Dinner's On!

Meal planning has saved me so much time and frustration, I won't say it's saved me a ton of money.  Try as I might I'm not super good about couponing or only going to the store twice a month or planning meals based on what's on special.  I am good at putting together a well balanced dinner that looks and taste good. 

When I was 14 my job was to plan, shop for and prepare dinner on weeknights for my family.(Genius on my parents part, I learned about nutrition, budgeting, and timing a meal.)  I had a few rules I had to follow.  I couldn't just make chicken and everything on the plate had to be a different color.  Not only does it look nicer, but your getting a whole lot of different vitamins and minerals that way!

My family has it's favorites, things that cycle through more often.  They also have things they just don't like (or maybe that's me) and I either don't make them regularly or ever; it's not worth preparing food that people won't enjoy or eat.  It's a waste of your time and money, not to mention it stinks to spend time on something  only to have no one enjoy it.

Involving your family in meal planning is a great way to get your kiddos to try new things and just be more willing to eat what you've prepared.  I give my girls each a day to pick dinner, they help cook that night too and in picking what we eat, they are learning skills in meal planning too!

A sample weekly menu for our family would look like this:

Sunday; Late lunch out (after church), Steak salads with crusty bread
Monday; Salmon, brown rice, sauteed snap peas and pearl onions
Tuesday; Roasted chicken, sweet potato wedges, steamed green beans
Wednesday; Make your own Nacho bar, with all the fixings
Thursday; Soup and salad/sandwich  (this is our really busy night, so it's got to be easy)
Friday; Pot roast with carrots, potatoes and onions, green salad
Saturday; Pizza with salad or fresh veggies

Having a plan helps me shop or know what to defrost, it also helps me to use what I have in the pantry and fridge.   Some weeks I set a goal to use only what we have, I call it "Freezer Clean Out".  It's a great way to literally help make space in your freezer, pantry and fridge.  It also is a great way to stretch a budget or save a little money.  

Almost all of my meals can be made in 30 minutes or less, and I try to use as few dishes/pans as possible...I'm all about the speedy clean up.  Other challenges I throw in are; $5 dinners, a meal for 4 cannot cost more then 5 dollars,  vegetarian (meat free meals),  leftover round ups, your on your own (literally, every Man or Kid for themselves).
I know some Moms who just use the same schedule every week.  It works for their families and it simplifies their lives.  Which is exactly what meal planning should do.  (I'd get bored,  I love food and trying new things.)

Sunday; Roast of some sort
Monday; Meatless Meal
Tuesday; Taco Tuesday (something Mexican)
Wednesday; Left Overs
Thursday; Chicken
Friday; Fish Friday
Saturday; Pizza/Delivery

I generally do my planning on Monday; the girls are at school, I can go through the ads (I try to be good about it) and I can go shopping without helpers.  If you have all the ingredients on hand you can switch out days easily, just in case roast chicken sounds better then meatloaf one night.  I literally write it out (I have those Post It's that are like a weekly to do list) and I post it on the fridge...it helps me commit to the plan. The whole point is to get it down, try to stick to it and see if it doesn't just take the hassle out of 6 o'clock every night!  

Superbowl Left Overs

There wasn't a lot left over because there wasn't a lot to start with.  We skipped the parties this year in favor of a quiet day at home and ordered in pizza.  It was sort of slim pickings, but it provided the makings for a really quick lunch that the girls adore!

Both of the girls have a slice of pizza and a bread stick, a clementine, baby carrots, a rice crispy treat, and a Stretch Island Fruit Leather, plus an organic milk box.  It's not fancy, but it'll do the trick!

For snack they have dried seaweed and a bag of grapes.

But I Don't Wanna Go To School...

Anyone else have to pry kids out of bed and get them off to school this morning?  Hope they weren't as full of "I don't wanna get up" and "I wish it was still break" and "why can't we just homeschool again?"....truth be told, it was hard for me to get going this morning too. 

That included packing lunches.  I'm sure your burned out with all the cooking and cleaning and shopping from this last week and the grocery store was the last place I wanted to go.  Thank Heavens for leftover veggie trays and fruit trays or my kiddos would be living off of canned fruit and veg for the next day or two!

This lunch is a mix up of all the appetizers present at Thanksgiving dinner...I love a fridge full of appies.  In fact, I could eat nothing but bite size snacks for the rest of my life and be totally content.  Hmmm...this is giving me ideas for dinner tonight;)

This lunch has baby carrots, watermelon, slices of cheddar cheese and summer sausage, a selection of crackers and a couple gingerbread cookies.   They both have organic chocolate milk to go with lunch.

 

For snack they have homemade blueberry muffins and string cheese.

When a Kid Packs Lunch

When a kid packs lunch it looks a lot like this....

In my head, this whole packing went something like those "If You Give A Mouse A Muffin" books.  If you give a 10 and 8 year old free reign, they will start with candy.  Always.  Every time.   Then hopefully they will decide that they should throw in some fruit and maybe a veg (mandarin orange and cucumbers).  This might lead them to some sort of protein, or two.  Because salami is never enough, you probably need a bagel and cream cheese.   While a bagel may seem like enough fiber/carbs, your wrong.  So throw in a granola bar and goldfish to round it out!   When it's all done, there isn't really room for candy so you eat it right then, because who can let candy go to waste?!

That's how I imagined it went.  Even if it went another way; which may have included some arguing, bossing and a little crying...plus a lot of mess...it's packed.  I can live with it.  I can get used to these kids of mine packing a sort of balanced lunch every now and again.  It bought me a few minutes of time just hanging out on the couch, surfing Pinterest. 

Oh, and in this spirit of letting go every now and again and letting the kiddos be in charge they got to pack their own snacks too.  I'm a little freaked out about this part.  I'm fairly certain that GiGi's teacher is going to call tomorrow to make sure I'm okay, that I haven't suffered a seizure or some other medical emergency.   They have bags of sugar cereal. 

Lili's Turn

LiLi's turn.  She was a little jealous that GiGi is big enough to pack lunches (use a knife), so with some help she made these healthy little meals.   We worked on packing a lunch for a kiddo with some food allergies, hope this fits the bill. 

 

 

 

 

Lili packed some "Mystery Meat" Ghosts (Chicken breast sliced thin and puckered up a little to look like little ghosts, she added the mystery meat part, but there is absolutely no mystery!)  Mwahahaha Mushrooms (no idea how to spell her maniacal laugh), Toad Eye tomatoes, Snake Scale snap peas, Goblin Smiles (orange slices) and some candy corn and creme pumpkins made in a totally peanut free/nut free facility.  (Our little food allergy friend may not be able to have those, but his Mom can switch those out for another sweet treat.)

 

Not pictured but included are a box of organic chocolate milk and a little bag of pirates booty.

 

For snack they both have some banana bread and a little pear.

 

 

 

 

OoooooSssssssUuuuuuu!

My children are forced to be "Beaver Believers", just not given a choice, my Husband too.  If you don't live in Oregon your probably preparing to call the authorities, or questioning your judgement in following this blog.  In Oregon we choose our college mascots based on the animals that roam here...Beavers and Ducks.  Not such manly characters considering we have bear, cougar, bobcat, and elk.

I digress, I went to the superior college here in Oregon, Oregon State, home of the Beavers.  (I do realize that all of my friends whom are Ducks are cringing...they have what some might argue, the superior football team.)   This year, my beloved Beavers are undefeated! It's really a spectacular thing...and in celebration I am wearing my orange and black constantly.  I just bought spirit gloves (gloves with little orange and black pompoms on the finger tips), they might be the most fabulous OSU item I've ever owned.

I bet your wondering what this has to do with lunch, and if maybe I've totally lost it.  Probably.   It's just tonight at the store I was seeing orange and black food everywhere! It was like the store was celebrating with me.  I was happy, I had a spring in my step and a song in my heart, I had what I thought was the best lunch idea EVER.  Then I got home and realized I didn't have a Beaver cookie cutter (which is totally amazing considering all the cookie cutters I have!).  I almost cried and then I said, "Whatever, it's still an OSU lunch, even without my mascot!"

This little lunch has carrots and orange tomatoes, orange Tillamook cheddar cheese, a baby mandarin orange, orange and black tortilla chips, some dry Italian salami, and a couple of orange and black oreos! 

 

I can hear the fight song as I type...OoooooSssssssUuuuuuu  Oregon State Fight! Fight! Fight!

 

Lunchables Look-a-Like

How often do you hear "Mooommmmy can we paahleese get lunchables? Please? Can we? Can we? Can we?"  I hear it far to often considering my girls know just how I feel about them.  In one word.  GROSS!  But come on, even I have to admit they are convenient...totally unhealthy and disgusting, but easy for sure.  
Well folks, let me assure you that you can pack a "look a like" meal in 3 minutes and 22 seconds (I timed myself and I was indecisive) and I promise it will cost far less then a stupid real prepackaged lunch.   You could totally cut your meat and cheese into perfect circles if you wanted to, but I was going for speed and nutrition.   It was 10, I was tired, and I haven't been to the store in days...slim pickings my friends.

Here it is, the big reveal.  Tell me what you think?  Not to shabby, if I don't say so myself!

Two basically identical lunches, packed in under 4 minutes and I'm sure in under $3.00 but I'll have to actually price everything out per serving.

 

The lunches have carrots and ranch dip. a little apple, ham slices, ritz crackers, cheese (one likes Baby Bell, one like Laughing Cow) and 3 gummy peach rings (totally peanut free!).  They will each get a lemon aide to go with lunch.

 

For snack GiGi has freeze dried strawberries and 2 raspberry fig newtons.  LiLi grabbed a bag of Pirate Booty and a Stretch Island fruit leather.

 

I used our very favorite easylunchboxes....and good news! They are back in stock, follow the link from the blog to get yours today!

 

 

 

午餐

My family is obsessed with Chinese Food.  OBSESSED.  We just can't always go out to eat it because it's often made with peanut products, so I've sort of become good at making it at home.  It's not authentic, my Chinese American friends would probably laugh at the finished product, but my kiddos LOVE it .  Fortunately, I cook for a family of 30 rather then 4 (I've never been good at judging how much I'm making and I like to wing it rather then follow a recipe).

Anyhoo, the upside.  Leftovers!  Lunch becomes really easy to pack and I know the girls will gobble it up.  (They have access to microwaves at their school, so they can heat up stuff.)   I used a little creative licence on this one and really stretched the Asian food to cover a little Japanese too.

Both girls have beef and broccoli with rice, cucumber and carrot rolls, bell pepper slices, mandarin oranges, an Asian pear, rice crispy sushi and fig newtons (they are clearly not Asian).  And a box of apple juice.

 

 

Rice Crispy Treat sushi is totally easy to make.  I make homemade rice crispy treats to control the ingredients, then I cut and roll them in to a thin 2 inch by 3 inch strip.  Then you can layer fruit leather, swedish fish...what ever gummy, sticky stuff you have on hand.  I used just swedish fish.  What a fun treat, right?! 

 

For snack they have Cheese It crackers and apple slices.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

My little LiLi was being a little less then sweet last night, which prompted me to sing song this little rhyme to her...she wasn't impressed.  But then that little light bulb in my head went off!  We have all these lovely garden items (compliments of our never ending summer) and I could make a whole lunch with fresh garden items!

Not only is this lunch peanut and tree nut free, I believe it fits into the vegetarian category too.

This little lunch has a salad made with Bib lettuce (Boston if your on the East Coast), cucumber tulips, red bell pepper flowers, orange tomato halves, and cheese marigolds. (Under all those toppings are some strips of turkey too)  A few just picked strawberries and a plum from our tree.  I added a small cup of dressing, and some croutons on the side.  Both girls have organic vanilla milk to kick up the protein levels. 

 

For snack today they each have a Cutie (little Mandarin orange) and a nutragrain bar.

 

As always lunch is packed in our favorite easylunchbox containers.

Neapolitan

I kept looking at these cute liners I got at IKEA (the picture does them no justice...they have a sweet scalloped edge) and thinking "this reminds me of all those lovely Neapolitan bedrooms and ice cream!"  I know I can't very well pack ice cream for school lunch, but I knew I could find foods that would fit the color scheme.

I've been imagining this lunch for a while now, and have been thinking in terms of brown, pink and white...and a lunch for Gigi, so it's not too little kiddish.   I still think I'll do an ice cream themed lunch soon, but for today this will have to do.

The girls both got a white babybell cheese, pinkish brown ham roll ups, a little pink lady apple, (some not very pink tomatoes), a strawberry fruit leather and raspberry nutragrain bar (sort of brown), whole wheat crackers, and some wafer cookies in brown, pink and white.  I also threw in some freeze dried strawberries and an 100% juicebox.

For snack they have a homemade granola bar and dried cherries.

Last Minute Lunch

I'm that Mom that has everything ready the night before.  Clothes laid out, bags packed, homework checked (and finished), and lunches packed.   At least I was that Mom.  Last night we got home from Musical Theatre class and by the time I got everyone tucked in bed I was wiped out and hungry!

I put off all the things I needed to do in favor of facebook and food.  The food was worth it, the facebook was fun, the pain I felt this morning at 5:30, not so good.  I'm an early riser naturally, but I don't function particularly well first thing in the morning.  I need to time to slowly wake up.  I need tea and morning news.  As LiLi puts it, "My eyes have to adjust", for about an hour.  

This school they are attending doesn't have a hot lunch program (and most of you know my feelings about school lunches), so throwing a few dollars at them as we pulled into the school parking lot wasn't an option.   So I did what any sane Mom would do.  I opened a can of olives.

Not a traditional lunch choice I know, but frankly, I can't be held responsible for anything that happens before 7a.m..  I am certain LiLi will take one look at this lunch and her heart will soar with joy.  It's just the sort of thing she would happily eat every single day.  GiGi is going to open her lunch bag and think, "My Mom is a total Nutter!".  She's probably not too far off.

It's not the best picture...sorry...my eyes have not "adjusted" jet yet;)

 

This lunch has a little tiny pear (Trade Joe's), some black olives, mini pickles, picks with dry salami, cheddar cheese and yellow tomatoes, and a few JoJo cookies (Trade Joe's again). They both got organic apple juice and a homemade granola bar.

 

http://glitterenjoycharm.blogspot.com/2012/09/homemade-granola-bars.html

 

For snack they have crackers, Wow Butter (for GiGi) and Biscoff (for LiLi) and freeze dried strawberries (Trader Joe's, again).

 

This is proof that lunch doesn't have to be super fancy to be fun, festive and sort of nutritionally sound!

I Love You A Bushel and A Peck

My sweet girls are loving school, but they still tell me everyday that it's really different from homeschooling.  The part they miss most; ME!!!! In some sick way this makes me really sort of happy, because I miss them so much too!  This last week and a half has had me sort of floundering in my roll, my identity is a little lost...not to worry, I'll figure it all out, and I have loads of little lunch dates set up for myself.

Hope they love this little lunch as much as I love them!.

The girls love Biscoff Sandwiches, and to kick it up a little I added a smear of cream cheese.  They also has some strawberries and kiwi, carrot sticks and cucumbers.  I threw in a heart shaped hard boiled egg to make sure they'd get enough protein.  An 100% fruit leather and a little meringue cup with some chocolate sauce and strawberries. 

Hope they are sweetly surprised by this lunch filled with all sorts of love.

I've packed lunch in my favorite, Easylunchbox containers!

Tea for Two

Any excuse for a tea party! That's our motto.  I spent this afternoon baking a little apple treat and it seemed fitting to make some little sandwiches to go with it.

This little lunch has 2 tea pot shaped cucumber sandwiches (I used homemade white bread...it has to be soft enough to cut), used a cookie cutter to score a flower out of a babybell cheese (made me think of so many of my pretty tea cups), a few butterfly crackers, some snap peas, yellow tomatoes, and a few tiny carrot flowers.  They also got juice, a banana and some apple pie bars.

 

Here's a link to the Apple Pie Bar recipe (it's time consuming, but worth it!)

http://glitterenjoycharm.blogspot.com/2012/09/apple-pie-bars.html

 

For snack they got a tiny pear (Have I mentioned how much I love Trader Joe's for the just right sized fruit!?)  and some pretzel sticks. 

 

Our lunches were packed in our easylunchbox containers.

 

Pinkies up!

 

Thursday's Lunch

Gigi is still not allowing me to have much fun with her lunches, it stinks.  I'm hoping that by next week she gives me free rein.  Anyhoo...today's lunch is full of low fat, high protein foods, which are great for a growing, active girl.

We filled her lunch bag with some honey ham, string cheese and whole wheat crackers, watermelon and cantaloupe, a small container of grape tomatoes, some Swedish Fish (because they were left over from her sisters lunch) and rice cakes, and a small apple.  She'll take an apple grape juice for her drink. 

The dish of almonds and dried apricots are for snack. 

 

The school requires each child to bring a water bottle each day; which I'm thankful for; and so far it's come home almost empty each day! 

School of Fish

Life at our house just got even more exciting! I got the call last night that there was room at the charter school for Lili.  I just had to decide if I was ready for her to swim in the big pond and leave the safety of our sea urchin (wait that sounds a lot like Finding Nemo), and if she was ready, and if it was the best choice for our family. 
Turns out, the kid makes friends really fast.  Like in the time it took to drop Gigi off.  And she was all set to go!  So we headed to the mall, bought a bunch of uniform stuff, got everything on her supply list and stopped for sushi.   

We bought way to much, and Lili asked if she could have it for lunch tomorrow.   And so our School of Fish lunch was born. 

She has 4 pieces of California Roll, a baby bell star fish cheese, starfish watermelon, sea grass cucumbers and carrot coral, and of course some Swedish Fish because you can't have a fishy lunch with out Swedish Fish,   (I threw in a little apple just case she needed something more)

For snack she gets a banana and some caramel rice cakes.  And I'll throw in an apple juice too!

We used our easylunchbox containers, they're the best!

Gigi Packed Her Own Lunch

My girl is growing up, first day of school and she's ready to break out on her own.  At least, she wants to try packing her own lunch...I'm turning over the supplies and letting her have a go at it.  She had three rules:
1. It must be healthy
2. There must be 3 fruits and veggies
3. There must be a variety of color

 

Given the rules she did a pretty good job.  She packed herself some turkey, raisins, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, WOWButter with organic apple slices and a little dish of cookies.  She packed a bag of trail mix for snack and she has a granola bar and Stretch Island fruit leather in the pocket of her lunch bag in case she needs a little more food. 

 

WOWButter is a thing of beauty.  We have a peanut allergy kiddo and Gigi misses pb&j dearly.  WOWButter (a soy product) has quenched her desire for all things peanut.  Thank Heavens!

First Day of 5th Grade

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots and the other wings.

 My Gigi is flying today, hope I gave her deep enough roots.  (I know it sounds like I've sent her off to college or something, but she's been with me every single day up until now!)  She is so excited, and I am so excited for her...and she looks so stinkin' cute in her uniform I'm sort of kicking myself for waiting so long to enrol them in a charter school!  Not kidding, at all. 

She really wanted a "teen age" lunch, so no cute little lunches, no cute shapes.  I'm struggling with this new identity.  When I had a theme it made it easier to create a lunch.  And she didn't really care, she just liked the surprise of what I had packed.  We have been negotiating what will be packed, in what containers and if I will be allowed to use cookie cutters.  She's tough.

She mostly won.  After all, she's the one entering a big new world, she should feel pretty good about what she's armed with.   I vetoed about 189 backpacks, almost every single pair of boots and all makeup (she gave it a good fight though).

So her little lunch has salami and cheddar cheese, crackers, snap peas and carrots.  I snuck in a cookie cutter to cut the watermelon, and threw in a plum.  She also has an oatmeal raisin granola bar and Stretch Island strawberry fruit leather.  I threw in a few Hershey's Kisses as a treat (do you think she'll understand the secret message?!)   She has to take snack as well, so we made some trail mix.  The combo she created has raw almonds, dried cherries and apricots, pretzels, whole wheat Goldfish, Honeynut Cheerios and little mini chocolate chip cookies. 

 

 

I'm going to sneak in a note, just a little one to let her know I love her, I'm proud of her, and I hope she's having so much fun and learning a lot!

 

I couldn't help myself...I snuck in a little cuteness to celebrate the start of 5th Grade.

 

Sh....Don't Tell My Hubby

I've been organizing the whole house (it really, really, really needed it!) in an effort be ready for school to start, including my lunch making supplies.   I had no idea, NONE, that I had sooooo much stuff.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I have.  The girls kept coming into the kitchen and looking at me like maybe it was in their best interest to call that show "Hoarders" and report me.

It's done now.  I got about half way through and wanted to quit, I wanted to turn on "Dance Moms" or something equally outrageous and forget Mt. Bento in the middle of the kitchen. I'm better for it.  All the containers have their tops, or were recycled.  All the bins are sorted and labeled.  Lunch creating can happen easily now.

 

What are you slightly obsessed with? Come on, comment. Make me feel better.

Harvest Party (In My Mouth)

The air is turning cooler, leaves are just starting to turn and the rain is here more then the sun...which means pulling out sweaters and warm socks, boots and scarves, heating the crock pot for yummy meals and baking up a storm.   This lunch is inspired by that very feeling.  It just made me think of packing up a picnic and hitting the local pumpkin patch and running through a corn maze.

This lunch is packed in our easylunchbox containers (I have others, but these are hands down the best!)  It's got a generous slice of homemade banana bread, a small pear (again, LOVE Trader Joe's for fruit that isn't super sized), some dried fruit and nut mix (I found a peanut free variety at Costco), a few slices of summer sausage and white cheddar, a few carrot sticks and a handful of caramel corn (left over from a recent trip to the coast).  It just looks so cozy too me, the perfect lunch to eat curled up by a fire!

An Apple a Day... Will Help You Get Straight A's!

That's probably a little bit of a stretch, but it's fall and apples are everywhere and what kid doesn't like a sweet, crunchy apple!   Today's little lunch is brought to you by the huge amounts of apples we have available to us in the Pacific Northwest, my favorite are Honeycrisp apples, but my girls love them all.    LiLi helped make these lunches and I swear she was eating all the little apples (cucumbers and cheese) as fast I could cut them, and when I pulled out the chocolate chips, good night! that child acted like she had never had a sweet before!

But we got them packed, and I'm guessing they will be eaten in record time.

This lunch has a Sunbutter and raspberry jam sandwich and a raspberry fruit leather apple slice on top.  Cheddar cheese and cucumbers cut into apple shapes and whole wheat crackers.  A darling little fuji apple and for a sweet "A" is for apple graham cookies, a tiny bit of chocolate chips and 2 pieces of caramel apple taffy.  I've got little cans of apple juice to go along with lunch. 

As always, I used my very favorite EasyLunchBoxes!  I can't gush enough about these lunch boxes...they hold loads of food, keep it separate and everything still looks cute when it's actually time to eat!