Day 22: Bento Days

Today's Menu:

• Egg Salad
• Rice with carrots
• Italian roll for egg salad
• grapes

Cost per lunch:  76¢

Kid Rating:  

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	20	25 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	341	9	54	12

Day 21 Bento Days

 

Well who knew? My kids don’t like tuna fish salad. Too bad for them, because it’s what I packed today! We’re hurting on foods this week, it’s not only been crazy around here with my littlest who’s got a sinus infection somehow, but I have a craft fair on Saturday I’ve been preparing for, and the grocery situation is dire. I need to go shopping something fierce! The kids have had to eat hot lunch 2 days in a row now simply because we’re out of so many basics. It’s part of life though, and I hope I’ve taught them to eat the fruits and veggies first so they’ll at least get some nutrients and vitamins.

Sorry for the kind of icky picture, I had to use my cell phone and it’s only got a 6mp camera attached.

 

 

Today's Menu:

• Tuna Fish salad
• tortilla for wraps
• carrot sticks with homemade ranch
• cheese sticks

Cost per lunch:  63¢

Kid Rating: 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	0 min	5 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	306	10	32	20

Day 20 Bento Days

My daughter specifically asked me yesterday for Mac and cheese. My son wanted more linguine alfredo. So I compromised by giving them mac and alfredo. The alfredo sauce is homemade, and if you’ve not yet tried it, you should. It’s seriously easy, just melting some butter and garlic in a pot, adding in some flour, and then some fat free half and half and brining to a boil. I add a touch of sea salt for a bit of flavor and the kids just love it! And the fat free half and half provides a low cal, low fat option to store bought. You can also use regular half and half if you’re not worried about a bit of fat.

Today's Menu:

• Mac and alfredo sauce
• 1/2 banana
• 1 slice of Italian bread
• trail mix

 

 

Cost per lunch:  69¢

Kid Rating:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	10 min	15 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	412	17	59	12

Day 19 Bento Days

For some reason, my photo is washed out today and things are yellowed.

I hear so much about these so called “kid foods” and how some parents can’t get their kids to eat healthier foods. Well, in my not so humble opinion, the secret to this is to make healthy kid friendly foods. Let’s take chicken nuggets, which are a staple of any fast food kids meal, a lot of families freezer, and lunchrooms across the nation. You can make them healthy. I simply take white meat chicken breast (we use the cage free, range free, no antibiotics type chicken) and cut a half breast into a few pieces. Then, I dip it in a bit of egg white, and then some whole wheat flour, not too much, just enough to give it a little flavor and keep the chicken moist so it doesn’t get brown and hard on the outside.

Then I sauté it in about 1tbsp of olive oil for about 5 min on each side. Now is this chicken as healthy as say, a carrot? No, but it’s certainly healthier than any chicken nuggets you can buy, and my kids ate every bite. And in the end, that’s what counts right? Your children learning that some of their favorite foods can be good for them to eat. And sautéing in olive oil is certainly much better than deep frying in trans fatty oil “crap”. Even the store bought kind you bake are deep fried before their frozen. The middle ground is what we’re shooting for here. Good tasting, healthier foods that your children will eat.

Today’s Menu

• Homemade chicken nuggets
• 1 apple
• Steamed Peas
• homemade chocolate pudding

Cost per lunch:  78¢

Kid Rating:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
4 min	10 min	14 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	276	4	41	16

Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

So as you guys know, I’m a big fan of whole wheat flour. I prefer the white wheat, but will use regular bran whole wheat over white flour any day. Well, I get emails sometimes asking me for substitutions on things, like eggs, or nuts, but it took having a little girl in my daughters class with a gluten allergy and my turn at making snacks for me to realize that whole wheat isn’t always best .So I turned to my friend Wendy over at Gluten Free Momma, to see what sort of snacks I could make.

She had a recipe for gluten free banana bread, and with a few mods, I turned them into muffins for the class!  Thanks Wendy for this recipe!

I doubled the recipe, but I’ll put the single portions in here in case you want to make either one loaf of bread or 18 muffins.

 

 

What you’ll need:

2 cups of brown rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
4 mashed bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (I used pear sauce that was homemade that I canned not that long ago).
1/3 cup canola oil (I used olive oil as I don’t like canola oil)
1 tsp vanilla

What you’ll do:

1. Mix together your flour, baking soda salt and sugar.

2. Mix your wet ingredients, the eggs, bananas, applesauce, vanilla and oil. I used a food processor to really mash those bananas up.

3. Mix your wet and dry ingredients, and spoon it into a muffin pan, giving each cup about 2/3 of the way full with batter, or spoon batter into a 9x5 bread loaf.

4. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes for the muffins and 45 minutes for the bread.

5. Eat and PROFIT!

Day 18 Bento Days

Today was easy for me! I got to do leftovers. We had a ton of spaghetti and meat sauce left from last night, so I paired it with some bread, salad and yogurt, and viola! A meal fit for my children. They were excited they got to have leftovers. Kids eh? The most mundane things can be exciting when you’re 7.

 

Today’s Menu

• Whole wheat spaghetti with turkey meat sauce
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread
• peach yogurt
• romaine salad with homemade ranch

Cost per lunch:  54¢

Kid Rating:  

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	0 min	5 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	520	13	74	28

Day 17 Bento Days

I had an itch to bake something this morning. I needed something quick and easy, yet satisfying for their lunch, so homemade tortilla chips it was! Now mind you, these aren't the crispy, salty tortilla chips you get in the store. They’re crunchy on the outside, nummy on the inside, thick-and-can-hold-your-salsa good!
I simply made homemade tortillas (which are really really really easy) and then baked them at 400º for 6 minutes on a pizza pan to crisp them up a bit. I then added homemade canned salsa, some green beans and yogurt and we had a great, cheap lunch! And you could always throw some cheddar and ground turkey in with the salsa for queso!
Today's Menu:

• Homemade whole wheat tortilla chips
  
• Homemade Salsa
  
• Steamed green beans
  
• yogurt

Cost per lunch: 47¢
Kid Rating:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	10 min	11 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	275	3	53	11

Day 15 and Day 16 Bento Days

Well, our dishwasher was broken for a few days, and I got so behind on the dishes for six people that I didn’t have their lunchboxes clean each day to have them take lunch! That coupled with one day of a migraine that lasted so long and was so bad I could barely see straight, and they’ve had lunch at school three times in last six days. Boooo. However, it’s a real eye opener and I figure it’s good to see  and show you guys what they’re eating at school. For the three days they ate at school the menus were:

Day 1:

• Hot Dog
• Pickle spears
• Green beans
• Carrot sticks/ ranch
• Pineapple tidbits
• Cookie
• Milk and or water

Day 2:

• Chic Fajita/loco bread
• Cheese cup
• Corn
• Peaches
• Milk and or water

Day 3:

• Shredded Pork
• Baked beans
• Pears
• Juice bar
• Milk and or water

At first glance it doesn’t look too bad. Until you realize the the meats are not lean, and are processed, and sodium and nitrate heavy. The fruits are packed in heavy syrup, not their own juices. The veggies are packed in sodium water and are canned, not fresh or frozen. And a Juice Bar? What the ever-loving heck is a juice bar? Last I understood physics, juice was a liquid, not a solid, and something tells me it’s a frozen bar of juice cocktails, which is basically flavored waters, colorings and sugar. And hot dogs are just so many levels of wrong.

So while it’s an acceptable lunch, and it will feed your child, it’s not healthy in the sense that it’s providing all the nutrients and vitamins your child needs, so I will continue to pack lunches anytime I can.

So then, lets get down to what we had!

Day 15 Menu:

• Pizza/pita triangles
• frozen corn
• homemade greek yogurt
• apricot halves (canned packed in water).

Cost per lunch: 90¢

Kid Rating:

The pizza triangles are simply pita pockets, covered with pizza sauce, cheese and baked at 400º for about 15 minutes.  Let cool completely and cut into triangles.

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	15 min	20 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	347	5	55	27

 

Day 16 Menu:

• Mini Salmon Patties
• broccoli spears
• honeydew melon
• homemade granola bar

  Cost per lunch: 76¢

  Kid Rating:

Salmon patties are made by mixing salmon, whole wheat bread crumbs, chopped veggies and  1egg and then sautéing in a skillet with a tad bit of olive oil.

 

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
6 min	10 min	16 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	411	8	59	27

Large Flannel Burp Cloths

Baby sewing is my absolute favorite type of sewing and when a friend asked me to sew up a 12 pack of burp cloths, I was bursting with joy! I wanted to run right then to the fabric store and pick out the fabrics, but alas it was 10pm and I was in my nightclothes. So, I went bright and early this morning after dropping the kiddos off to school. And since burp cloths are so easy and everyone that has a baby needs them, I bring you a tutorial. I’ve not got many “in process” pictures, but I promise, to add more next time I make a batch.

What you’ll need:

• 1 and 1/2 yards of flannel cotton
• rotary cutter and mat
• straight edge rotary ruler
• sewing machine with the fixin’s
• Scissors
• Fabric pen (optional)
• Plastic or glass cup

 

If you want, you can buy a mylar template paper to cut into an 11X17 rounded corner pattern. You can do this by cutting an 11x17 square and then using the edge of the cup to trace rounded corners. Or you can use tracing paper, or you can do what I did which was to use my rotary cutter, mat and ruler to make a cut out square, then a fabric pen to mark rounded corner and then scissors to cut the corners. I found this to be the easiest, but if you make a lot, having a template would serve you well.

Once you have template, you’ll want to cut a total of 12 squares from the fabric panel. I found that the easiest way to do this was to fold the fabric in half long ways with the right sides facing, then cut out 6 squares from both fabrics at the same time.

Next, you’ll want to take these to the sewing machine, and sew around the edge, leaving a quarter inch seam allowance. Leave about 3 inches or so not sewn so you can turn the fabric right side out.

Next, reach inside the hole and turn the fabric right side out. straighten the corners (I use a long crochet hook (Tunisian Crochet hook) to poke in the corners and get them flat) and press each side with a steam iron. Then, with a 1/8 inch seam allowance, topstitch on 3.5 stitch length all around the edge of the burp cloth. This closes the hole, helps keep it nice and flat, and gives your cloths a more professional look.

And now? You’re done! Enjoy your new cloths!   

Day 14 Bento Days

I actually got to pack leftovers today! I fixed a new recipe, Tomato Basil Pasta which uses a more of a pesto sauce than a pasta sauce and the kids loved it so much they wanted it for lunch the next day!

 

Todays Menu

• Tomato Basil Pasta with cheese
• apple slices
• carrots, celery and ranch dip
• homemade gelatin

Cost per lunch:  54¢

Kid Rating:

 

 

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
8 min	0 min	8 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	325	8	54	16

Day 13 Bento Days

EEEK! I’m getting behind on posting my posts. My camera’s batteries ran down and I had to charge them to use the camera to plug it to the computer, to retrieve the photos….phew! Technology eh? So without further ado, lets get to it!

 

Today’s Menu:

• Peter Pan Rice Ball
• Turkey and Potato Dumplings
• Honeydew melon
• Cheese cubes  

I used cheese for the hair, a piece of a spaghetti noodle to hold it in place, and nori paper for the facial features.

 

 

 

Cost per lunch:  59¢

Kid Rating:  

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
10 min	20 min	30 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	519	17	68	26

Day 12 Bento Days

Well, I was so tired last night! I took my laptop into the bedroom and laid down with the baby, thinking when he went to bed, I would get on line  and post the days lunch. However, I too, fell asleep! At 8pm. Which I think is an indication that I’m getting older. Anyway, onto the lunch! We were sort of rushed on time, so I had to whip up something healthy, straight from my brain and here it is. 

Today’s Menu:

• Cheese Dino sandwiches
• Pepper strips
• Kiwi triangles
• Romaine with homemade ranch

To get the dino shape, I used a sandwich cutter, which you can find in your grocery or online in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Or you can use a cookie cutter if you don’t want to buy anything new.

Cost per lunch:  45¢

Kid Rating:  

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	0 min	5 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	346	16	42	11

50 Frugal Living Ideas

So, some of these, you’ve probably heard, and some not. Why not take the ones you’ve not heard, and try to implement at least three of them in your life? I love being frugal, I’m constantly searching for a cheaper and more efficient way of doing things. If you’ve got debt, then this would be a good list to read to try to save some pennies here and there to put towards it!

1. Line dry your clothing. Have to wash clothing on a rainy day? Use an indoor line. They make indoor umbrellas for about $40, that are portable, and on stands.
2. Don’t just turn off your electrics, unplug them. The coffee pot, the computer (this is why we have laptops), the TV. You won’t get rich doing this, but you will save some coins.
3. Get rid of your cable/satellite. Think you can’t live without it? Think, again. We’ve never had cable TV unless it was free for us, and we do just fine. Hulu, Netflix and other sites allow you to watch your favorite shows for free or for a minimal fee, much cheaper than cable, and you can watch them when you want to, not on their schedule.
4. Quit buying books and DVD’s. This one was hard for us, I love my books. But I haven’t bought a book I didn’t have to have in over three years. Rent your movies through either Redbox or Netflix, and use your local library.
5. Try to get rid of either your landline or your cell phone if you have both.
6. Don’t run your AC. Most days we can do this. With a small baby, we do run our AC at night only for about four hours if it gets to be 95 or higher that day. The difference in our bill is astounding.
7. Set your heat at 68 and put on a sweater.
8. Use LED lights instead of incandescent. This is a greener option too.
9. Catch rainwater from your downspout and water your lawn and garden with it.
10. if you get your cans from the city, start a small compost pile for either your flowers or garden and you can probably get by with just one can.
11. Sell one of your cars and buy a bike. I get around on a bike with four kids, and we have one car for the six of us. It can be done.
12. Walk your children to school if you live within a mile, if not, make sure you carpool.
13. Eat less meat. You can fill your plate with veggies, beans, legumes, rice, and fruits and you’ll get full and be healthier too.
14. Eat oatmeal instead of Cheerios. Oats are cheaper than cold cereal, it fills you up better and is healthier.
15. Stop buying packaged foods. You’re paying for advertising and packaging mostly.
16. Start buying things in bulk on a site like Amazon. You can have it delivered for free to your house and not have to make last minute store runs.
17. Stop wasting leftovers. Make a couple of nights a week “leftover night” in which you eat up the leftovers from the previous nights dinners.
18. Stop buying paper products. This means napkins, papertowels, etc. If you can hack it, you cStaan even go without paper toilet paper and start using cloth. Just like cloth diapering.
19. Make your own cleaners and detergent. There are tons of recipes out there for just about any cleaner than you can think of. And in a pinch, washing soda and water work to clean just about anything you can think of.
20. Stop using fabric softener. Use vinegar if you have to have something. It ruins your washer, ruins your clothing and doesn’t even smell that great.
21. Start using a Diva Cup.
22. Have regular swap meets with your friends for kids clothing.
23. Shop Goodwill and the like regularly for items. You can turn a mens shirt into whole kids outfits, sometimes for a dollar or less.
24. If your pants, etc. get a hole, patch it, don’t toss them. Can’t patch anymore? Cut them up for cloth rags to clean with.
25. Darn your socks. I know, I know. So old school right? If you catch a hole early, it takes about 10 minutes to darn a sock and it’s easy to learn. And no one will notice, because the place you get holes, are covered by your shoes.
26. Need an outfit for a special occasion? Ask someone around you to borrow it before you go out and buy.
27. Use a good pre-treater and do it as soon as you notice stains. It’s cheaper and better for the environment to use a chemical cleaning agent on a stain than it is to buy a new item of clothing.
28. Stop taking vacations. If you do vacation, do it in the off season
29. Have you date nights at home. There’s nothing better than curling up on the couch in PJ’s anyway!
30. Don’t hit the theater, instead, wait for the movies to hit DVD and then rent them. I mean, you’re already using Netflix because you got rid of your cable right??
31. Stop going to the coffee shop everyday. If you have to have that coffee fix, scour the internet for recipes to make  your own at home.
32. Stop eating out. In the time it take to get in your car, hit a drive thru, get food, go home and eat, you could have had a decent at home meal prepared. You’re waistline will thank you too.
33. Pack lunches for work/school. You can pack a healthy good tasting lunch for less than a buck. You can’t buy one for that price.
34. Use cloth diaper and wipes. They’re better on baby’s bottom too.
35. If your child has a “good weather month” birthday, use the local park as a place to host the party. The kids can play and run, and you can bask knowing it was free. Bad weather month? Look into your local YMCA to see if they offer cheap prices.
36. Stop paying for gym memberships. It costs you a pair of running shoes to lace them up and run/walk outside. Or, your local library and Netflix should have some DVD’s if you prefer indoor working out.
37. Start doing your own taxes. unless you own your own business, or make a zillion bucks, Turbo Tax is all you need.
38. Stop impulse buying. This is harder than it sounds, and I do realize that. But my thing is to walk away from it. If I need it badly enough, I’ll walk back in 10 minutes to go get it. Most times? Out of sight, out of mind, and I don’t buy it.
39. Make a rule where any purchase over XX bucks (besides things of need, like a new water heater, etc) you have to wait so many hours before you buy it. Many times, you’ll realize you don’t need it after all.
40. Use cash only for in house grocery shopping. This helps you avoid temptations of items you don’t need.
41. Open your curtains/blinds and make it a policy to not turn on lights until the sun goes down.
42. Raise a garden and can the yields
43. Use your local Farmer’s Market. The veggies are fresher, local and often times organic by nature.
44. Move into a smaller home. You’d be surprised how little space you really need.
45. Time your showers. Hot water is one of the most energy wasting things in our home. Better yet, only shower every other day, unless you’ve gotten dirty or have sweat.
46. Wash all your clothing on cold asides from socks and undies. Your towels and sheets will come clean, I promise you.
47. Go natural with your skin. People lived for eons (ok maybe not THAT long) without makeup and all sort of creams. You can go without too. Your skin will actually look better by just washing with water and the occasional cleanser.
48. Buy your next car used, let someone else take the “off the lot depreciation” value.
49. Get rid of your paper delivery and read all your news online.
50. And last but not least, the adage from the Great Depression says it best. “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”.

Day 11: Bento Days

Well, son was still sick on Thurs and then other sons get sick….ah the life of a Mom! However, it didn’t stop me from making a healthy lunch on Friday, though Thursday my daughter did eat “hot lunch” because of my three sick babies at home. I couldn’t put any of them down long enough to make her something! However, I was reminded why I pack lunches. Here was the menu for that day:

• Spaghetti /Meat sauce
• Garlic Bread
• Green beans
• Pears
• Sherbet
• Milk and or water

At first glance it doesn’t look that bad right? However, the meat sauce is made with higher fat beef, the garlic bread is laden with fatty margarine, the green beans are boiled down to almost a gel, the pears are packed in heavy syrup….the list goes on. The sherbet might have been OK if it wasn’t chock full of fat, and milk is what I pack, so that I’m OK with. However, this is actually one of the better meals our school serves. The rest of the month they’re having things like hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fried steak, shredded pork, fried chicken on a bun, mini corn dogs, chicken sticks, fish sticks….last I knew, neither chickens or fish came in sticks.

So, that being said, lets get to the menu for Friday!

Today's Menu:

• Homemade whole wheat bagels
• Neufchatel cheese 
• mango flavored homemade yogurt
• cucumbers and tomatoes

Cost per lunch:  54¢

Kid Rating:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	0 min	5 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	297	7	41	20

Good Morning! Bagels

You know what I hate about store bought bagels? How flipping huge they are. It’s like trying to eat a half of a loaf of bread in one sitting. I always end up tearing them in half. Also, I like soft, chewy bagels, and wanted them in whole wheat, which we all know is hard to find commercially. Couple that with wanting to only eat things I can pronounce, I set out to find a bagel recipe. Let me tell you, I’ve found it. Now, I know, it probably seems like bagels are hard. But they’re not. They’re as easy as making bread and then sticking your finger in it to make a hole in the middle. The result is a chewy, yummy tasting, whole wheat bagel you can actually eat all of!  

So let’s do it! 

Cost of 12 bagels: $1.39 (11.5¢ per bagel)

 

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
35 min	16 minutes	51 mintues

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
12	179	5	30	6

 

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I used Stevia, you can also use something like Sugar in the Raw.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose whole white wheat flour

 

 

  

What you’ll do:

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, sugar, salt and beaten egg yolk; mix well.
2. Stir in flour until a shaggy dough forms.  Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
3. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4. Punch dough down. Shape into 12 balls.
5. Push thumb through centers to form a 1-in. hole. Place on a floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Drop bagels, one at a time, into boiling water.
7. When bagels float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
8. Bake at 400º  for16 minutes for chewy and 20 minutes for a bit more hard bagels.  
9. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Homemade Clif Bars (Chocolate Brownie Flavor)

We eat the heck out of some Clif Bars in this house. I love them, hubby loves them, even the kids love them. So a box of six can go rather quick in this house. And when that box is six bucks, well, that can add up. So I set out to make my own. And I think I’ve found a pretty good recipe!
Cost per bar : 47¢

Prep Time	Freeze Time	Ready In
5 min	40 min	45 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
9	242	9	48	5

What you’ll need:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cups of flax seed, ground
• 1/2 cup of honey 
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup of peanut butter

What 'you’ll do:
Mix all ingredients together. Pat into a 9x9 or 8x8 inch square pan. Freeze for 40 min. Cut into 12 bars, and enjoy at room temperature!