School Lunch Wrap Up Wk7

Here's this weeks lunch wrap up.  Click below to see the previous weeks.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

MONDAY:  Unsweetened cinnamon apple sauce, pumpkin black bean brownies, sweet peppers, cucumber, popcorn with raisins.

- She ate it all. :)

TUESDAY:  Pumpkin black bean brownies, Some WW Ritz Crackers, Apple, PB2 & Raisin "sandwich" (Use a slice of apple for the 'bread' - I rubbed the apples with some lime juice to prevent browning), cucumber & sweet pepper.

- she ate everything but one apple sandwich and the sweet peppers.

WEDNESDAY: Sweet peppers, unsweetened cinnamon apple sauce, a jelly sandwich on a homemade pumpernickel roll from Grammy, Pumpkin black bean brownies.

- she ate everything but the sweet peppers.

THURSDAY: Mac, Cheese & Broccoli (cooked elbow noodles, cheddar cheese, nutritional yeast & cooked broccoli), an apple & a fruit roll-up.
- I was actually at her school this day helping with the school walk-a-thon and so I got to watch her at lunch time! :)  She ate the mac & cheese & broccoli and literally threw the apple away - no cool.  I'm also almost certain she didn't eat the fruit roll up.  They were celebrating a classmate's birthday so she was completely focused on getting a cupcake.  She ate just what she had to before getting the cupcake. lol!

FRIDAY: Juicy Juice apple drink, jelly sandwich on homemade rye roll from Grammy, a fruit roll up, broccoli & cauliflower.  (I thought it was a disposable lunch bag day).
- She ate everything but the broccoli.  I was told she only likes COOKED broccoli. 

Again I was at her school on Friday and actually got to hang out in her classroom with another mom while her teachers had a meeting.  After lunch was the actual walk-a-thon so I walked with Kai and some of her classmates.  It was so much fun!  And I was so proud of her - she walked the entire route!! :)

Fitness Assessment

Guess what I did yesterday... 

I joined an actual Gym!  My sister, and the Hubs, and my sister-in-law are all members of LA Fitness so yesterday I took the plunge and joined too. :)

As part of joining I got a Fitness Assessment.  I'm pretty sure it's to introduce you to the world of personal trainers but you also get some fun details about yourself.  For example, I'm 5'4", 125lbs and 22% Body Fat.  You know that the minute I got home I Googled what a good body fat percentage is. lol!  22% seemed to be right on target so I'm happy.  And how do they check your body fat?  With some crazy gizmo you submerge yourself in? (Hey, I watched the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Making the Team show and that's how they measured their body fat).  Nope, with a video game like controller that you hold for about 20 seconds.  That's it - easy, peasy, and painless.

After the assessment we started a quick work out.  One of the things I want to work on is my endurance.  I have no endurance.  At all.  I tried running with my sister a few times.  It wasn't pretty.

So anyway, he had me run (is it called running?) on the elliptical for 10 minutes to warm up.  9 minutes at a moderate pace and then the last minute as fast as I can go.  The first 9 minutes were pretty good.  The last minute was... odd.  It's hard to go fast on an elliptical - are you supposed to keep your upper body still or bounce a little?  I had no clue and then if anyone was watching me when I went to stop I'm SURE they had a good laugh.  I definitely could have been smoother. lol!

Once I was warmed up we did some stretches and then some squats with a ball between my back and the wall, and then come sit-ups where I had to sort of target his moving hand.  After that I was starting to feel a little light headed and they got a little concerned so we stopped.  Their first question was did I eat breakfast.  Of course I did!  I had oatmeal.

Their response, "Just Oatmeal?"

Just oatmeal?!?  There's a lot that goes into my oatmeal!  :(

So now I know, eat more than "Just Oatmeal" before a work out. 

But tell me, do these breakfasts over the last several days look like "Just Oatmeals"?

All start with 1/3C Rolled Oats, 1/3C Almond Milk, 1/3C water, Chia Seeds, Ground Flax Seeds and Cinnamon plus...

Kai's Strawberries & Butterscotch chips:

Raisins and Pecans...

Banana & Agave Nectar...

Frozen berries, chopped pecans, agave nectar plus whipped coconut milk on mine....

Frozen berries, coconut whip, jam and raisins...

Kai's frozen berries, jam and raisins with a side of apple sauce.

There's nothing "JUST" about my oatmeal. lol!

Pumpkin Black Bean Brownies

Whenever I put black beans in a dish Kai politely reminds me that she doesn't like beans.  What she really means is that she doesn't like SEEING beans.  She loves dishes that I serve when she doesn't know they're in there.  But there's one black bean based (say that 3 times fast!) dish she does love...black bean brownies.  I suppose that with a little chocolate and sweetener everything's better. :)

Since it's Fall (offically!) and I can barely go an hour, let alone a full day, without eating pumpkin I thought what would make them better than pumpkin.  Thus Pumpkin Black Bean Brownies were born.

PUMPKIN BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

2 C Black Beans

1 Can (15oz) Pumpkin

1/4 C Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)

1/4 C Maple Syrup

2 pks Truvia Sugar

- optional:  Agave Nectar, Maple Syrup or Truvia to sweeten to taste

1/4+ C Rolled Oats

Blend everything EXCEPT the oats until smooth.  Stir in the oats.  Pour into a lightly greased 8x8 dish. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

These are "gooey" which is how we like them.  If you want something firmer try reducing the amount of pumpkin and/or adding more oatmeal.  :)

blend/stir

pour/spread then bake

eat/enjoy

School Lunch Wrap Up Wk6

Here's this weeks lunch wrap up.  Click below to see the previous weeks.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

MONDAY:  Homemade bread with cream cheese & raisins, strawberries & mango, cucumber, squash (see below) with a bit of ricemallow.

- everything was eaten at school although she told me the squash spilled. :)

Tuesday:  Yogurt with strawberries, a small cup of granola, left over pasta with eggplant lasagna and cheese

- yogurt and granola was eaten, some of the pasta was eaten but not a lot.  I have to agree the left over eggplant wasn't very good. :(

Wednesday:  Sliced mini sweet peppers, strawberries, chocolate & PB2 Oatmeal in a thermos to keep warm.

- She ate it all.

Thursday:  Sliced mini sweet peppers, strawberries, left over chicken quesadilla from Moe's the night before, the cookie from her Moe's kid's meal.

- Once again, she ate it all. :)

Friday:  Teacher Retreat... no school = no lunch
We spent the morning & early afternoon at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  For lunch we had the potato & corn chowder. :)


As part of our Green Bean Delivery we got 4 Delicata Squash.  I'd never bought these before so I wasn't sure how to go about peeling them.  Turns out you don't have to peel this squash!  Where has it been all my life?!?  Plus it's small, like personal sized. :)

I cooked it the way I usually do, minus the peeling.  Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds.

Slice into a bunch of half moons and roast at 450 for about 20 minutes then flip them.

Take it out when both sides are nice and golden.

My new favorite squash (not counting pumpkin, of course!)

Chowder?

I have no idea what makes something a chowder vs a soup or stew.  Maybe if it's cream based it's a chowder?  Well this isn't cream based but it's probably as close to a chowder as I'm going to get. :)

And bonus - Kai ate it too. :)

Corn & Potato Chowder

1 C Water

1 T TVP (optional - I have a bag of it and am trying to figure out ways to use it)

1 Potato - chopped

1 C Frozen corn kernels

1/2 Can drain & rinsed chickpeas

1/2 C Almond Milk

Pinch of Salt

Start by bringing water, TVP, potatoes & corn to a boil and then turn it down to low.  Add a lid and let it simmer for about 20 minutes so that the potatoes become soft.

Add the chickpeas, almond milk and salt and let simmer (no lid) for another 10 minutes or so.

Use a fork or masher to, well, mash the soup.  Your not pureeing it - just making it look more "creamy".

Serve with cheese or nutritional yeast and a slice of sturdy bread. :)

Like I said, Kai even loved it, which surprised me.   She's never been a white potato fan and lately she hasn't been much for corn.  Her one complaint was the bread.  She looked at me like I was stark raving mad when I gave her a piece of bread with no jelly.  Apparently the idea of dipping it in the chowder was completely foolish and deserved a gigantic FAIL stamp.

Finally got my Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!

Lunch yesterday was my favorite soup... Black Beans + Tomatoes + spices blended and heated then topped with some salsa and nutritional yeast.  :D

And as a side, some chips.  This time I was smart and put some in a bowl rather than bringing the entire bag out and proceeding to eat it all. 

Dinner was Moe's.  The hubs was running late and offered to just pick us up on his way home rather than me cook.  Score!

I have to say that this was not the best experience.  They had run out of onion & bell pepper so they had to make some more which meant that they weren't cooked all the way.  Plus the guy was just skimpy on the toppings - boo!

I got what I always get: Ruprict with black beans, rice, onions, bells, pico, corn salsa, lettuce and cucumber. And then some more salsas added for good measure.

Old pic - same meal

Once dinner was done we headed to Speedway:

Do you see that?

They FINALLY have the PUMPKIN yogurt. SO GOOD!!  I've been waiting TWO weeks for it to arrive.

I topped my pumpkin with blue berries, some chocolate chips and a cherry.  Kai mixed Pumpkin with Peanut Butter and Strawberry and topped hers with cherrys, strawberries, vanilla oreo-like cookie and some sprinkles.  The Hubs opted for Hot Carmel Apple Cider to drink.  It's been more than ten years and I still don't get him...How can you choose ANYTHING over pumpkin frozen yogurt?!?  His response, "Well, it's not pumpkin ice cream".  No it's not, it's better!!!

After we got home I finished making Kai's Halloween costume (Princess Aurora) and got caught up on a lot of work.  All in all, it was a good day!  

Hot Cinnamon Apples

Brrr!  It was is COLD this morning.  Even Kai, Little Miss. Jump-Out-of-Bed-Crazy-Early, got up and came in our room and got under the covers!  Then she kicked ME out of bed because she wanted me to go make her breakfast while she stayed under the blankets.  I believe I was expected to say, "Yes your Majesty" and curtsy.

At any rate we both wanted a hot breakfast.  For me that meant some HOT oatmeal topped with chia seeds, ground flax seed, cinnamon, PB2 (peanut butter powder), carob powder (cocoa) and a drizzle of Agave Nectar.

For Kai that meant some French Toast with a dip of cottage cheese & Ricemallow.

And as a side for both of us:

Hot Cinnamon Apples

1 Apple + Sprinkle of Cinnamon + 3 minutes in the Microwave

You can add a little sweetener if you want but both Kai and I liked it with just the sweetness of the apples.

Start by slicing/coring your apple:

Put in a microwavable dish and sprinkle on some cinnamon then shake it around so the apples are evenly covered.

Nuke it until the apples are soft & hot.  Our microwave is weak so I did it at 3 minutes.  You'll probably need less time.

And that's it.  A nice side dish for a COLD morning.  And it's not even Fall yet.  I'm just a cold-weather wimp!

Crockpot Eggplant Lasagna

Ah, Breakfast...Sometimes the simplest dish can be so satisfying.  I don't tend to be much of a cereal person because I don't find the boxed stuff to be filling, and there's always about a bazillion ingredients, but man, oh man did this hit the spot!  A bowl of granola topped with almond milk, some chia Seeds and some dried fruit. :)

After my very first Recess Duty at Kai's school I returned home for lunch.  I made myself a delicious salad of Spinach, nutritional yeast, flax seed, TVP, mango, red pepper, blueberries, cucumber, pecans and balsamic vinaigrette.

And then I snacked on an apple.  Apples really do make a perfect snack.  :)

On to the main event:  Crockpot Eggplant Lasagna

I decided to make an eggplant lasagna in the morning and decided to experiment with the crockpot since that would mean I didn't have to do anything in the evening.  The results were tasty but not very pretty.  You win some you lose some. :)

I started with my eggplant:

Peeled (not necessary but makes it MUCH easier to eat)

Sliced into disks and salted to pull some of the bitterness out.  I just let it sit with the salt while I prepped the rest of the food.

Other ingredients:
Sliced tomatoes, chopped onion, minced garlic, olive oil, sliced mushrooms and ricotta cheese.

Into the crockpot on low went a double layer of tomatoes, some onion, some garlic and a drizzle of olive oil (I was basically making a tomato sauce without ACTUALLY making a tomato sauce).

Then I rinsed the salt & juices off the eggplants and layered them on top of the tomatoes, smeared on some ricotta cheese and a layer of mushrooms...

And then kept layering the tomatoes/onions/garlic/eggplant/cheese/mushrooms/tomatoes/onions/etc....

 Once all that was layered I added a can of drained diced tomatoes.

And forced the lid on!

 8 hours later it looked pretty much the same, if not a little shorter. 

And then I scooped it onto my plate.  YIKES!!  That's an ugly mess.  The ricotta cheese took on a tan color that was straight up unappealing...

But a layer of nutritional yeast and some parmesan cheese covered the ugly right up.

And in the end it was a delicious dish!  Even Kai ate hers on top of some macaroni. :)