Mini Sandwich & Potatoes

Chicken Sandwich on sprouted wheat bread (Rocky Jr. chicken breast marinated in honey and lemon, broiled, diced and mixed with canola mayonnaise and mustard; organic carrot chips; boiled organic red potatoes with olive oil, flax seed oil and sea salt; mandarin (mandarin, carrots, and potatoes from Full Belly Farm); Organic Valley cheesestick.

waste generated: plastic wrapper from cheesestick

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

Pancakes are the one meal that I can make (for breakfast, lunch, or dinner) that are unanimously met with smiles, and, if I am lucky, applause. The trick is to make them as healthy as possible while maintaining their inherent deliciousness. 

Blueberry whole wheat pancakes (with soy flour and wheat germ), Earth's Best chocolate milk, dried cranberries and bananas; organic maple syrup.  

waste generated: chocolate milk box and straw

A few people have requested my recipe for crepes - -which is essentially the same recipe as my pancake recipe.  I am adding it here, although, as a warning, I usually cook in a "little bit of this, little bit of that" manner.  This is good because my recipes are fairly forgiving, but it can be frustrating if you like rules.  Here it is:

CREPES/PANCAKES (T is for tablespoon, t is for teaspoon) 

2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
2T. wheat germ
1 1/2 T. soy flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
2T. sugar (counters the bitterness of the soy flour)
approx. 2 1/4* c. non-fat milk, soymilk, or buttermilk (omit sugar if using soymilk) 
3 eggs, beaten
3T. unsalted butter, melted (reduce amount of salt, see above, if using salted butter)
3 t. lemon juice (omit if using buttermilk)

** re: milk.  use up to 1/2 cup less for pancakes, depending on how fluffy you like them (I tend to like them thin).  use the full 2 1/4 c. for crepes  - -the batter will be quite thin (thinner pancakes taste better cold)

Whisk together dry ingredients.  Whisk together wet ingredients (except lemon juice!) in a separate bowl.  Whisk quickly.   The melted butter will start to form tiny lumps in the liquid, - -this is fine, I think it makes the end result lighter and more delicious.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix with a few quick strokes (a few lumps is fine) Quickly whisk in lemon juice. 

 Allow to sit while heating skillet or griddle.  When water bounces off the surface of the skillet or griddle it is hot enough for cooking, if the drops of water just sizzle it is not hot enough).  Pour batter to preferred size (small is best with these, they are delicate and cook quickly - -I use a 3 oz. ladle to pour batter) and flip when exposed side shows many bubbles.  If you wish to pack them for lunch, allow leftovers to cool on a rack (they will get soggy if packed while still warm) before packing.  The cooled pancakes, crepes, also freeze well using the flash freeze method.  

Lemon Pudding

Lemon Pudding (homemade organic lemon curd and organic plain yogurt); raw organic almonds; dried bananas and raisins; and whole wheat Mi-Del graham crackers with sunflower seed butter.

waste generated: none :)

Pesto Chicken Salad

Ezekial pita bread stuffed with green leaf lettuce and chicken pesto salad made with shredded Rocky Jr. broiled chicken breast (dinner leftovers), pesto sauce (frozen when there was an abundance of basil in my CSA box), kalamata olives and pinenuts; Newman's Own spelt pretzels (wrapped in the bandana) and a small box of raisins.

I got the idea to use the bandana to wrap pretzels after talking to a friend who said she felt badly about the number of plastic bags she uses to pack her kids' lunches. In my quest to create a waste free lunch, I thought I'd start to use napkins and bandanas, in addition to my trusty wrap-n-mat, more often to wrap food that isn't significantly wet or in danger of drying out. They are just as easy to use as a plastic bag and more likely to find their way home (because even children realize that it feels a little wierd to throw anything made of fabric into a garbage can). If I was really crafty, I'd coordinate my bandana with a pretty ribbon or small sticker. . .but, well, I'm not that crafty, at least not yet. . .

waste generated: one small raisin box

Pasta with Broccoli, Edamame and Walnuts

Whole wheat pasta with broccoli, edamame, walnuts and olive oil; organic orange and beet salad; carrot sticks; and Brianna's Blue Cheese Dressing for dipping. Beets, broccoli and carrots were from our weekly Full Belly Farm CSA Box.

waste generated: none :)

Tiny Crepes with Lemon Curd

Tiny organic whole wheat crepes (with soy flour and wheat germ) filled with fresh organic lemon curd; organic orange sections; salt free roasted peanuts and Organic Valley mozzarella cheese cubes. Yummy.

waste generated: none :)

A is for Aidan

Homemade whole wheat "A" shaped bread with sesame seeds; organic, free-range eggs (I realize that means practically nothing - we hope to get our own chickens one of these days so we can eliminate the guesswork - still, the yolks in this batch are a brilliant yellow and taste delicious); red leaf lettuce and strawberry daikon "flowers" (from Full Belly Farm); oatmeal whole wheat lemon bar (lemons from our tree).

waste generated: one paper napkin

Life of a Piece of Parchment

It is probably pretty obvious by now how much I rely on parchment paper. I carry a good deal of environmental guilt for this (especially since it is rarely a necessity and more likely being used for aesthetic purposes or easy clean up). Still, I'm not entirely haphazard with it and generally, one piece of parchment sees several uses before finally being put to rest. I thought I might share the typical life cycle of a piece of parchment in my home:

First: Flour Catcher while baking (I level the flour onto the parchment and then lift the parchment and pour back into the flour jar)

Second: Placed on Baking Pan to promote even bread baking (also alleviates the need to grease sheet and virtually no clean up); used for subsequent baking the same day

Third: Same piece of parchment is used to wrap leftover bread to store and/or used to wrap bread to be given as a gift

Fourth: Parchment finds its way into my son's lunchbox, as a "placemat" of sorts for food

There, some guilt purged. You'd think I was Catholic . . .

More Hidden Vegetables

This was created with dinner leftovers. Prior to anyone under the age of 35 taking a bite I was attacked by a line of questions and comments that went something like this - -"so, what's in here? is this broccoli? I don't like this. How many vegetables? Can I pick out the broccoli? But I don't like broccoli. I wish you wouldn't put leeks in this. I don't like cooked carrots. What are leeks? Are they vegetables? I don't like vegetables. . ." Generally, and usually after some cajoling, threatening, or inquiries about a possible dessert I may have hidden somewhere, a bite will be taken and, if it is a good night, the anti-vegetable rally will cease. This happens every night. You are not alone.

Whole wheat pastry stuffed with broccoli, shredded carrots, leeks (all from our Fully Belly CSA box), Organic Valley ricotta & mozzarella, and pecorino cheese; pizza sauce for dipping, peeled organic mandarin sections, and crunchy Romaine lettuce.

waste generated: square of unbleached parchment

Open Faced Peanut Butter

Open faced peanutbutter sandwich with kumquat slices (Aidan did the decorating); 1/2 an organic Bartlett Pear; Mi-Del whole wheat honey graham crackers.

waste generated: 1/2 a toothpick used to keep the sandwich from sticking to the lid

Tofu, Spinach & Mushrooms

Much like most soups, my kids hate tofu. But like the dreaded soup, there are several exceptions to the rule and oddly enough, this is one of them. Sorry for the fuzzy photo, while I was pretending to be a photographer a very cute and tiny little person was drooling on my leg, screaming "up, up." I caved and my photo suffered.

Tofu cubes seasoned with tamari, rice vinegar, ginger and garlic and stir fried with mushrooms & spinach; brown rice; kumquats and 2 organic Frog & Toad cookies.

waste generated: none :). . .I think I'm on a roll

Enough with the Pie Already

When Spring is in full swing and the berries are ripe, I promise that I will not include gourds on my menu, but Pie? Well, pie is always in season, and it appears that I can not get enough of the stuff. I believe it is the perfect food, but then, one could question my logic.

This lunch was made with the remnants of my husband's birthday dinner. It is more like hangover food than nutritious lunch food, but it's Friday, and it is better than greasy pizza, chocolate milk and a giant brownie (or is it?).

Pumpkin Pie (made with organic pumpkin scavenged from a friend's garden) with whole wheat crust; organic whipped cream (no sugar added); Baked Tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa dips.

waste generated: none :)

Veggie Sandwich

Veggie Sandwich on homemade half organic whole wheat baguette (half unbleached organic all purpose flour) made with mashed avocado and banana spread and green leaf lettuce; side of sliced apples and tahini dip (my kids will eat plain tahini on bread or as a dip so long as I buy the roasted, salted version and add a touch of honey).

waste generated: none :)

Po'Boy

This is actually one of my favorite fast foods, but I call this the Po'Boy because the main entree is something that can be thrown together even when the cubboard is nearly bare. It is suppose to be a play on words, and I just realized that I'm not entirely sure that I got it right.

Orzo and egg pasta (cook any kind of pasta you have on hand, drain, throw into a frying pan on medium heat, add a scrambled egg and cook through); carrot pieces, apricots and cream (the apricots were canned when they were in season - the cream is skimmed from the top of our bottled organic milk); frog and toad cookies (sort of like oatmeal chocolate chip, but with lots of healthy additions like wheat germ and millet).

waste generated: none :)

Granola Sundae

Unlike my oldest daughter who believes that yogurt is the only food group, Aidan is not enamored with it. However, as a potential sundae it has more appeal. 3 scoops of Nancy's organic nonfat yogurt; dried blueberry granola; plain organic oats; trail mix of cranberries, almonds and banana chips.

waste generated: none :)

Tuna Lettuce Wrap

After all the heavy food of the holidays, it seems right to start back to school with something light. Lettuce wraps with line caught albacore and yellowtail tuna, garnished with Fuji Apple Matchsticks, trail mix with raw organic almonds, banana chips and raisins, Kettle lightly salted potato chips.

waste generated: one wax paper bag

Cookies

Any cooking projects over the holiday break?, but of course. I took photos of these sugar cookies for two reasons: first, because this is the first time I've ever made sugar cookies that actually looked good enough to share (prior sugar cookie attempts looked like something baked by a talented three year old. In case your curious, the secret is in the meringue powder.); the second reason is posterity, because it seems unlikely I'll ever make them again, but I have a new appreciation for those who do.