Smoothie and a Sandwich

Favorite smoothie (plus blueberries) in progress

-Favorite smoothie
-Wellshire turkey and Mindful Mayo on Rudi's GF bread
-Tiny container of raisins
-Falafel chips

Books in the Hallway

-Home made gf/df cornbread
-Bell & Evans organic hot dog pieces (in square container)
-Favorite smoothie

We needed a little extra-fancy since it was such a cold, grey day. Stickers to the rescue.

 My lunch:
-Snowy Cranberries This is a great recipe by my friend Rachel from Hounds in the Kitchen. Good blog, check it out.
-Home made cornbread. I used coconut milk that was left over after making the kids smoothies and eggs from our chickens. It was yummier than usual, coconut milk is so good.
-Turkey roll-ups with daiya jack cheese and Applegate turkey. I think this would also have been good with chicken breast and a sweet sauce of some sort.

 It was time for the sunshine bulletin board to come down. The colors had faded and the hallway needed a change for the new year. The kids are learning about authors and literature, and the book fair will be starting soon. I thought a book themed board with 3D books would be a good way to make a bright and colorful bulletin board for the kids, and it was fun to make. I'm hoping to have time next week to make a matching "bookshelf" for the opposite side of the board.

Milk for Monday

-Turkey sandwich on Rudi's gf bread with Mindful Mayo
-Tiny container of organic raisins
-Half of a Kit's Organic fruit & nut bar
-Favorite smoothie (made with homemade coconut milk!!)

I've planned to try making my own coconut milk for so long, but never made the time to do it. I can't believe I waited so long! It took so little time and is so much tastier than anything from a box or can (not to mention not having any creepy ingredients).
I started with the recipe at Whole New Mom. I then used the milk to start a batch of slow cooker rice pudding for the kids breakfast tomorrow. It turned out so much richer and creamier than it does when using store-bought milk, and I immediately decided to make a second batch for smoothies. It only keeps for about 48 hours in the fridge, but freezes well (just needs a good shake when it thaws). I don't think we'll be buying packaged milks again.

Nutty and Noggy

-Half sunbutter and strawberry on Rudi's gf bread
-Raw nut & fruit bar
-Enjoy Life chocolate chip cookies
-Noggy smoothie (So Delicious coconut milk nog, organic cashews, frozen banana)

Feeling good

-Wellshire turkey ham and Earth Balance mayo on Rudi's gf bread
-Favorite smoothie in the sili (again!)
-Honest kids apple juice

I wanted the kids to keep hydrated since they had been sick for a couple of days, and they don't tend to drink a lot of water at school. I had a request for a second day of their favorite smoothie, which is great since it has protein and fruit, as well as some extra hydration. I tossed the juice pouch in there for good measure. This is the first substantial lunch since catching this nasty little bug, and I'm happy to see my littles eating well again.

Sick day cuddles

 -Favorite smoothie (in the sili)
-Half sunbutter & strawberry on Rudi's gf bread
-Apple pie millet, based on an oatmeal recipe I found on pinterest (we can't eat oats)

-Homemade trail mix with cashews, golden raisins, goji berries, & a few mini vegan chocolate chips

This ended up being a home lunchbox since the kids didn't feel well and stayed home from school. The girl loved the apple pie millet, and I'm thrilled to be able to add a new grain to our menu. The boy still isn't sure about it, but tried it twice. I'm so proud of all his tasting! He also didn't want the sb&j, but his belly was bothering him. We ended up making a huge nest on the living room floor with pillows, blankets, and the crash pad, and hanging out in front of a couple of movies all day (we did some reading too). They got some much needed rest, and I got my fill of hugs and cuddles.

Ready for fancy lunches again

This one is actually from early last week. The boy had been asking for pizza with a spider made of olives, so I did an extra fancy version for him. I made the web by meticulously placing individual strands of daiya shreds, and the spider is a halved olive with miniscule slivers of olive for the legs. I made sure to remind them that spiders have 8 legs,but it's too hard to get 8 legs out of an olive half.
The sili has their favorite smoothie, strawberry cashew, and up in the corner is a half of a peanut butter bar.

Last week

The school week was only 2 days long last week, and we spent lots of time preparing for our holiday feast and visit with family. Since I didn't get a chance to write about lunches then, I thought I'd put together a quick post to start this week. Thanksgiving meal highlights are coming soon!

 -Half bagel with sunbutter & jelly
-Kit's Organic fruit & nut bar
-Bare Fruit cinnamon apple chips
-Sili Squeeze with favorite smoothie

-Wellshire turkey ham & Earth Balance Mindful Mayo sandwich on Rudi's gf multigrain bread
-Sili Squeeze with favorite smoothie

Election Day Lunch

Election day lunch:
-WayBetter sweet potato chips (and guacamole for the girl)
-Sections of pomelo
-Bell&Evans organic uncured turkey hotdog and small dipper of organic ketchup

Somehow the kids' lunchboxes got switched and he ended up with her guacamole. The boy said that he didn't even see it, lol. The veggie-ness of it probably overwhelmed him just enough to block it from his reality. He was excited about the pomelo pieces, he loves the texture. He takes so long to eat them that he was only able to get a few tiny bits in, but at least he'd eaten the other food first so he wasn't hungry all day. The girl ate everything in her lunchbox, and thanked me for putting the pomelo in there. If you haven't tried one before, and enjoy citrus, pick one up the next time you see one at the grocery. They taste like a grapefruit and tangerine cross, with fairly firm sections (the kids call them juice packs). They are usually a little pricy, but can be easily shared by 3 people, so it evens out.

Day after election day lunch:
-Homemade organic cornbread with sunbutter and strawberry jam
-Favorite smoothie
-Kit's Organic peanut butter bar

A little bit of a cheat in my no-sandwich week, but since it's made with homemade cornbread (with banana!), I'll let it slide. It would have been fun to have had an Ohio-themed lunch planned, but I didn't think about it until I was packing this up while watching the election results roll in. This lunch wasn't interesting enough to justify it's own post, but the kids enjoy having a visual representation of the lunches they've had, so it can hang out here with yesterday's lunch.

Trading lunch style for superhero style

Since the Halloween countdown is now being measured in hours instead of days, and costumes still have details to be worked out, lunch creativity has taken a serious turn. The costumes are totally worth it :)

-Half sunbutter and strawberry on Udi's gf bread, with pumpkin and ghost shapes cut from apricot and cherry fruit leather
-*The Favorite Smoothie* in a Sili Squeeze (see end of post for recipe)
-Bare Fruit cinnamon apple chips

-Half sunbutter and strawberry on Udi's gf bread
-The Favorite Smoothie in a Sili Squeeze
-Glutino pretzels and a small piece of dried papaya
-Apple juice pouch


The Favorite Smoothie (gluten free, dairy free, soy free)
I use a Vitamix, so I haven't tried this in a regular blender to know if the consistency is as creamy as with the VM. Let me know how it works out if you try it! All measurements are approximate.

-1 cup raw organic cashews
-1 cup frozen strawberries
-1 1/2 - 2 average bananas, cut into large bite-sized pieces and frozen
-1/2 cup coconut milk (or other milk of choice, homemade almond is nice)
-Generous swirl of honey (about 2 teaspoons)

Toss everything into the Vitamix for about 2 minutes, or until consistancy is smooth with no cashew bits.
I've switched out the strawberries for blueberries with good results, as well as adding chia and hemp seeds for additional food value. I'll also sometimes add a very small splash of organic vanilla extract.

Now to see which will happen first; finished costumes, halloween, or the "frankenstorm"...

Boring Apple, Mini Apple

-Half sunbutter and strawberry sandwich on Udi's gf raisin bread
-Glutino pretzels, lady apple, date
-Sili Squeeze filled with berry apple sauce

The berry apple sauce was complained about, but eaten. They thought it was going to be a smoothie, so were disappointed to find that it was just apple sauce. They left the lady apples behind, and said that they didn't know how to eat them. The girl said that it was confusing since her mouth is so much bigger than the apple that she couldn't figure out how to take a bite and avoid the seeds and stem, LOL! The girl and I had a mini apple eating lesson this evening, and she did great (though we discovered that the apples aren't quite ripe yet).

So cute, yet such a fail

-Chick rice ball with carrot comb and corn beak
-Ladybug rice roll, dyed with beet juice and wrapped in nori
-Bee rice roll with daiya cheddar and nori strips
-Black olives
-Star sandwich with corn tortilla and Wellshire turkey ham
-Pamela's gf ginger cookies
-Sili full of smoothie; strawberry, banana, cashew, homemade almond milk

Yep, sure is cute.
This lunch (and yesterday's) were near complete failures. The whole "lead a horse to water" thing changes color rather drastically when you mix in food aversions (see what I did there? Clever, I am). I didn't really expect the boy to eat beet colored sushi, or even taste it. He does, however, LOVE cheesy rice and plain rice, so I thought the bees and chick would be eaten. But no, he couldn't even make himself open the container. He ate the cookies, sandwich, and part of the smoothie, but emphatically declared this a "no list" lunch, and said that there were too many vegetables. He also let me know that he only wants sunbutter and jelly sandwiches and smoothies for lunch from now on. So, any progress that we've made with trying new foods at lunchtime is on hold until this new roadblock is cleared. Darn.
At least the girl thought the rice balls were cute. She ate the ladybugs and pulled the nori off the others. She wasn't thrilled with the tortilla, but did pull off the ham to eat and had her whole smoothie.
Tomorrow, they'll get sunbutter and smoothies, because the boy needs to get some food in him. 

10.11.12

Last night, the boy asked if today's lunch could have just a sandwich and a squeezie. My guess is that he was wanting something simple that he knew he'd like and would be easy to eat since it's been a difficult week. Or, possibly he just wanted something soft-ish since he lost his first tooth yesterday and is nervous about chewing. I'm out of fruit, with the exception of frozen bananas and blueberries, so the smoothie was tricky, but I think it worked out quite well.

-Sunbutter and strawberry jam sandwich, with organic cranberry fruit leather in the cutout
-dates
-Pamela's gf ginger cookies
-Sili Squeeze smoothie with banana, blueberries, raw cashews, chia, honey, and coconut milk
-Extra water bottle since they haven't been drinking enough

Pre-leathered fruit leather

The kids thought the fruit leather filled cutout in their sandwich was pretty cool, and it prompted a long discussion about how fruit leather is made. It reminded me how simple it is to make, so we started a batch after school. Once again, the lack of fruit necessitated some creativity, and this first batch is just organic apple sauce and apple pie spice. It's been in the oven for about 4 hours now, with no end in sight, but the house smells amazing!
I also made up a batch of Organic Cowboy Kahlua. It also smells really good, but it needs to sit for a month. That's a crazy long time to wait to taste a recipe for the first time, but I can handle it. It will be ready just in time for Thanksgiving, and it will definitely be put to good use then.

Pizza and Bug Food

-Pizza sticks (gf pizza crust, spaghetti sauce, daiya cheese)
-Clementine pieces
-Banana, chocolate, peanut butter smoothie

Neither kid ate the clementines, saying that there wasn't enough time. I'm suspecting that the boy's new love of clementine has passed. Short lived, but still progress. She had hers after school, but his became a parent snack. 
I had an unexpected chunk of free time this evening, and nothing planned for dinner. So, out came the leftovers to be remade into Bug Food (though maybe they look more like sea creatures?).

 For the boy: Tinkyada gf spaghetti with nori strips, black olives, Wellshire uncured turkey ham, grape tomato half, red pepper piece, marshmallow and mini chocolate chip eyes (dandies and enjoy life).

For the girl (who's not a fan of noodles at the moment): Black beans, black olive, nori strips, red peppers. Wellshire uncured turkey ham, grape tomato half, marshmallow and chocolate chip eyes.

Clementines!

-Baked leftover GF spaghetti (Tinkyada) with turkey ham strips and egg
-Clementine
-In the Sili: Strawberry/banana/coconut milk/cashew smoothie

Check out the clementines!! Today the boy decided on his own to try a piece of clementine. He wasn't able to eat any of the pulp, but he loved chewing the juice out. I call that a win! Notice the tiny container that's in with his pith-free clementine sections? I'm hoping that's where the pulp will go instead of being spit into his lunchbox or chipmunked.
The smoothie is a re-creation of one of the kid's favorites that we order at a local vegan restaurant. We haven't been there in quite a while, and the kids have mentioned wanting to try to make this smoothie at home.

UPDATE: The boy was a huge fan of this lunch, especially the eggy baked noodles. The girl really liked the smoothie, but wasn't into the baked noodles (though I'm not sure she tasted them).
All clementines were eaten!

Tomato Angst and Silis

 

Today was a day off for the kids, so I didn't pack lunches. Instead, we spent some time at the skate park with the balance bikes, then came home with two cranky kids who were feeling snacky-but-don't-want-anything-you-offer-y. The mister entertained them with a cardboard box while I put together a fanciful supper that was sure to turn the moods around (it totally worked!). 

-Way Better Snacks sweet potato chips (they have chia in them!)

-Kangaroo and elephant shaped sandwiches made with Earth Balance Mindful Mayo and Wellshire Turkey Ham

-Grape tomatoes arranged into a flower with an olive center

-Shredded turkey ham left over after using the cookie cutters for the sandwiches

-Scrambled egg (the boy's new "yes list" food!!)

-HealthyPants muffin 

Both kids came running when they heard me put the plates on the table. They immediately sat down and started to eat, but had to stop a few times to come over to hug me and say thanks for the muffin, or the sandwich, or the scrambled egg. You'd think they'd been eating only rice mush and overcooked green beans their whole lives, and were just tasting real food for the first time. The only actual new food was the tomatoes. They are tiny little grape tomatoes, and they are sweet and good. The girl loved them once she tried one, but she has always been a fan of tomatoes. The boy got worried. Furrowed his brows and everything. Here's his "this has touched my plate and contaminated all that is right in the world" face...

The tomato angst only lasted until he spotted the elephant sandwich on his plate. He was able to keep the tomatoes on his plate, though he wasn't able to try one. He did bring a few over to me and asked me to eat them, and wanted to watch me bite them so he could see if they'd squirt.

Eventually, they went to bed, and I got started on lunch...

-Half sandwich of Wellshire turkey canadian bacon and Earth Balance Mindful Mayo (egg and soy free!) on Rudi's gf multigrain bread
-Andean Dream quinoa/coconut cookie
-Peanut butter/cocoa/coconut milk yogurt smoothie
-Bare Fruit cinnamon apple chips will be put into their bags for snack

Our new Sili Squeezes have arrived! The kids have been super excited for these to come, and were thrilled to see them on our doorstep yesterday. I was planning on filling them with an old standby for the first time using them, but on a whim decided to try something new. I've been having such good luck introducing new foods at lunchtime, why not press my luck a little further. Tomorrow is a gym day, so they'll need lots of energy. Plus, by the end of a long day at school, they are hungry. This smoothie should have lots of sticking power, but hopefully not so much that they are too full for gym.
It's a little sweet for my taste, and I'm not a huge fan of the coconut milk yogurt. Hopefully the kids will like it. If not, I'll have an extra snack for them to eat when I pick them up. 

Ingredients (this made enough to fill 2 6oz silis, and a bit more for tasting) :
Honey, 2 tbsp
Dates - Medjool, 4 date, pitted
Cocoa Powder Organic, 1 tbsp (5g)
Flax Seed - Ground , 1 tablespoon
Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein - Organic Shelled Hemp Seed, 3 Tablespoons
Organic Peanut Butter - Smooth, No Salt Added, 2 tablespoons
So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk - Vanilla - Yogurt, 8 oz
Bananas - Raw, 1 medium

UPDATE: Got a very interesting response to today's lunch. The boy declared this a "no list" lunch, but then went on to discuss (at length) how much he liked the smoothie. What he didn't like was the sandwich. That he ate. Somehow I went to bed last night like normal, but woke up this morning in some sort of food aversion Twilight Zone where my kid actually eats a food that he doesn't like. The girl also didn't like her sandwich, but clarified that she just wasn't into the mayo. She pulled off the turkey to eat, and left the bread and mayo.