New Ideas

Today, we tried something new for lunch, thanks to MOMables, and something new for dessert/breakfast, thanks to King Arthur Flour. I love the fresh, new ideas we get from MOMables. If you haven't already, be sure and enter our giveaway for your own free 3-month subscription! I should say too that I did something new today too.. a guest post with one of our favorite companies, Melissa & Doug! It's been a great day!

MOMables turkey avocado melt, red grapes, dry roasted peanuts, and super salad (kale, tomatoes, red onion, carrot, edamame, blueberries, dry cranberries, sunflower seeds & vinaigrette).

And the dessert/breakfast we tried?? This year, due to illnesses running rampant in our household, we completely missed our trips to the local pumpkin farm. Part of that adventure is the glorious fried cider donuts. They close on October 31st every year, so there is no going late for our goodies. I've been craving fall donuts all fall it seems though, and I finally broke down and bought a real 'unitasker' .. the doughnut pan. It will never offer full replacement of those fried, hot cider donuts, but I was determined to make a doughnut that was still delicious, yet a bit better for me too. I came across a pumpkin doughnut on KAF's blog over a month ago, and finally decided to give it a whirl! Wow, am I glad I did. Again, if you are anticipating what you get out of a fryer, you may be a bit disappointed, but if you are after a delicious, dense cakey doughnut that delivers in full on flavor and texture, then you will be thrilled with this recipe! My only regret was that I only had the one pan, so had to run 3 batches in the oven. Thankfully, they only take about 15 minutes per batch! The original recipe said it makes 12 doughnuts, but for better or worse, I easily got 17 out of the recipe. Bonus!

Baked Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Ingredients - 1/2 c canola oil, 3 large eggs, 1 1/2 c sugar, 15oz can pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 3/4 c plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour, sugar and cinnamon for dusting
Set your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your doughnut pan(s).
Beat together everything but the flour and dusting ingredients. Add flour and stir just until smooth. Spoon batter into pan, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 15 -18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan briefly before loosening them and gently removing them from the pan. While the original instructions suggested tossing in the cinnamon sugar while still warm, I had much more luck waiting until they were completely cool and sitting out a bit longer as they tend to get a slightly sticky exterior that made the sugar spice mix stick fantastic! I may or may not have dipped my doughnut in more cinnamon sugar as I ate it.. not telling.. Yum!!

In this post...

Fall Leaf Fun

I used today as a fun opportunity to link lunch with some learning activities, as well as a delicious, simple snack for all of us. First, the snack! Really, you can make these yummy, crispy pitas in any shape you'd like for any holiday or occasion, but leaves were the theme today, so leaves it was! Not only were these so good last night, but they were devoured in today's lunchbox as well.

Crispy Parmesan Herb Pitas
All you need for these is a package of Greek pitas (the flat ones, not the pocket ones), ~1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, seasonings of choice (I use dried Italian herbs), and fresh or grated Parmesan (or other hard cheese). Cut your pitas into the shapes you'd like. Brush with olive oil. Lay on foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with herbs and cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned. Let the pitas cool, if you can stand the wait, as they crisp up during that time. Serve with marinara or hummus. We prefer hummus! Enjoy!

Pita crisp, Swiss cheese leaves, red grapes, Mozzarella cheddar cubes, hummus, carrots, cherry tomatoes, dill pickle, and white meat turkey hot dog.

We added some fun leaf projects today, as well. We did crayon leaf rubbings, which for some reason didn't make it into the picture, but I remember doing all sorts of nature or texture rubbings as a kid and loving them. I think I was the one having the most fun with them still! I also set up a outline for a tree to be painted, and I thickened the paint a bit so we could use the paint as glue and put some fabric leaves right on the tree. We did a leaf color/counting project, dot stamper, and also tried out a 1-10 style puzzle, which was a big hit. We will definitely be creating some of these more often.

In this lunch...

Election Day 2012

I'm not going to get all political here, but I really hope everyone votes. This is an important election. Well, they all are, but still.. Get out there and vote if you haven't! My daughter is a few months shy of 4, so she doesn't quite get it yet, but she knows who our president is and we talked about voting, so I just made a simple lunch today for that idea! No matter how young or old, it's an important point to drive home.. Every person can make a difference, so make your vote count!!

Cucumber stars, carrot 'stripes, and open face sandwich with Muenster cheese and turkey pepperoni.

In this lunch...

Momables Review & Giveaway

"We Plan. You Pack. Kids Enjoy." is the MOMables tagline, and it couldn't be more fitting. If you've been following us, or even just popped in once in a while, you're bound to notice that we like to make lots of MOMables inspired lunches. Really, I can't say enough about this product/program! What is MOMables? It's a subscription based service whose "mission is to help parents create healthy, fresh and convenient school lunches in 10 minutes or less." And they deliver on that mission and so much more! You receive weekly access to meal plans with beautiful photos, easy to follow recipes, packing tips, shopping lists, and more. There certainly is something for everyone each week, and the beauty of how MOMables works is that you can still be in control of ingredients. I use MOMables not only as a fresh, fun way to pack meals, but also as a template to create my own ideas based on their easily modified menus. Nothing is too complicated or unrealistic, but just full of all new ideas and some tweaks on old ones. You can even view a sample menu on their site, or check out more ideas from their blog!

Italian swords with cherry tomatoes, salami, and cheddar mozzarella cheese, cucumbers, carrots, Trader Joe's veggie straws, blueberries, ripe green olives, and vanilla wafer cookies.

MOMables is not just for school lunches, either. They are a fabulous resource for all things lunch packing in general. They offer dinner menu ideas, delicious desserts and snacks, even breakfast! Plus, the lunch packing ideas work for everyone in your family, not just the kids. We love the idea of a bean burrito, for example, which we can added our own twist to! And, that one came complete with tips about how to successfully make lots of them at once and freeze. No more store bought frozen burritos for this mama! Yum!

Bean, cheese, and onion burrito, salsa in container, mandarin orange, kale, cherry tomatoes, pretzels, Goldfish crackers.

Want some easy to make, healthy, fresh, convenient, and affordable ideas yourself? Of course! MOMables has generously offered to give away a 3-month subscription to one of our lucky readers. To take advantage of this, enter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I received a free 3 month subscription to MOMables, but was in no other way compensated for this review & giveaway.  All opinions expressed are my own.  I reserve the right to choose a new winner for the giveaway if a winner does not contact me within 24 hours of being announced or contacted. Open to those 18 or older only please.

In these lunches...

The Great Pumpkin

As part of rounding out our Halloween festivities, we watched a marathon run of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. And by marathon, I mean over and over! Still, it's one of those things you just have to do as part of the holiday. Lunch was inspired by the show, of course!

Orange & black tortilla chips, pretzels, celery, red bell pepper, Rotel dip, mandarin, cucumber, roasted seaweed, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

We also had fun with dry ice tonight. I loved this stuff as a kid. We always had it around to play with because my dad is a pharmacist, and they packed everything on it at the time. I wish I could properly take pictures of it, but one of my favorite things to do with dry ice is fill a kitchen sink full of hot water, toss a couple glow sticks it, and add the dry ice. Turn off all the lights, and watch the bubbling, glowing brew! Too fun. Of course, adding dish soap is the next best thing. We did both, and had a blast!

Course, kiddo was convinced that the fog actually tickled her feet, and loved sticking her toes in the mist! I think that may have been her favorite.

In this lunch...

October Foodie Penpal

We had another fantastic experience with Foodie Pen Pals this month, and while yesterday was technically reveal day, with all the chaos of Halloween, I needed an extra day to focus because this month, my foodie penpal, Heather, sent an absolute treasure of items that deserve their own dedicated post! Heather, if you are seeing this, thank you so much! Our package went out to Rebecca of Rebecca Roams this month, who wrote up a wonderful post as well. Be sure and visit!

As for our load of goodies, this is just ONE of the shipments. Heather sent a lentil soup mix, Zingerman's orange-almond brownie and peanut brittle, dill pickle peanuts, a whole roll of stickers for the kiddo, and Posole seasoning.

First of all, let me tell you that the brownie didn't even make it through the first hour day. And the peanuts.. oh my! We love our local popcorn place's dill pickle popcorn, so these hit the spot. We got some great tips on using the Posole seasoning with a turkey breast in the crockpot, so that is where it is destined, but for us, it will be an experiment with chicken breasts. Looking forward to it because the seasonings in the pack sound fantastic. We did have a couple mishaps with the shipment, and when I let Heather know, not only was she fantastic about our notes on the issue, but she sent us ANOTHER box of goodies. I'd love to tell you that we felt bad about her sending anything else, which I did/do, but when we got that next box, I could only be grateful. What a wonderful, decadent surprise!

This box came full of goodies from Dorothy Lane Market in Ohio. We got a fantastic, insanely rich and delicious box of killer brownies. We also received a loaf of purple wheat raisin bread, which we used in a teaser lunch post a bit back. Everything we received was so unique, and so thoroughly enjoyed. The brownies? Oh my.. dense, chewy, loaded with chocolate and caramel.. just sinful!

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... This is the edited version, but ALL the details can be found on their website, of course.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you, of course.