Out of The Box School Lunch Ideas

Enough with artsy bento boxes already. Let's be real! We are currently a little more than half way through the school year. Frustration hasn't set in quite yet, but when May rolls around I know I'll be at my wits end trying to figure out what to pack in the kids lunches. So, I'll make a list here and refer back to it later.

Let me tell you a few things about Chloe and Nash. They are really picky when it comes to lunch. Not breakfast or dinner, just lunch. They both refuse to eat the school lunches in the cafeteria and I don't blame them.  Neither one likes the same thing for more than a few days in a row. For the most part, Nash doesn't like what Chloe eats and Chloe doesn't like what Nash eats. Furthermore, Chloe takes a reusable lunch box that I can fill with a thermos or Tupperware container and utensils. She always brings them home, never lost and never late. Nash on the other hand, takes his lunch to school in a paper bag and has a poor track record for bringing home reusable items. If Chloe doesn't eat something it remains in her lunch box, where I can see it when she gets home. While Nash throws everything away, I ask everyday how his lunch was and he is more than happy to share what he liked and what he didn't like with me. I would rather know that he didn't like something and try and accommodate him next time rather than have him throw it away like I used to do. What a terrible waste. Not to mention they get home two hours before dinner and are starving. That is its own dilemma.

Tips:
I have a small chalk board in the kitchen where I jot down what I am thinking of making for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner the following day or days. I do this for myself, because  often times, I will think of the perfect lunch for them and when I wake up not so bright-eyed, I can't remember what I was going to make. This little step saves me time in the morning and makes for a more balanced lunch.

I always do my shopping on Sunday or Monday. I like to buy fruit from Costco, it's one stop for the whole week. I wash it, slice it, and store it in the fridge so it's ready to go in the mornings.

I searched Pinterest this morning for some new lunch ideas. I typed in "Kids lunch ideas". Mostly what came up were tons of impractical artsy bento boxes. First of all, food cut into a star shape is not going to persuade my 9 year old or high-schooler to eat it. I didn't find any of these lunches to be practical. I'm not an artist and I'm not going to wake up 30 minutes earlier to color coordinate their fruit and turn their sandwiches into funny faces! I already make a hot breakfast and two completely separate lunches. I usually have 4 dirty pans in the sink by the time we leave for school! You will get a few different ideas by searching "school lunch ideas" instead.

Our Unbento Lunchbox

Today Chloe had soup and crackers with an apple. She eats the Gripz cookies at snack. I can't give her much more than that because they really don't have all that much time to eat. She is a pretty slow eater to begin with. If I give Chloe pasta for lunch and fruit, I always put the pasta in a one-cup container, and the fruit in a one and a half or two-cup container.

I'm going to attempt to separate this list into three parts. One for Chloe, one for Nash, and one for both.

Chloe's Lunches

Soup
Teriyaki chicken and rice (in thermos) this is her favorite
Tortellini
Plain pasta w/evoo
Nutella sandwich (occasionally)
Carrots
Apple (sometimes sliced with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar because it masks the browning)

Nash's Lunches
Grilled cheese
PB with no J
Quesadilla
Wraps
Peanut butter and cracker sandwiches

Both
Salad with croutons and chopped meat (Glad salad containers with snap in dressing cups. At Target.)
Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches
Cream cheese on a bagel (on Bagel Thins)
Turkey, salami, or roast beef sandwich
Strawberries, hulled
Pineapple chunks
Melon chunks
Kiwi quarters
Orange wedges
Shelled edamame

They both get water everyday and one pantry item each day. A pantry item is anything that comes in a bag, ,box or wrapper, IE: granola bar, pretzels, etc. I use the small snack bags to maintain proper portions. Chloe gets an organic chocolate milk two times per week.

Here are some ideas I got from the web:
Milk in a thermos with a side of cereal
Hot dog in boiling water in a thermos with a bun and condiments on the side.
Waffle sandwich? Hmmm, I'll have to think about this one.
Muffins

I know my lists aren't very long. I would love your ideas!

What do you pack in your kid's lunches?

It's All The Rage {12 Links to Homemade Granola}

I have a new love in my life. It's unfortunate we are forbidden to continue on together. When it comes to granola, I just can't control myself. However, it makes a great snack for my kiddos, and I like shipping it to relatives and friends around the country. What a sweet surprise. The granola I make comes from Farm Girl. Of course I love that I can change up granola to suit my own personal preferences. I like it with coarsly chopped almonds and chocolate chips. On yogurt, or by the handful, I do love you my sweet crunchy granola...

Honey Granola @ Farm Girl Recipes

Basic Granola Formula @ Chocolate & Zucchini

Easy Homemade Granola @ The Amateur Gourmet

Toasted Almond Granola @ Joy The Baker

Best Granola In The Whole Wide World

@ 33 Shades of Green

Gluten Dairy Sugar Free Homemade Granola

@ Joy The Baker

Autumn Granola @ Sugar Plum

Oatmeal Cookie Granola @ Cheeky Kitchen

Homemade Almond Granola @

Phe.MOM.enon

Simple Yet Delicious Granola @

Cooking For Seven

Homemade Granola Favors @ Hale Healthy Recipes


Easy Homemade Granola @ Charlotte's Fancy

Do you have a favorite Granola combination or link to a recipe? Leave a comment and tell us about it!
Blog Love:
This post has been featured
@ Reflection of Something.

30 Minute Fajitas

I know, turkey again! But here's the thing, I'm lazy, and these are super fast and easy, because I buy the pre-cut turkey strips. They're pricey, but they save a lot of time. This is Nash's favorite dinner. And it makes me happy too because it's uber nutritious. Sometimes I leave the beans out, but I like to add them because the turkey strips are expensive and this really adds several servings to the final amount. So if you are serving more than, say three adults, you either need to add more meat, or the beans. You can use just about any meat you wish. Chicken, Steak, and even Shrimp are good options.

Serves 4 ish

Some Ingredients you'll need are:

1 lb. of your choice of meat, sliced fajita style

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 onion, halved and sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips

2 red or orange bell peppers, seeded and sliced into strips

1 tsp. crushed or 1 clove, minced garlic

Olive oil

Salt, Pepper

Southwest Seasoning mix (I use Pampered Chef)

Now, don't freak out if you don't have some of the ingredients, like the seasoning. Fajitas are very forgiving, and adaptable. Use what you have. First, slice all your veggies. In a large saute pan, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium low heat. Use enough oil to coat the entire bottom of the pan. Add your veggies, and sprinkle with some salt. Cook these, stirring frequently for anywhere from 30-45 minutes. The amount of time you cook them for depends on a couple of factors. 1.) How thick did you cut your veggies? 2.) What texture are you going for? The longer you cook them, the softer your veggies will get. As liquid is lost, the onions will begin to caramelize.

Next, when your veggies are to the desired firmness, push them aside in the pan and add your turkey and season it. *You may have to add a bit of oil to cook the turkey.*

Turn up the heat to medium and stir fry the turkey until thoroughly cooked (no longer pink please). Then add the beans, and mix with the turkey and veggies until the beans are hot.

It should look like this:

Serve in warm flour tortillas. We like to add shredded cheese and sour cream.

 

This is linked to:

Recipe Blog I love and Easy Cinnamon Bread Recipe

I love the blog Plain Chicken. All of the recipes that I have tried from Plain Chicken have made it into my Tried and True cookbook binder. To qualify to be in the Tried and True Cookbook binder I must have made and loved the recipe at least 3 times. The latest Plain Chicken recipe to make it in was this Parmesan Skillet Bread.
http://plainchicken.blogspot.com/2010/09/garlic-parmesan-skillet-bread.html
It's a great addition to most any dinner but recently I tried a sweet breakfast version using the same method.

Cinnamon Skillet Bread
1 can flaky buttermilk biscuits, cut in quaters
3 Tbsp butter
2 tsp prepared cinnoman and sugar mix
8" saute pan
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Water or milk, start with a teaspoon
Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter in saute pan.  Add cinnamon and sugar.  Add quartered biscuts and toss in saute pan.  Place whole pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and slide onto platter for serving. Combine powdered sugar and liquid, one teaspoon at a time until a desired constistency is reached. It should drizzle off a spoon.

My Decorated Cakes!!!

CAKES DECORATED BY ME! 

          Pick your favorite!



Please do not use any of my cake photos without permission! Thanks!

The following photos are from Toba's beautiful book that I'm giving away!

*This giveaway is now closed*

It's November, it's my birthday month, and Thanksgiving! I can't think of a better time to treat my loyal readers (you know who you are;-) to a my first giveaway! From my post last week, you now know that I decorate cakes as a hobby. I've done wedding, Quinceañeras, & milestone birthday cakes. I always feel very honored when someone asks me to do a cake for them. I feel even more honored if they ask me a second time! I have lots of cake books! Sometimes hubby will accidentally buy me a duplicate book. My loss is your gain. I will be giving one lucky reader this beautiful cake decorating book by Toba Garret valued at $50! It's chock full of recipes, photos, and how-to's. You will love it, I promise! I am using http://www.giveawayscout.com/ to help promote my giveaway. You can too by going to thier website and following the submit a giveaway instructions!

How YOU can WIN:

1. Simply become a follower and leave a comment telling me that you became a follower or leave a comment telling me you are already a follower. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. 
2. Receive an additional entry by posting a link to this giveaway in your blog post. Leave a comment telling me you have done so.
3. Gain a third entry by leaving another comment telling me what cake of mine you like best.

How to bake a professional looking layer cake

Tricks to bake a professional looking layer cake.

This is my way, I know there are other ways and everyone has their own tricks. These are mine. This is how I have learned to do it after many years of research! Make sure you have plenty of room in your refrigerator AND freezer before you start! Oh and give yourself a couple days to prepare this. I like 3 days.

Prepare two-2" round pans of your choice with shortening, flour, and parchment paper as shown below. Use your favorite recipe and bake at 325 degrees instead of 350. You may have to increase the cooking time. 

I fill my cakes pretty high, trim them, and save the scraps for Cake Pops. I also TAP or PAT the pans on the counter a few times before baking to release any air bubbles, as shown in Step 4 above.

Shown below, I use a large serrated knife (bread knife) to level, resting the knife on the side of the pan, as a guide. Don't worry if it's a little uneven, you're going to fill it anyway. You also need to release the cake from the sides of the pan. Make sure the knife stays along the pan or else you will cut into the side of the cake.



While the cake is still in the pan, cover it with a paper towel, then your rack. Then invert the cake to finish cooling so you can prepare your pans for the next step. While we don't necessarily need the paper towels for this particular cake it has become a habit. The purpose is so you don't get rack marks on your cake. Peel back the parchment as shown below. Wash and dry your cake pans.



After they have cooled, and are still on the racks, cover them with long pieces of saran wrap, then the pan. Now you can invert the cake back into the pan and wrap it with the saran wrap. See below. If you are just freezing over night, the saran wrap is enough, but if you are freezing for any lengthier amount of time you should also cover the WHOLE pan in foil as well. I always freeze my cakes if I have time. It somehow makes them more dense and moist.

Once you are ready to defrost, pull them out and invert them back to the rack. No paper towel is necessary. I keep the saran wrap lightly draped over them while they thaw as it absorbs the ice. Again, I'm not sure how?? You don't need to thaw them too long. I usually prepare my filling and a batch of icing. They're usually still cold and firm enough to handle, just no longer frozen. Check them after about 30 minutes.

Prepare your cake board by applying some icing so that the cake will not slide around. Position the cake board on top of the cake. Once you invert it the flat, crust side will be on the bottom and the cut, cake side will be facing up. Using a #24 tip, pipe a damn around the circumference, as shown in step 4, below.

As shown below fill the area with your choice of filling. I like to use pudding. Then....very carefully, lift the other cake and set on top of your filled layer. Make sure the flat, crust part is facing upwards. Imagine your making a sandwich with two end pieces of bread! Now fix any damage, with icing as your glue. Then using a pastry brush, use syrup to moisten the top and sides of the cake. You can use simple syrup, or those flavored coffee syrups.

Be creative ;-)

Apply a crumb coat, using very thin icing over the entire cake. Then refrigerate until the icing has hardened. I usually leave in overnight to seal in the moisture.

Load your icing into a LARGE piping bag (18") with the large tip contraption shown below. Use this to frost your cake. Teeth will face the cake. The other side of the tip is straight edged. The neater you complete this step, the easier it will be later. It helps if you have a rotating cake stand. I was using new icing that I had never used before, and it was so stiff, I didn't have the strength in one hand to complete the task, hence the sloppiness.

While your cake is still on the stand use the metal pastry spatula tool shown below to smooth the icing. You can spend some time perfecting this! *I use those little rubber cabinet liners to keep my cake from sliding off the stand. I also use them in the cake box, and the car! Then refrigerate again for at least a couple of hours.

Using a VIVA paper towel (Yes it needs to be VIVA), and that little fondant smoothing tool, smooth that cake some more. Again, I have spent a good amount of time on this before. Of course, here I only spent about 10 minutes. I was donating it, so I wasn't too concerned about perfection!

Now is the fun part. Close your eyes. Channel your Play-Doh loving inner child self, and have at it. Fondant is just like Play-Doh. I have been using Duff's fondant from Michael's. I add a little fingertip of glycerin to it to prevent it from cracking or getting elephant skin syndrome. You just color it, knead it, and roll it as thin as you can. Make sure your work surface is clean and dusted with cornstarch. Then use your cutters or template to create your work of art.

I didn't do it here, but lastly I would apply a simple border on the bottom.

This cake was made in two 12x2 inch rounds. It will feed approximately 30 people. Due to it's height, it is not a good idea to serve it in wedges. Cut as directed below, there are guides for each size.

I hope you find this useful. There are so many useful tutorials for cake decorating techniques on You Tube.

Do you have any cake decorating tips or tricks you can share with us?