Leftovers to Lunch: Macaroni Cornucopia!

Tuesday, 9/2/13 - Ever since I saw Erin at Feeling A Little Lunchy's idea to use a silicone snow cone holder to hold lunch, I've been aching to try it myself! But there was never the right confluence of events (ie: I hadn't bought them yet!)

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Leftover Macaroni Cornucopia

Organic purple and green beans, leftover GF mac and cheese, dairy-free Ranch,
vanilla coconut "yogurt" w/dye-free sprinkles, organic Shinko pear, ice water

 

Z loves her macaroni and cheese. Hot, cold, leftover, doesn't matter. Unless Mama tries making a dairy-free "cheese" sauce from scratch. Then she hates it. But dairy-free boxed ones seem to be okay so far! I think this one has dairy in it though. The night I made it I didn't have the energy to do anything fancy, so I just used a (dye-free, gluten-free) box either from Annie's Homegrown or Trader Joe's. I did manage to sneak in a jar of sweet potato baby food puree. Muahaha!

I put the leftovers in this sili-snow-cone, just for fun. I used the properties of the EasyLunchbox itself to hold everything in place - I faced it up against one of the sides, and then the lid pushed the cone down to compact it, so it stayed flush enough to the side to keep everything in. Score!

Since she might actually eat her macaroni with a fork rather than her fingers, I included a reusable spork - in case she wanted to spoon up the dairy-free cultured coconut "yogurt" I was trying out. Usually she likes to slorp it up with a reusable silicone Cool Straw.

I wavered between using the little green sauce container for Ranch to dip her beans, or more sprinkles to entice her to try more of the yogurt. I chose the dairy-free Ranch, since I figured eating her veggies was more important!

I added some India Tree Nature's Colors Carnival Jimmies onto her "yogurt," in the hopes she's give it a fair try. She hated it. "It's too sweet!" It has a different texture than the dairy Greek yogurt she's used to. Not as thick, and... almost... slimier. I'll keep trying...

I don't usually show the drinks I send, since water is boring. But I was excited to show off her new Lalaloopsy Thermos Funtainer Bottle that I got her for back-to-school (since it's not like we needed a new lunchbox...) It's insulated, so when I bother to put ice cubes in there, it keeps the water cold until lunch. She usually only drinks about a third of the bottle, so I just send what's left the next few days, then fill with ice water when it gets too low. And then we wash it on the weekends. And by "we," I mean my husband! Love you! Muah!

Leftover Pizza for the Little One

Organic heirloom baby tomatoes, leftover GF vegan pizza, vanilla coconut "yogurt" w/dye-free sprinkles, organic apples

I had attempted a dairy-free pizza with some home-made cashew "moxarella," with a few Daiya shreds on top, to mask the presence of the home-made cheese. Personally I loved the one I made for Hubby and me (gluten-free Katz crust, tomato sauce, moxarella, mushrooms, zucchini, kale, and a drizzle of BBQ sauce,) but Z thought theirs was too mushy. (I'd had to spread a thick layer of "cheese" across the whole thing. Otherwise it just would have been in splotches) And she didn't like that I'd put the Daiya shreds on it. ("You put on the wrong kind of cheese!") So I fed the leftovers to the toddler!

E got the rest of the cup of coconut yogurt, and I put on some India Tree Nature's Colors purple jimmies and yellow non-pareils sprinkles instead of the carnival mix for some reason.

I've got to say, I wasn't impressed with the bread from Katz Gluten-Free Bakery that I'd read rave reviews about. But their pizza crust was ah-mazing! Even Hubby liked it! They ship everything frozen though, so I'd recommend ordering direct from Katz to save on combined shipping, and wait until you have enough room in your freezer to store enough to make it worthwhile!

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