in the New Year with fermentation.

A glass of strawberry secondary ferment water kefir

I have tried kombucha and I don't like it.  That one's not for me.  I've tried milk kefir and it is ok, and I like it better after a secondary ferment.

What I've really wanted to play with is water kefir.  I did extensive reading online about water kefir, including this great post from Nourishing Kitchen.  Water kefir is basically a probiotic soda, and you can flavor it in many many ways. 

It is really simple.

I ordered my "grains" from Amazon.  Let me be clear - these are only called grains because of how they look.  They are a culture of healthy bacteria and yeast.  They reproduce if you treat them well.  I am planning on gifting some grains to local friends, because in the week that I have had them, they have already doubled. 

I will not go into detail about all the nitty gritty of water kefir - I'll just let you know what I did, and how we liked it so far.

There are two stages of fermentation for water kefir.  For the primary fermentation, you need to feed the grains some sugar.  They metabolize the sugar and use it to grow.  I've seen primary ferments that include nothing but sugar water, and some that have extra things in them.  I've tried a few different combinations so far.

Primary ferment happy and bubbling

For my first go round, I used about 4 c of water (I just used my tap water, which is not highly chlorinated.  I've seen advice to use spring water, or boil your water if you have town water.. my grains seem perfectly happy in plain tap water), then stir in a couple tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses.  I've read that the molasses adds extra minerals. 

I also added some lemon slices and ginger slices.

The primary ferment should go about 48 hours.

Once the primary ferment is done, just pour it through a strainer into another container (I used  flip-top jars with rubber gaskets) and add some flavorings.  For my first go-round, I added slices of blood orange and half a vanilla bean.  Close the lid and leave this out at room temperature for another 24 hours. 

To stop the fermentation, pop it in the fridge.  Your secondary ferment should be a little fizzy - I haven't had much luck with it getting bubby myself yet, but I have read that it has to do with the kinds of bottles I am using.  I will have to do some more experiments with that.

So far, I've done two full rounds. 

Happy grains!

My grains have more than doubled, so I've got some larger jars on order to do a larger batch of primary ferment instead of two smaller ones.  I have added dried mango and dried figs (this made the grains go crazy and multiply like mad!) and raisins. 

My second batch of secondary ferment was with strawberries (I loved this one!), and I currently have some orange bubbling away, and also some with ginger and fig.  All dried fruit is unsulphured.

The good news = I love this!  I've been enjoying a small glass once or twice a day, as I've heard that it is good to start slowly when drinking probiotic drinks, because you are introducing new flora to your gut, so you don't want to overwhelm your body.

The less good news = the kids do not like this.  It's slightly vinegary in flavor, it is not sweet at all, and they don't really like anything even slightly fizzy.  I'm going to keep trying them.  I told The Girl that it is so good for her, she just needs to get over the initial dislike.  It's different from anything I've ever given them before, so I can see why they don't immediately love it.  BUT = that's not going to stop me from trying.

I am having great fun with water kefir so far, and I think it is worth trying.

Lunches: 1.16.15

Happy Friday!

The kids have been begging me to get some seaweed snacks for a while now - apparently, lots of kids at school have been enjoying them.  The Boy has tried them before and like them, so we'll see about The Girl.

Sandwich: 40g, seaweed snacks: 0g, apple slices: 8g

The Boy has a sandwich with pesto, cheese, and turkey, along with seaweed snacks, and apple slices.  His snack is a granola bar (not pictured, 22g).

The Girl has seaweed snacks, orange slices, a piece of leftover pizza, and some corn chips with guacamole.  She has eschewed guacamole for years, until last night.  I offered her some to try with the quesadillas we had for dinner, and she LOVED it!  I love the stage she's at right now - she's willing to try new things, and she has been finding that she really enjoys many of them.  This makes packing lunches more fun for me.

Lunches: 1.15.15

The Boy has a field trip today, so I tucked a card with his lunch carbs right into his lunchbox so that the nurse on the field trip can dose his insulin correctly.

Sandwich: 40g, raisins: 16g, apple slices: 4g

He has a sandwich with pesto, turkey, and cheese, along with some mixed raisins, and apple slices. He has granola bar(s) for snack(s) - he informed me that he needs two snacks (not pictured, 22g each)

The Girl has leftover gnocchi and sausage in red sauce, with mixed raisins, and apple slices.

Lunches: 1.14.15

The Boy loved his Breakfast for Lunch yesterday, so he has it again today.

Pancakes: 20g, sausages: 2g, apple slices: 8g, broccoli: 2g

He has five silver dollar pancakes, two maple chicken breakfast sausages, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, and apple slices.  His snack is a granola bar (not pictured, 22g).

The Girl has leftover pizza, crispy crunchy broccoli florets, and apple slices.

Lunches: 1.13.15

It's breakfast-for-lunch time!

Pancakes: 12g, sausage: 2g, fruit bar: 19g, apple slices: 4g, broccoli florets: 1g

The Boy has three silver dollar pancakes (cooked from frozen), some maple chicken breakfast sausage, a fruit bar, apple slices, and crispy crunchy broccoli florets (a new snack we found - delicious!).  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured, 28g)

The Girl also has silver dollar pancakes, maple chicken breakfast sausage, a fruit bar, apple slices, and crispy crunchy broccoli florets.

Lunches: 1.12.15

We had Chinese take-out for dinner, with leftovers for lunches.

 I got myself a hot and sour soup as planned leftovers.  I'm bringing that for lunch.

Cold sesame peanut noodles: 20g, beef teriyaki skewer: 2g, fortune cookie: 5g. apple slices: 4g

The Boy has cold sesame peanut noodles, a beef teriyaki skewer, apple slices, and a fortune cookie.  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured,  28g).

The Girl has lomein, a beef teriyaki skewer, apple slices, and a fortune cookie.

Lunches: 1.9.15

It's Friday!

The kids asked me to freeze their yogurts, so we'll see if they are frozen by the time lunch comes.

Sandwiches: 40g, yogurt: 8g, egg: 0g, apple slices: 4g

The Boy has two little sandwiches with pesto, turkey, lettuce, and cheese on mini slider buns, a frozen yogurt, a hard boiled egg, and apple slices.  He has a cereal bar for snack (not pictured, 28g).

The Girl has two sandwiches with pesto, turkey, lettuce, and cheese on mini slider buns, a frozen yogurt, an apricot, and apple slices.

Family Lunches: 1.8.15

Sandwich: 40g, yogurt: 8g, apple slices: 6g, egg: 0g

For Thursday lunch, The Boy has a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, lettuce, turkey, and cheese.  He also has a yogurt, a hard boiled egg, and apple slices.  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured, 28g).

The Girl has a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, lettuce, turkey, and cheese, along with a yogurt, an apricot, and apple slices.

The Hubby has a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, lettuce, turkey, cheese, and a little sweet sriracha bacon jerky.  He also has cucumber slices, orange slices, and apple slices.

I have a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, lettuce, turkey, cheese, a little sweet sriracha bacon jerky, and a couple cherry tomatoes.  I also have cucumber slices, orange slices, and an apricot.

Family Lunches: 1.7.15

Sandwich: 45g, yogurt; 8g, applesauce: 4g, cucumber: 1g

For Wednesday lunch, The Boy has a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, turkey, and cheese, along with a yogurt, apple slices, and cucumber slices.  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured, 28g).

The Girl has a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, turkey, and cheese, with a yogurt, orange slices, and an apricot.

I have a sandwich on homemade bread with pesto, turkey, cheese, and a slice of sweet sriracha bacon jerky - I think tomorrow, I will pack Bacon Jerky BLTs, but for today, I wanted some of that flavor in my sandwich.  I also have an apricot, apple slices, and cucumber.

Recipe: Sweet Sriracha Bacon Jerky BLTs (with Hard Boiled Egg)

Sometimes, I see something and I know that I have to try it, and to make delicious things with it.

Sweet Sriracha Bacon Jerky.  Yup, that was one of those things.

I have a whole list of recipe ideas in my head for this delicious stuff, other than just gobbling it up straight out.

On the top of that list was making a BLT with it.

The bacon jerky is simply delightful.  It's got a kick of spice to it, with a hint of sweetness.  It's crispy and just a little chewy.  In short, it's shelf stable bacon, spiced up.

Let's say that again.  Shelf. Stable. Bacon.

 

For my BLT, I toasted up a little slider bun with a little butter on it, then put a thin layer of mayonnaise on top.  Then came the lettuce, thinly sliced heirloom cherry tomatoes, a slice of hard boiled egg, and finally, the sweet sriracha bacon jerky.

This may be perfection in a sandwich.

You could, of course, make these full sized instead of miniature... but, if you've been reading for any amount of time, you know that I have a weakness for all things mini.  These will work perfectly in lunches - at least for The Hubby and for myself.  I have to let the kids try the bacon jerky.  It might be too spicy for them.  The sandwich tunes down the spiciness a lot, so they might just like it.

Experimentation in Fermentation: Second Ferment of Store Bought Milk Kefir

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions, but the coming of the new year does lend itself to trying new things for me.

As anyone who follows my Facebook page might have seen, I have been considering kefir recently.  I love the idea of creating a more diverse and healthy microbiome.  I don't think there are any downsides to that.

There are two kinds of kefir - milk kefir, and water kefir.  Each has a different culture of lovely probiotics to offer, and from what I have read, have different benefits.  I have bought milk kefir from the store before, and The Boy liked it, but The Girl was not a fan.  I thought it was a little too tart.  I would rather buy plain milk kefir instead of flavored, because we don't need the extra sugar.

While doing some searches on kefir, I stumbled upon CulturedFoodLife, which talked about doing a second ferment to take the tang out of it and flavor it nicely.  I decided to give it a try.

I put a container of plain store bought kefir into a jar, along with a sliced orange and a splash of vanilla extract, and left it out on the counter overnight.  In the morning, I put it in the fridge, and once it was chilled, I tried some with some of my latest batch of homemade granola.

I loved it!  It was lightly orange flavored - and less vanilla.  I would like to try sticking a whole vanilla bean into it, or using more vanilla extract, so that it has more of a "creamsicle" taste. It remains to be seen if The Girl likes it, and I think it would be lovely with just a little bit of honey.. the second ferment did reduce some of the tang.

Coming soon - experimentation with water kefir!  I ordered Water Kefir Grains, and they should be arriving by this weekend.  As long as I don't kill them (like I killed my sourdough), I think it will be fun!

Lunches: 1.6.15

The Boy is feeling better today, and is going to school (at long last, if you ask him).

Pasta: 50g, freeze-dried strawberries: 1g, hard boiled egg: 1g

He is having the pasta he wanted to have yesterday, along with a hard boiled egg and some freeze-dried strawberries.  His snack is a cereal bar (not pictured, 28g).

The Girl has an apricot, an orange, feta, cherry tomato, and cucumber skewers, and a sandwich on homemade bread with hummus, cheese, and turkey.

Lunches: 1.5.15

It's back to school for the kids today, after a nice long and relaxing holiday break.

The kids both loved our Sunday dinner, which was homemade tomato linguine with a tomato spinach cream sauce that I threw together.  I was packing some leftovers for The Hubby and for myself and the kids declared that they wanted some as well.  Bingo.  Lunches.

Then, the poor Boy, desperate to get back to school, ended up being sick this morning and can't go to school... his leftovers will be his lunch tomorrow.
 

The Girl has leftover pasta, a hard boiled egg, and orange slices.

Recipe: Green Scotch Eggs

I love Scotch Eggs!  Wrapping a hard boiled egg in sausage - how can that be wrong?

I've made them before, specifically to put atop my Scottish Waffles.  I've always baked them instead of frying, and they turn out wonderfully.

I had an inspiration a couple of weeks ago to make them with spinach, so that they were Green Scotch Eggs.  Perhaps I should make them again for Dr. Seuss' birthday, maybe mix some ham in... (Green Eggs and Ham, of course).

They turned out totally deliciously.

I used some saran wrap to wrap the sausage around the eggs, so as to avoid getting my hands all full of sausage, and it was similar to making sandwich balls.

Green Scotch Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs
10 oz frozen spinach, cooked and drained
1 lb raw breakfast sausage (I used chicken breakfast sausage links, which I cut the casings off of, but you could use bulk sausage)
1 c panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Combine spinach and sausage well.  I used a food processor, so that the spinach was nicely chopped and the mixture was uniform.

Divide the sausage and spinach mixture into 6 equal portions.  Take one portion and flatten it on a piece of saran wrap.  Place a peeled hard boiled egg on top, then use the saran wrap to fully surround the egg with the sausage.

Coat the sausage covered egg with breadcrumbs, using a shallow bowl.

Place on a rack on a baking sheet, then repeat with remaining eggs and sausage.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve in slices, hot, room temperature, or cold.  Enjoy!