Pass the Pea Salad Please

This mama has strep throat .. boo.. Afraid, the kiddo might have it too.. bigger boo.. This has led to a very unmotivated mama to provide anything other than your minimal sustenance. Today, in a total slump, I went to my trusty Momables file. Eureka.. not only did they come through for something different today, it tasted super to me too, so I made some more for mama. We made their 'Under the Sea' pasta recipe with some edits based on what we had on hand. That's one of the things I love about it.. gives you ideas, and you can copy or tweak, but the idea is planted! Thanks Momables! Ooh, and look for a full review and giveaway of Momables coming soon! And, since I'm in the thanking mood, thanks to Biting the Hand that Feeds You for the delicious Chococones in this lunch. I'm ashamed to say I ate nearly the whole box. Yum!

Momables-style tuna pasta, homemade pea salad (recipe to follow), apple, chow mein noodles, corn flakes, Colby jack cheese, and chococones.

Okay, so for most people when they are sick, it's chicken noodle soup and jello. Okay, so those are good too, but for me, it's often pea salad. It reminds me of comfort and family because we have it at every holiday there is. My occasion? Friday. And it sounded good. Sweet peas, tart apples, crisp celery, creamy mayo, and a poop-ton of pepper! Drool..

Grandma's Peppery Pea Salad

Ingredients - 2 cans petite sweet peas (yes it has to be the petite or early peas), 2 stalks celery (dice how you want to.. I do it small), 3/4 - 1 granny smith apple (peeled, cored, and diced how you like), mayo* (the real stuff), and lots of pepper. My grandma always added finely chopped pecans to hers, but I prefer it without. If you add them, do about 1/3 cup.

Mix the peas, celery, apple, and pecans (if using) in a bowl. Add mayo. Now, the mayo really is an eyeballing sort of ingredient to add. You want to put enough in that the mixture really does look 'wet', because it does tighten up a bit overnight. I'd say I add just about 1/2 cup, but start with a little less and add to taste. Dump in your pepper, and stir.  You want to see the pepper in there. The kick of spice from the pepper really brings this all together. Cover and chill overnight, or at least for a few hours. Yum!

In this lunch...

Batty For You

Eight more days until Halloween. First let me say, I'm making progress on that bee costume and its many modifications. We went to our local Children's Zoo this past weekend for their annual Zoo Boo! I love that we literally live 5 minutes from a zoo. It's small, but it's nice. In fact, I worked there as a zookeeper, then an education outreach coordinator for some time. I grew up going there, too, so it holds a special place in my heart. Anyways, you can see the costume (with some edits yet to be made) here. Awe...

My Buzz-y Bee

As for the lunch, I went with bats, complete with a set of frozen yogurt vampire teeth. Such a fun idea.. I wasn't the only one that went for it, either. Eats Amazing did these fun frozen yogurt teeth, too. I'd say hers turned out even better than ours did, so check them out! We used a silicone mold with Chobani Champions Verry Berry Greek yogurt and vanilla for the teeth. Love those silicone molds!

Vanilla and Verry Berry yogurt, red bell peppers, cucumber, Colby jack cheese and turkey on multigrain bread thins.

In this lunch...

Teaser

Not quite a spoiler, but I know it's kind of a teaser because in this lunch, I used some fabulous purple wheat raisin bread from my October Foodie Pen Pal. I can't reveal any more than that until the end of the month, though. But, oh my, is this stuff delish! It was easy to incorporate into a fun bento lunch! Sorry my ranch looks neon.. dang flash..

Peanut butter on purple wheat raisin bread, clementine, grapes, cheddar mozzarella cheese, ranch, cucumber, red bell pepper

All packed up and ready to go!

In this lunch...

Recipe Review - Butter Dips

So, butter dips.. yup, it's pretty much what it sounds like.. they are dough dipped in butter, baked in butter, and tasting like perfect baked buttery goodness! No, you can not use margarine. It must be butter.. leave it at that. These are by far my favorite 'biscuit' or 'breadstick' or whatever you want to call them. They are AH-mazing! And, because we had to share these delicious little morsels too, we linked up on Watch Out, Martha.

Butter Dips

Ingredients - 1/4c butter, 1 1/4c all purpose flour, 2tsp sugar, 2tsp baking powder, 1tsp salt, 2/3c milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. While heating, melt butter in a glass 9x9 pan right in the oven. Mix all the other ingredients by spoon until dough forms. Coat hands and dough ball with flour and knead a few times. Roll or press into roughly an 8" square. Be warned, this dough is crazy sticky, so keep the extra dusting flour close by. Cut your square in half. Cut each half into strips roughly 1" wide. Separate the strips, and in the prepared pan, coat both sides of the strips with the melted butter. Arrange all the strips in your pan. It's fine if they are smooshed together. Bake 15-20 min or until golden brown. Enjoy!

And, of course, congrats to the winner of our MyPlate for Kids giveaway, Debby J. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy ours.

Trader Joe's breaded baked haddock, red bell peppers, cucumber, dried mango, rice, and homemade tarter using plain Greek yogurt, lemon, dill pickle and seasonings.

Mummy Dogs!

So, I think we've all seen these 'mummy dogs' floating around the web at some point in time, perhaps a bit more frequently now that Halloween is fast approaching. Well, I'm game. For some reason, my kid is obsessed with mummies. I still chalk it up to one of her favorite books, Where's My Mummy, but who knows. I've still got it on the agenda to work on a fitting lunch based on that book, but I digress. We found some lovely nitrate free turkey dogs that actually taste good... yippee! I wrapped them tightly in strips of crescent roll dough, and popped them in the oven based on the roll's instructions. When they were browned and crispy, we took them out and served them with the regular hot dog fixin's.

I actually liked these since I don't really like hot dogs buns in general. Having my dog all nestled snug in warm in the crispy, buttering wrappings was much better. However, after spending all that time wrapping them and talking to my daughter about what we were having for dinner, the first thing that she did when she sat down was prompting remove all said wrappings and discard them to the side of her plate. I'm sure it was unintentional, but I swear I saw a bit of disgust as she plucked every single molecule of dough from her dog. Sigh.. You win some, you lose some. Either way, I thought they turned out awfully cute and yummy.

Mummy dog with mustard, ketchup, cucumbers, kalamata olives, and cheddar mozzarella strips.

Boo!

On the heels of the fantastically fun Halloween Hop, I've still got many more ideas to share! Have I mentioned yet how much I love this season and this holiday?! Yeah, maybe once or twice.. In addition to lunchtime fun, we're in the process of editing a costume we've borrowed from a friend. I figured this will be the last year that I'll be able to just do a mama chosen or 'simple' costume. Next year, kiddo will be nearing 5, so the chances of convincing her to do something other than her own idea will be slim. We are borrowing a bumblebee, but what was supposed to be an easy peasy thing has turned into a major reconstruction. We've added structure to the wings with wire and sewed up that whole mess, and I added supports to the antennae now too. We have yet to manufacture a stinger, fix the hood (looks like the bee had a stroke as is), and add some fun leggings to complete the costume. Poo... In other news, Boo! Enjoy the ghosties!! And, before you leave, be sure and enter for your chance to win a MyPlate for Kids in our current giveaway!

Orange jello, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, fruit leather, candy corns, open face ghost sammies - 1 with salami and swiss, 1 with provolone and turkey.

In this lunch...

Hopping for Halloween

Now, you'll notice that prior to this post, and I guarantee for many past this post, you'll find fun Halloween and fall themed lunches, but for today, it's all about the hop! The Bento Bloggers & Friends are all posting some unique, fabulous Halloween lunches, so be sure and visit them by following the link or bottom at the bottom of this post! We couldn't decide on just one lunch to post, but did manage to limit it to eleven six two.. so hard because we LOVE Halloween! After them hop, we've got witches, mummies, bats, and more, so be sure and pop back after the hop to see what's in store! Also, keep checking back on the BBF blog Halloween linky party for all sorts of fantastic Halloween ideas throughout the rest of the month.

Lunch for kiddo is the Pumpkin Patch with a carrot raisin salad, orange jello with a candy corn in the treat bag, smoked turkey, cucumber, mandarin orange (w/ cup for the segments), and a 'jack o' lantern' grilled cheese.

These little party cups make the best disposable containers!
My little peeled mandarin fits nice and snug!

Mama's lunch is Graveyard scene with cranberry couscous (from Whole Foods.. yum), orange jello, spinach, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and wheat thin sandwich w/ Swiss cheese and smoked turkey.

Now, on to the hop! From here, head on over to More Than Your Average Mom for some more creative inspiration!

In these lunches...