CityMama™

School lunch update

Now that Bunny's kindergarten stays late 3 days a week, I'm packing lunches in earnest. There was a brief respite as she was lured in by the thrill of hot lunches at her school, but after a couple tries, she declared she didn't want to eat hot lunches any more.  (And I don't blame her.)

I am thankful to applesauce cups, yogurt cups, and Lara bars (which I buy two cases at a time from Whole Foods) for making school lunches easy on the days I am pressed for time. And now that Bun can peel her own clementines those make their way into her lunch almost every day.

Most public school kids in this area eat their lunches outside year round, something that shocked my mom when we moved to California during the winter from Hawaii.  There, I ate in a cafeteria, even when it was nice outside.

Now that's its cold, I've been packing lunches in a wide-mouth Thermos container. The bento boxes have been set aside for now. I heat leftovers and then pack them into the Thermos.  This is also where my Zojirushi rice cooker (that keeps rice warm for up to a day or so) comes in handy. Bunny's favorite lunch so far is leftover take-out Chinese (chicken curry or sweet and sour pork) packed on top of rice.  The other day she told me she ate it for her snack she was looking forward to it so much.  Other days she takes soup (warm "chicken matzo ball noodle soup" is huge hit) or pasta.

So that's where we are with the lunches. How's it going for you?

Pumpkin muffins made by two little pumpkins

Last weekend we took our girls to "Grandpa's" pumpkin patch down the street. It's your basic pumpkin patch/bouncy house/carnie-run affair.  Bunny had lost some privileges so she wasn't able to participate in the bounce action (maybe this weekend), but she seemed content to look for pumpkins, especially since her little sister was too scared to jump in the bouncy house.

After wandering around the pumpkin patch for a bit, she turn to face me with a bright idea.

"Let's make pumpkin muffins!" she squealed. "Can we?"

Chicken Drumsticks Two Ways

I can't resist a good five pound pack of chicken drumsticks. I prefer dark meat anyway, so scooping up a pile of chicken for around five bucks is no big whoop to me (and easy on my wallet).

Drumsticks (and thighs) are the best for shoyu chicken anyway, and once cooked they make great additions to a lunch box or are yummy to munch on at midnight while standing over the sink. Because they are so versatile, I like to cook them all different ways, some fancier and more time consuming, some completely the opposite.  If I'm going to cook a whole package and I am short on time, I will often do two super-easy preparations at once. Like this.

You'll need:

•five pounds of chicken drumsticks, thighs or wings

•1 bottle each of any of the following *two* sauces (I used barbecue and garlic black bean sauce):

• barbecue sauce (my preference is Noh's Hawaiian because it doesn't have that fake smoky taste)
• teriyaki sauce
• chipotle-raspberry sauce
• Jamaican jerk sauce
• oyster sauce*
• hoisin sauce
• garlic black bean sauce* (super yum!)
• chili-garlic-black bean sauce* (delicious mixed with equal parts honey and spooned over chicken)

*These are salty and very flavorful. A little goes a long way, so use sparingly.

Make a couple of shallow slashes through the meaty part of each leg or thigh (not too deep, do not cut all the way to the bone). This helps to speed cooking and allows the sauce to work down into the meat.

Place half the chicken in to a pan and slosh some of your chosen sauce onto it. You could shake it up all together in a bag, but I don't even bother.  This is a very forgiving technique and great if you are in a hurry. The chicken still tastes great, even when the sauce doesn't evenly coat the chicken.

Place the rest of the chicken into another pan. Slosh some of the second sauce onto that. For the saltier sauces like the garlic-black bean,  I spoon 2-3 tablespoons of of the sauce into a bowl. Then I spoon/shmear the sauce onto each chicken leg, applying sparingly. (Put the sauce into a bowl so you don't dip our raw chicken spoon back into the jar.)

Bake at 325º for 50 minutes to an hour.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves four with plenty of leftovers for lunches, or 6 without leftovers.

Panzanella: Italian Bread Salad

This classic Italian dish is the perfect way to transition from summer to fall. You combine hearty leftover bread—the drier the better—with juicy tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. Some people like to add all manner of things like cucumbers or peppers or olives. I'm a purist and I like to keep it simple. I might add some thinly sliced sweet red or yellow onion or a splash (just a splash) of red wine vinegar, but I try to let the tomatoes shine through.

For this recipe, I used about 1/3 of a loaf of very stale La Brea Bakery whole grain loaf, three large and juicy heirloom tomatoes, a couple handfuls of fresh basil, about 4 glugs of fruity olive oil (use the best you have), half a thinly sliced onion added just before serving, a slug of red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper.

You need to start the recipe at least two hours before you serve it.  The best part about it is that it needs no refrigeration, in fact, refrigeration destroys the flavors, so make sure to keep and serve it at room temperature.

The procedure is as follows:

• Dice bread into 1-inch cubes, and layer into a bowl.
• Placed chopped tomatoes (no need to seed) and any accumulated juices into the bowl atop the tomatoes.
• Salt the tomatoes, drizzle olive oil over everything, scatter basil over the top, and just let the bowl hang out on your kitchen counter for 2-4 hours.
• Just before serving, add the onions and a splash of vinegar.  Toss well. Salt and pepper to taste, and add a touch more olive oil.  Serve. Serves 4.

You can also omit the last step and just serve it after the bread has had a chance to absorb the tomato juices.

Matisse & Jack's DIY energy bars are fun to make and eat

Mmmm! Chocolate chip bars!

We're huge fans of Matisse & Jack's bake-it-yourself healthy energy bars. These are the best-tasting energy bars I've ever had—they are like eating a treat rather than something healthy which means they are perfect for a "guilt-free" dessert night.

Mixing up a batch takes about a minute and best of all kids can help. You add 2/3 cup of applesauce and 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt to the dry mix, then you spread the mixture into a pan and bake for 30 minutes.  One pan makes enough bars for two girls to have a school snack every day, but since most kids like variety, you can also freeze them and take them out as needed.

We've tried cranberry walnut and the chocolate chip. Guess which version mamma likes better and which version the girls like better?

Points to Matisse & Jacks for being a local (to me) company—which I'd rather support than some huge granola bar conglomerate.

Stuck in a school lunch rut? (Or about to be?)

I've got another article up at 3aday.org. This one is chock-full of snack ideas that would be perfect for school lunches or after-school snacks.

When you start to see a flurry of dairy recipes on my blog you'll know why!

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On a related note, you've got to check out Lunch in a Box.  Love!