Day 189 Happy Birthday to little D!

No lunch picture to post today.  It is D's birthday today and she requested to buy lunch at school. :(  I had a grand plan in mind to make her some kind of cute/fun birthday inspired lunch but I certainly couldn't refuse such a simple request from the Birthday Girl!  Instead I'll post about the cupcakes that I made for her class.  Another D request...Rootbeer Float cupcakes!

I'm not sure why my kids don't like "cake" flavored cake.  Well that's not entirely true...I think they just like to challenge me!  LOL  So to fulfill D's request, I started with a boxed white cake...I don't know why I went with that and not chocolate...chocolate probably would have made more sense.  I followed the box directions but added 1Tbs of Watkins Rootbeer flavoring.  Cooked them according to the box and then frosted them with my favorite vanilla frosting.

UPDATE: D has come home from school and the cupcakes were a big hit!  I was a little worried since I had not tried them before I sent them in.  I'm not much of a cake eater.  She did bring a couple home.  I had sent in a few extra just in case of dropping/accidents and what not...I tried a bite and it seriously tasted like rootbeer float!  One student said to my daughter "I hope we are in the same class in second grade.  If we are will you bring these in again?"  so I guess that means he liked them!  LOL

UPDATE 2: We tried it with chocolate cake mix and they were equally delicious!

Day 71 and Easter

Today, we had a slow start getting back into the swing of things with Spring Break being over.  I don't have pics of M's lunch or D's snack.  D and A had some left overs for lunch today.  Mashed potato, ham bunny, broccoli tree with purple carrot flowers, some green beans, grapes, orange and strawberry.

We had a great Easter here.  It was a beautiful day.  We enjoyed every minute of it! 

I am embarassed to admit that this is my baby at 6:30 a.m. taking a bite out of her chocolate bunny.  Great way to start the day!  LOL  After the girls checked out their Easter baskets we made breakfast then moved on to preparing dessert for after our dinner.

We decided to put a spin on the Push Pop Cupcake.  We made push pop triffles.

I prepared a chocolate cake according to package instructions and baked it in a 9 x 13 dish.  Once it was completely cooled I used one of the push pop containers as a cookie cutter and cut out as many as I needed.  I made a dozen.  Then I sliced each cut out crosswise into thirds.

I put sugar free chocolate pudding in a pastry bag and lite cool whip into my Tupperware decorator to make filling easier.

We started with a layer of cake, then pudding, then cool whip until the containers were full.  The girls had a great time making them.  I kept the push stick out until I served them so they would store in my fridge easier.

Day 11

Today M had left overs from last night's dinner.  I used this recipe but instead of marinating the chicken and cooking it in a pot I threw everything into a crock pot and let it cook on low for a few hours.  Then I cut up the chicken and tossed it with cooked spaghetti and a stir fry veggie mix.  I took the juices from the crock pot and thickened them with cornstarch and added that to the pasta.  I added a grape tomato heart for some color!  She also has a cut up apple with pb for dipping.  D has a homemade poptart (lemon raspberry) and some chocolate yogurt covered raisins.

D and A had some Rainbows and Butterflies Pasta salad and some hot dog hearts for lunch with homemade granola bites.

Poptarts 
you can use store bought pie crust (I made mine with white whole wheat flour)
roll it out to about 1/8" then I cut mine with a 3.5 in round cutter, put 1 TBS filling (use jelly, pie filling, nutella,  I did a few nutella ones and some that I used 1/2 lemon curd and 1/2 raspberry all fruit)  seal the edges with egg wash and a fork. Brush the tops with egg wash and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so.

Granola bars/bites/muffins
Ingredients:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup  wheat germ
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg white
1 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (cherries, apricots, raisins)
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Pour  oats into a large bowl and stir in wheat germ, honey, agave, vanilla, salt, brown sugar, coconut oil and cinnamon. Combine very well, add egg. Mix to distribute evenly and add dried fruit. Spoon the mixture into silicone muffin cups. Press in very firmly, it is important that it is packed in tight.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned.  Leave in cups to cool over night...seriously don't try to take them out until they are completely, completely cooled.