Saved by the egg

I have been working really hard and have been a bit stressed but, blogging here really relaxes me so I'm excited to take a break and catch you up on a few lunches gone by.  One of the major stressors is actually something great - Milkstars nursing tops and dresses are now available at A Pea in the Pod stores on the East Coast and are expanding to more stores - maybe near you! - this holiday season.  It's been a lot of work on my end but I'm hopeful it will turn into something great.

Even though I haven't been writing, I have been documenting some of my lunches with photos.  About a week or two ago, it was Sunday night, and around 9PM I suddenly remembered I had to pack a lunch for the next day (and the next day, and the next day).  I kind of freaked since we didn't have much food in the house but then I remembered that my husband loves eggs and we always have a ton in the house.  And then I remembered my friend Annie H. once gave me a great recipe for mini-frittatas that I blogged about here.

Fortunately, I had most of the ingredients needed either fresh or frozen (in this case I used frozen spinach and a red onion since that was the only kind of onion we had around).  I played with the proportions a bit to make more frittatas without actually having to double the recipe and things came out really well.

Here is a photo of the frittatas when they came out of the oven.

And here is the lunch I put together with other things we had in the fridge.  The rice also came from the freezer.  Trader Joe's sells frozen bags of 3-minute rice which are good at the last minute when I realize I have not packed any sort of grain for my daughter and remind myself that my 3 year is not on an Atkins diet.  On the contrary, as you might remember she never met a carbohydrate she didn't like.

Our whole family ate the frittatas for lunch; they were great hot or cold.  I even sent them as snack another day that week.  The lunch that day was half a turkey sandwich, fruit, and homemade butternut squash soup that I hope arrived to the lunch table warm but I will never know. . .

July 13, 2011 - Snack for lunch

I was really at a loss for lunch ideas today so I took inspiration from what Juju had for snack: peanut butter.

We went to a meeting for her new nursery school (I absolutely love the school we are currently enrolled in but for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with our current school we are switching next fall) and learned that we can not send any peanut products whatsoever to school next year.  There is some debate about whether something like almond butter is allowed; I will get some more details in August.  I assume I will be free to send sunflower seed butter as it is not a peanut nor a tree nut.  If you haven't heard of it, it's terrific and a great substitute to peanut butter (try it with jelly on a sandwich and see if you can tell the difference).

So, when Juju insisted I open the refrigerator for her (thank goodness she didn't open it by herself, the other night she figured out how to do that and there were strawberries all over the kitchen. . .) she grabbed for the first thing she could reach which was the peanut butter and insisted on adding it to her snack plate.  Since I have a few more weeks of sending peanut butter to school/camp, I decided to make these cute peanut butter and whole grain cracker sammies paired with some cheese, strawberries, grapes, and cucumbers.  I decided that the lunch looked a little light so I also gave Juju some leftover frittata from tonight's dinner (using a heart shaped cookie cutter of course).  This frittata was made with onions, leeks, spinach, broccoli, eggs and cheese.  I don't know if I have done that combination before but it was great.  I used a similar recipe to the one I blogged about here only I cooked it in a Le Creuset dish instead of muffin tins.

Although it's not in this lunch, I did want to put in a plug for the okra I made with dinner tonight.  I saw it at the Hollywood Farmer's Market this weekend and realized the only times I had had okra in recent memory it was fried and I wanted to try to really taste its flavors when they are not forced to compete with cornmeal and oil.  I'm so glad I did; the result was fantastic.  I set the oven to 500 degrees and placed small whole okra on a cookie sheet with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of oregano (I got the idea from the Gourmet Magazine cookbook - RIP Gourmet).  I mixed everything together and cooked it for 10 minutes, occasionally shaking the cookie sheet during cooking.  It was SO GOOD and further proves our theory that if you roast any vegetable mixed with olive oil, salt, and pepper at a high heat it is going to knock your socks off.  Juju enjoyed the "white balls" inside the okra though she didn't eat much because it was really hot.

I realize I skipped the blogging of two lunches; I've been really busy with Milkstars work but I will try to catch on those lunches soon as I did manage to take pictures.

I should also reveal that I am toying with the idea of signing up for some hot lunches next year.  They made the program sound really great today and the prospect of making a lunch (and blogging it!) every single day next year is a little daunting.  

Lunch on April 26 - Riddle: Why can't we keep Juju in jail?

Today we have a lunch riddle.  Why can't we keep Juju in jail?  Answer at the bottom.

Today's lunch is the last Passover-friendly thing I have to pack this year.  Thank goodness.  If I had to make yet another frittata I think I would go crazy.  But alas there is one in this lunch.  I cut it with a heart shaped cookie cutter to make it more appealing and while I used the same recipe as last time I made sure to load this one with plenty of mushrooms.  I have no idea why Juju is so into mushrooms but I am not going to question it since I think they are a pretty good thing to eat.

Joining the frittata is lox with cream cheese on whole wheat matzah.  I am partial to egg matzah but we ran out and whole wheat was all we had left.  We got the smoked salmon this weekend at one of the fish stands at the Hollywood Farmer's Market.  They always have a really long line (and kind of high prices) so we usually skip it but this week there was no wait (ah the benefits of being a Jew on Easter) so we tried the lox people rave about.  It was pretty good.

Lastly we have farmers market strawberries and grapes and a Pucci-esque SnackTaxi filled with dark chocolate covered matzah.  I know I am not supposed to pack sweets for school but I'm hoping this classic Passover treat won't get us thrown out.

Two of the containers I am using came from the Thinkbaby set I mentioned in my last post.  I like the size of the rectangular container and you can't exactly tell from the photo but the bowl the fruit is in is a true bowl with low walls and easier for a toddler to eat from.

Ok, so back to my riddle: Why can't we keep Juju in jail?

Because she eats lox!  Yes, I know, super corny (yet kosher for Passover).  I apologize for the horrible jokes.  I should stick to packing lunches. . .

Lunch on April 22 - Passover Provisions and a Pink Puppy

As I mentioned it's Spring Break so I only had to pack a lunch one day this week but in addition to Juju's lunch, I had to pack food for three adults as well.  And it's Passover so I had some extra limitations.  But, I think I made out pretty well.

I mentioned my friend Annie H. gave me a great baby frittata recipe perfect for kiddos.  I didn't follow her recipe exactly, I mostly used my own (this one features leeks, mushrooms, and spinach), but I did use her idea of baking in mini muffin tins.  I also baked some of the frittata in large muffin tins for the adults. 

I wanted to find a nice complement to the eggs, something that could easily take the place of bread.  I settled on a new Passover favorite: quinoa.  I realize some very observant people don't consider quinoa kosher for Passover but I am not one of those people; abstaining from bread and grains and a whole bunch of legumes and peanuts is plenty deprivation for me.

I haven't had time to shop for groceries for a few days since we've eaten out the last three nights so I made up a quinoa recipe with things I had around the house.  I'd give it a B, maybe a B+.  I was trying to replicate a sweeter quinoa salad that was served at my second seder but fell short.  This is good, just not exactly what I was going for.

Here's how I made it: I toasted 1 cup quinoa with 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pot on the stove. When the quinoa was toasted (but not burnt!) I added 2 cups of water, let it come to a boil, then simmered it  covered for about 15 minutes.  I usually cook quinoa with a clove of chopped garlic but since I was going for a sweeter taste, I left it out (but I did add some salt).  Once the quinoa was cooked and cooled, I threw it into a bowl and started mixing things into it.  I cut up some scallions and threw in a pack of dried raisins and cherries my friend Marla brought me from Seattle.  I also threw in some chopped walnuts since I wanted more of a crunch.  For the wet stuff I added some oil and vinegar.  With quinoa you can really add any oil: vegetable, sesame, olive, etc.  Then I squeezed the juice of a lemon Juju picked at a friend's house the other day and voila, quinoa salad!  I am hoping the flavors blend a bit more tonight so the salad is even more flavorful tomorrow.

Here is how the adults' lunches came out - everyone got two regular size muffin tin frittatas and the quinoa salad.  I like presenting things on lettuce for the color and it helps to keep the two dishes separate which I think makes them more appealing.  Since these lunches are for adults I packed them in glass, my favorite way to store food (but sadly not very kid friendly).  These are Snapware Glasslock containers that used to be really hard to find but are now everywhere like at Target and Bed Bath and Beyond.  I think the best prices for them are still at Costco which used to be the only place I could find them.

 

I gave Juju a small cup of the quinoa salad (not shown), four baby frittatas, mango, cantaloupe, and clementine segments, and three Passover macaroons.  The pink puppy is yet another Japanese style lunch "fascinator."

 

Only 4 more days of this holiday to go.  Then I'll focus on another eating challenge: we are considering going vegan for a week sometime in the near future.  Can you believe it?  I can not.  More on that later as I work up the courage to plan it out. . .

Spring break

Just a note to let you know that I have not given up on this blog.  I'ts just that we're on Spring Break this week so I'm not packing any lunches.

I am however cooking and eating a lot of eggs because as my husband likes to say, Passover is the holiday of eggs.

My friend Annie H. gave me a great recipe for mini egg frittatas, perfect for a school lunch.  I've made them at home but never packed them before.  I should give it a try.  Here is her recipe.  I generally add in leeks and mushrooms and broccoli to my frittatas but if you are using this recipe, make sure you chop up your veggies very very small because the "batter" has to fit in the small holes of a mini muffin tin.

I'll post more fun photos of food soon.  I realize they are way more fun to look at than words!

Baby Frittatas 

(Makes 12 Baby Frittatas)

4 Large Egg Whites

2 Large Eggs (whole)
2 Tbsp Milk
1/2 cup shredded Mexican Four-Cheese blend
1/4 Cup onion, diced

1/4 cup baby spinach, diced
Salt, pepper and garlic powder (to taste)

1. Preheat the oven 375 degrees.
2. Spray or grease mini muffin tins with oil or butter.
3. Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add the cheese, onions and spinach, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir to mix ingredients together.
4. Add a heaping tablespoon of egg/vegetable mixture to each muffin cup.
5. Bake for 14-17 minutes.
6. Cool and serve.