We Should Be Folding Laundry

Breakfast for Lunch

We had pancakes and sausage for dinner last night and I was sure to make a few teeny tiny pancakes for Cam to have for lunch today.

Why is breakfast so much better at lunch or dinner time?

I mean I never want a bowl of cereal for breakfast but I can always eat it for dinner or an afternoon snack.

What’s that about?

My kids go nuts when I tell them we’re having breakfast for dinner.

It’s like we’re breaking a rule but it’s o.k. because I’m the mom so I can totally do that.

In her ELB are those four left-over pancakes from dinner last night. I flavored them with cinnamon and a little vanilla. She also has some all natural breakfast sausage in her silicone pig (I couldn’t resist), a few slices of an organic apple, some maple syrup for dipping, and some organic raisins.

I always make pancakes from scratch because it’s so easy there’s really no reason not to. Here’s the recipe I always use. It’s never failed me.

Ingredients:

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup milk (I use almond)

1 beaten egg

1/2 Tbsp sugar (optional)

tiny pinch of salt (optional)

Directions:

Whisk dry ingredients together until combined. Add wet ingredients and whisk just until combined. A few lumps are o.k.

Heat griddle or pan to medium.

I like to keep a little bowl of melted butter next to my stove to brush the pan with between pancakes but you can also use non-stick spray if you need it.

Drop desired amount of batter onto your pan. I use an ice cream scoop but you can also use a squeeze bottle which makes it really easy. Don’t have a squeeze bottle? Wash out an empty ketchup bottle.

Cook on first side until bubbles appear on top. I usually take a little peek underneath before I flip to make sure things are nice and brown. Cook about 30 seconds to a minute more on the second side and then plate it up!

I usually get 6-8 regular sized pancakes out of this batter but you can easily double or triple it if you need more. As long as you have equal parts self-rising flour and milk, and an egg, you have pancakes.

You could also add to the batter:

2 Tbsp melted butter

nuts

chopped fruit

sprinkles

chocolate chips (or any other kind of chips really)

vanilla

pumpkin puree

nutmeg

cinnamon

preserves

melted chocolate

greens or protein powder

Tags: breakfast for lunch, Easy Lunchbox Brights, ELB, fruit, Non-Sandwich Lunches, pancakes

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Categories Daily Bento

24 Jun

One of the things that Camryn looks forward to the most during the summer is our weekly trip to our local library to check out books.

It’s dreadfully hot here in the south during the summer so most days she likes to spend her afternoons inside with her nose in a good book.

Camryn started reading independently when she was three and has loved reading ever since so I thought it might be fun to present her with a little challenge.

Or a big challenge depending on how you look at it.

The challenge is to see if she can read 100 books before school starts on August 19th.

Can she do it?

I’ll be posting the books that she’s read here each week so that you guys can keep track of her progress and I hope that you’ll suggest some books for us to check out from our library too.

Why not start your own summer reading challenge and read along with us?

You can set reading goals with your kiddos and keep us posted on their progress in the comments section below.

Books Read This Week:

She’s off to a good start. Just 91 more books and 56 days to go!

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Summer Reading Challenge

24 Jun

On any given day, if you search the internet for a “green smoothie”, you will undoubtedly find endless variations of just that, green smoothies.

However, I want to let you in on a little secret…

Ready?

You can add spinach to pretty much any smoothie that contains berries and/or pineapple and as long as you blend it long enough, you will not taste it.

Promise.

There are no recipes to follow and you don’t need to get any measuring cups out.

Just get a handful of fresh or frozen spinach and throw it in.

For realsies.

Spinach in smoothies is all well and good but what I really want to tell you about is how to take it a step further and add kale.

Yes, I’m serious.

Kale is good for you. Super good.

Here’s a helpful graphic:

Isn’t it large and informative?

Here’s another graphic just in case you weren’t swayed by the last one:

I drink this smoothie several times per week. I just feel better when I do and I can also see a noticeable improvement in my skin and energy level.

It’s also husband and super picky teenager approved because it tastes like peanut butter and banana – not greens. If that means anything to you.

I used to use fresh kale and just cut the leaves off of the stem. But I recently discovered bagged organic kale at my grocery store for less than $4, so that goes into my cart every week and then right into the freezer when I get home. For this smoothie you can use fresh or frozen greens.

You’ll notice that there are no measurements when it comes to the greens so it’s customizable to your taste. Add as much or as little as you like.

I put two good handfuls of kale and about half a bag of spinach in my smoothie. If it’s too thick, I add a little more almond milk.

It’s a smoothie. It should be simple.

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana – peel and slice a few and store in a resealable freezer bag

1 Tbsp natural peanut butter

1/4 – 1/2 cup yogurt

1 – 1 1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk)

spinach

kale

Just toss all that goodness into your blender and let it whirl for at least a couple of minutes. That gives everything enough time to get thoroughly chopped and blended. Makes for a much tastier smoothie.

If you want more peanut butter flavor, add more peanut butter.

Want a thicker smoothie? Add more banana or yogurt.

Too thick? Add a little more milk.

Now that you’re putting kale in your smoothies, why not take it a step further and put it in rice, couscous, pasta, meatballs, sauces, soups, and mashed potatoes!

Chop it up, saute it in extra virgin olive oil with garlic and a little sea salt until tender and mix it into mashed potatoes. Then top a shepard’s pie with it! I’ve done it – you should too!

* Makes 1 large or two regular sized smoothies.

Tags: drinks, easy, fruit, green smoothie, healthy, kale, peanut butter, smoothies, snacks, spinach, vegetarian, veggies, yogurt

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Daily Bento

18 Jun

For lunch today Cam had two crescents that she filled with Applegate Farms all-natural pepperoni and colby jack cheese. She also had some organic gala apple wedges, broccoli, and organic fruit snacks.

My kids love crescent rolls and they make a super quick lunch. Just fill the crescents with their favorite meat and/or cheese, pop them in the oven, and about 10 minutes later, lunch is ready!

Tags: cheese, fruit, Non-Sandwich Lunches, veggies

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Categories Daily Bento

16 Jun

Need a really last-minute Father’s Day gift?

Yeah, I can’t really help you there but I did whip us up a quick Sunday snack.

I should probably tell you that my husband ate them all though.

He’s a big fan of the whole chocolate & peanut butter combo.

Personally (and I know this is crazy talk) I could do without it.

My heart belongs to chocolate & caramel.

I did eat a couple of these, for quality control purposes of course, and I can attest to the fact that they are yummy.

They’re also really quick and easy to make which is always good because that means we can eat them faster!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi-sweet)

1 Tbsp nut butter (I used natural peanut butter)

Pretzels

Sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips and peanut butter on high for about 30 seconds, stir halfway through.

If the chocolate still isn’t melted after 30 seconds and a good stir, give it another 10 seconds in the microwave but don’t overheat it. There’s no saving burnt chocolate.

Once the mixture is smooth, dip your pretzels. You can completely submerge or just go for halfsies like I did.

It’s easier to dip into a bowl or container that is taller than it is wide. I use a small plastic container but something like a juice glass would work too.

Give each pretzel a few taps on the side of your bowl after you dip to get the excess chocolate off.

Lay the pretzels on wax paper or a silicone liner to set up. If you plan on adding sprinkles, now would be the time to do that.

Once you’ve dipped all your pretzels put them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to set up so you can eat them.

If you want to make a lot of dipped pretzels, just double or even triple the amount of ingredients listed. You really can’t mess this one up. You can even mix nut butters. Go for half cashew butter & half almond butter if that floats your boat. Try peanut butter and white chocolate. Biscoff would work here too – just sayin’.

And why stop at sprinkles? Crushed cookies, mini chocolate chips, or crumbled potato chips would also be great on these.

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Categories Fun Food

Daily Bento

14 Jun

For lunch today, Camryn had a grilled cheese sandwich cut into a cupcake shape using our Lunch Punch, organic strawberry mango fruit snacks that I found on clearance yesterday (Yay Target!), an apricot, and a few cucumber slices.

Items used in today’s lunch:

Tags: cheese, Easy Lunchboxes, ELB, fruit, Lunch Punch

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Daily Bento

Gralowly Bars

13 Jun

These are the granola bars that I give to my kids.

They don’t come individually wrapped in a box.

There’s nothing hydrogenated, high fructose, or artificially flavored about them.

They’re just little bars of oats, nut butter, honey, a little sugar, and whatever seeds and dried fruit I happen to have in my pantry thrown in for good measure.

They got their name from Camryn (naturally). She couldn’t say granola when she was little and “gralowly” was about as close as she could get. Over the years, the cuteness factor caused the name to stick.

Gralowly bars are a bit different from regular granola bars in that they don’t have any puffed rice or sweetened coconut that so many other granola bars have but if you like those things you can certainly throw them in as well.

These bars are dense yet chewy and surprisingly filling.

Making them is easy, there is no baking required, and you can pretty much put anything you want in them.

And because they don’t require refrigeration, they’re great to wrap individually in wax paper or small baggies and throw in your purse for a quick snack when you’re out with your kiddos.

They won’t keep your little ones from screaming their faces off for happy meals but at least you’ll feel better about offering them a healthier option.

Mom win.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup natural peanut butter or any other nut butter (yay protein!)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1/4 cup seeds (I used my chia/hemp seed mix – use anything you like)

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sliced almonds or other nuts (optional)

Dried fruit (I used goji berries and cherries. I don’t measure. I just throw in a handful or two)

Chocolate chips (I don’t measure here either. I just throw in a couple of handfuls)

Directions:

Combine the honey, peanut butter, and brown sugar. This can be done two ways:

In the microwave: Put honey, PB, and brown sugar in a microwave safe bowl & microwave on high for two minutes. Stir halfway through and again at the end of the second minute.

On the stove top: Add all three ingredients to a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until combined. You shouldn’t feel any sugar granules when you stir.

Take off the heat and add the vanilla, cinnamon and sea salt.

In a large bowl add all of the other ingredients. Seriously, just throw all that other stuff in and stir to incorporate everything.

Pour the liquid mixture over the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

Dump mixture into a lightly greased 8×8 pan and pack it down to make everything even.

Let the mixture cool completely before turning out and cutting into bars.

Store at room temp in an air tight container for about a week.

* If you prefer puffed rice cereal in your granola bars, reduce the amount of quick-cooking oats to 2 cups and add 2 cups of puffed rice cereal.

* For a cheaper/vegan friendly option, feel free to substitute honey with corn syrup. The consistency is similar so it should work just fine.

Tags: chocolate, easy, fruit, honey, seeds, snacks

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Daily Bento

11 Jun

Just popping in to quickly share today’s lunch.

In her ELB, Camryn had brown sugar deli ham roll-ups, a mozzarella cheese stick cut into thirds, a few Spring Ritz crackers, broccoli, and a parfait made from yogurt, strawberries, dried cranberries, almonds, and granola.

Tags: Easy Lunchbox Brights, Easy Lunchboxes, ELB, fruit, meat & cheese roll-ups, Non-Sandwich Lunches, veggies, yogurt

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Daily Bento

A Simple Snack For Summer

10 Jun

Is it hot at your house too?

It was 90 degrees here today and it’s only going to get hotter.

Summer is no joke.

Come snack time, cool treats beat out everything else.

So I whipped these frozen fruit and yogurt bites up in just a few minutes for my kids to snack on this afternoon.

They don’t take long at all to freeze either which is a good thing because my kids are not patient people.

As I was eating them I couldn’t help but think that they would be great on top of a salad.

Somebody try that and let me know.

Anyway, to make these for your kids (or yourself) just wash and dry some fresh fruit, then coat in yogurt, add toppings, and freeze on a large plate or sheet pan covered with wax paper until hard.

I added wheat germ, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and a few sliced almonds here and there to the tops of our fruit.

If you’re using a thinner yogurt, you may want to dip them a second time once they’ve firmed up a bit in the freezer so you get a nice thick layer of yogurt. Add your toppings after the second dip.

I used cherries (which had been pitted and cut in half) and red grapes but you could use any fruit you prefer.

Obviously the toppings are up to you as well.

Chopped pistachios and chocolate drizzle over cherries?

Heck yes.

Bring it on summer.