Everyday Lunches

 

Tuesday, 5/28/13 - Catching up on some old lunches... I utilized a variety of leftovers and extras in these, and each girl got to try a little something new. Nothing fancy.

Lunch for the Preschooler

1/2 Rhubarb Crisp Muffin donut, organic apples and sugar snap peas, Ranch,
dye-free "Peep," leftover GF mac-n-cheese with vegetarian bacon crumbles

 

I had more Rhubarb Crunch Muffin batter than would fit in the round muffin tins that I could find, so I used my donut pan for the last few. I put half of one in her lunch to help go through them and also fill up space (teehee) and stuck in a green swan pick, just for fun.

Since I had a kind of bird theme going, I chose an owl fork I found at Target in their dollar section. And while I was at it... a marshmallow bird!

The "Peep" is leftover from after Easter, when I found these at Whole Foods... NOT on clearance! Blarg. But the look in her eyes when she saw them, we HAD to get them! They were a bit stiff and chewy this long after Easter, but really, stale marshmallows are my faaavorite kind!

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Lunch for the Podling

Organic sugar snap peas, GF cheese crackers, hummus, seaweed crumbles,
leftover GF mac-n-cheese with vegetarian bacon crumbles, organic apples

 

I decided I'd try Little Sis out on some seaweed. My older one loves it so much, but I was worried about choking with the larger sheets. She also got some apple slices salvaged from a pre-chewed apple.

And both girls got leftover gluten-free macaroni and cheese... I'm pretty sure this was Annie's Homegrown brand of gluten-free mac-n-cheese, but Trader Joe's is another one we like. Both are quite tasty.

Since I always sneak in some squash, sometimes I have to "spruce up" leftovers, since the flavors get stronger over time. So I crumbled on some coconut bacon I had found at a vegan grocery in Portland while I was down there for the weekend. Most vegetarian "meat" products have gluten, so it's hard to find stuff that we can actually eat, if we want believable substitutions.
Z noticed that it tasted a bit funny, but liked it just fine and ate it all up. I either use this "bacon" trick or add dairy-free cheese whenever she says my macaroni is yucky. Which is all the time now, since I'm trying to perfect a dairy-free version that doesn't rely on processed cheeze substitutes.

Lunch for the Mama

(Everything's organic) apples w/SunButter, celery w/SunButter and raisins,
hummus, tomatoes, purple and green broccoli, baby heirloom tomatoes, carrots, celery

 

Since I hadn't gotten to eat all the veggies I'd packed for my foodie convention the weekend before, I fixed up the "leftovers" and assembled everything with the SunButter, as intended!

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