Bento: Guess What Day It Is!

Hump Day!!!!
Do you think that commercial is half as funny as we do?  Today's lunch is inspired by how happy the camel is on Wednesday.
The Laptop Lunch box is filled with applesauce with cinnamon, dried fruit, a granola bar, and a "camel sandwich" made with Wilton Food Writers.  I drew this one freehand, but you could easily print out a picture and cut it as a template.
I wrote on both sides of the banana using pressure, not ink.
Happy Hump Day!

Bento: Zone

Our kid LOVES going to the "Zone" at our local Y. With school starting back up, his opportunities to go have decreased.  Today's lunch is zone-themed with the promise of taking him after school.
For the spiral sandwiches, flatten a slice of bread with a rolling pin, and spread the filling leaving 3/4" at the far end. Roll the slice away from you like a jellyroll. (The filling will "squish" into the end a bit.) Use a sharp knife to trim the edges and slice the log into spirals.
I carved the fruit leather with a small knife.
Garden tomatoes, dried blueberries, and a frozen Gogurt finish out today's lunch.

Bento: Star Student

As we start off the new school year, I wanted to encourage my 3rd grader AND to show you how easy a fun lunch can be.  Don't get me wrong, I love some of the elaborate lunches; but let's be honest, we don't all have time for that every morning.  My original plan didn't work out (when I realized that my loaf of bread was still in the freezer), so this a modified even EASIER version that was quick to throw together this morning.
This lunch is in a Laptop Lunch box (currently, there is a 72 hour sale for back-to-school - enter code BTS15 for 15% off.)  The sandwich has stars cut with a cookie cutter and a piece of fruit leather cut with the same cookie cutter.  The dried blueberries have some star sprinkles that I had left from cupcakes.  The egg was pressed in a star egg mold (and was a small egg!)  The egg took the longest, but I did it last night.

Last night, I boiled an egg (larger eggs are preferred) for 9 minutes, drained the water, rolled it around the pan gently cracking it open on all sides (to make it easier to peel), ran a quick rinse of water over the egg, peeled the shell, and placed it into the egg mold before putting it in the fridge overnight.  While the egg was boiling, I made the note with "Night Sky" font.  
This morning, it took less than 5 minutes to assemble the lunch. Happy Back To School!

Back to School!

 I downloaded the free printables from Yellow Bliss Road, and <3 them!  Chalkboard "1st Day of" signs for free!  For lunch, there's an A+ sandwich (Wilton Food Writers were used to make the "paper,") fresh blueberries, garden tomatoes, a pluot (who named that anyway?,) and a granola bar.  For a whirlwind first day of school with my husband out of town, a full day of meetings, getting all 3 kids ready and out of the door (not to mention feeding our four-legged family members), I thought this was rather successful even if it is super simple.  The kid - he absolutely loved it. 
(And yes, it was still dark outside when I took the picture, so it's not fabulous.  I should have used my *real* camera.)

Sourdough Madness Continues

Update from the madness that began 2 months ago after our return from Paris....
I love making bread.  Sourdough is a different beast than all other breads.  I read tips and tricks from many cookbooks and all over the web, but it was still daunting.  Do this, don't do this, etc.  Ultimately, some of the tricks worked with SOME starters, and some of them did the opposite of the desired goal.  I decided that I would maintain several starters and keep notes along with the starters based on the changes and tweaks with each loaf of bread. My sweet husband loves sourdough so he endured our kitchen looking like a bakery taken over by science experiments for over a month. 
Here is what I learned:

• Don't be afraid to follow your instincts! 
• If your starter is active, but it doesn't have enough power to make the dough rise, try adding 1/4 t. active dry yeast and 2 T. of warm water to the dough (mix and allow to rest for 5 minutes before adding to the bread dough), and try waiting to add the last cup to cup and a half of flour until after the dough has risen once and you're ready to shape it for the final rise.
• If the starter is too sour, start by adding a 1/2 t. sugar to the bread dough.  If you like it better, then add 1/2 t. of sugar to the starter.
• All starters are different.  Some are much thicker than others.  It's OKAY.
• I read somewhere to not "overwork" your dough, because it would lose too much of the air and not rise properly.  What I found was that in an effort to not overwork it, I was to cautious and didn't properly combine the ingredients to work the glutens together.  Don't overthink this.  Just don't beat until smooth and elastic like you would for brioche or challah.
• If you get frustrated, seal your starter in an airtight container for a week in the fridge and take a break.  (Just be sure to feed it again after 5-7 days.)
• Sourdough can't be "rushed" to rise the way some other doughs can.  If you bake it before it's truly finished rising, you'll end up with a very dense bread.
• Don't be afraid of experimenting with additions.  Some I've tried are pine nuts, walnuts, pistacchios, brown rice, roasted garlic, and varying amounts of wheat bread flour.
• Be patient.  After 2 months (and at least 30 loaves), I certainly don't have what I would consider a "perfect sourdough", but I do have a recipe that we're happy with and enjoy.  I know I'll continue to experiment, and hopefully by the time we return to Paris I will have a sourdough as amazing as the one in my memory. 

Three loaves currently being enjoyed in our house.  All 3 are different!

Bento: beach

Toddler Bentos

These Bento boxes were the first ones I purchased years ago, and I still love them. All of the items were found on AllThingsForSale.com
I made "rounds" out of cheddar, jack, and turkey. I layered the cheeses and drew a caterpillar's face on the top slice. Ritz crackers, yellow tomatoes, dried blueberries, and a cutie complete this lunch. The kids don't care if every item in the lunch is "fun," but they do love to open their lunches to little surprises.

Lunch: Winnie the Pooh

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday."

Not much of a Bento, but the Kirkland Pooh animal crackers inspired me.

Sourdough Madness

Anyone who has ever fully enjoyed a loaf of sourdough bread in France will understand my crazed obsession.  We returned late Monday night, and I already have 4 starters going that I made. I have yet another starter on order. I am keeping notes on the different containers for now as I learn how to feed and maintain each of the 4 different "creatures."

Do you have a favorite starter or bread recipe?

Bento: Softball

This weekend is the annual Reckless Kelly Celebrity Softball Jam charity event, and a baseball-themed Benito seemed appropriate!