Banana Hot Dog

I still haven't been to the grocery store and as I was complaining about our lack of food, the hubs opens the freezer and says, "do you even know what's in here?" I swear that I do, but I have to admit that between our three freezers, we have a lot of food. He swears that I come up with our best meals when I go into it without a plan, but I think he just wants me to clean out the freezers. Whatever the case, I agree to "be creative" and use the food we already have. Of course, this includes the chic's lunches. She is one tough customer, but I do love a challenge!

Little chic's banana hot dog

I know I'm probably not the first person to ever turn a banana into a hot dog, but I thought it was a pretty neat idea. I tested it on the little chic and she loved it! I left the banana whole so that it doesn't get brown and gross before tomorrow. The big chic can add it to the bun when she gets ready to eat.

Peanut butter and honey on a hot dog bun, Babybel cheese and green beans, Granola bar, Banana

Now...what can I make for dinner with frozen green beans, an Amish bread starter, and chipotle chilis...hmmm...this could be an interesting week!

Hot Dog Ring

I wanted to take a little break from all the flowers. That seems to be the chic's favorite, but I started to feel like they were all the same. It will be short lived though. She's already requesting flowers for next week! She's a pre-planner like her mom!

Hot dog ring, Zucchini slices, Pirate's Booty, Cottage cheese with blueberries

We broke open a new package of Coleman Hot Dogs tonight and made a hot dog ring. I cut through the hot dog most of the way and cut off the ends to make a flat edge. Then I wrapped it around and pinned it together with a toothpick. I placed it on a whole wheat bread round, filled it with shredded cheese, and drizzled it with mustard. When she heats it up tomorrow, the cheese should be all melty and gooey.

This weekend I'm attempting to make my first batch of fruit leather so stay tuned for that adventure!

A Lame Lunch and an Awesome Butternut Squash Lasagna

Today's lunch was not very exciting or pretty. More functional than fancy. It was field trip day AGAIN and it got cancelled due to rain AGAIN. But, I got the cancellation e-mail on my Blackberry while I was driving to the school this morning, so it was obviously too late to change things up. So, field trip lunch part four...

Fruit Bites, Sugar Snap Peas, Carrot Chips, Baby Banana, Pirate Booty, Hot Dog Wrap

Although it was kinda lame, there were a few yummy things.

-First, carrot chips - YUM! They are crunchy and sweet and a little salty. They are obviously not as healthy as fresh carrots, but are great for a bit of variety.

-Then, I found out that a HOT hot dog will stay warm until lunch when wrapped in several pieces of aluminum foil. One of the dance teachers at the chic's dance studio suggested this when I was complaining about field trip lunches and it worked wonderfully! I just wrapped it in the tortilla and heated it in the microwave. Then I wrapped it in a couple sheets of aluminum foil and stuck it in the bag as far from the banana as possible. I'll remember that little trick for future field trips!

-I have to share an awesome recipe that I found a few days ago - Baking and Books' Butternut Squash Lasagne. Everyone in my family loves butternut squash so I try to keep it around in the fall. I love the combination of butternut squash and pasta. Butternut squash lasagna is always awesome BUT what made this one different, and in my opinion far superior, were sage and thyme. Sage is such a great fall flavor and it made the lasagna stand out from the others. Here it is fresh out of the oven:

and a slice (one day I'll have a good camera!):

This one will be in my permanent fall recipe collection. It was scrumptious!

-There's no lunch for tomorrow (student council pizza day) so this is my last post of the week. Everyone have a safe and happy Halloween with your little trick or treaters!

Amuse-bouche

I'm one of those people that can never pick ONE thing at a restaurant. I want to try everything. I love eating with groups of people cause that means there are more things to sample. If you don't want my fork on your plate, you'd better not go eat with me! My favorite dining companions are other foodies that just pass plates around so everyone can try everything. The hubs is used to my food obsession now and just shrugs when I order two entrees or several different sides "cause we're out of town and may never get to come back to this restaurant and I can't come here and say I didn't try _______." I guess that's why I've always loved the idea of amuse-bouche. Amuse-bouche is a French term for little bites of this and that. They're not really an appetizer or an hors d'oeuvre because they are only one bite. But it enables you to try a bunch of things without getting full on only one item. They are supposed to amuse your mouth. How can you not love that?

When the chic was very small, I used to make her these little tea sandwiches with all sorts of decorations and fillings (picture below). So, yes, I guess I've created my own food monster. She loved it cause said that it was what princesses ate. And throughout the past couple years, she's become my little eating companion and she also wants to try a little bit of everyone's everything. So, for her lunch tomorrow, I thought she would enjoy an amuse-bouche. This one did take a little longer than normal. I probably spent an hour in the kitchen getting it all together. But, since there was only one bite of each thing, I wanted to make each one of them special. I'm imagining lots of smiles when she opens her lunch tomorrow.

(left to right starting with top row) Strawberry filled with Nutella and topped with choc chips, Cheese and spinach ravioli, Cucumber filled with hummus, Mini hot dog, Heart Pb&J, Babybel cheese, Chic boiled egg, Snap pea stuffed mini pepper, Apple dipped in peanut butter and hazelnuts.

If you'd like a chuckle...here is the very first decorative lunch I made the big chic. I can't believe I actually found it! We've changed cameras and computers three times since then! I did get to look through lots of baby pics while searching for it though, which is always fun. This picture was taken after she had dropped the plate so some of the toppings are a bit messy. This was the summer of 2005.

"Fast Food"

Costco finally restocked their Coleman hot dogs and my chics are happy that there are once again hot dogs in the house. If you've read my blog for a while, you probably already know of my distaste for hot dogs, but the chics dig em - as all kids do, so every once in a while, I gotta give in to popular vote.

Hot dog coins with carrot spears and ketchup for dipping, Sweet potato fries,Frozen blueberries, Powerball, Caesar Salad.

Coleman hot dogs are all natural - no hormones, antibiotics, nitrates, fillers, msg, or any other freaky hot dog ingredients - just beef. So, as far as hot dogs go, you can't get much better. I did see some grass-fed beef hot dogs one day, but they were $7 for 6 hot dogs and I gotta draw the line somewhere! (Okay, so really, the hubs drew the line after I begged him to get them and described all sorts of horrible things that could happen to our children if we fed them "other" hot dogs. He was unmoved, holding firmly to his wallet. Fun Hater!)

Quinoa Garden

If you haven't tried quinoa, you need to. We use it instead of rice. I always burn rice or overcook it or do something to otherwise ruin a perfect batch of rice. Seriously, I can cook the most complicated recipe out there but I can't make a batch of rice (or scalloped potatoes, but that's another post) And really, no one in my family just LOVES rice. But, quinoa is another story. It's got a bit of a crunch to it, it cooks in only 10 minutes, and everyone likes it. Plus it's really healthy. Quinoa is high in fiber, gluten free, and a complete protein. Anything I used to make with rice, I've made with quinoa - stir frys, Spanish rice, gumbo. The chic's lunch for tomorrow is a garden on a bed of quinoa.Quinoa background, yellow bell pepper sun, hot dog flowers with asparagus stems, cheddar and provolone flowers, sugar snap pea grass, watermelon cubes and whole wheat barnyard crackers.

To answer the question, "how does this all stay in place?" - I took out the two small containers and covered the garden with Press and Seal pushing down as I covered it. It kinda vacuum sealed it. I heart Press and Seal!

Usually, the chic likes sugar-free lemonade or a water bottle with her lunch. But, on my shopping excursion last weekend, I found chocolate almond milk in individual juice box sized boxes. I had never seen almond milk in individual sized boxes and the chocolate variety only had 6 grams of sugar. Regular chocolate milk has 24 grams! The chic has taken a couple in her lunches and has really liked them. Now we have another option in the drink category!

This will be my last lunch until next week. The chic has an early release day on Friday and a holiday on Monday, so we will be school lunch free for a couple days.

Lastly, thank you Amanda at Lunchbox Limbo for the Over the Top Award!

The rules of this award are to (I'm copying Amanda's words here):answer the questions with only one worded answers (those are below)- thank the blogger who gave it to you over and over and over (that's exaggerated a bit) :)- pass it on to 6 of your favorite blogs. I hereby grant this award to:

What's for Lunch at Our House

Bento Beginner

Hawaii's Bento Box

Happy Little Bento

Pigs Do Fly

Bento Babe

Now the questions: (and I'm not good with one word!)

1. Where is your cell phone? ..being repaired while I have a nervous breakdown without it!

2.Your hair?...long
3. Your mother? ...supportive

4. Your father? ...funny

5. Your favorite food? ...osso buco

6. Your dream last night? ...none
7. Your favorite drink? ..coffee

8. Your dream/goal? ...happiness

9. What room are you in? ..living room
10. Your hobby?...cooking and knitting

11. Your fear?...heights

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?...back in college for my master's

13. Where were you last night?...Home

14. Something you aren't?...shy
15. Muffins?..cranberry orange

16. Wish list item?...Foodsaver
17. Where did you grow up? ...all over the US

18. Last thing you did? ...dropped my phone off

19. What are you wearing? ...sundress

20. Your TV? ...off

21. Your pets?...2 dogs 3 hermit crabs

22. Your friends?...fun

23. Your life? ...busy

24. Your mood? ...panic (the phone, y'all!)

25. Missing someone? ...my oldest when she's at school during the day

26. Vehicle? ...minivan

27. Something you're not wearing?...shoes

28. Your favorite store? .. Banana Republic

29. Your favorite color?...red

30. When was the last time you laughed? ...?

31. Last time you cried? ...?

32. Your best friend? ...the hubs
33. One place that I go over and over? ...Costco
34. One person who emails me regularly?..mom

35. Favorite place to eat? ...Brio
Everyone have a great weekend!

Spaghetti Heads

Since I've started blogging, I've been looking around at some other blogs by moms with bento lunch boxes. It's interesting to see what ideas everyone can come up with. Shannon at http://flytomywindow.blogspot.com/ had the cutest post about Spaghetti Dogs. And though I'm not a fan of the hot dog (traumatic childhood experience), my kids are. I don't buy them very often, so it's really a treat when they get them. Fortunately, hot dogs have come a long way since my childhood and can actually be fairly nutritious.We buy natural hot dogs without nitrates and preservatives. Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs are our favorite.

I planned on making the spaghetti dogs as is, but it kinda took off from there. As I was starting to assemble them, I decided that the spaghetti would make super cute hair. So I used the ends of the hot dog and kind of experimented with the amount of spaghetti. (My 3 year old was more than happy to gobble the rejects). I added a cherry tomato slice for the mouth and capers for the eyes and affixed them with tiny pieces of uncooked pasta. The trick to doing the hair is to put a ton of pasta in the spaghetti. I tried a few with less spaghetti and they were fine (see the one on the left) but were better with more (the middle and right). So for her last lunch before the Labor Day weekend, she gets the beloved hot dog.



Tomato Basil Salad with Balsamic and Olive Oil, Whole Wheat Blueberry Almond Muffin, Homemade Applesauce, Spaghetti Heads


Precooked spaghetti heads...these were the "first generation". Add about three times that much spaghetti for best results.