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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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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ELBs for Three

I have a lot of bento boxes now. A lot. So many! But my very favorite? The one I usually reach for first, the one most versatile and easy to use for all of the ages I pack for?

Easy Lunchboxes.

I love these things! They are hands down our favorites.

What I love about Easy Lunchboxes:

* Easy to use. They are aptly named! The open layout and three section design make them super easy to pack lunch in. The sections are big, but not too big ~ just the right size! Also, the lids pop right on and are simple enough to remove that even Beaker can manage them without help.

* Great size. I use them for all of my kids, including the four year old, and also for the grown ups. It's easy to adjust the amount of food packed for different appetites. They are big enough for larger appetites, but small enough to not be bulky or make you feel like you need to fill up a bunch of empty space.

* Fantastic company. The customer service is stellar, and the owner is a wonderful, classy lady whom I have had the great luck of getting to know a bit. I have a soft spot for owner run businesses, and this one is a great example of how awesome they can be.

* Excellent price. At only $13.95 for a set of four, the price is affordable for almost any budget. And free shipping with orders over $25 if purchased on Amazon!

It's easy to see why these are my favorites! They aren't made to be leakproof, but packing things like applesauce or yogurt is super simple, just by putting a piece of Press N Seal over the section or packing the liquid-y food into a Mini Dipper or other small lidded container inside the ELB. 

They're also way easier to eat from than a bunch of small individual containers or baggies. The shape makes them into a perfect little tray for balancing on a lap, if necessary. 

Beaker and Princess loved the ease of use when they had a picnic lunch while at a parade over the summer. They were able to sit comfortably inside a wagon watching the floats and horses and bands march past, with lunches easily resting on laps and everything easily accessible. Can't do that with a bunch of fiddly little baggies! 

Princess had strawberries and cucumbers from the garden, pretzels, and grilled chicken with barbecue sauce for dipping.

Beaker took garden strawberries and cucumbers, carrot sticks, corn cereal, and chicken with ketchup for dipping.

And for me, a grilled chicken Caesar salad. The lettuce, cucumbers, and strawberries all came from my garden. I love my garden!

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Mini Sausages for the Lunchy Win

Recently my younger three kids have become somewhat obsessed with these little mini sausages. They've always been a favorite, but lately it's what they are requesting every day for lunch! The sausages are free of all of Beaker's allergens, but not terribly healthy, so I put some limits on them and let the kids have them one or two days per week. The kids like to eat them cold, which makes them pretty nice to pack for when we have to go places or for school. Here are some of their recent mini sausage lunches:

A handful of popcorn and chocolate chips for dessert, with pasta salad, grapes, watermelon, and mini sausages with ranch for dipping.

This one has garlic-free, gluten-free pasta salad for Beaker, with watermelon balls and mini sausages with ketchup.

He also has halved grapes, sunflower seeds, mini allergy safe chocolate chips, and carrot sticks.

In this one, the mini sausages come with BBQ sauce for dipping, and carrot sticks with cheesey ranch sauce. There is also watermelon pieces with grape halves, popcorn and chocolate chips.

On the side is a small green salad and a serving of Italian pasta salad.

This at-home lunch has mini sausages with ketchup for dipping, strawberries with yogurt for dipping, a handful of carrot sticks, and an allergen-free brownie bite for dessert.

We love these little sectioned plates. They are perfect for serving a preschooler! The different sections keep his food separated and help with portioning sizes.

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Fancy Salads

Alternately titled: Why I Love Gardening!

A vegetable garden can be an investment, both of time and of money. But the rewards are delicious! In high summer I can plan lunch and dinner by walking out into my backyard and grabbing a handful of this, a few of those, a bowl full of that... and voila, a great meal, just add protein!

And one of the best summer lunches is a simple (or fancy!) salad, full of fresh veggies and other tasty toppings. Here are a few of the yummy salads I have packed for lunches on the go this summer!

This salad is one of my favorites. It's a simple pear and gorgonzola with pear vinaigrette on the side. Just mixed greens, chunks of pear, and a handful of gorgonzola cheese crumbles. Yum!

On the side I have a handful of mixed berries and a scoop of yogurt with gluten free chocolate granola sprinkled on top.

For this salad, I started with a base of fresh greens from the garden. I added homegrown cherry tomatoes and a few sliced mushrooms from the store. A sprinkle of shredded cheese and some smoked pepper salmon finish off this delicious salad. There is also dressing on the side, and some berries and chocolate for later.

Smoked salmon salads are rapidly becoming the Dude's favorites!

This salad is a very simple garden salad. It's just mixed greens with cubed carrots, sliced cucumbers, and bits of diced cheese. I put the dressing on the side to keep the greens from getting soggy. Cut pears are a nice crunchy sweet dessert with no fat and few calories.

A pretty turkey rose with crunchy gluten-free crackers are tucked up to the side of the salad. The turkey and crackers were added to the salad before eating, to keep the crackers from getting soggy and the turkey from making the lettuce brown too fast.

This last salad could be called "clean out the crisper salad". I grabbed random veggies out of the fridge that needed to be eaten and tossed them all in a salad. There is broccoli, cucumbers, sliced pepper rings, carrot curls, mixed greens, and some zucchini strips all tucked in there. I also put a side of dressing and a heart full of sunflower seeds and small crackers for a little crunch. There is sliced grilled chicken for protein, and up in the corner are some pear chunks and watermelon flowers for dessert.

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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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Allergy Friendly, On the Go

As most of my readers know, my youngest child has some pretty serious food allergies. For those who might be new to this blog, this is Beaker:

Beaker is a sweet, fun, super awesome four year old. With food allergies.

His list of allergens include wheat, soy, garlic, hazelnuts, eggs, dairy, and shellfish. So far we have established that soy (in all forms, including soybean oil and soy lecithin) is VERY bad for him, and wheat also makes him quite ill. Garlic is another to which he definitely reacts. He isn't dairy allergic, but is lactose intolerant - he can eat small amounts of cheese, but milk or ice cream make his stomach miserable. And trace amounts of egg in baked goods is fine for him, but we haven't yet tested egg in any other form. The test for hazelnuts was inconclusive, so for now he is still completely tree nut and peanut free, just in case. Best not to tempt fate with that one! We haven't tested shellfish yet. 

We bring food for him pretty much everywhere we go. Like most four year olds, Beaker is growing fast and often has a big appetite. With his allergies and sensitivities, we can't just stop at any drive thru to pick up a snack for him if we're out and he gets hungry - very few restaurants have food which is truly contaminate free and safe for him to eat. Even grocery stores can be tough to find easy snacks for him sometimes, since fruits and veggies need to be washed and cut, and that's hard to do if you're stuck in the car running errands. Pre-portioned individually wrapped snacks that are safe for him are also usually very expensive. And that's IF we're lucky enough to be able to find a grocery store near wherever we happen to be. It saves us a huge amount of time, trouble, and expense to simply pack up meals and snacks for him to bring with us.

These are a few examples of the allergy-safe meals I pack for Beaker:

Mini sausages with ketchup for dipping, carrot bits and cheese bites, pieces of pear, and an EnjoyLife allergy-free cookie.

I also included a small cup of applesauce on the side for a snack. Beaker likes to dip pears in applesauce. Apparently they just taste better that way!

For this lunch, Beaker helped me pack an Easy Lunchbox with his favorite turkey-cheese rolls. He also chose a pair of allergy safe cookies, some carrots and cucumbers, halved grapes, and pear chunks.

Cucumbers from the garden are one of Beaker's favorite snacks. It tickles him that they can go from growing on the vine to his plate in five minutes.

Another favorite is Thomas the Tank Engine. Here is another Thomas meal, this time with shredded chicken, carrot and apple slices, Beaker-safe trail mix tucked into the little treasure box, strawberries from our garden, cheese bits, and a broken up allergy safe cookie.

This one came to the lake with us for a fun fast beach lunch. The main box is a robot clip-lid box I found at Target for less than $2, and the side dish is a round Thomas container that I think was $3, also at Target.

The side dish holds his snack ~ mango pieces, Tings, and an EnjoyLife allergy safe brownie bite.

For lunch, he has Canadian bacon slices, strawberries, cheese bits, Van's Say Cheese crackers, and another brownie bite.

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