Lunchbox Friday

It's a rainy, dreary Friday morning here in my town. Normally on Fridays, I wake up pumped and ready to go. Today, I want curl up under a blanket with a good book! Quick and simple, here's a little lunchbox inspiration for your. My girly lucked out; I wanted granola bars. I had a coupon and I don't usually buy them. She loved them though and I love having them around the house for me to snack on, too. Also, I found these great little yogurt and smoothies that fit in her lunchbox. They are the perfect size! They came in a pack of 6 for a dollar. Of course I'm going to grab up a deal like that! This week has more convenience food than I typically pack.

Monday:

When you say your child doesn't want to do something anymore, of course they'll change their mind! My daughter ate school lunch on this day. She tried to change her mind right as we were walking out the door, but too late!! She had...Pizzatas? Whatever those are. Then, chocolate milk. Yay.

Tuesday:

Apples filled with peanut butter topped with coconut and raisins. Carrots, Mandarin Oranges. Cheese cubes. Granola Bar. 

Wednesday:

Granola bar. Cheese stick. Smoothie. Cherry tomatoes. Clementine. 

Thursday: 

Ham and cheese rolls ups. Granola bar. Broccoli (Her choice! Not pictured: ranch dressing to dip). Clementine. Yogurt. 

Friday:

 

Half a ham and cheese sandwich. Cherry tomatoes. Smoothie. Clementine. 

Hope you're inspired! Her favorite lunch this week was Friday's, because when she saw it she said, "Yay! It's the same. I like when you make it the same!" Awww, my five year old is bored with my creativity. Sad face. Maybe she really is the kind of kid that wants the same thing every day. I learn new things about her all the time. :)

Happy Friday Hugs,
     Cindy

Special Sunday Dinner: Spaghetti and Meatballs Perfected

printable recipe

My goal as a cook has been to perfect my spaghetti sauce. I feel like if you can make an amazing sauce, you've really made it as a cook. I tried several recipes. I've had some pretty decent ones. I've had some horrible ones. Then came the day I found a recipe that included red wine and crushed red pepper. I thought, "Yes. This one will be the winner." I've made it a few times now, tweaked it a bit and I'm proud to say: It is PERFECT. I feel as though I deserve some Italian badge of honor, and I am by no means Italian.

I asked my husband if he thought this Special Sunday Dinner is blog worthy. He responded, "Oh hell yeah!" Then, went back for a big scoop of more meatballs saying they were the best he's ever had.

Proud moment.

My Sunday Tradition

I thoroughly enjoy cooking. Not the kind of cooking where you throw a few ingredients into a slow cooker and you're done. I do that because I have to. It's in the job description. A family has to eat! What I enjoy is the the task of putting together a full meal where the flavors go together perfectly. I love a cutting board full of perfectly chopped and minced veggies. I enjoy putting the effort into meals that take plenty of effort.

A pot of soup that has been simmering on the stove for hours with a pan of homemade rolls rising next to it makes my heart happy. Especially if I have a delicious pan of brownies in the oven, too. Watching my family enjoy something that I worked so hard on is the best part. Well, I'm not going to lie, I love eating it too. I'm a big fan of my own cooking! 

This is not something I do every day, though. Who has time for that? If you do, I'm jealous. I try to make delicious meals on weekdays, but they are mostly kid-friendly fare with tons of shortcuts. We all eat at separate times and my kids usually don't eat much dinner, anyway.  I'd rather do other things than cook on a weekday. 

But, Sunday. Oh, Sunday. It's the best day. We are all together and hardly do anything. We sit in our pajamas most of the day. It's a day of rest and family time. It's also the day I use to pursue my favorite hobby. I have declared Sunday dinner to be Special Sunday Dinner. 

Special Sunday Dinner is the new tradition in my home. I plan a special meal and always finish it off with a dessert. My kids are getting to the age where they are going to start remembering traditions and looking forward to them. I want them to look back fondly on Sundays. I want memories of sitting around the table using the nice plates. I want them to remember how they always got to help cook dessert. How the house always smelled amazing and I was in the kitchen cooking while they spent time with their dad. When the kids are grown, I want them to know there will always be a good meal at my home on Sundays. I do it for the pure enjoyment of it and for the memories I'm creating.

I'm not telling you all this to brag. This isn't a fabulous tradition that I've come up with out of my own brilliance. I know many families out there do the same thing. I'm going to be blogging about my Special Sunday Dinners from now on. It'll be a way of sharing recipes, help you plan, and maybe inspire you. I'm still finding my niche as a blogger, and since this is a big part of my week, I want to share it with you. 

Watch for my posts. I will have them out most Mondays or Tuesdays at the latest. Life is life and I get busy sometimes. It will be in plenty of time for you to plan for your next special meal.

As always, thanks for coming to my blog.

Warm and Fuzzy Hugs,
      Cindy

More Lunches? Absolutely!

I don't remember the last time I was so excited that it's Friday! Alright...maybe I say that every Friday. I love that the anticipation for the weekend. I feel like I spend all week prepping for today. I'm all like, "What's that, Weekend? You want me to be all lazy and relax with my family and sleep in? Sweet. I can do that." It's exciting. So, short and simple, here's what I packed this past week! It was a 4 day school week and I packed everyday. The girl has declared she always wants me to pack her lunches. No more school lunches equals Proud Mommy Moment. Hope you're inspired!

Tuesday:

Turkey and cheese on whole wheat. Pickles. Pineapple. Cucumbers. 

Wednesday:

Homemade Lunchables. Grapes. Smoothie. See this post for details. 

Thursday:

 Butterfly PB&J as requested. Raisins. Popcorn. Kiwi. 

Friday:

Rice cakes wedges with peanut butter. Cheese cubes. Carrots and Cucumbers with Ranch for dipping
Raisins and Kiwi. 

This little guy was SO jealous of his sister's lunch, he got his very own bento-style breakfast.  Happy boy!!
Peanut butter rice cakes, banana, cheese cubes and kiwi. You lucky kid. 

You might be wondering where the vegetables are. Some lunches seem so one sided, right? I know. Last week, I worked really hard to sneak them in. This week I was exhausted and I just plain didn't feel like putting up the effort. I figure, it's mostly healthy, she eats vegetables at dinner, and eats fruit all day long. I don't eat vegetables at every meal; I don't expect her to. I know that, overall, she's getting what she needs. If you don't want to waste carrots that won't get eaten, let it go. I give you permission.  You don't have time to whip up smoothies or muffins. Oh well. You can make sure they get their daily vegetable quota at dinner. Let it go. I sure did.

Or if you do pack them, make sure you give them a nice, "You better eat these!" Like I did. ;-) hehe!  What did you pack this week?

Giddy Friday Hugs,
     Cindy


P.S. If you do want to know how to disguise some vegetables, just check out my post about it here.

Disguising Vegetables In Your Kid's Lunches

I was making lunches last week when I took a break to go talk to my husband for some of his no-nonsense advice.

In a sweet, thoughtful voice I said, "I'm stumped. I always pack vegetables for Teaghan and they hardly get eaten. I don't know what to pack."

He looked at me like "DUH" and said, "Because she's five."

Touche, dear husband. Touche.

See, my darling child loves vegetables, which is why I pack them.  Imagine having a giant bowl of ice cream sitting on your counter with every topping a kid could dream of. Imagine the squeal of delight they would deafen you with when said ice cream was discovered.

Take that squeal and make it my child, discovering a bowl of vegatables sitting on my counter top, screaming, "VEGETABLES!!!!!" I'm not making this up. That actually happened.

Sneaky Pumpkin Muffins

I was a girl on a mission. I needed to feed my child some vegetables without her knowing. So, I developed this recipe and it was a HIT. They turned out so delicious my whole family gobbled them up. Everyone from the husband down to the two year old couldn't stop eating these.

They are completely sneaky. They are whole wheat and have three vegetables in them! My daughter took a bite and said, "Pumpkin Muffins!!!!!! My favorite!!!!" I didn't bother to mention they also have zucchini and carrots in them. Use white-wheat flour and you can barely tell they're whole wheat.

Sneaky Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour                         2 eggs

1/2 c. packed brown sugar                        3/4 c. canned pumpkin (not the pie filling)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon                                      1/4 c. zucchini, steamed and pureed

1/4 tsp. ginger                                           1/4 c. carrots, steamed and pureed

1/4 tsp allspice                                          1/3 c. vegetable oil

1/8 tsp. nutmeg                                         1/3 c. honey

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat your oven to 350. Get your muffin pan prepped with some cupcake liners or cooking spray. Note that the carrots and zucchini are steamed and pureed. If you haven't yet, take a minute to get them nice and soft and throw them in a food processor or blender

In a large bowl, combine your flour, sugar, spices, baking power, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside. 

In a small bowl combine the eggs, pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, oil, and honey. Add all at once to the well in the dry ingredients and stir only until combined. Scoop into your muffin tin with each being about 2/3 full. 

Bake at 350 for 18 minutes or until done. Cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing. 

Here's a Printable Version for you.

Seriously, they are so good. They also freeze well. So, make a double batch and feed them to your family and have extra leftover for lunches. Check out my post about disguising vegetables to see what I packed them with. Enjoy!


Pumpkin Goodness and Hugs,
     Cindy

Two Easy Lunchbox Recipes

Happy Friday! I get so excited on Fridays!  Not only is the long week over, but I also get to share the post that takes all week to pull together. Today, I have two easy recipes you can whip up for using in lunches. Sandwiches and roll-ups can get a little monotonous at times. These recipes let you get it done beforehand. Make a big enough batch of them and you can keep it around and use it all week!

Let's start with what I've been packing:

Tuesday:

Ham and cheese rolls ups with a twist. I added pickles and mustard in the middle. And, boy, my cheddar did not want to roll up. Not pretty, but she ate every bite and said they were the best. Also, grapes, trail mix, carrots, cucumbers and ranch to dip.

Wednesday:

Learning to Roll with the Punches

As a young mom, you can never count on anything to go just how you want it to. Kids make your plans for you. Life makes your plans for you. You can either accept it and roll with it, or whine because nothing works out right. We all try. Try to keep order and finish our to-to lists while keeping our kids happy.  Try to keep our houses clean, despite sticky fingers, too many toys, pet hair, accidents. and spills. Try to keep up with the never ending laundry. I feel like I wipe my table down all day long. Is it completely gross every time I do? Yes! I could either let this frustrate me (I do. I admit it. I'm preaching to myself here.) or let it go.

Here's my day of rolling with the punches:

First a little back story...I bought maple syrup this weekend when I grocery shopped and when I got it home, I noticed the seal was broken and syrup had leaked out. Gross. No big deal. I'll return it. I'm putting away groceries when I notice I had two rolls of toilet paper left. No big deal. I have to go back to the grocery store, anyway.  I go to bake something. I forgot cooking spray. Well, crap. How much did I forget? No worries. I'll have to go back anyway. I made a list of the seven or so (yeah, seven...) things that I forgot and stick it on my fridge.

Fast forward to today.

Tzatziki

This weekend I whipped up one of my all time favorite foods. It's too delicious not to share. I'm addicted to Tzatziki. Have you ever had this cucumber-yogurt dip? If you have, you're probably addicted to it too. It's never as good if you buy it at the store. I'll show you how ridiculously easy it is to make. There are many recipes out there with dill or mint in them and they are great. This one is simple, and sometimes, I feel simple is best. 

 

Start in the morning. Take a large cucumber and peel off all the skin. 

Cut it down into smaller chunks. Cut it into quarters and then slice away the seeds. 

Grate the cucumber. Since cucumbers are a watery vegetable, you're going to have to dry it out or your tzatziki will be watery, too. You could squeeze all the water out using paper towels, but it's messy, takes some effort, and you lose some of your vegetable. We're going to do it the easy way.

Make Packing Healthy Lunches Easier, Cheaper, and Faster

Packing healthy lunches needs to be fast. You know what's faster than packing lunches? Giving your kids lunch money and letting them buy the subpar food at school. Or, throwing an Uncrustables, a banana, a bag of chips and a Carpi Sun into a lunchbox and being done with it. That's just not how I roll. Chances are, if you're reading this, that's not what you want to do, either. Plus, you probably don't want to spend all night on it.

After my kids are in bed, I head to the kitchen and get two lunches made, for both the girl and the hubby, the dinner dishes done and the counters cleaned. Most nights, depending on how messy I was cooking dinner, I'm out of the kitchen in 30 minutes. It seems kind of long, but lunches are always the fastest part of the process. Some nights I'm not so quick.  I might take the time to do a little prep work...or stare at the pantry with a blank stare hoping for some inspiration. It happens to the best of us. Here's what I do to streamline the process a bit and make it even faster.