Lunch on August 12 - Last day of school plus farm fresh cold corn soup!

Tomorrow is Juju's last day of preschool at her current school.  It has been a fantastic year and we are really going to miss the wonderful teachers, scores of new friends, and charming campus.  I can hardly believe how much she has grown in one year.

This also marks the end of weekly lunch packing for me for the next few weeks though rest assured, I will still find things to blog about!

The final meal is a turkey sammie, edamame, and fruit salad with strawberries, grapes, and orange slices.

I also wanted to mention some things I made for dinner since one was quite good.  We recently started up again with a CSA box.  Over the years we have tried a few, then canceled our shares and started to shop at Farmer's Markets.  But, we've gotten busier and we can't always make it out to shop for fresh produce so we started again with a service that delivers organic farm fresh produce to our neighborhood. You never know what you are going to get in the box but we've committed ourselves to trying everything we receive which so far has worked out well.  For example this week we got a bunch of kale so I roasted it in the oven tonight with olive oil and sea salt and made "kale chips."  They were very easy to make and a great way to incorporate such a nutrient rich food into dinner.  

And, because I found a recipe in the Wall Street Journal this weekend I made a cold corn soup with the corn that came in our box.  It was delicious and I highly recommend it for the hot summer nights ahead.  I can't find the original copy of the article (there were actually 4 cold soup recipes, I wish I had scanned them!) but here is the recipe from memory along with a photo of how mine turned out:

Cold Corn Soup

3 ears of corn (I used 4 because I wanted to make sure it was really thick)

1 vidalia onion (I used a large regular onion because it's all I had)

1 shallot (I omitted this because I didn't have one)

2 tbls butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste.
*Serve in bowls or in shot glasses as corn soup shooters!

Cut the corn off of the cobs and set aside.  Place the empty cobs in a pot with 6 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes (you are making a corn stock).

In another soup pot, melt the butter and add in the onion and shallots (both diced) and sweat for ten minutes (do not brown).  Next, add in the corn and mix so the corn is covered with the butter.  Pour in the 6 cups of corn stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the corn is soft.

Using a slotted spoon strain out the corn and onion pieces and put in a blender (I used a Cuisinart).  Add 1.5 cups of the corn stock and blend for 5 minutes, until very well blended.  If you want to thin out the soup you can add more corn stock.  Place the soup in a clean soup pot or a bowl and add in the heavy cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper.  Mix well and chill for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight.

When I made the soup last night, I tasted it before chilling it.  I thought it was only ok and was frustrated that I had spent so much time and effort making it since it just tasted like mediocre creamed corn.  I was so delighted this evening when I pulled the pot out of the refrigerator and tasted it again.  The soup was incredibly thick and had much more flavor than it did the night before.  I don't know if that was due to the flavors blending overnight or if it was because it was properly chilled.  Whatever the reason, it was a beautiful appetizer that I might try again with guests.

Happy Summer!

Lunch on June 6, 2011 - Leftovers for lunch and leftovers for blogging

I've been a bit behind on blogging.  Last week I decided to focus my energies on my actual day job.  If only I got paid to do this blog; it could be really good.

But alas, here is a compendium of things Juju ate for lunch last week and will eat for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am serving leftovers from tonight's dinner of artichoke (I know, I know, enough with the artichokes.  I'm sorry, they are still in bloom and still delicious!!), semi-homemade pizza, salad, edamame, and strawberries.

 

The pizza is semi-homemade because I did not make the dough.  I used Trader Joe's dough to make two pizzas.  One was cheese and mushroom (obvs) on wheat dough, the other was cheese on herbed dough.  Both were really good.  I will likely have leftovers myself for lunch tomorrow.

Last Thursday (June 2) Juju had strawberries, carrots, leftover chicken, and whole wheat pita sandwiches filled with edamame hummus and thin carrot slices.  It still weirds me out to send chicken for lunch (for some of my formative brown-bagging-it years I went to a Jewish Day School that forbid anything but a dairy lunch) but Juju always eats it so if I have it around, I pack it.

 

On the Tuesday before that (May 31) I was really desperate with not much in the house (we went out of town last week so I didn't do much stocking up at the grocery store).  So, I scraped together a few strawberries, cut some corn off the cob, opened a bag of edamame, and hardboiled some eggs.  You'll notice I used my egg molds here and made one bunny egg and one teddy bear egg.  I really don't like the teddy bear mold.  It's near impossible to get the egg to move into the "ears" of the mold so it doesn't really work.  Juju must agree.  She only picked at the bear one and preferred to eat the bunny instead.  I made use of fake grass from an earlier sushi meal to liven up the egg section of the container and I threw in the giraffe pick to give the whole lunch some more color.

 

I used my Lunchbots Trio for all three meals.  If you are interested in Lunchbots, you might want to check out the Gilt Groupe sale going on right now for the entire line.  The savings are very minimal, so you might prefer to purchase them from elsewhere but it's worth a look, particularly if you have some Gilt credit.  If you are not a member of Gilt Groupe, that link above will allow you to sign up (full disclosure - I get some sort of credit when you make your first purchase on the site.  I promise to use it on something good!).

Lunch on May 10, 2011 - All American (and a little bit Japanese)

Ok, I'll admit it.  I am officially bored with packing lunches and now find them a chore.  I can't decide if my commitment to chronicle the lunches I pack motivates me to make them better or if it just guilts me into packing something that is halfway photogenic.

When I run out of ideas of what to pack, I go to my old standby: sushi.  It's always a pleaser and is very easy to procure from the market down the street.  I was going there anyway to pick up some fish for dinner (more on that in a minute) and I couldn't resist. 

So, I started with the sushi and built around it.  Though Juju enjoys it, I've never actually sent raw fish to school.  This is California roll made with imitation crab (cooked), avocado, and cucumber.  I am sure Juju will one day turn into a normal toddler and decide that raw fish and seaweed are an absolutely disgusting combination but for now, I am getting as much mileage out of it as I can.

Joining the sushi is half an ear of corn.  We had corn for dinner.  Juju LOVED it and insisted on more.  I told her I had none left even though this piece remained.  I think she will enjoy the surprise in her lunch tomorrow.  I also included some cantaloupe and grapes.

Back to the fish we had for dinner.  It was a really easy recipe and since some of you have told me you have tried other recipes I have posted, here goes.  Sorry there are no pictures.

Tonight we had mustard roasted fish using red snapper.  When I saw that red snapper was on sale at the fish counter I immediately remembered an Ina Garten recipe I've made before for an unusual and delicious meal using only a few ingredients, many of which I already have at home.  I had a really busy day (forgive the cross-promoting/shameless plug here but Milkstars has a new pajama set out called The Nancy, it's been a lot of work but is really exciting!) so I was glad that all I needed to pick up was some creme fraiche (Trader Joe's has a nice brand at a great price) and some shallots.

The recipe is below.  A warning, the red snapper had a lot of bones in it which I wasn't expecting.  I don't know much about fish so I am not sure if that is normal.  If you are making this for a toddler (or anyone else who doesn't like bones) ask your fish monger, (or in my friend Annie's case your husband!), to make sure there are no bones.  Otherwise give yourself some time to pull them out before cooking.  Enjoy!

Mustard-Roasted Fish

Ingredients

• 4 (8-ounce) fish fillets such as red snapper
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces creme fraiche
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons drained capers

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (You can also use an ovenproof baking dish.) Place the fish fillets skin side down on the sheet pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Combine the creme fraiche, 2 mustards, shallots, capers, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fish fillets, making sure the fish is completely covered. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it's barely done. (The fish will flake easily at the thickest part when it's done.) Be sure not to overcook it! Serve hot or at room temperature with the sauce from the pan spooned over the top.