What we ate Wednesday (well, we ate it Monday!)

   What we ate Monday was not what was on the menu for Monday, but with Dance classes cancelled, I decided to cook...But there was a hockey game on and since I am a hockey fan, but (I know I shouldn't say it) not a Canucks fan (not a Boston Fan either, but I have been watching Boston play for my entire life!  The only NHL games I have ever been to have been Boston-Montreal games, in Montreal), I decided to cook something simple, and that everyone would come to the table to eat.  Something they could pry themselves away from the television for.

So, I had marinated some rib pork chops in a homemade BBQ sauce (1/4 c marmalade, 1/4 c ketchup, tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 tsp cumin,  tbsp chili powder, dash or two hot sauce and some finely chopped onion (maybe 3 tbsp)...Mix ingredients in small sauce pan, bring to a low boil, and then simmer for 7-10 minutes.  Let cool, and then pour over your meat or fish...If it is too thick, thin it with a little bit of water, chicken stock or white wine.).  Those hit the bbq during the first intermission...

BC new nugget potatoes, and folks will give you all sorts of ways to serve em, but they always taste so good just steamed until just before they split (don't leave them alone on the stove), and then served with just a little bit of butter.

Fresh green beans (something we almost never have in our house, just because I don't find them good bang for your buck), again just steamed (do these last because they taste best hot and still crunchy and they don't like to wait for other things), and served with a little bit of butter and a drizzle of lemon juice.
And some green salad, but that is just because we ALWAYS have salad, to quote my 7 year old.  Not true, I am sure my 9 year old told me that we ALWAYS have soup!

Enjoy!  Happy Packing!
And, no, there were no leftovers for lunches...Sandwiches it was, with lots of SALAD!

Z is for...Zucchini

     About a year and a half ago, my 9 year old cucumber-loving son ate raw zucchini by mistake, thinking it was, of course, cucumber....He didn't spit it out, he chewed it and swallowed it and then said, "Mum, is this cucumber?"  I asked him what he thought it was and he said, "I guess it's zucchini, 'cause it doesn't taste like cucumber."  "What do you think?"  "Well, it's okay."

    Poor zucchini.  Veggie trays all over the place, and it always loses out to the fresh tasting water-filled cucumber, at least when it comes to kids.    I have found zucchini to be one of the vegetables that is easier to get my kids to eat as part of a meal.   They enjoy making stuffed zucchini (quinoa, lentils and sausage meat with some curry seasonings...or if you live around here, you can use the currywurst sausage from Pipers meats).  I grew up eating stewed zucchini, made with onions, tomatoes, basil and oregano.  Zucchini also takes its place beside carrots as a great addition to breads and cakes.  One of the reasons for that is the abundance of zucchini at harvest time.  Anyone who has ever grown zucchini knows just how productive those plants can be, and of course, they all come at the same time!  Home cooks had to come up with uses for all those green "squash".  While we don't grow them, we know plenty of folks who do and they are all ready to share them with us.  A good tip if you have excess zucchini (which by the way, I am certain few people do right now...have you seen the price per pound or kg at the grocery store??  But come September, there are many many to be had), grate it in your food processor (or by hand if you have strong forearms) and freeze it grated, measured into 2 cup freezer containers.  From here, you are ready for baking or stews or sauces, or soups.

My favourite way to eat zucchini is sauteed with other veggies and served with short pasta.  One recipe that always goes over well in our house is from the book, Dieticians of Canada Cook!  I have used other similar recipes over the years, but this one was a big hit.

Veggie Bow Tie Pasta

2 cups whole wheat bow tie pasta (farfalle)

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

4 cloves of garlic minced

1 large sweet pepper sliced thinly (I use yellow because I like the colour combination)

1 cup quartered mushrooms

1 whole zucchini, chopped or sliced

2 tbsp red wine

2 larged plum or roma tomatoes (I remove the seeds by scooping them out with a spoon)

2 cups lightly packed fresh spinach

1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan

A good tip: have all your veggies prepared before you begin.

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and transfer to large serving bowl.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onions until soft (3-4 minutes).  Sprinkle with pepper and salt.  Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so.  Add peppers, mushrooms and zucchini and cook for 6-8 minutes until softened.

Increase heat to medium high.  Add wine and deglaze the pan, scraping the brown bits from the bottom.  Boil, stirring until most of the wine has evaporated.  Add Tomato and spinach, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is wilted.  Pour veggies over pasta.  Sprinkle with parmesan.

To complete this meal, add some bbq'd pork tenderloin or pork chops.

Or for a vegetarian meal, add some feta or toss some tofu with the veggies before adding to the pasta.

For a great lunch dish, prepare the veggies (omit the pasta).  Allow to cool and drain away any excess liquid, then add the veggie mixture to a tortilla or flatbread, strips of cooked chicken or pork or slices of tofu, wrap and eat, for some great sauteed veggie wraps.

Enjoy!  

This is the end of my "A to Z blog challenge", now to move on to more inspiration for the next posts.  To all of you who joined on to follow the Lunch box during the challenge, I hope you found a reason to stay.  Thanks to everyone!  

More lunch box fun to come!

Happy Packing!

V is for...Vegetables!

   Oh yes, I have been saving this one.  It is every parent's concern..."I can't get my child to eat vegetables."   Well, how many grown-ups out there like to eat vegetables?  Really, I mean honestly...And if you like vegetables now, how many of you didn't as a kid?  As a kid (and an adult) we want to eat things that taste good.  Sweet and salty are always right at the top.  Sour?  Bitter?  Not so much.  And yet, vegetables are so important to our diet.  There are more nutrients in a serving of veggies than in a same size serving of fruit.  (Fruit contain a lot of water and sugar, while vegetables tend to be more dense and nutrient packed).
As a new parent, I can remember reading about feeding those first solids..."Offer the veggies first. Don't start with fruit."  Why?  Well, I guess there is some conditioning that goes on and if we can get them to like veggies first, then the fruit will be easy.  My son (who didn't really care for baby food, actually neither of my children liked the "strained baby food from a jar") loved yams and sweet potatoes as an infant.  Of course he did!  I would bake slices of yams in the oven with a bit of margarine on them.  Once they were cooked, I would mash them up in a bowl and he thought they were fantastic.  Of course, these days, he won't touch them (that is why I hide them in spaghetti sauce).  One time, I made plums for him.  Steamed them and then put them through the food mill.  They were a beautiful colour, a lovely purple.  He was eager to try them, but they were so sour!  I finally had to add maple syrup to them to get him to eat them.  Needless to say, I only made plums once.  Nowadays, he will eat three or four plums at one sitting when I buy them.  Who is to know?

The best advice I can come up with for getting children (and adults) to eat vegetables is this:  Get them to eat them when they are hungry!  When my children are milling around under my feet, looking for something to eat while I am making dinner, I always tell them they can have a whole carrot if they want but that is it.  (I can remember as a child being told I could have a piece of raw potato, and being hungry enough to eat it).  On really organized weeks, there will even be prepared veggies in the fridge they can snack on.  The plus to this kind of vegetable eating?  When they sit down at the table, any amount of vegetables they eat there becomes a bonus.  And because they have already had a serving of vegetables, you are not nagging them to "Eat your vegetables!"

Happy Packing!

P is for ...Potatoes, Pineapples and Potage...

Potatoes are cheap, Pineapples are not.  Potage is what you make with all the veggies left in your fridge at the end of the week (raw and cooked), a little bit of butter, water or chicken stock and (of course), some salt and pepper.
Actually, the first P that came to mind this week was "Price"...(and not because the Canadiens have been winning...the other kind of Price, that comes on a tag)...Why?  Because about two weeks ago, when I went out on a Sunday afternoon to do "a quick shop" (the kind that makes sure there is bread for sandwiches, milk and cream and coffee, and fruit for lunches and snacks), I ended up "stalled" in the cereal aisle for about 5 minutes.  I had heard someone mention that grocery prices were going to go up; including the comment about watching MacDonald's market share rise in proportion (sure enough about three days after that comment, the Macdonalds "coupon" book arrived with the mail).  But up until that moment, I hadn't noticed much going up beyond the fresh produce section.  It was the box of Rice Crispies on the bottom shelf, the Jumbo (2 bag) box, that was on sale for $4.99 again that week.  I had purchased one the week before for the same price.  What was different about it was the REGULAR price...The week before the regular price had been $6.99.  On that day, the regular price was $9.49!!!!!  Now, understand, I was not shopping for cereal that day.  But the startling price change led me to scan the rest of the shelves...Quaker Harvest Crunch that went to $5.99 regular price about 18 months ago...was now ON SALE for $5.99, regular price was $6.99...Cheerios, again the big double bag boxes, were now $8.99 and $9.99, and not on sale...I could go on and on!  But I think you get the picture.
When food prices go up, the way they have, consistently since 2008, then all those little things that you do to shave a bit here and there from your grocery bill become all for naught.  In the end, we all have to eat, and when the price hikes move away from the processed foods (and that is where they start), it becomes harder and harder for the thrifty to continue being so thrifty!
There is however, one way to combat the rise in the grocery bill.  Eat what you own.  According to the "word on the street", the average Canadian family (which I am guessing would be two adults and two children between 7-12?) throws away approximately $500.00 worth of food each year.  Obviously this happens in dribs and drabs, and not like throwing away three free range turkeys, 17 boxes of oreos, 12 gallons of milk,  20lbs of cheese and a standing rib roast to big enough to feed 24 people.  It is the half eaten box of stoned wheat thins that went stale before you could finish them, and the avocado that went moldy faster than you expected it to.  The specialty flavoured ice cream you bought for a treat that no one really liked, and then of course, there is the back of the fridge...Or how about the vegetable "crisper"?  The carrots that now bend, and the limp lettuce, the mushrooms that got a little dry, and then the bag of potatoes that seems to have seeded itself on the bottom shelf of the pantry?  Oh, and those peppers.  They were so beautiful when you bought them and now, well, they would be all right in spaghetti sauce but that is about it.

 Potage (Pureed vegetable soup)

The solution to vegetable crisper "backlog" in our house is "Potage" (pronounced "Poh taj")...
How do you do it?  First, figure out what you have...you want to have some onion family (about 2-3 lbs)...this could be onions, garlic, green onions, leeks...Any combination of these, chopped fine.
Next, root vegetables: potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, about 5 lbs, peeled and cubed (about 1 inch size), any combination.
Third: broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, zuchinni, mushrooms, any of the softer veggies 1-2 lbs, coarsely chopped.
Last: the leafy stuff: chards, spinach, lettuce, bok choy (put the harder parts with the broccoli and such), cabbage.  About 1 lbs, coarsely chopped.

What to do with it?
Take your large saucepan (the one you would use to make a big bot of pasta in, or your stock pot if you have one) with a lid, and add about 4 TBSP of butter (or you can use Earth's Best or some margarine, olive oil is a bit too strong), and melt it over medium low heat.
Once butter is melted, add the onion family and stir until coated in butter, then let cook over medium low heat until soft (the less you stir the onions, the sweeter they will be), stirring only occasionally to keep from burning.
Note: if you burn the onions, start over again, or it will be very bitter...speaking from experience!
When onion family is soft and fragrant, add root veggies and about 1/4 cup of water or stock (veggie or chicken), stir and then cover and cook over medium heat until a low boil.  Remove lid and stir.  Replace lid and continue cooking until all the root veggies are soft.  Add broccoli-cauliflower mixture and continue cooking 5-10 minutes, adding a little bit of stock or water as you go.  Add leafy veggies and another cup of water or stock.  Stir well.  Replace lid and continue cooking until all veggies are soft and fragrant (maybe 20-25 mintes).  Season with salt and white pepper.  Once all veggies are cooked, stir well and thenremove pot from heat.
Using hand blender, slowly pulse through the soup (be careful not to splash yourself, it is HOT!) until it has been well pureed.  If it is thick at this point (too thick for your liking) add more water or stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  You may need to put it back on low heat to increase the temperature if you have to add a lot of water or cold stock.  If you do this, stir constantly, so it doesn't burn.  Enjoy your soup with some tasty bread or some homemade biscuits, and maybe a little bit of cheese.  The trick to getting your children to eat this too?  Get them to help make it.  My kids love that it has lettuce in it!  And the leftovers make delicious lunch!

Happy Packing!

K is for ...Kim's homemade spaghetti sauce

Yes, I know.  It only starts with "K" because I put "Kim" in front of it.

Kim's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce 

(and please feel free to call it your own, as once you have made it a couple of times, it will be)

1 kg (approx 2 lbs) ground meat (could be turkey, chicken, beef or you could use two packages of Yves Veggie Ground Round , the favourite in our house is half pork with half beef or turkey)

1 Tbsp canola oil

2 large onions (or three smaller ones) chopped quite small (but not minced)

3  796ml (28 oz) cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, or a combination.  If you shop at Costco and you can get the HUGE cans of tomatoes, that is what I use and I only use one, usually crushed.

1-2 TBSP dried oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp coarse salt (or less, and if you are using no-salt-added tomatoes, add up to 2 1/2 tsp coarse salt)

From here, the ingredients are up to you.  You can add a zucchini, a few peppers, some carrots, even some spinach.  

Mine tonight was:

10 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

3 yams, baked and then scooped out to add with tomatoes

3 red peppers, chopped fine

a can of sliced mushrooms, drained (no salt added)

and a handful of spinach, chopped

Preheat oven to 325F

In a large roaster pan with a lid, add canola oil, and warm for 5 minutes in preheated oven.  Add ground meat to warmed pan, break up slightly with wooden spoon.  Add salt, oregano and basil.  Return pan to oven, uncovered, and bake for 15-20 minutes.  While baking, prepare vegetables for adding to meat (peel and chop).  Once your meat has browned (if you are using veggie ground round, heat it for 5-7 minues until warmed through), add onions and peppers and carrots if using, mix well and continue baking in the covered roaster for 20-30 minutes, until carrots are soft (tip: if they don't get soft before you add the tomatoes, they will never get really soft).

Tip: you may have noticed that I didn't drain the meat.  This is because I usually use lean or extra lean ground beef and things like turkey and pork that are already very lean.  If you are using medium ground beef, drain off the fat before adding the onions and such.

Once the carrots are soft, add the remainder of ingredients to the pan and mix well.  Cover and return to the oven to continue baking for at least 30 minutes (if you want to bake it for longer, decrease heat to 300F and continue baking for 45-60 minutes, checking every 30 minutes to make sure the edges aren't burning as this will make the sauce bitter later).

Serve with whole wheat spaghetti cooked al dente, and cheese for sprinkling.  You can add a salad too, but you will find that there are so many veggies in the sauce that you don't really have to.  (not that it stops me from putting salad on the table!).  This recipe is large enough that it is perfect for making 2 lasagnas and you still have enough left for a meal for 6 people.

And of course, the leftovers are perfect for lunches!  My kids love spaghetti in their thermoses!  I send them some grated cheese on the side to sprinkle for themselves.

Happy Packing!

An A to Z Blogger link: Krista D Ball

Another trip to the grocery store?

Boy, do we go through a lot of milk in this house!  And why is it that a trip to the grocery store for what should amount to $9 worth of milk, ends up costing me $30?  Nevermind, I managed to pick up three bags of goldfish crackers (for $2.00 a bag)!  What?  I know, they are full of salt, and really worthless as far as nutrition goes (altho I do buy the whole grain ones)...But, if you pop a bowl full of air popped popcorn (and then add a big dollop of butter and a whole whack of salt, you have completely undone the healthy aspects of popcorn as a snack!), and toss in a half a bag of goldfish crackers, you have taken a good chunk of the sodium down to a manageable level, and (in our house at least) there is less demand for the added salt and butter.  And it is fun to search for the goldfish swimming in the big bowl of popcorn.  It also packs nicely into a lunch box as a nice little treat that the teachers don't frown at (okay, well, don't send the whole bowl, unless of course it is for some sort of class celebration!).
I also grabbed some of those ready made smoothies from the yogurt section, but those are for weekend lunches!  Yes, those days when its not a school day, but you still need to pack somebody a good healthy bag of food to take to some gynnastics competition or extra long basketball practice or skating competition...Uh huh, all of which we have coming up this month...I know that the kids will want to purchase food as well, and that is fine, but a big day of competing means that they need to be eating healthy foods (and then pigging out at Micky Dees on the way home from the tournament!  Go figure!)...I plan for the food from home before the action and then it is always good to have a sandwich or wrap from home ready to grab first thing afterwards (remember how good things taste when we are starving!)...This way at least, you can get in there before they hit the concession line or the drive thru on the way home.  With our little kids, we give them $5.00 to spend when we are at a competition, and always tell them that they can keep the change...Amazing how good that lunch from home is when you want to keep as much change as possible!  Kate usually ends up with a box of smarties and then eats the lunch I have packed her...(by the way, smarties tossed into a bowl of hot popcorn, mmmmm!  Just remember the napkins, and maybe don't send that bowl to school).
...So, what is going into the lunches tomorrow?  Chocolate chip cocoa banana bread, mandarins, carrots and celelry with hummus for dipping, and then some turkey chili in the thermoses  (okay, well, Duncan has half turkey chili and half meatballs, child still doesn't do beans...The deal is he gets the meatballs if he promises to also eat the beans)...
Welcome, first hump day of 2011...I am so ready for the weekend~