Showing posts with label melon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melon. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

back to the grind

After a long holiday weekend of Ryan's birthday sleepover (they were up til 1am), work, hiking, letterboxing by the Hopkinton Reservoir, and Ryan riding his skateboard for the first time (without falling!), it's back to busy weekday business.

Ryan
had
some
left-
over
burrito
from
eating
out
with
grandma
over
the
week-
end,
so he
wanted
that
in his
lunch
today.


Ryan's lunch: honeydew melon; cucumber slices; baby carrots; a pickle; veggie rice & bean burrito.

AJ's lunch: honeydew melon; cucumber slices; baby carrots; a pickle; mini cinnamon raisin bagel; rolled up Tofurky slice; carrot cake cookie w/lemon icing.

Maia's preschool lunch: honeydew melon; cucumber slices; baby carrot; rolled up Tofurky slice; a pickle; 1/4 of a mini cinnamon raisin bagel; striped apple slice.

It's more challenging making a bento for a child under age 3. I try to avoid the tiny food picks that might be deemed choking hazards by the staff. This giraffe fork is about the smallest I'll put into the 2 year old's lunches.

Friday, May 14, 2010

another 5 in a row

Another plain old week around here!
Ryan's lunch on Monday: 4 bean salad; cucumber slices; strawberry pear applesauce; vegetable crackers w/Tofutti cream cheese; strawberries.

AJ's kindergarten class is planning a "garbage garden" next week, so we've begun to save seeds from things like melons to bring in to contribute...
Ryan's lunch on Tuesday: watermelon; 1/2 a macadamia white chocolate Luna bar; corn thins; PBJ sandwich half circles; baby carrots; gherkin pickles; steamed broccoli; smoked Tofurky slice.

Leftovers almost always look better the second day when arranged nicely in a bento...
Ryan's lunch on Wednesday: honeydew melon; simmered shiitake mushrooms; rice w/green beans & asparagus; spicy baked tofu.

AJ asked for a "bigger" snack "like Ryan". He chose this over a chocolate chip ZBar!
AJ's snack: corn thins; honeydew melon; a baby carrot; a Tofurky slice.

A little breakfast for lunch...plus a token vegetable...I never count potato as a vegetable because it invariably gets topped or cooked with something junky...
Ryan's lunch on Thursday: home fries w/ketchup; honeydew melon; a pickle; a carrot; wheat toast w/strawberry jam; a zucchini brownie.

Some nice strawberries to go along with Ryan's special treat tonight. He finished reading the first Harry Potter book so we're going to make sundaes and watch the film...
Ryan's lunch on Friday: ramen noodles w/green beans & asparagus; cucumber slices; peanuts; baby carrots; strawberries.

Today was Nate's
preschool teacher's
birthday, so he made
her a card and brought
along a cupcake to
join in the celebration.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

boys brunch bento
























Ryan's lunch: Top tier - Terra Exotic Harvest Sea Salt chips; cantaloupe; damson plum (pit removed); pitted kalamata olives; mini apple cherry muffin. Bottom tier - mini asparagus mushroom tofu quiche; steamed broccoli florets; leftover macaroni casserole.

Nate's snack: mini
banana blueberry
muffin; Terra Exotic
Harvest Sea Salt
chips.

We've been fortunate
to have so much local
melon so late this year
due to the slow start this spring. The farm food is still pouring in, and I can't wait for all the autumn goodies. Maia's breakfast of cantaloupe and lentil vegetable soup was almost all local, with the exception of the red lentils...and that kettle corn she got a hold of...not sure where that corn is sourced, LOL.

The following is the mini quiche recipe. I usually make crustless quiches, because I just don't feel the need for any extra bread products. But feel free to add a crust to the base if you prefer. Also, experiment with other ingredients...if you don't have asparagus on hand, try small chopped broccoli florets, and don't forget to dice the stems too! Or if you don't like mushrooms, add some extra onion or leeks.

Asparagus Mushroom Tofu Quiche

1 lb. firm tofu
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion, diced
12 spears asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut into 1/2-1" lengths
12 button mushrooms, washed and sliced (or an equivalent assorment of other mushrooms)
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine
spray olive oil

In a food processor, break up tofu, then add salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, nutritional yeast & turmeric. Blend until smooth.

In a saute pan, heat olive oil and margarine over med-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onion begins to soften. Add aspargus and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove onion and aspargus to a separate bowl.

Add mushrooms to saute pan, adding a little extra margarine if pan is too dry. Cook until mushrooms have softened. Remove from heat (drain any extra cooking liquid if necessary).

Mix onion & asparagus back with the mushrooms. Then stir together with the tofu mixture.
Spray a non-stick muffin tin with olive oil (or wipe lightly with a small wad of waxed paper dipped in margarine or olive oil). (If you'd rather make one large quiche, prepare a glass or ceramic pie or quiche plate. ) Spoon mixture evenly into muffin tin.

Bake in a 375F degree oven for about 35 minutes.
Allow to cool for a while before trying to remove the individual quiches.
You could also line the muffin tin with silicon baking cups instead, so they'll be ready to pop right into a bento or lunch box.
Makes 10-12 mini quiches, or 1 regular quiche.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

other things

So I lied. I didn't blog once over the three day weekend! But it's so rare to have my husband home BOTH days AND have the weather be PERFECT. I took advantage of the time to get some cleaning done and just hang out with my family.

I didn't have time to put too much thought into Ryan's lunch as I was busy with other things...
Ryan's lunch: white bean & purslane hummus; a pickle; carrot sticks; poppyseed thyme crackers; chocolate chip cookie; smoked Tofurky sandwich on a crescent roll.

He had music today
for the first time in
1st grade, so I stuck
in a music notes pick
and a frozen cookie
and called it good! His
drink bottle was filled
with rice & almond milk.
I seemed to guess right
on the amount of hummus
as it came back empty.

What WAS I doing with myself on Labor Day the evening before school?? Preparing for the
preschool opening night event...
I had never attempted fruit carving before, but I'd always wanted to try it. A word of advice...get yourself the right tools first. Trying to carve all this with a dull paring knife was a heck of a lot harder than I'd anticipated! I'd love to take a class about this sort of thing, but I may have to settle with a how-to book and a good set of proper knives for xmas.

I used
the
melon
salad
with
mint
that
I made
last
weekend
to fill
the
melon.
And I
picked
fresh
mint
edible
flowers
this
after-
noon
for
garnish. Here it is on display ready to feed the masses.
There were a few other melon plates, one just watermelon, another that included pineapple and honeydew. Nice that they were all different.

It was
quite
the
spread
this
evening,
an im-
pressive
selection
of app-
etizers.
Lots of
veggies
and
hummus
to munch!

But
then
there
was
also
the
dessert table...









...which even had a small
vegan chocolate cake! I
made sure to have some
cake first, just in case the building was destroyed by a rogue asteroid.

This morning Nate got together with his class for a playdate at the preschool playground...





















Maia came along of
course. Hard to believe
we'll be putting down
a deposit for her for
the 2010/2011 toddler
class in a few weeks!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Not just junk

Somehow August has ended up as a birthday heavy month in our family. I never intended to have summer babies (actually, I wanted a spring baby, but ended up with an autumn, winter, & 2 summers instead). My husband, aunt, and nephew all have August birthdays, as did my father. So I'm trying not to let cupcakes rule the cuisine for the summer, as tasty as they are!

Nate had a special visit to grandma's house the day after his birthday so they could do birthday stuff without his big brothers crowding the attention. Here is Nate's lunch: blueberries & cherries; flat pretzels; 1/2 wheat english muffin; edamame; tiny pickles; carrot sticks; green bell pepper strips.

For dinner, a nice muffin
tin meal on the picnic
table with organic
limeade to drink. Tops
on drinks are a must for
our yard with so many
mosquitos and other
bugs...luckily the food
disappears quickly!
Row 1: edamame; flat pretzels; smoked Tofurky; cashews.
Row 2: frozen strawberries; green bell pepper strips; Craisins; pickles.
Row 3: round tortilla chips; smoked almonds; cucumber slices; cantaloupe wedges.

Maia still does not care
for any beverages besides
breastmilk, except for the
occasional sip from a
brother's water bottle. But
she adores juicy melon diced
and served within easy
reach in her own Hello Kitty
bowl that I found at the local
supermarket of all places!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Hippity Hoppity

Nate's lunch: edamame;
rice "egg & chick"; broccoli;
watermelon "flowers" &
melon "leaves".

I got some paper bunny
toothpicks & food cups at
A.C. Moore and Target.

AJ's
snack:
Annie's
chocolate
bunny
grahams;
broccoli;
rice egg
& chick;
watermelon
"flowers"
& honey-
dew melon
"leaves";
edamame.




Ryan's lunch: same as his brothers', with an eggstra rice egg!













Here's Nate at preschool this morning "baking" sand "muffins".

And here's AJ's
beautiful drawing
of him picking a
flower for me.
















And I just love the one above of him looking at the sky...and this one of him playing outside in the rain.
Ryan made this awesome
drawing of a water slide.
Apparently he drew Maia
as he envisions her when
she is older, going down the
steepest slide!



And here is a picture of
himself outside watching
the sunrise. After he drew
it he thought it was a good
idea and immediately went
outside to catch the end of
daybreak in the yard.


We finally got Ryan's drawing back from the school art show (they'd lost it!). It's a very colorful owl!