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.

Day 10

There was no school today and we went to a play date for lunch so I thought I'd post something that D and I did over the weekend.  One of the ways I am able to get D to eat healthy foods is to involve her in the process.  We made Rainbows And Butterflies Pasta Salad.

Here D is using small fondant cutters (Wilton brand that I picked up at Michael's) to cut shapes out of her all time favorite Orange Bell Peppers. 

The end result...

She loves, loves, loves this pasta salad.  I made some grape tomato hearts for the red, corn for yellow, orange bell peppers, edamame and peas for green, add a bit of greek yogurt with blueberries and she has eaten the rainbow!

Day 7

Snow Day!!!  We had our second blizzard of the season here in the North East so no school for the kids!

This is what D had for lunch.

High protein, multigrain bowtie pasta with tomato cream sauce, 2 chicken meatballs, greek yogurt with blueberries and some trail mix.  I bought the chicken meatballs pre-made.  I don't usually buy pre-made food, but these were on sale and I recognized all the ingredients on the label and the sodium was at a level I could live with. 

Tomato Cream Sauce
I just used a can of diced tomatoes (seasoned with garlic and oregano) and a splash of cream.  The trail mix is Emerald brand S'mores.

Day 4

Left over day!  Everyone is having left overs for lunch.

M has left over "chinese food" that I made for dinner last night and a tangerine.  D's snack is 3 mini multi-grain pancakes with strawberry creamcheese, american cheese "face" with chocolate chunk eyes and mouth and mini m&m nose.  Oh and for drinks M usually has water and D has either plain white milk or water.

D and A's lunch

Same left overs, cucumbers with carrot flowers and a grape tomato with seal pick.

Chinese Chicken and noodles
1 lb chicken (I used tenders) cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 lb ham (I had it left over from yesterday's lunch)
1 C frozen corn
1 C frozen peas
1 tbs oil
1 onion
a couple big handfulls of baby spinach
1/4 C Sesame Ginger dressing (more or less to taste)
1 lb Barilla Plus Angel Hair pasta (I use this because it is high protien, it is made with whole grain wheat and also lentils and chickpeas)
1 C reserved pasta cooking liquid.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  In a large skillet cook chicken until done.  I spray my pan with cooking spray but you can use oil if you want.  Remove the chicken from the pan, add the oil and cook the onion until translucent, add the chicken back to the pan, add the ham, corn and peas to heat through.  Toss the drained pasta with dressing while still hot, if it seems dry add some of the reserved cooking liquid.  When all the pasta is coated with dressing add in the meat/veggie mixture.  I toss in the spinach right at the end and mix it in so that it's just wilted.

Last night at dinner M said "You know what would make this even better?  NOTHING!"  So I guess it was a winner!