Gluten-Free French Toast

No fancy pictures, as it's not really a recipe. For this gluten free French Toast, I used UDI's GF cinnamon raisin bread (which is also free of soy, nuts, and dairy ~ we love this stuff here!), eggs from our chickens, and coconut milk. I whipped the eggs and coconut milk* together and dredged the cinnamon raisin bread through the mix. Then I cooked it with a little dash of coconut oil. They were utterly delicious! Beaker said, "These are the very best dinners EVER!" and then he ate several pieces for dinner, another for breakfast, and insisted I pack them for his lunch, too. High praise, indeed!

(*Tip: Using a sweetened coconut milk, like So Delicious Vanilla or Chocolate flavored coconut milk, adds a perfect sweetness to your French Toast! You can also use soy milk, if soy isn't an issue, and we have had great success in the past using a flaxseed-water mixture instead of eggs. Mix it up and try different things - French Toast is a great forgiving meal to play around with!)

For his lunch, I sliced two pieces of the toast into strips and packed in a small cup of syrup on the side for dipping. He also has another little cup of roasted sunflower seeds mixed with allergy safe chocolate chips. There is a small cup of breakfast sausage sliced up into bite sized bits, as well as some broccoli and peas. To round out the lunch, Beaker has watermelon balls and blueberries.

Simple, easy, delicious ~ our favorite kind of lunches!

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Welcome to the Boneyard

Oh, how I love Halloween. SO much. This year October has been even busier than usual for me, as I just started a new job and have been working quite a lot in addition to going to school and taking care of home and the kids. I am keeping quite busy and barely know which direction I'm moving in lately. Not that I'm complaining - I love it! The blog has been much too quiet lately. But when the lovely BBF'ers were planning up a triple-play Halloween Hop, there was no way I could resist that super fun action!

For my part, I made a Boneyard lunch for Beaker. As are all of his meals, this lunch is gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, peanut-free, egg-free, shellfish-free, and garlic-free. It's also a super simple meal, in a perfect size for a preschoolers little hands and tummy. There is plenty of scary this time of year, but no need for allergies or picky preschoolers to cause a fright!

To start, we have creepy-cool frozen yogurt skull and bones with frozen blueberries. Packing the yogurt and blueberries in while still frozen helps to keep the rest of the lunch at a nice cool temperature. By the time lunch rolls around, the blueberries have thawed a little and the yogurt has softened slightly, making a delicious and easy to eat dessert, which is also healthy. It tastes like a yummy blueberry ice cream, but has all of the nutrients, calcium, and protein of a fruity yogurt. Double WIN, nothing frightful about that!

The simple grave is made from a gluten, soy, and nut free vegan double chocolate zucchini muffin, topped with a rice cracker gravestone.

Beaker also has a broccoli floret 'grassy hill', with bites of leftover grilled pork chop and crunchy apple pieces. 

Making delicious, healthy, and fun lunches doesn't have to take a scary amount of time, either. This lunch took about twelve minutes to pack up, including the amount of work-time it took to prep the yogurt ahead of time.. Freezing the bones was pretty simple - just scoop some of your favorite yogurt into a silicone ice cube tray in a fun shape (skull and bones, in this case) and slip into the freezer for a few hours. I usually keep a tray or three in the freezer covered with plastic wrap for easy grab-and-go when needed or a fast after school snack for the kids. The muffins I also make ahead and freeze in large batches every now and again when I have a little extra time. Super time saver right there!

Have a happy happy Halloween!

Now click the button to see what spook-tacular fun awaits at What the Girls Are Having, and see the rest of the fang-ulous lunches on the hop!

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James and the Giant Peach

Happy birthday to Roald Dahl! 

As a kid, I found his books super creepy. They were the first books to ever scare me. Especially James and the Giant Peach. Something about the mean aunts and the boy who ran away with person-sized bugs was chilling to child me. I blame the giant spider. 

Creepy, scary... but also very good. Dahl was excellent at imagery. I may have been scared by the books, but I still read them all and kept going back for more. 

Bean is starting to be interested in reading Dahl books, so for Roald Dahl Day and the BBF blog hop, I made her a lunch based on the book that inspired several sleepless nights and a lifelong fear of biting into insects in fruit.

Muenster cheese letters spell out the name of the orphan boy across - what else? - a peach.

Miss Spider spins her web across spinach dip, while the Glowworm snoozes on a bed of pretzels. There is also a few Buffalo chicken strips with ranch dip.

And a smiling Mrs. Ladybug crawls across half a chocolate zucchini muffin.

Click the button below to follow the hop through to the next blog and see what the lovely Keitha's Chaos has to share!

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Lunch for Dad and Daughter

One recent night Bean and I were chatting while I packed up leftovers for the Dude to take for lunch. She watched me start tucking things into an Easy Lunchbox for him to take and made a comment about how delicious his lunch looked, but how it wasn't very decorative.

To surprise her, I packed up a similar lunch for her to take to school the next day. I used the same basic ingredients for both of them and just perked hers up a little with extra decor. It only took a few minutes, since I already had everything out for her dad's lunch, and she was thrilled to pieces to have a pretty version of his meal. "It was almost like we were having lunch together, even though he was at work and I was at school!"

When they both were home they talked together about their matching lunches and how their days had gone. Their lunch breaks are pretty close to the same times, and this was a simple and sweet way for them to stay connected, even though they're both working hard and don't see each other as much.

The Dude's lunch has leftover grilled chicken slices wrapped in a lettuce leaf. He has some homemade chunky guacamole with carrot sticks and tortilla rounds for dipping, as well as cantaloupe and cucumber pieces.

The guacamole is also delicious when scooped over the chicken wrap. 

For Bean, a sweeter version. She also has guacamole and tortilla rounds, but her leftover grilled chicken is cut into cubes and threaded onto mini flower and leaf skewers. Her cucumber pieces are tucked into a pink flower silicone cup, and her cucumbers are sliced and topped with carrot flowers. For an afternoon snack she has green grapes and a small Baybel cheese round.

Two versions of the same lunch, and a connection fostered between dad and daughter. And as a special bonus, these lunches took less than ten minutes each to make and used dinner leftovers, keeping both cost and waste down!

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EVERCLEAR!

I cannot even tell you how excited I am. Tomorrow we are going to a local outdoor music event. We will see a whole long list of bands, including the advanced jazz band from the high school Brick is entering next month. But the one I am most excited about? The whole reason we bought tickets? One of my all time favorite bands ever?

EVERCLEAR.

Oh yes. Everclear. One of the very best music groups to come out of the 90s. One of my personal favorites. Creators of some of the bestest songs ever.

There are just not words to express how incredibly excited I am to go see them tomorrow! And also all of the other great bands which be playing... but... EVERCLEAR! Dude, I am all sorts of over-the-moon here! I love them. The ringtone on my phone? 'Volvo Driving Soccer Moms'. So excited.

And of course that means I had to make the Dude a lunch to celebrate and anticipate:

The cherry and grape tomatoes and the lemon cucumber in the smallest segment of the Easy Lunchbox are from my garden, picked fresh today. Lemon cucumbers, if you've never had them before, are delicious! They have a lighter, crisper flavor than regular cucumbers.

Under the 'Wonderful' chocolate chip cookie, he has a sliced peach. I used silicone baran like these to protect the cookie from peach juice, keeping it from getting soggy.

For the main dish, he has shredded cabbage topped with slices of Italian sausage leftover from dinner, and cheese letters spelling out the title of one of Everclear's most popular songs.

I was also very impressed with the group who is in charge of the event. The festival is a family friendly local event and some of the proceeds are being donated to support local music for children. There will be activities for children at the event, and children under a certain age get in free. The Dude and I have instilled a deep love of music in our children, and they are almost as excited to go as we are. However, there is a strict rule against outside food or beverage at the event. 

And that is where we almost came to a screeching halt. When you have a kid with food allergies to food ingredients which are extremely common, you can never just assume that there will be safe food available for purchase. Unfortunately, there almost never is safe food available from food vendors. And even if they have a gluten-free item on their menu, we have to be absolutely certain that allergy-safe food handling procedures were followed to eliminate risk of cross contamination. Also, many gluten-free snack foods have soy and/or almond flour, are cooked in soybean or peanut oil, contain soy lecithin or garlic... the list of possible dangers goes on and on. Not bringing his food is not an option. 

Full of hope, but not expecting much, I emailed the event coordinators to ask whether exceptions were made for food allergies. In less than five minutes they had emailed me back, assuring me that they most certainly do make an exception for food allergies. They instructed me to let security at the gate know that one of our party has food allergies and there will be no hassle with bringing his food in. Their speedy response and clear reassurance were fantastic and I was very impressed!

Can't wait 'til Saturday! 

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Leftovers Make Great Lunches

Packing leftovers for lunch is a great way to save both time and money while sending a healthy lunch for your family. It's also a good way to cut down on food waste. Instead of throwing leftovers away, or putting them in the fridge and forgetting that they are there until weeks later (and by that time you can't tell if that funky stinky mess used to be pasta, rice, or some kind of soup)... you can just pack them into a dish and send them for lunch!

This one was pretty simple. For dinner I made baked salmon with steamed vegetables and rice. For lunch, I packed the rice into an EasyLunchbox and placed a piece of the fish on one side and the veggies on the other. Add in a few strawberries and a handful of blueberries, and then a pair of cookies for dessert, and it's a complete meal!

The Dude took the lunch to work. To reheat, he only had to pull out the cookies and berries and pop the rest in the microwave for a minute or two.

Another way to use leftovers is to take just one part of the meal and add other components to make it into a completely different meal. For this lunch I used leftover bratwurst from the previous night's dinner. I sliced it up into bite sized pieces and added a few sides for a picnic-y sort of lunch.

Along with the bratwurst bits, there is a cup of guacamole with tortilla chips, stuffed green olives, spicy trail mix, chocolate bar pieces, and kiwi chunks.

Here is another lunch using leftover bratwurst. For this one, I tucked in mustard for dipping. There is also leftover Buffalo chicken dip with celery and potato chips, plum slices, and kiwi.

Packed lunches are a great way to use up leftover food after a party or get together. It's like a mini party in your lunch box!

This one took about three minutes to put together. Leftover rice with pork loin slices, topped with pepper. Peel and slice a kiwi and toss in a couple pieces of brownie for a basic quick lunch.

If there are enough leftovers, sometimes you can make two lunches out of them. This second lunch came from the same rice and pork loin dinner above. Instead of pieces, this time it is thin sliced. Apple slices and raspberries stuffed with white chocolate chips fill out the lunch and add a pop of flavor.

There are lots of easy, fun ways to use leftovers to make interesting and delicious lunches. 

For some more ideas, check out some of these other great posts!

More leftovers posts from Chaos and Confections:  http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/search/label/leftovers

Food, Family, Fun:  http://www.foodfamilyfun.net/2013/04/leftover-spaghetti-meatballs-for-lunch.html 

Bentos on the Bayou:  http://www.bentosonthebayou.com/2012/05/roll-those-dice.html

Biting the Hand That Feeds You:  http://www.bitingthehandthatfeedsyou.net/search/label/Leftovers%20for%20Lunch

iPack Lunch:  http://ipacklunch.com/tag/leftovers/

Feeling a Little Lunchy:  http://www.feelingalittlelunchy.com/2013/03/feeling-like-i-may-like-lunchbox-love.html

Eats Amazing:  http://eatsamazing.co.uk/tag/leftovers

JDaniel4's Mom:  http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2013/04/earth-day-lunch-leftover-signs-of-spring.html

Becoming a Bentoholic:  http://www.becomingabentoholic.com/search/label/Leftovers%20on%20Friday

Beneficial Bento:  http://www.beneficial-bento.com/2013/01/how-to-add-bento-touch-to-your-leftovers.html

What the Girls Are Having:  http://bentoformygirls.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-295.html

Zoe's Lunchbox:  http://www.zoeslunchbox.com/2013/03/leftovers-for-lunch.html

The Roxx Box:  http://theroxxbox.com/2013/07/23/mexican-black-bean-frittata-bento-108/

Keeley McGuire:  http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/search/label/leftovers

Ladybug Lunches:  http://www.ladybug-lunches.com/search/label/Leftovers%20for%20Lunch

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Random Grown-Up Lunches

Today was the last day of school for four of my kiddos! I had this cool lunch idea all planned out, with flip flops and sunglasses and all sorts of fun stuff. But then I realized that the kids had a half day (a lot of them in a row, actually), so no lunch at school. And then I thought I could just do it for at home, but then I got stuck running errands all day and only swinging home really quick to pick them up just as school let out before running back out again.

So instead of a fun Last Day of School lunch, I am making pizza (with gluten-free mini pizzas for Beaker) and popcorn with root beer floats for dinner and renting a movie for a fun family night tonight. And instead of a fun Last Day of School lunch post, here is a quick post with a few of the random lunches I have packed for the Dude and myself recently:

This one is the Dude declared to be one of his favorites. It's a salad of mixed spring greens with pepper smoked salmon and provolone cheese stars. He also has rice crackers with some soft jalapeno cheese spread and two mini chocolate bars.

The salad also has carrot and bell pepper stars for a little extra flavor, and Caeser dressing on the side.

This one is a little random. It has some crunchy kettle chips, a fruit salad of grapes and cantaloupe, and a main dish of fried rice with skewers of salami.

I thought the fried rice and salami flavors together would be a little odd, but the Dude said they were pretty good together. Go figure!

One for me! This lunch has Van's multigrain crackers, funny-face hard boiled egg halves, a peeled clementine, a handful of grapes, and some cucumber rolls ~ cucumber pieces cut in half, with the seeds removed, filled with cream cheese and stuffed with rolled up roasted turkey lunch meat. They were delicious!

Silly egg faces! The addition of a tiny bit of nori and a sprinkle of sea salt made the hard boiled egg taste delicious.

"Oh, dang. I'm out of bread. No sandwich then. Hmmm... hey, I'll just wrap it all up in lettuce leaves!"

And it worked! The leaves cracked in the center a little when I rolled them up, but they were pretty tasty. I stuffed them with a little creamy Caesar and a little spicy mustard, thin sliced roast beef, provolone cheese, and some bell peppers, then topped them with golden and red cherry tomato halves.

On the side is a handful of kettle chips, cucumber slices with creamy cheese spread, and fresh blackberries with cantaloupe chunks.

Speaking of random lunches...

This is one I packed when I looked in the fridge and realized it was probably time to hit the grocery store again. A little random, but it worked out pretty well. This lunch has a basic Caesar salad ~ romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing on the side ~ and a hard boiled egg, cheese stuffed green olives, leftover gluten-free cheese pasta bake, some Van's multigrain crackers with Laughing Cow cheese wedges, a handful of Trader Joe's jalapeno cheese curls, and a few Thin Mints cookies, all packed in a Laptop Lunches box. Okay, it's a little more than a little random. But the Dude ate it all and didn't complain! Better than no lunch, right?

We have some fun plans for summer, so maybe I'll have some of those to share later! I'm off to enjoy Fun Family Celebration Night with my kids for now!

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Leftovers Lunches

Simple lunches using leftovers:

Preschool lunch for Beaker: leftover grilled Italian sausage with a sliced up cheese stick, strawberries and halved green grapes, Pirate's Booty, and fruit gummies.

This bento box has a shallow inset layer, in which Beaker had some bits of cucumber for his snack.

For Bean:

Leftover grilled Italian sausage with a sliced cheese stick, Annie's Organic cheddar bunnies, strawberries and grapes, cucumbers, and Girl Scout cookies (Savannah Smiles).

And for the Dude, leftover rice fried up with egg, soy sauce, a handful of veggies, and some BBQ pork bits, pressed into triangle rice molds.

He also has leftover sliced grilled chicken, sliced BBQ pork, mango and watermelon chunks, and Girl Scout cookies (Dulce de Leche).

The fried rice balls are easy to make, take only a few minutes, and are great for lunch. I just put the rice in a pan, toss in a handful of frozen veggies and sometimes a bit of diced meat, and break an egg over the top, stirring constantly as it heats through. Before it's done I pour a little bit of soy sauce over and mix it in. Then scoop the whole thing into rice molds and let cool slightly. The Dude loves them and they travel pretty well.

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