Day 33

Back to school today!!  M has mini deep dish meatball pizzas, sugar snap peas and carrots, "s'mores" it is graham crackers with pea-nutella and some mini marshmallows.  D has homemade yogurt with blueberries and honey.

D and A have fresh mozzarella pearls with pesto and a red pepper heart, chicken/portobella mushroom sausage, sugar snap peas with carrot and yellow pepper flowers.

Day 32

I may have mentioned here before that my kids are not big fans of cooked vegetables.  I decided to stop fighting it and just embrace it.  So now most nights I make a veggie platter/plate with some ranch dip made from greek yogurt.  I put this out while I make dinner and let my kids eat till their hearts are content.  That solves two issues for me.  One they are eating their veggies and two I'm not listening to the never ending whine of "is dinner ready?"  "when is it going to be dinner??"

D went to a birthday party yesterday that ended at 5:00pm.  So she was not real hungry for dinner.  Thus, the left over veggie plate for lunch today with ham, cheese and pineapple kabobs!  I use wooden coffee stirrers as the kabob sticks.  They are less dangerous than the typical skewer and are also school lunch friendly.

Day 31

I'm a little bit behind.  My husband was off of work on Friday, today and tomorrow, so we have been busy.  The kids are also on vacation from school this week.  So this was M's lunch and D's snack on Friday.  I may be able to get back to posting lunches on Wednesday.

M has 2 snowflake rolls, veggie straws and grapes to go with her BBQ pulled pork.  D made her own "trail mix" it is cinnamon gold fish, fruit snacks and a  couple of mini marshmallows.

Day 30

M has cucumbers, steak sandwich and beet cupcakes.  D has 3 mini pancakes with strawberry butter, fruit leather face that she decorated with frosting left over from decorating her Daddy's birthday cake.

For lunch we have chicken/cheese/spinach quesadillas and apples with raisins.

Day 29

M has bbq chicken quesadilla, asparagus, carrots and green beans.  In the black bag is a granola/protein bar and a black bean brownie.  D has yogurt with strawberries and some Kashi Go Lean Crunch.

D and A are having Asian Chicken salad pockets, yogurt and strawberries and string cheese.

Day 28

Today everyone is having breakfast for lunch.  I have been making my waffles with this recipe. They are nice and crisp on the outside and so light and fluffy on the inside.  My girls love them too!  And they are pink because we still have some beet puree to use up.  I added 1/4 c puree to the recipe.  M also has Al Fresco Sweet Apple chicken sausage, 2 heart shortbread cookies, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli and ranch dip.  The round container is her syrup.  D didn't eat her snack yesterday because they had a class party so she is bringing it back to school today.

D and A have pink waffles with strawberries and cream, same apple chicken sausages (breakfast link size) and a clementine.

Day 27

Happy Valentine's Day! 

In honor of Valentine's Day my grocery store was selling heart shaped burgers this weekend.

So all the girls are having heart shaped burgers for lunch today.  M has her burgers with snowflake rolls, cheddar cheese slices, tomato hearts, pickle slices, homemade granola bar, grapes and strawberry filled shortbread cookies. D's snack is the same granola bar and shortbread cookies.

D and A have burgers, tomato heart, carrot sticks and ranch dip.
The granola bars are kind of a mish mash of recipes.  My kids love Nutella.  Who wouldn't?  I can't send it to school with D because she is in a nut free class room.  I had seen a few recipes for homemade nuttella, peanut- nutella and almond- nutella.  Well I tried making soy nut- nutella.  It's pretty good, the kids liked it....it's no Nutella brand nutella, but it's still pretty good.  Then, many of the homemade granola bar recipes you see on the web contain peanutbutter again...useless to me at this point.  So after I made the soy nutella I decided to use some of it to make granola bars.   This version is more like a protein bar.  I used Kashi Go Lean Crisp instead of rolled oats then with the addition of soy butter it's pretty protein packed!

Soy Nutella
I used half of a 18 oz jar Soy Butter
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder (I used ghiradelli 60%)
1 C confectioners sugar
flavorless oil to thin (I used about 1 1/2 tsp grape seed oil)

I put it all in my food processor and whizzed it till it was all smooth.  I transferred to a mason jar and store it in my fridge.

Granola bars
3 C Kashi Go Lean Crisp (large chunks broken up)
1/2 c wheat germ
1/4 c sesame seeds
3 T agave syrup
3/4 C soy nutella

In a sauce pan heat agave syrup and soy nutella until combined and smooth.  Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add in nutella mixture and stir until all combined.  Press mixture into a greased 8x8 inch pan and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 20 minutes.  Cut into bars while still warm, but leave in pan to cool completely.

BEET-utiful Cupcakes!

YES!  You read that right!  This little beauty was made with BEETS!  Ok here is where this all began, I was reading over at Food With Kid Appeal.  Jenna had posted about chemical food dyes.  She also posted a brownie recipe with frosting colored with beets.   I like beets, my kids like beets so I got to thinking.  Lots of recipes have you swap out the oil for applesauce, so why not take out the oil and add in pureed beets.  I'll be honest, I started with a boxed cake mix (hey, baby steps!)  I used a french vanilla cake mix and followed the instructions on the box, but instead of 1/3 cup of oil, I (or rather D) added 1/3 cup of pureed beets.

D is adding the beets while her cousin H stirs.

Then we started filling mini muffin cups with 1 tablespoon of cake batter.

Lots of quality assurance tests were performed!!

Look at how beautiful the batter is!

Working together to make the frosting!  We only used 1/2 tablespoon of beet puree in the frosting, but the girls thought it was the perfect shade!

M is helping H frost some cupcakes.

D and cousin B are decorating with all natural fruit snacks and a couple cinnamon "red hots" (I know they have food dye in them...again baby steps)

Many quality control tests later.

Our cupcakes were declared winners!

Frosting

1 Cup whole milk

5 TBS flour

1 C unsalted butter, softened

1 C granulated sugar

1tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp raspberry extract

1/2 TBS beet puree

mix milk and flour together in a small saucepan, bring to a boil stirring constantly until very thick.  Remove from heat and cool completely.  I made mine the night before and refrigerated it.  In a large bowl whip the butter and sugar together for at least 15 minutes, this helps disolve the sugar and keeps the frosting from being grainy.  Then add cooled milk/flour mixture and flavorings/colorings. Whip until light and fluffy.

Beet puree

I peeled 3 medium beets chopped them to 1/2" dice, tossed with a little veg oil and roasted until soft.  I put them in my magic bullet with about an ounce of water and pureed until smooth.  It was cooled when I used it.

Day 26

M has buffalo chicken quesadilla, romaine lettuce, green beans and carrot sticks with ranch dip, a cup of apple sauce with blueberries.  D's snack is vanilla yogurt with blueberries.

Today was a crazy busy errand day so the girls have rotisserie chicken with mayo and romaine on a multigrain deli thin and carrot sticks.

Day 25

M has applesauce/blueberries, grilled chicken burgers, lettuce, pita, grapes, clementines, pumpkin bread and a container of honey mustard bbq sauce.  D has pumpkin bread for snack.

D and A have meatball soup, garlic toast hearts and clementines (not pictured)


Pumpkin Bread
3/4 C agave syrup
3/4 C honey
4 eggs
1 C coconut oil or butter, melted
1/2 C cold water
1 (15 oz can) pumpkin puree
2 Tbs molasses
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 1/3 C flour
1 C chocolate chips
1 C raisins
2 Tbs wheat germ

Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 and prepare 2 loaf pans.  In a seperate bowl combine all wet ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and raisins.  Divide batter evenly between 2 loaf pans.  Sprinkle tops with wheat germ and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Day 24

M packed her own lunch today.  She had quiche and salad.  For snack today D has, home made applesauce with blueberries and in the bag is a few cinnamon pita chips.

For lunch D and A are having brown rice, chicken/carrots, green beans, grape tomato and clementines.

Applesauce
I use a 4 quart crock pot and I fill it to the top with peeled chopped apples and add 1/2 c water then cook on low for 6 hours or so, until it is all soft.  Some times I'll just mash it up with a fork or I'll use a stick blender...using a stick blender gives it more of a babyfood kind of consistancy.  I put the applesauce in 1-2 cup portions and freeze it until I'm ready to use it.

Chicken/Carrots
1 lb ground chicken
1 C shredded carrot
1/4 of a softball sized onion chopped fine
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 Tbs tamari
2 Tbs water
1 Tbs corn starch

I put the carrots, onion and garlic all through the food processor to make it easier on myself.  Brown the chicken and break it up as you cook it.  Add the veggies and cook until tender.  Mix the tamari, water and cornstarch in a small bowl and add to the chicken mixture.  Cook until thickened.  You can serve this over rice, pasta or sometimes I serve it in lettuce cups.

Day 23

M has 2 mini shepard's pies, cheddar cheese cubes, grapes, apple, clementine, bottle of hot sauce and for snack her and D both have 2 mini chocolate chip muffins, m&m's and D has 2 grapes.

D and A are having mini shepard's pie, red bell pepper with ranch dip, blanched green beans and string cheese.

Mini Shepard's Pie
biscuit dough
1 lb ground beef
1 C veggies (I used corn but you can use anything)
1 C milk
2 T butter
2T flour
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
Mashed potatoes

Brown ground beef.  In a sauce pan melt butter, stir in flour and cook for one minute.  Pour in the milk and stir till thickened, remove from heat stir in cheese, keep stirring until smooth.  Add browned ground beef and veggies stir to combine, set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out biscuit dough to about 1/8" thick. (You can use canned biscuit dough) cut out 3.5" circle.  Put dough in prepared muffin tin.  I use an icecream scoop to fill the biscuit dough with beef mixture.  "Frost" the tops with mashed potato being sure to cover the edge of the biscuit.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until biscuits are golden brown and beef is warmed through.

Day 22

For lunch M has 2 hot dog rolls to make meatball subs (meatballs not pictured), cheese for topping, 2 mini chocolate chip muffins, clementines.  D has 2 mini chocolate chip muffins and grapes for snack.

I only have D today so we are having a quick easy lunch.

Ham, muenster cheese, turkey and apple skewers, blanched green beans, ranch dip and grape tomatoes.

I used this recipe to make the chocolate chip muffins. 

Ranch dip
5 oz greek yogurt
2 oz mayonnaise
1 T hot water
1/2 tsp Buttermilk Ranch Dressing mix (I use Penzey's)

Put dressing mix into the hot water and let it sit while you gather the rest of the ingredients.  Combine all the ingredients....DONE!

Day 21

We have had so many snow days and a very busy week last week.  I need to do a little catching up.

I packed this for Thursday.  D's snack (that she ended up not needing cuz school was cancelled for her!) cinnamon Life cereal and freeze dried apples.  M's lunch was left over stir fry from Wednesday's dinner, a clementine and a couple grapes.  My kids did not go to school on Friday.  We had to attend a funeral.

2-2-2011

So there was no school yesterday or today because of snow.  I just wanted to give you an idea of just how much snow we have gotten recently.  This is a picture of D on the first day of school in September.

D is 47" tall.  Here is D yesterday sitting on the same fence.

Crazy right???  Right now it's raining...I have my fingers crossed that we will not be getting anymore snow this week!