A few from this week...

Two lunches (okay, technically three - I made the first lunch twice) to post today from this week. Both chics took this lunch this week:
Orange segments with blueberries, Homemade granola bar, Carrot and okra chips, Black olives, Turkey and cheese skewers.

These granola bars are called Playgroup Granola Bars. I used to make them all the time. That was before I found the Smitten Kitchen granola bar recipe! Anyway, I've been making Smitten Kitchen's granola bars for so long that I completely forgot about this recipe. One of my friends made them the other day and it reminded me of them. Although I like the Smitten Kitchen's granola bars more, the Playgroup Granola bars are much easier and require less special ingredients.

The other lunch for the week was a leftover lunch...Big chic took leftover Pioneer Woman's Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Spaghetti and meatballs with parmesan cheese, Celery sticks, Fruit leather

Pioneer Woman's Spaghetti and Meatball recipe is really good and fairly easy. I made a batch of it a couple months ago and froze the leftovers in the trusty Foodsaver. All I had to do for dinner was cook the pasta and heat up the sauce. It's perfect for a busy weeknight and it's even better the next day (or a few months later :) )

Sloppy Bombay Joes

We made a new recipe last night that was a huge hit with the family. It's an Indian twist on sloppy joes from Aarti Party, the new show on Food Network. The recipe (Sloppy Bombay Joes) sounds a bit odd (raisins, pistachios, garam masala) but the end result was phenomenal. Everyone devoured their dinner and both the big chic and the hubs asked me pack up leftovers for their lunch. We served ours on whole wheat sandwich rolls and topped them with sliced mango. DELISH!

Sloppy Bombay Joe with sliced mango on top of saffron rice, Half of a cowgirl cookie, Cucumber slices, Greek yogurt with strawberries.

Greek Yogurt....mmm!

Greek yogurt is awesome! Even the hubs, who's normally not a lover of yogurt, likes Greek yogurt. (likes it - still doesn't love it, but we're working on him!) It's thicker, creamier, and a lot less tangy than your usual yogurts. I like to make my own yogurt but can never get it as thick (or even close) as Greek yogurt. I used to spend way too much money on it at a specialty store, until finally the wonderful and most awesome Costco started selling it in a huge container at a great price! LOVE that Costco! Big chic loves her Greek yogurt two ways - 1. with a drizzle of honey or agave nectar and walnuts 2. with strawberries and granola. Tomorrow she's getting variety #2.

Natural Peanut Butter with Celery Sticks, Bakerella's Congo Bar, Granola, Greek Yogurt with Strawberries.

We're back!

I'm so sad that Spring Break is over. We had so much fun on our vacation, but I guess this is one step closer to summer and we are REALLY looking forward to the summer. Unfortunately, because we've been gone, lunch options are very limited. We haven't been to the store since we've been back. Between digging through the pantry and things that we brought back with us, here's what we came up with:

Tuna salad, Carrots, Cucumber slices, Whole grain crackers, Fruit leather, New York style crumb cake.

Cinnamon Rolls and My Foodie's First

I finally made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. My friend got her cookbook and after looking through it, I just couldn't resist. I have another recipe that I normally use for cinnamon rolls, but I rarely make them because they take such a long time. And anyone with two kids breathing down your neck asking for breakfast will tell you that there is not enough time to make cinnamon rolls from scratch in the morning. I've always wanted a recipe that I could make up the night before and bake in the morning and this one was exactly what I was looking for.

The actual roll part of these is good but what makes them really stand out is the icing. It's a maple coffee icing. Maple...coffee...mmmmm! The hubs loves pecans on his cinnamon rolls so we added them after the icing. I only made half the recipe and still came out with three pans full. So, it makes LOTS of cinnamon rolls, but then again, I've never heard anyone complaining about having fresh homemade cinnamon rolls hangin around! These definitely lived up to their reputation. They were fantastic!

Rolled out and spread with cinnamon sugar goodness

Rolled up

After final rise

Grab a fork!

In lunch news... I decided to let the big chic make her own lunch for tomorrow. I thought that after our last week's lunch drama, she might see exactly how long it takes to make a lunch and exactly how much thought goes into it. I told her the lunch rules (a grain, a fruit, a protein, a dairy, and a veg) and she did the rest. She was very concerned with the colors of the foods in the lunch...thus the blueberries. She needed something blue in her lunch, she said. She was really excited about making it herself, so we'll see what she thinks of it after eating it tomorrow!

Banana and granola bar, Babybel cheese on turkey slices, Frozen blueberries, Goldfish, Carrots and ranch.

Salted Butterscotch Brownies

No lunch today, but I thought I'd share a brownie recipe that I made to take to a little gathering yesterday. I love the salty sweet combination and these are a great combination of the two flavors.

Salted Butterscotch Brownies

1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp butter flavoring

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Sea salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray (really well) a mini muffin tin. Combine first five ingredients and mix well. Add flour, powder, and salt and stir in butterscotch chips. The dough will be very thick.

Place a heaping tablespoon into each mini muffin spot. Sprinkle a generous amount of sea salt on top of each brownie. Bake 13 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool completely on cooling rack. I use a fork to pop them out of the pan. This makes about 20 or so.

I took these to an Olympics watching party. The host (shout out to Amber!) had the Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor that they made in honor of snowboarder Hannah Teter. It's called Maple Blondie. So Amber says, "I bet these brownies would be good in that ice cream!" And I'm like, "Oh yeah!" Sooooo, we did and it was AWESOME!! A match made in heaven!

We had a little drama with the lunch yesterday. I don't know if it's cause she's been sick or moody or what, but the chic decided to buy her lunch on Thursday instead of eating what I packed her. I don't know how exactly she figured that it was okay, but her exact words were that she wasn't "feelin it". Are you kidding me? She told me she doesn't like vegetables. Again, are you kidding me? This is my kid that could easily be a vegetarian. I was really really frustrated with her yesterday and told her she could just buy lunch from now on. Fast forward to today where she's spent the better part of this morning telling me all the vegetable that she loves and how she can't wait to see what her lunches are like next week. ????????? Seriously? When did my cute little six year old turn into a moody, fickle sixteen year old?

UPDATED: Turns out all the hoopla about not liking her lunch was because they had cheese quesadillas in the dining hall, and apparently I never let her buy cheese quesadillas. Guess we've got a new favorite on our hands. When I cleaned out her luncbox, I discovered that she had actually eaten all of the sandwiches, most of the cucumber, some of the cantaloupe, and a few bites of the granola bar. So, it seems that she ate TWO lunches on Thursday. And although I'm not thrilled that she bought lunch without permission, I'm relieved to know that it was nothing major in her eating habits! We'll see what happens in the weeks to come...

The "I'm a lame mom" lunch

This evening in my house the hubs walked in when I was packing this lunch up and says,"What's the theme of this lunch?" I shrugged and said, "It's the I'm tired and just wanna get a lunch made lunch." He said, "No, it should be called the I'm a lame mom lunch." Thanks babe! Geesh - everyone's a critic!

Coconut cake slice, Orange slices, Whole grain crackers, Coconut chicken tender (from Cent Mkt), Carrots and ranch dip.

Seriously, though, the big chic said that the past couple lunches haven't been very fancy or pretty, so I promised her that there would be some awesome lunches this week. She's crackin the whip so I better start planning!

Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes!

Today, my oldest chic turns six! I can't believe how fast these six years have gone! And how much my life has changed in such a short amount of time. I really love to celebrate the chics' birthdays. I hope that I make them feel special every day, but I can really go overboard on their birthday and not have to feel guilty about it!

The beloved Kindergarten teacher and I decided that because the Valentine's party was scheduled for the day of her birthday, we would celebrate a day early so I could bring cupcakes and not put the kids into a complete Valentine's party AND birthday cupcake sugar induced coma. The chic loves chocolate cake and her favorite has become Gourmet's Double Chocolate Layer Cake. Who am I kidding? This cake is everyone's favorite. The little heading to the recipe states that some of their staffers swooned over it, and I always think that's funny cause I actually have had people swoon after taking a bite. It is THAT good. It is the ULTIMATE chocolate cake. Really! The ULTIMATE!

(This is what the cake looks like in "cake form". This was for Mother's Day last year.)

So, anyway, there was no question about which chocolate cake recipe I would be making for her classmates. At least to her...I was unsure. First, I had never made the cake into cupcakes and I know that it's really just a time adjustment, but still... and then there's the frosting. It's a ganache frosting. Love the ganache frosting, and on the cake, it's glossy and smooth and gorgeous, but on a cupcake, it wouldn't be very pretty. I told her that I would make buttercream to top the cupcakes, but she insisted on the ganache. We were at a standstill for about a week until I came up with a compromise...I would top the cupcakes with buttercream and fill them with the ganache. She agreed.


I wasn't sure how this would turn out, so I made a few extras to test. I have to admit that I didn't think that anything could top that chocolate cake recipe, but I think the addition of buttercream and the surprise of the ganache filling did just that. They were so so good!

I also made some chocolate "6"s to stick into the top of each one. The chic didn't say much about them (after all, she's eaten this cake many many times) but the pictures that the beloved Kindergarten teacher sent say it all...the kids loved them!

Rainy day with the Pioneer Woman

It's raining...and I've got a clean house and a little chic that is occupying herself with dolls. What to do...what to do? Well, unfortunately for my waist line, I decided to surf around my usual food sites to see if anything looked interesting.

I shoulda known to stay off of Pioneer Woman's site. I shoulda! But noooooo, I had to go snooping around and I came across THIS recipe. How could I NOT make that? I mean look at it. Plus I have a can of Sprite left over from one of the chic's illnesses and they are just dieing to drink it. Every time I open the fridge, they ask for the Sprite. The pound cake was a perfect way to get the Sprite out of the fridge and out of their minds. I know, I know, making a pound cake so your kids won't drink a Sprite seems way ridiculous, but I'm trying to make excuses for myself, so just go with me, people!

Remember yesterday when I said that the big chic isn't a big sweets eater? Well she did NOT get that from me. I love dessert...love it! And the fact that this pound cake only had a few ingredients AND the Sprite factor...it was a done deal. I had to make it.

Mixing it up in the bowl (Notice the flour all around the bowl? I'm a messy cook!)

Ready for the oven (The hubs' grandmother's bundt pan. Only appropriate I thought since she actually WAS a pioneer woman!)

It was a long hour and ten minute wait time! It smelled divine!

Here's what it looked like hot out of the oven...

...and here it is when it's hot out of the oven...and the hubs comes home from work early...and just WON'T wait until it's dropped out of the pan (yes, it smelled THAT good!):

Fortunately, the destruction of the pound cake didn't affect the taste. It was really good. Very sweet, but very good. And super moist. Even a couple days later, it was still yummy and moist. Definitely a keeper recipe...simple AND delish! Gotta love that Pioneer Woman!

Pinkalicious and the Princess

Since the little chic's birthday party was this weekend, I thought the big chic would love to take a leftover cupcake in her lunch. Little chic wanted Pinkalicious cupcakes so I went with a princess theme for big chic's lunch.

Princess wand with pb roll up and cheddar cheese star, Monterey jack crowns, Grapefruit, Mini pepper and carrot rings, Pinkalicious cupcake.

I don't know why I insist on making the chics' birthday cakes. I get so frustrated when I'm making them because I never think they look good enough. I will keep messing with them and messing with them until eventually, I totally mess them up. I made the hubs help out with this batch of cupcakes though and he made me stop perfecting them before I was at the point of no return. I didn't love them when I put them in the fridge last night, maybe because my brain was pinked out! Fifty six hot pink cupcakes covered the counter tops on one side of the kitchen and the other side was covered with a huge bowl of pink frosting and piping bags filled with MORE pink frosting. It was definitely Pinkalicious in my kitchen last night!

Oh and did I mention that this was the day that I finally decided to make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon (which was freakin fantastic, btw!)? Ya...my kitchen was a mess. I'm lucky that I didn't accidentally put pearl onions on the cupcakes instead of cherries! But this morning, with rested eyes, and after placing the cherries on top, I think they turned out super cute. The little chic absolutely loved them, so I think they were a hit.

Holiday Sweets!

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted last. We've been busy around here preparing for Christmas and, as I'm sure you've figured out, the chic is on Winter Break so there haven't been any lunches lately. Well, not the packable kind anyway! We just finished our holiday baking so I thought I'd post some photos.

I love to bake with the chics! They really enjoy getting in the kitchen and getting messy so the holidays are a perfect time to go crazy! Last year I came across this reindeer cookie idea. They were really simple to make and the grandparents and the chics loved the way they turned out so, we had to make them again this year! We used M&M's for the eyes and nose, but you can use anything you have. Cherries also make great noses!

After the cookies, we made some candy. My sister in law brought Buckeyes to our Christmas dinner last year and we all went nuts over them. What is there not to love? Peanut butter and chocolate...mmmm! We had never had them before then, but apparently these are a tradition in lots of families. My chics are awesome at the whole meatball rolling technique so I thought this would be a perfect item to add to our holiday menu. They look pretty time consuming, but with all three of us rolling, it went pretty quickly. You dip them in the chocolate with a toothpick and I didn't like the hole in the top left from the toothpick so I stuck a chocolate chip in each one to cover the hole.

The other candy was a variation of a Martha Washington candy. Another candy that I had never heard of until recently. My friend Amber told me about them when I told her that we were making buckeyes. She said they were also a "ball-rolling" candy and that they were coconut. And since I LOVE coconut, we added them to the list. The "variation" was that I used almonds instead of pecans. I thought it would make them more like an Almond Joy. Plus I'm making Pecan Pie Cake for Christmas dinner so I need all the pecans I have for that!

After the morning of baking and candy making, we are exhausted and my kitchen is a disaster! The chics did a great job though and I think everyone will appreciate their efforts! Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!

Can't Catch Me!

The chic's class is learning about fairy tales right now and when the teacher asked for gingerbread men, you know I was all over it! The interesting thing is that although I think I've made every other variation of cookie ever created, I've never made gingerbread men. Kinda funny cause I've made gingerbread with stamps, sliced gingerbread, even molasses iced gingerbread...but never traditional gingerbread men. Guess there's no time like the present, huh?

I used "Eileen's Spicy Gingerbread Men" and "Sugar Cookie Icing" both from AllRecipes. It was the first try with the gingerbread, but I've used the icing recipe dozens of time. It always turns out well and hardens nicely. The gingerbread was pretty good, but I found that the cookies that had been rolled a few times (thus more flour) baked more smooth and less cracked. I may just add a bit more flour next time.

Snowflake Muffin

I made cranberry orange muffins today. I wanted to try out a new silicone muffin pan AND play with the new camera a bit. I learned that I love the camera, but the silicone muffin pan was not my favorite thing. It was really really hard to get the muffins out of the molds in one piece and cleaning it was almost impossible...all those nooks and crannies. I managed to get only one of the muffins came out in one piece so it went in the chic's lunch.

Cucumber slices and red bell pepper tree, Cranberry orange muffin, Blackberries, Turkey skewer and candy cane cheese

The Retro Lunch

For some reason, the chic has been really interested in what my life was like when I was her age. I thought it would be fun to send her with a "retro" lunch to show her what I ate for lunch when I was at school. I had to go to the store anyway, so I was able to pick up the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch.

Kettle BBQ Potato Chips, Strawberry Shortcake rolls, Celery filled with peanut butter, Ham and cheese sandwich

I loved the Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcake rolls when I was little, and found some that were from the bakery instead of Little Debbie. Honestly, though, they tasted the same as the Little Debbie ones that I remember and the Little Debbies are way way cheaper.

Potato chips are a particular problem at my house. The hubs loves them, saying that he needs something "crunchy" with his lunches or snacks or whatever. And after fighting this habit for years and years, I finally realized that I wasn't going to change his habit. So, I will buy chips, but we try to find healthier varieties...flaxseed, baked, whole grain, whatever. The only concession I make to the healthier chip rule is for these bbq chips. I'm not normally a potato chip eater OR a bbq person, but these chips are TO DIE FOR. I have been known to hide in the kitchen eating them so no one will ask for any. Fortunately, they come in a small-ish bag and are on the expensive side for chips, so we only buy them occasionally.

You might notice that my picture quality is a bit better today. THAT'S CAUSE I FINALLY GOT A NEW CAMERA!!! I have been begging, seriously begging, in the anticipation of Christmas. The hubs has been acting nonchalant about it so I thought it was a lost cause. BUT yesterday while we were out Christmas shopping, he dragged me to a few camera stores to look at them. At first, I just thought it was cruel and unusual punishment. I'm NOT a window shopper. It's torture to look at stuff that I want but can't buy. But, I found out that he had been looking at them all along and wanted me to play with them and talk to some people before deciding on one. And as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. I was so so sure about which one I wanted, but completely changed my mind once I was able to shop and do some more research. Apparently, the food blog is a common use cause the camera I got has a "food" setting on it! In the end, he bought me a nicer camera than I was expecting and an awesome zoom lens for my "posting stuff". Now I have to figure out how to use it all! I guess my lesson for the weekend is that I shoulda just trusted that he would come through in the end. (Just don't tell him that!)

A Healthier Cinnamon Babka

Happy Thanksgiving! I decided to take a break from my Thanksgiving cooking to post my cinnamon babka recipe from last week. When the chic asked me to make cinnamon bread, I immediately went to an awesome cinnamon babka recipe that I've used for years. It's in The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook by Tom Lacalamita. I've had this cookbook for almost 12 years and I think it is the best bread machine cookbook ever printed! I'm not big on baking bread in the machine...I like to use it for dough. And it has tons of awesome recipes for dough cycle, hand shaped breads.

Anyway, I decided to try to make it a bit healthier by adding ground flax and using half whole wheat flour. Make no mistake, I did not cut the sugar or butter. The butter, eggs, sugar, etc...are what make babka so so good. So it's still not the healthiest bread option. Consider it a somewhat improved version. I also wanted to use the Pullman pan. It turned out really well and honestly, I don't think my additions made a difference in the texture or taste. The hubs didn't even know that I did anything different until I told him. I use my bread machine to make the dough, cause it's easy and super easy to clean up. Here's the recipe:

Healthier Cinnamon Babka

(Enough dough for one Pullman pan and one regular loaf pan)

3 eggs

1 3/4 cup milk

3 T butter, softened

1 t vanilla

3 T sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 c ground flax

2 c stone ground whole wheat flour

3 c all purpose flour

3/4 t salt

1 T vital wheat gluten

1 1/2 T yeast



Filling:

4 T butter

1/2 c white sugar

2 T cinnamon



Topping:

2 T butter

4 T sugar

large pinch cinnamon

4 T flour

Add all ingredients to bread machine in the order suggested by manufacturer. Set to dough cycle.

While dough is processing, mix filling and topping in separate bowls and set aside. Generously butter a Pullman pan.

When dough cycle is done, punch down and let rest for five minutes. Turn onto floured surface and cut off about 1/3 of the dough an set this 1/3 aside for another use (it's a perfect amount for a regular loaf pan).

Roll remaining dough out to 1/4" thick rectangle. Sprinkle filling on the rectangle and roll up tightly. Stretch dough to twice the length of the pan and place in pan in an "S" shape tucking ends under loaf. Cover and let rise till double.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Carefully make an indention down the middle of the loaf and brush with a beaten egg. Sprinkle with topping mixture. DO not use the lid for this loaf! Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

There are other variations of Babka. Cinnamon, cheese and chocolate are the most common varieties. Anyone remember the chocolate babka from Seinfeld?

Butternut Squash Soup

Well, this is the last lunch for a week. We have a Thanksgiving Feast on Friday and then the chic is out of school for Thanksgiving break! I've got a lot of cooking to do between now and then so I'll probably post some non-lunch related stuff over the next week. BUT, we have one more, so here goes...Butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash soup - Croutons,creme fraiche and pumpkin seeds to add the the soup - Fruit leather - Cheese curds - Homemade whole wheat flax cinnamon babka

The babka was a variation on my favorite cinnamon babka recipe. I really wanted to try making it in the Pullman pan AND I was trying to make it healthier but still yummy. It was. I literally had to wrap it in Press N Seal and walk away from the kitchen so I would stop eating it. The chic asked me to make her some cinnamon bread this morning so she should be thrilled to see this in her lunch! I will post the recipe later this weekend!

Gobble Gobble

A "Turkey" Sandwich is the chic's lunch tomorrow...

Oatmeal Raisin cookie, Fruit Bites, Carrot Chips, Flaxseed Cranberry and Pecan Crackers, Wallaby Organic Berry Yogurt, "Turkey" Sandwich

I say "Turkey" sandwich cause it's actually peanut butter and raspberry jam. The eye is a dry roasted pea, the beak is a carrot and the gobbler is red pepper. The feathers are strips of red pepper, carrot, celery, cucumber, and cheese.
I discovered that the Hello Kitty bento fits perfectly in the Laptop Lunchbox with a yogurt and the Laptop Lunchbox water. I've been really impressed with the Laptop Lunchbox insulated bag. I put a slim ice pack in the mesh pocket and her lunch stays cold WAY past lunchtime. The water bottle was surprising also. It doesn't look very impressive. Kinda flimsy actually. The first time I pulled it out of the box, I rolled my eyes. Here I spent all this money on a lunchbox, and THAT was the bottle included? But the thing is awesome! It hasn't leaked one time all year! Not once!

The Day of Gratuitous Photos

I have needed a "real" camera for so so long. It's probably been 15 years since I had a camera that wasn't a point and shooter. This blog has really made me realize how limiting the all automatic cameras are and made my hunger for a new camera even greater. The hubs doesn't want to spend the money. He NEVER wants to spend the money. I keep threatening that one day I'm just going to go buy one. Well, guess what?? Today wasn't that day! But I did borrow my dad's camera! I think that I took 100 pictures of food today in all sorts of configurations. What do these crackers look like in this light? What about in this light? What about with a sprinkle of crumbs? Seriously, I've been lurking on Foodgawker too long. Have you been on Foodgawker? It's unbelievable. I can suck up hours and hours looking at all those photos. They are gorgeous, mouthwatering, and definitely NOT taken with a point and shoot camera. I've submitted items to Foodgawker before but they always get rejected due to photo quality. For about a year, I have dutifully submitted items and waited by the Blackberry just certain that this photo would be the one. None have been the one. The same reason I love Foodgawker, is the same reason I hate it. They are sooooo freakin picky about their photos. So, I'm gonna start borrowing my dad's camera here and there and maybe one of my submissions will meet their standards. Doubtful, but just maybe.

There really is a lunch involved in all this camera hoopla. Her lunch for tomorrow is some leftover Pad Thai from one of our favorite Thai restaurants in the area. I went for lunch today and felt guilty the entire time. The chic loves Pad Thai, and I could just see her sitting in the cafeteria eating her crappy hot lunch because I was too busy last night to pack her a lunch. I felt the only right thing to do was to bring her some leftovers!


Chicken and Tofu Pad Thai, Chocolate chip cookie and Fruit Bites, Dry roasted peas, Flaxseed, Cranberry, and Pecan Crackers and cheese.


Here's a close-up of the Pad Thai just cause I COULD take a close-up that was in focus.

These crackers are addictive. They are a variation on the Flaxseed, Fig, and Walnut Crackers from Epicurious. I love their version with figs but I don't usually have dried figs in the house. I've found that you can make them with any dried fruit and nut combination (dates and walnuts are also yummy). My youngest calls them cookies and she's kinda right. They are a bit of a cookie/cracker hybrid. They've become kind of a joke with one of my friends. She finds the idea of making homemade crackers so incredibly outrageous (she doesn't cook) yet she will spend hours handcrafting invitations to her kid's birthday parties. The first time I made the crackers, she just happened to come over and when I told her I made them, she said, "Well, of course you did. Who doesn't make their own crackers?" So now when she does some crazy crafty thing that I could never think of doing, I say, "Well, of course you did. Who doesn't dye their own Easter grass?" We go back and forth. The funny thing is that she LOVES these crackers and will eat the entire batch before they're even cool. She could make them if she wanted to...the recipe is really simple. But then we wouldn't be able to harass each other and where's the fun in that?

Flaxseed, Cranberry, and Pecan Crackers

(adapted from Epicurious recipe)

1/3 cup whole flaxseed

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp butter, room temp

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 cup chopped dried cranberries

1/2 cup milk

Mix first seven ingredients together until combined. Stir in pecans, cranberries, and milk. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and on a floured surface, roll out to 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Quinoa and Cupcakes

The hubs has been dieing for some seared ahi tuna. I finally made it last night and paired it with stir fried quinoa. As I've mentioned before, anything that I used to make with rice, we now substitute with quinoa. Stir fried quinoa is identical to regular fried rice so it makes it a really simple substitute. The chic wanted the leftover quinoa in her lunch so I made her lunch around that.

Stir fried quinoa, Rainbow cupcake, Spinach and veggie spring rolls with teriyaki dip, Cottage cheese with pineapple spears.

I cleaned out the pantry and refrigerators today and it really put me in a baking mood. The little chic is going to have a rainbow cake for her birthday but I needed to do a test run, so these cupcakes were it! Normally I try to steer clear of the crazy excessive food dyes but birthdays are special and the chics get whatever birthday cake they want. I have tons of icing color from past birthday cakes but the only green I had was a "Spring Green". I think that it's the only color I would change - maybe more of a kelly green. A cake would definitely be easier than the cupcakes. It was pretty hard to get equal amounts of each color in each cupcake liner. With the cake you could just dump the entire color into the pan. I think the kids will love all the colors!

Sand"witch"

Well, I've waited and waited to do some Halloween lunches, and the week is finally here. I'm starting off slowly with a Sand"witch".

Watermelon cubes, Cottage cheese and blueberries, Hummus and carrots, Sand"witch", Martha's pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

Sand"witch" is sandwich topped with ham. She has a nori hat and eye, Cucumber hair, carrot mouth, and sugar snap pea mole on her chin.

The cupcake is going to school in this cool little cupcake holder that I found at Williams-Sonoma this summer. The little spikes grip the cupcake so that the frosting remains in tact. Love it!

I get asked all the time how I get the chic's lunches to stay in place. After all Kindergartners are not exactly gentle with their lunchboxes. The answer - Press N Seal. I LOVE this stuff! The Laptop Lunchbox's outer container does a great job keeping the food in it's container, but when I make something like the witch sandwich or the apple tree from last week, I have to do something extra to make sure everything stays where I placed it. Here's what I do:

Tear off a piece of Press N Seal and place it directly on the food. Press the food down slightly while running your finger around the outer edge of the food to kinda shrink wrap it in there. The container had to be clean and dry in order for the Press N Seal to stick. (pardon the Zebra nails - Halloween party)

Continue pressing the Press N Seal to the container until it's completely covered. Here's what it looks like when it's finished:

The method is the same when I do something like the Quinoa Garden. I just attach the Press N Seal to the sides of the container instead of the bottom while pressing in on the quinoa. Next time I do one of those, I'll take pics! I hope this makes sense and helps those of you wondering how to get the stuff to stay in place!