Bento: Tent Camping

Our kids LOVE to go camping!  In honor of the long weekend, today's lunch is tent-inspired.
The apple is for snack time.
In the Laptop Lunchbox, there is a sandwich with a fruit leather "tent" and fresh spinach "trees."
The top right Laptop Lunch container has raisins and a homemade eggless blueberry muffin nested inside.  (We take homemade mini muffins for snacks and breakfast.)
The top left Laptop Lunch container has "nutty popcorn."  My mom used to make it when we went camping when I was a kid, and I've continued the tradition with our kids.
The printable tent actually came from Etsy along with an editable camping-themed birthday printable set.  It wasn't free, but it sure is cute!
Happy camping!

Bento: Cupcake Sandwich

We have birthdays on the brain around here.  Last week, the twins had their birthday, but we haven't had the opportunity to properly celebrate, so we're going to do that this weekend.  As I prep for the weekend, I decided that our big boy's favorite sandwich really isn't so far from a cupcake. 

This peanut butter and honey sandwich on fluffy potato bread has a cupcake cutout with apple and raspberry fruit leather (adhered with peanut butter) and sprinkles (adhered with honey swirls). 

Grape tomatoes, banana chips, string cheese, and a peanut butter bar for snack time finish out this Laptop Lunchbox. 

The free printable with the "cherry on top" came from Nourish Interactive.

Bento: Back to School

Free printables from Skiptomylou.org and Amanda's Parties To Go made my job easy this morning!

 

This back-to-school lunch was  Laptop Lunchbox with an Aussie apple (Instructions here), a peanut butter and honey sandwich on potato bread with a fruit leather "apple" made with 2 different types of fruit leather (raspberry and...apple of course), grape tomatoes with fruit leather "stems & leaves" attached with 1/2 of a toothpick, dried cherries, and some cheese crackers.  This was a very quick and easy to assemble lunch!

Bento: Preschool Boy Girl Twins - Ladybug and Frog

Our almost 3 year old twins have started a Parents' Day Out program once a week, and it's time to get back in the swing of things in lunch-packing!
The larger purple and green containers that hold the lunches are from Laptop Lunches.
Inside are an assortment of silicone muffin/cupcake liners.  I picked up the ladybugs and frogs on clearance at my local grocery store, some on sale at World Market, and some on Amazon. I need to find some food picks to match the bug and frog theme to use in the cheese and tomato type foods.
This lunch is filled with banana chips, blueberry yogurt covered raisins, cheese crackers, Tillamook cheese cubes, Cheerios, and a grape tomato. 
Our little people like to try lots of different things, but won't eat a full serving of much of anything.  Their school is peanut and tree nut free, so I rest easy about my little guy, but I would be in huge trouble if our oldest attended school there.

Dawn’s Easy Focaccia Bread

I recently saw a recipe that said to take your favorite bread recipe and mix in "toppings" to create a more nutritious and "portable" snack for your kids on sports days.  Many Focaccia recipes say to start with a pizza dough recipe.  I did a little of both and tried two different versions of Focaccia today, and I'm in love.  It was SO easy, and it tastes amazing.  I'll be trying a cheddar and jalepeno version as soon as these two loaves disappear (which may be tonight at the current rate.)

Dawn’s Easy Focaccia

               

3/4 cup warm water

1 active dry yeast (envelope)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp sugar       3/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsps olive oil + more for topping

1 t garlic oil

1 T garlic powder

***Sundried tomato & feta  (3 T sundried tomato paste + ½ C crumbled feta)  Kalamata olives would be good with this, too.

***Rosemary & Garlic (2-3 T fresh rosemary + 6-10 roasted garlic cloves)

Directions:

1          Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.

2          Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, garlic powder and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture, oils, and mix ins; process until dough forms a sticky ball.  Add additional flour 1 Tbsp at a time as needed to be able to handle it, but it should still be fairly sticky.

3          Let rise in a well oiled pan for 1 and ½ hours.

4          Preheat oven to 400.

5          Press your finger gently all over the top of the loaf to form divets.  Pour 1/3-1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the top.  (Traditional Focaccia has a great deal of oil.) Sprinkle cheese, herbs, or sea salt as desired.

6          Bake for 25 minutes

ENJOY!

DIY: Magnetic Chalkboard Activity Trays

I have been working with a lot of chalkboard paint recently for a wedding related project.  During the process, I stumbled into something inexpensive and a bit genius.  You can buy small silver trays at the Dollar store for, yes, $1 each.  You probably have painter's tape in your garage, and if you have kids, you might even have a can of chalkboard spray paint on the shelves.  (Although it's not terribly expensive at a home improvement store for a can of the chalkboard spray paint.)  Choose magnets and chalk that are appropriate for your own children.  These magnets were on my fridge, but I'll buy small letter magnets for them to use in the car!

1. Choose your tray.
2. Tape off the edges.  (You don't have to tape off the edges, but I thought it looked nicer this way.)
3. Spray, let dry, and repeat (3 coats.)
4. Add a piece of chalk and magnets.
5. Store a washrag or cloth for "cleanup".

TaDa!  An inexpensive new activity that is perfect for car rides.  You can use it to "practice writing your name", create new words with the letters on your tray, give them small word magnets to create sentences and poems, or even play "I spy" on a road trip.

  

SQUASH!

We have planted squash in the past, but this is the first time we've had substantial squash grow. These are the 2 we picked for tonight,  and there are so many more growing. I'm accepting squash recipes....

Faux Rock complete!

About a month ago, I started doing faux rock in the alcoves in the dining room.   It morphed into a much larger project since I decided to do 2 additional alcoves that aren't actually IN the dining room.  I finished the last (and largest) alcove this morning!  I love it!

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado, Jalepeno & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and it looked so good that I had to try it!  I tweaked it a bit, and below is my revised version.

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 ears fresh corn, cooked, cooled and kernels cut off the cob, or 1-2 C frozen corn, thawed
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots 
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ C extra virgin olive oil 
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
• ¼  C chopped cilantro, plus more to garnish
• 2 Hass avocados, diced
• 1-3 fresh jalepenos, seeds and "white meat" removed, finely diced

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados in a large bowl and mix well. 
2. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. 
3. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. 
4. Garnish with a few sprigs of freshly chopped cilantro if desired.  (I'm not a fan of cilantro, so I keep it to a minimum.) 
5. Serve at cold or at room temperature.  It can easily be served as a dip or as a salad on a bed of Bibb or Butter Lettuce.

Sicilian Casserole

Sicilian Casserole

My cousin, Nicole, asked me for a pasta and sausage casserole recipe this morning and said she couldn't find it on the blog.  I searched, and to my surprise, I never posted this!  I'm still searching for the picture since he made it the first time in the summer of 2010.  We froze one of the casseroles, and we had it for dinner on his first day of Kindergarten.  (Too bad I didn't realize it wasn't posted when Breckin made this LAST week.)

This was the first meal for our oldest son, Breckin, to cook by himself at age 6. It's not the healthiest meal that we eat, but everyone loves it.  It's a nice treat.  Our twins devour this dish and have since the first time they had it at age 1.  Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 mins                             Total Time: 45 mins

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (I use half mild or sweet and half spicy)     

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped                                                             

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce                                                         

3/4 cup chicken stock (or water)

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning                                              

2 cups elbow macaroni (we actually use Gemelli instead of macaroni)

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed                                                          

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup sour cream                                                                             

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown sausage, onion and pepper in saucepan. Cook until sausage is done. Drain well.
2. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, and dried Italian seasoning and stir well to blend.
3. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package. While pasta is cooking, combine cream cheese and milk in medium bowl. Cook in microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Remove from microwave and stir with wire whisk until sauce is smooth.
5. Drain noodles and add to cream cheese sauce along with sour cream and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir.
6. In 2 quart casserole dish, place all of cream cheese mixture. Top with all of the sausage mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until casserole is bubbly.

**To freeze, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the cream cheese sauce. Prepare casserole as directed, except instead of baking, chill in refrigerator. Wrap well and freeze up to 3 months.

To thaw and reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator.

Bake, covered, for 25-35 minutes 5 minutes longer until bubbly.