Christmas Countdown

At this point, December 10th, I would say we are officially in "Countdown mode" in our house.  Especially since everyone (except for me) is off for a two week Christmas Break as of this coming Friday.  So they are all walking around the house, counting down, "5 more days"..."5 more days"!
   Argh!  Five more days and they are all off and then I am tripping over them for full week while still getting ready for Christmas.  Not sure why the school district couldn't have kept them in until the 23rd.  That would give us a week to recover, after the holidays, before sending them back to school.  Maybe next year.

Rather than wasting any more precious time complaining, it is time to get on with the list!  There is still so much to be done, and I am really hoping there might be someone else interested in doing it...I have enough to do.   The Dance show (finally!) is today, but there are still skating practices, the Bethlehem walk, a skating Christmas party, Christmas cards for school and skating friends, Teacher presents, Family Christmas cards (and I discovered this past week I have misplaced the kids' school pictures)...Oh well, I still have next weekend to get things in order.....No, I don't...Somehow Grandma's Christmas party got left off the calendar.  So, that means there are officially no weekends left before Christmas to get things done...Okay, Rob, get ready, your list is gonna be long!  Typically, he gets the Costco Run and the Seafood Market Run and the Liquor store run...I think there just might be some Christmas Card writing on that list, as well as at least a dozen other things I cannot remember at this very moment...
   In the midst of all this chaos that is approaching, we still need to eat!  I have to say, this is where the Freezer comes in handy!

• Sunday: This is Dance show day...I am really hoping we are going out for dinner!
• Monday: Cheese tortellini and spaghetti sauce(all from the freezer!) with spinach salad
• Tuesday: Vegetable Soup and sandwiches before heading off to the Bethlehem Walk
• Wednesday: Ginger Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry (except for the little kids, who will be having hot dogs at the skating club Christmas party!)...such a great and easy recipe, I had to share
• Thursday: Slow cooker Chili and salad
• Friday: Sushi, Pizza and Brownies (the only homemade item on the menu) and the first sleepover of the Holidays!  Welcome, Tracy and Hailey!
• Saturday: Skating show day...do we get to go out two nights in one week? 

However, the last week of school before the Christmas holidays deserves some fun lunches...

• Monday: Turkey, spinach and cream cheese pinwheels , with fruit salad.
• Tuesday: Spaghetti sauce Shepherd's pie
• Wednesday: Eyeball soup (because my 10 year old asked) Your favourite meatballs in any clear soup, but its fun to use Udon noodles or rice noodles that are really long as it makes the meatballs look like they are "peering" out of the bowl.
• Thursday: Buffalo Chicken wraps with lettuce and ranch dressing (instead of blue cheese)...This is an Eating Well recipe, and the only change I make to it, to make it more kid friendly is replacing the cayenne pepper with Chili powder and a tbsp of brown sugar.
• Friday: Appetizer Lunch (what we used to call "bits and pieces"), inlcuding veggies and dip, rice cakes and salsa and perogies.

Turkey and Cream Cheese pinwheels are kind of fun... Basically a roll up, but because they are cut, they look "different" and somehow with kids, when things look different, they taste different.  If your kids don't like spinach, you could use regular leaf lettuce.

• 1/2 of 1 package (3 ounce) cream cheese
•  1 teaspoon cream-style horseradish 
• 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 1 green onion sliced lengthwise and then chopped fine
• 1/2  cup spinach leaves
• 3 (8 inch) whole wheat tortillas
• 6 slices Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

1. Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, green onion and  horseradish in a small bowl.  Mix well. Spread cream cheese mixture onto tortillas.
2. Cover each with 2 turkey slices. Spread the spinach leaves on top. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Refrigerate 2 hours or until serving time.
3. Slice each tortilla into 8 pieces.
   
   This makes enough for 3 lunches.
   
   Happy Packing!
   
   Kim
   

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!

Q is for...Quick!

   And now I am a day behind!  Oh well, there will just have to be two today!
  We all know that sometimes "Quick" is the best thing you can get on the table at suppertime.  No, I am not referring to the chocolate stuff (but my 9 year old sure would be pleased!).  Rather, how quickly can you get a healthy meal on the table (or into the lunch box!)...Stocking a few helpful and healthy staples in your pantry, fridge and freezer can be a huge help, and a money saver...the idea being that you are then avoiding Take Out!  We all know that "Take Out" is a deal breaker...too much of everything: salt, calories, fat, $$ and not enough fibre or nutrients (well okay, you can get that, but then it is $$$$).  A little planning and research can help keep the delivery drivers on someone else's doorstep, or help keep the car out of the drive-thru!
   First, review the freezer, because sometimes a dinner as easy as thawing out spaghetti sauce is right there.  We also keep fresh tortellini (not a bad price from Costco for the three pack) in the freezer...Fresh tortellini and Mr Newman's Own marinara sauce is Rob's Specialty, with a side of "Colander Salad".   Frozen chicken breasts (the kind that come in the 4Kg box), are another time saver:  for some yummy spicy chicken wraps, cook thawed chicken breasts (seasoned with a touch of cumin and chilli powder) for about 10 minutes under the broiler (put the rack on level down, and keep a close eye) flipping halfway through cooking.  Slice cooked chicked and add it with whatever salad fixings are kicking around (leftover bean salad is a favourite, or Greek salad is fantastic) and voila, you have created your own "fast food" your kids can eat in the car on the way to soccer or karate or skating. 
    I guess maybe we should have checked the fridge first!  Leftovers can be remade into a quick supper.  This is something I have become a "planner" of in my years of Motherhood.  I am NOT a fan of leftovers (or eating a repeat of the same meal two nights or two meals in a row), Rob, on the other hand, could eat the same thing four nights in a row.  So, when I make a menu, I try and plan what to do with the leftovers...This week's example: leftover pork chops and one steak, leftover roast potatoes and a big old salad.  With some green onions and a little bit of seasoning (oregano and salt and pepper) and roast potatoes become "fried" potatoes, chops and steak get sliced and warmed and get added on top of the salad on the plates: fried potatoes with steak salad (with sliced pork and beef!).
   The next place to look is the pantry.  Here of course, we are starting from scratch...What do we have?  A can of chick peas and a jar of roasted red peppers...Sounds like some yummy hummus to me!  The quickest way to make hummus is with a hand blender (much like what we used for the "Potage" yesterday).  Most hummus recipes call for Tahini (or sesame butter), but if your pantry doesn't have that, you can easily substitute peanut butter.  I will save the recipe for Hummus for another post.  A meal of hummus and bread or pita and some raw veggies and your kids have had something healthy and quick.  Hummus is a great lunchbox choice, with the same sides as listed here (altho maybe not on the same day as they have had it for supper!!).

Happy Packing!

Making it your own

The one plus to being sick with a kidney infection and sidelined on the couch for a few days was that I got to catch up on my magazine reading!  That, and watching "Oprah" (boy do I miss Oprah).  I pulled out back issues of "Clean Eating" magazine and re-read them.  It is my favourite "new" magazine from the past year.  I bought a few new food magazines ove the last year and some were quite disappointing.  But "Clean Eating", well, I have 5 issues so far, including February 2011.  There is also a website, at least 2 cookbooks, a facebook page and who knows what else.  While I haven't spent too much time on the website, I love the magazine and enjoy the updates that appear on my facebook wall from time to time.  Tosca Reno, the mind, body and spirit behind "Clean Eating" is quite an inspiration. 
One of my favourite parts of the magazine are the menu plans with matching grocery lists.  This has become my "go to" for the holes in our family weekly menus.  Some ideas are as easy as "Clean Tuna salad on whole grain toast with fruit for dessert".  And when the alternative was frozen pizza and popsicles?  Well then, we are ahead on both nutrition and time for those nights when it seems like everyone has to be somewhere all at the same time and we have about 7 and a half minutes to get supper into them.
So, last night, feeling somewhat recovered and hungry enough to feel inspired by my recipe reading, I set about making supper from the February issue.  The recipe, "Clean Chicken and Waffles" calls for making whole grain and grated zucchini waffles (which sounded really good), but I just wasn't up for getting out the waffle maker, so we had Kamut penne noodles with ours.  The chicken and veggies part called for Broccoli Rabe, brussel sprouts and mushrooms.  My crisper had regular broccoli, mushrooms and leeks.  The final change?  Smoked Paprika...
The kids came up from downstairs sniffing the air, "What smells so good?"  
"Your supper", I answered.
"I'll set the table!" my 9 year old grinned.  "Has the cat been fed?" asked my 7 year old.  The older girls began getting plates and glasses out of the cupboard.  Somebody made a jug of orange juice....
...Yes!  Jamie Oliver was right!  Smoked paprika is magic!  (the author of this blog warns readers that these results may not be typical and makes no guarantees that smoked paprika will have this effect on other families)
    And I was in such a good mood, I mixed the bit of leftover chicken and veggies with some leftover brown rice (from another meal) and made "Clean chicken and brown rice wraps" for today's lunches!   Yum Yum yum!  (and cut up melon and pineapple, so not local!, with mixed frozen berries and vanilla yogurt to round out the lunch box).  I love a yummy lunch!
Happy Packing!

Find more yummy clean recipes at www.cleaneatingmag.com