Lunchbox #5 and #6

Little Dog has been tricky to pack lunch for lately.  He shuns all sandwiches other than his beloved peanut butter and jelly.  He won't help me with ideas about what he might like to be eating, so I'm guessing.  Over the weekend the boys helped me make a roast chicken inspired by Fanny at Chez Pannise and they couldn't get enough of it.  I decided to try packing that for lunch and sure thing, it was a big hit.

Little Dog has asked for a repeat so I did a second lunch working with the same theme

Lunchbox #5
Roast chicken and jasmine rice
Snap Peas
Sliced gala apple
Yogurt tube
chocolate chips

watermelon chunks in snack container.

Lunchbox #6
Porkchop and jasmine rice
Edamame
Sliced mango
Freeze dried strawberries
Dark chocolate

Lunchbox #4

The night before, I'd been out to dinner for a work function.  Mr. Dog took the boys out to dinner as well.  Big Dog wanted sushi, as usual.  Little Dog wanted to go to Bick's, mainly for the "Mousse in a Mug" dessert, but because Big Dog chose last time, it was Little Dog's turn to choose.  After feasting on smoked duck quesidillas, a hamburger and mousse in a mug, Big Dog was no longer complaining, but it did give me an idea for their lunch.  I got up early to make sushi rice and gave them a lunchbox surprise.

Avocado sushi rolls
edamame
baked tofu (from Trader Joe's)
sliced pear
white chocolate chips

Lunchbox #3

Let's just say I'm going to file this one under both "head scratchers" and "lessons learned."  See, I have two bagel-loving kids.  I thought bagels would be a slam dunk. Even when I was packing lunches up, Big Dog told me just how delicious the bagel looked.  So imagine my WTF moment when I opened the lunch boxes tonight and found each bagel only had about three bites in it.  Weird.  The multicolor cauliflower was also largely uneaten despite the boys gobbling it down at home.
I'm not really sure what happened with the bagels.  Too big for polite school eating maybe?  But I have to remember the boys both bow to peer pressure.  The cauliflower was probably a casualty of nearby "yucks" from lunch table neighbors.  Big Dog has given up favorite lunch foods based on the criticism of his peers in the past, I guess I should just expect it.

Whole wheat bagel with low fat cream cheese
Multicolored cauliflower (steamed since they don't really like raw cauliflower-or at least I don't and I project that upon the boys)
Sliced red plums
YoKids yogurt tube
dark chocolate square
Snack container: green seedless grapes

Lunchbox #2

Well there were going to be mini sandwiches on these adorable little artisan slider buns, but as soon as I put them on the counter, Little Dog told me he hated them.  So I tried to come up with something else. I asked for suggestions and he requested deviled eggs.  Perfect!  Well, it probably would have been more perfect if the eggs were store bought instead of our own eggs that are fresh and thus resist being peeled without shredding into a thousand pieces.  Anyhow they might not be beautiful, but they were tasty.  So, today's lunch was as follows:

Deviled eggs
Berries (raspberries and blueberries)
Heirloom cherry tomatoes
English cucumber in rice wine vinegar (in the small container, turns out it is just about the perfect size for this)
Yo Kids Squeezer
A couple of Trader Joe's Gummy Tummies

Snack container was filled with sliced pluots (not pictured)

Basic Deviled Eggs

2 hard boiled eggs
2 tsp mayonnaise
2 tsp sweet relish
1/2 tsp vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar because I had it on hand, I usually use apple cider vinegar for this)
1/2 tsp brown mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the hard boiled eggs in half, remove the yolks and put them into a bowl with all of the other ingredients.  Use a fork to mash the ingredients into a more or less smooth mess.  Scoop it back into the cooked egg whites.

To keep them from sticking to the lunchbox, place a piece of waxed paper on top of them before closing the lid.

A cavelcade of lunches

We got new fancy lunch boxes this year.  Stainless steel, dishwasher safe, decorated with magnets and just plain awesome.  And as I started packing them up, I realized how nice it would be for me to have a record of what was in them each day.  Mostly I think it will be handy to track what was eaten and what came home untouched.  So here we go, the first day of a new line of work on this blog.

Lunch #1 (for the blog, #5 if you count the ones that didn't get photographed)

Peanut butter and strawberry balsamic jam on whole wheat bread.
Snap peas and heirloom cherry tomatoes
White nectarines (Big Dog brought them home claiming the darkening was "rot")
Trader Joe's organic yogurt squishers
Dark chocolate
Side container snack: black plum

I originally cut the sandwiches into heart shapes, which caused Big Dog to say, "Mama, really?" making me feel like a bit of a dunce, so I cut his in half.  I left Little Dog's as is.  When I picked him up from school he asked, "Was that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Then why was it shaped like a heart?"
"I thought you might like it," I said.
"I didn't like it."
"You didn't?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"I loved it.  After I hated it."
So at least we cleared that up.

Lunch as planned.

And if you're too cool for heart-shaped sandwiches.

Changing it up

So this blog is sadly neglected.  Why?  I don't know.  Well, I do.  I don't seem to know quite what to do with it. Or rather, I didn't.  But lately instead of cooking for the boys, I've been cooking with the boys and that has me inspired.  See my friend has this awesome blog Pork Cracklins where she cooks, reviews the recipe and links to it someplace.  Nice, right?  Well, now that I'm doing more recipe based cooking, cooking with the kids, I've decided to steal her style, add some kids and change the formula of this very blog. 
What you'll be seeing here now will be cooking experiences with the boys.  We've invested in a couple of cooking for kids kind of cookbooks and working our way through those, we'll be keeping track of what we liked, what we didn't like and what alterations we made.  And hopefully with that new format, I'll actually start posting about my cooking more than once a year.

Celebrating their first pot luck win

Tonight was National Night Out, the national get out and meet your neighbors event that our block celebrates with gusto.  Each year we have a big BBQ with the kids running amok and the parents drinking beer saying just how much we should do this more often and remembering how we said the same thing last year.  We generally stay out on the street until the kids beg to go to bed and the parents finally give in.
As you know, I approach all pot lucks as competitions.  I go for the win or I don't bother going.  I usually bake something.  Baked goods tend to look great and since most people don't do a lot of baking they usually have no idea how little effort it takes to make something that looks and tastes amazing. This year it was S'more cupcakes, but that's not what I'm writing about.  No, the big win today was made by the boys.

This week the boys have started cooking camp.  Little Dog has had a long fascination with cooking, I suspect it has a lot to do with his desire to learn to make his own cookies so I no longer play gatekeeper on his favorite food, but I'm happy to have him in the kitchen.  Big Dog likes to cook, but perhaps more because he likes to help.  I have to admit, most days I ban them from the kitchen when I cook.  Our kitchen is not well laid out for more than one cook at a time.  I also tend to think of my time cooking or baking as a reprieve from my busy life.  I like it quiet and controlled.  I should probably include them more, but I don't.  Sue me.

Tonight was different.  I came up with something they could pretty easily make on their own, but something that would also be delicious and look great.  I also knew it would be a winner since I made it as a last minute pot luck entry a couple of years ago and it was gone within minutes of being set down.  What is this easy dish you ask?  Caprese salad.  Or at least a pot luck friendly version of it.
In this version I use mixed color heirloom cherry tomatoes, bocconcinni (little mozzerella balls) and loads of fresh basil.  I get all of these ingredients at Trader Joe's so it makes it easy to pull together on short notice as well.
I set the boys up with some kid friendly knives, a pair of kitchen shears and good directions and they did the rest.  The salad was beautiful and I received repeated compliments which i redirected to the boys.  They were very proud, but maybe their first win came a little too easy.  They didn't seem to want to run victory laps around the folding tables, instead they insisted on playing in the sprinklers with the other kids. 
  
Super Easy Pot Luck Killer
3 lbs heriloom cherry tomatoes (a variety of colors works best, but in a pinch good basic cherry tomatoes work too)
2 containers of bocconcini (these are just a great size to work with the tomatoes, but if you can't find them use a larger fresh mozzerella and cut it into pieces about he same size as your halved tomatoes)
1 big bunch of fresh basil cut into pieces (I aim for nice evenly-sized strips, but that was not what the kids delivered.  Let's just call their approach more...rustic)
Good Olive Oil (no specific measurement here, but a good slightly heavy handed drizzle over the ingredients to pull it all together and the nicer olive oil you use, the nice the flavor of the salad)
Sea salt (again, no specific measurement, just a few good pinches until the tomato flavor really pops.  You'll know it when you taste it)
Fresh ground pepper (a few good grinds, just don't go too nuts)

Cut the tomatoes and cheese, or better yet get your kids to cut the tomatoes and cheese in halves and put them into a bowl.  Add the cut basil and toss it together.  Add the heavy drizzle of olive oil, use a little more than you think you need.  Add the salt and pepper to taste and toss again.  That's it and yes, it is a winner.