Kids lunch boxes

Posted on June 27, 2012 by fmadmin

Last fall I started making lunch boxes for my daughter who was attending preschool.  Being around fresh food all day, I knew I would have to incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into her lunches.  It all started when she saw these PackIt lunch box commercials.   The makers of PackIt claim that the food stays cold for up to 10 hours.  She had memorized the entire commercial.  Marketing genius.

http://www.lunchboxes.com/packit-personal-cooler.html

Just like prepping for dinner, putting her lunch box together is still sort of a scramble every morning.  The key is to have a few essentials around and your imagination.  I’ve found that at her age, its just more fun to eat a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Sorta, like a picnic.  Also, allowing her to choose one or two items has always worked.

Hard boiled egg, cheese wheel, oranges, grapes and olives.  She really likes deviled eggs, which I’ve only attempted to make a couple of times in my life.  I find she still enjoys my version just as much. 😉

Peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese sandwiches are always winners.  To make it fun, I used a cookie cutter for a nice surprise.  Sliced apples, with a squirt of lemon or lime juice to keep them from browning, always make regular appearances in our lunch boxes.

Here’s a homemade version of the popular lunchables.  I just added some carrot sticks with peanut butter, raisins and olives.  To make her lunch even more fun, I bought a few different cupcake liners to keep her food separate.

And of course, we can’t forget our very own Parkesdale strawberries.  Peanut butter and jelly, cheese stick, grape tomatoes and sliced apples.  So, maybe she didn’t get her vegetable servings for the day, but she definitively got her fruit servings!  It probably took me about 5 minutes to put her lunches together, but I hope she remembers to always “eat the rainbow“.

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Creamy Chicken Mushroom Pasta

Posted on June 24, 2012 by fmadmin

It seems like lately every dish I cook has mushrooms in it.  Luckily, everyone in our household likes mushrooms so as long as we have them at the market they’ll be appearing in our food.

You can use fresh button mushrooms or baby bella mushrooms for this recipe.  I’ve also used our Parkesdale Farms Marinated Mushrooms when we don’t have fresh mushrooms available.  The marinated mushrooms are seasoned with spices, vinegar and red peppers.  They are really great just by themselves too.

While we were at the market, my youngest daughter decided to pick out some fresh green beans.  Who am I to argue with a 4 year old? 🙂 I love how she used her Easter bucket to bring home the green beans.

This time I used green onions, but you can use any onion you like.  I like to cut the green tops to sprinkle over the finished dish.

 

 

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

4 slices Troyer Thick Sliced Smoked Peppered Bacon

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 ½ chicken breast

1 bunch green onions (reserve green tops for garnish)

1 cup Marinated Mushrooms (sliced) or 1 fresh mushroom package

Fresh Thyme (1 teaspoon dried Thyme)

½ cup milk *

2 tablespoon Troyer Butter*

Salt

Cut chicken breast into one-inch pieces and season with salt.  Cut bacon into small pieces and cook.  Remove bacon once cooked and reserve.

Add chicken and minced garlic to the pan used to cook the bacon.  Sprinkle the chicken with thyme; add mushrooms and sauté for approximately 12 minutes.

Mix milk and butter into pan until creamy consistency.

Serve with pasta, add halved grape tomatoes and sprinkle with green onion tops.

*If you want more sauce, double the milk and butter for a creamier, saucier dish.

 

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A full plate of veggies

Posted on June 21, 2012 by fmadmin

With all the mushrooms we’ve been having at the market lately, I couldn’t resist making stuffed mushrooms any longer.  Stuffed mushrooms are great for an appetizer or as a main course.  For the stuffing, I used spinach, cream cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Lately, these little sweet peppers are finding their way into all of our dinners.  They are great in salads, but my favorite way to prepare them is to roast them.  Easy peasy.   You can cut them any way you want, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until they start charring.  The heat turns them even sweeter.  And the colors are so wonderful.  I mixed the roasted peppers with cooked millet, but you can add them to any rice or pasta dish, or even your salad.

 

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know I’m slightly obsessed with avocados.  They are just so easy to prepare and the girls love them!  My favorite is “avocado salad” with tomatoes, onions, olive oil and lime juice.    Growing up my grandfather would make this dish with cod fish, commonly known as Gazpacho in Puerto Rico.  To this day, I still ask him to make it for me.

 

What’s your favorite “salad”?

Does your salad have to have greens to be a salad?

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

1  8lb pack of mushrooms (I used bella mushrooms, but you can use button mushrooms)

1-2  handfuls of spinach

1 garlic clove

1/2 cup cream cheese

Olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Wash and remove the stems from the mushrooms.  Place the mushrooms upside down on a greased baking sheet.  Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  Bring your oven to 350F and bake the mushroom caps for about 20 minutes or until tender.  When they are no longer hot to the touch, drain the water from the mushroom caps.  (If you love the taste of mushrooms, then save the liquid from the mushrooms.  You can use it to flavor other things.  I used it as flavoring for the cooked millet with the roasted red peppers.)

Using a food processor, pulse the spinach until very small.  Then add the garlic and cream cheese.  Now you are ready to stuff your mushrooms.  Top the mushroom caps with mozzarella cheese and bring back to the oven for  another 5 minutes or so to melt/brown the cheese.

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