July Foodie Penpal

This month, I joined a Foodie Penpal program from The Lean Green Bean and the last day of the each month is always 'reveal day' where we share what we received and sent. What a fabulous idea it is... sharing your favorite goodies with other people across the nation! The package I shipped out went to New York to Gastronomic Nomad, so be sure and check out what they had to say about what we sent. It was their first month in the program too!

Since this is the first month I participated, I learned some important things just from what I received, and what made it intact! My package came from The Healthy Living Chick, and included a great variety of items. A couple didn't make it, but the ones that did were FABulous!

While, we enjoy all the items sent, I have to feature the favorites! The Zevia soda was a great surprise for me because we had just found them on sale at our local Kroger and got the Root Beer ourselves, and the Cola version was sent in our package! We are NOT pop drinkers, but it was so good! Ooh, and that Ritter Sport chocolate with almonds was crazy good. We chopped some up for on top of vanilla ice cream.. WOW!

Well, the ice cream got what was left after 'someone' sampled a bite or two...

The Archer Farms granola was breakfast this morning on some maple yogurt. Yum! I'll definitely be checking out our Target to see what other flavors are available.

Now for the fine print and details about Foodie Penpals... ALL the details can be found on their website, though.
* On the 5th of every month, you receive your penpal via email. You contact your penpal to get their mailing address and any other information you might need to determine what to send.
* You have until the 15th of the month to get your goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month (reveal day), you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal.
* Boxes should be filled with fun foodie things like local food items, homemade treats, and favorites. The spending limit is $15 and must also include something written like a note or recipe. Shipping appropriately is up to you!

Beach Party

So, this is rough to admit, but due to my 'issues' with sand, this was my daughter's first real trip to the beach. She had an amazing time playing in the water and the surf, with the rocks, seaweed, and shells, and yes, especially in the sand! We went through some pictures and talked about the beach today while have a lunch inspired by our day.

Blue Ramen noodles, Life Saver gummy, roasted seaweed, Goldfish crackers, breaded chicken skewer, cucumber and bell pepper starfish, and Brown Cow maple yogurt with grapes and brown sugar 'sand'.

Let the Games Begin

The London 2012 Summer Olympics begin today, so that was the obvious inspiration for lunch! The fabulous peeps from Bento Bloggers and Friends did an Olympic hop today, which I sadly managed to miss out on due to my laziness busy schedule, but be sure and check out the hop, starting here! They have some insanely fabulous lunches!

Carrot coins, cucumber rings, salami and turkey skewers, rings of green grapes (under melons), watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew, and grilled cheddar cheese sandwich with Olympic rings in Swiss cheese.

Chicks Day Out

It was such a beautiful day today, so we decided to have a girls day out. We ran a couple errands after breakfast and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Children's Zoo, which we are fortunate enough to have just 5 minutes away from our house! For our 'chicks' day out, we packed a lunch and were on our way! I just threw the scraps in a bag for me and ate up what she left behind from hers and it worked out great! I just love days like this!

Cherry tomatoes, carrots, parsley, salami, hard boiled eggs, mild cheddar cheese, smoked Gouda cheese, veggie straws, NatureBox dried apples & peaches, and Blueberry Muffin Larabar heart.

Recipe Review - Toffee Cheesecake Minis

If you like cheesecake and toffee, you will LOVE these. They are absolutely as sinful as they sound, and every bit as delicious as they look! They are super simple and because they are individual servings, its a wee bit easier to ration them out. And because we wanted to share with everyone, we linked up to a fabulous recipe linky party at The Better Baker's Weekend Potluck! In fact we are honored to be featured there with this yummy recipe (see the linky button at bottom). Enjoy!

Toffee Cheesecake Minis

Ingredients - 18-20 Vanilla wafer cookies (I encourage you to go for Nilla Wafers), 3-8oz cream cheese blocks (softened), 3/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 cup Heath Bits O' Brickle Toffee Bits plus 9-10tsp more for topping (find these in the baking aisle with chocolate chips.. definitely get the toffee bits NOT the chocolate/toffee bits).

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18-20 muffin cups with paper lines. Put one vanilla wafer cookie in the bottom of each cup.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla to blend. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits. Spoon batter into muffin cups to 1/4" or so from the top. This will make anywhere from 18-20 depending on how you spoon it out.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until just set. Remove from the oven, sprinkle a 1/2 tsp toffee bits onto each individual cheesecake. Cool in pan. Don't worry if the center sinks a little. Remove, cover loosely, and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Enjoy!

Pizza Pie!

Have you tried Momables yet? You should! While full access to menus, shopping lists, and extras requires membership, they do have a load of free information available on their site too. One of the fantastic things I think they are working on is something they call "Lunchbox Wars" where they compare Lunchables versions of lunches to similar healthy, delicious, homemade versions. I made a version of this for my husband to take to work, as well as one for my daughter. I like the fact that this works well with any sort of pizza toppings you like, so we added mushrooms, peppers, and black olives to ours. To view the pizza post on Momables, visit here and to see the original contributor of the DIY pizza visit Bent On Better Lunches!

Kiddo's lunch - Whole grain sandwich thin pie wedges, fresh shredded mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperoni, black olives, sliced cubanelle peppers, pizza sauce in container, and strawberries.

Hubby's lunch - Whole grain sandwich thins, fresh shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced mushrooms, turkey pepperoni, pizza sauce in container, and fruit snacks.

Recipe Review - Creamy Corn Mac n' Cheese

O.M.G. this stuff is delicious! I love macaroni and cheese and do have 2 recipes that are in rotation at our house, but this is by far the easiest and most delicious that we've tried. Hands down! The recipe is originally from The Food Network, with some tweaks of our own. Keep in mind that you can use sharp or mild cheddar, and you can substitute Monterrey Jack for the mozzarella if you prefer, but it is worth the wee bit of time it takes to shred the cheese yourself versus buying already shredded. You can't go wrong! I promise! And who knew you could make a mac n' cheese like this without a roux!

Creamy Corn Mac n' Cheese 

Ingredients - 2-8oz cans creamed corn, 1 cup milk (whole if possible), 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1 Tbsp (heaping) cornstarch, salt, pepper, hot sauce (Sriracha preferred), 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, 4 oz freshly grated mild cheddar, 4 oz freshly grated sharp cheddar, 12 oz freshly grated mozzarella, 1 egg, lightly beaten, 1 1/2 cups croutons (garlic butter is a good one), 1 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and move one grate to the top of the oven. Boil water for elbow noodles.

Simmer creamed corn, milk, and onion powder. Combine cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl to dissolve. Cook pasta al dente. While pasta is cooking, add cornstarch mixture to the corn and whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until it starts to thicken! Season with salt and pepper. You can also add a few dashes of hot sauce at this point too if you want. We always serve ours on the side so individuals can control the heat!

Drain cooked pasta well and combine with corn mixture. Add all the shredded cheddar, egg, and half the shredded mozzarella, and stir. Pour into a 4 cup casserole dish. Cover with the remaining mozzarella. Roughly crush the croutons and combine with olive oil. Add to the top of the macaroni and cheese.

Bake on the top rack until golden, 15-20 minutes. Serve with Sriracha drizzled on top (or on the side).

 

EleFUNt Lunch

I asked what animal was wanted for lunch, and surprisingly, it was elephants! Done! We have 'pickles' growing in the garden now, so we added some of those to this lunch too. While I have a tried and true cucumber eater, when they are in our garden, she insists they are pickles. Delicious no matter what you call them, but how neat would it be to really have pickles hanging on a vine fresh for you to pick? Yum!

Top tier has a grilled cheese on rye and white toast, swiss cheese, lettuce, black olives, carrots, and cucumber (from the garden), watermelon, grapes, Brown Cow vanilla yogurt, and NatureBox Organic Mighty Mix (nuts, seeds, and dried fruits).

Ladybug's Picnic!

I have to admit that I absolutely LOVE this little short about the ladybug's picnic. It gets stuck in my head for days at a time, but I can't help myself. I made a lunch inspired by the tune and hope you enjoy both it and the clip. We tried to incorporate everything we could from the song into the lunch and had a blast doing it!

Spaghetti 'jump ropes', sack of tomatoes and black olives, chow mien noodles, red pepper, and carrot 'fire', tuna sandwich w/ American & swiss cheese 'picnic blanket and plates' and the M&M ladybugs 12 at the ladybug picnic!

We were fortunate to be selected as Bento of the Week for this lunch over at Bento Blog Network for this one. Thank you to those that voted and Diana for hosting!

Eek..A Mouse!

First of all, let me make it clear, that an 'eek' will never honestly pass the lips of anyone in my household in response to a mouse or any rodent for that matter. We adore them. We have had pet rats and mice for 16 years now. They are just fantastic animals! That said, 'eek' seemed appropriate in this lunch, even though I was obviously out of the letter 'E'. Believe me, I was informed that these were indeed 3s and not Es multiple times!

Annie's organic macaroni and cheese, turkey bologna, carrots, yellow bell pepper, mandarin oranges, snap peas, and cookies.

Recipe Review - Quick Fudge Brownies

I love this super simple chocolatey fix! Yum-Me!

Quick Fudge Brownies

Ingredients - 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup flour, and powdered sugar or ice cream (optional) for serving

Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat. Off the heat, whisk in sugar, then eggs, vanilla, and salt.  Stir in flour. Pour into parchment lined 8 inch square baking pan (I used glass). Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes until just springy in the center. Let cool before cutting in squares. Serve with powdered sugar or ice cream or devour as is!

 

Footprints in the Sand

Using that idea of freezing yogurt in ice cube molds, I mashed some bananas in with some maple flavored yogurt and froze them in a foot mold for a bedtime snack. Oh man, are they yummy!

Crushed cheerios, banana, and Brown Cow maple yogurt with mashed banana for the footprints! 

I'm telling you.. I'd officially have a foot fetish now! Yum, yum, yum!

Animal Friends Picnic

What's better than a picnic with your friends? Okay, so in this case, you are actually eating your friends, but they are yummy after all! And what picnic would be complete without an ant? Thanks to Molly's LunchBox for sending us the fun picks you see in this lunch!

Picnic friends are salami, mayo, mustard, and Muenster cheese sandwiches, and served with baby romaine lettuce, cucumber, carrots, Kalamata olives, checkerboard apple, and a mix of chocolate raisins with NatureBox organic mighty mix.



I still think the checkered apples are one of the easiest and most universal ways to add a fast, fun, yummy element to any lunchbox. While the checkerboard is simple, you can achieve the same result using any shape you'd like. Here is a quick demo of how it is done..

Score your apple with vertical and horizontal lines, using a sharp
paring knife, then lift each square gently with the tip of a knife.

And there you have it! A lovely checkerboard apple!

Independence Day

Hope everyone enjoys their midweek holiday.. how weird is it to have 4th of July on a Wednesday? Well, I'm actually red, white, and blued out for lunches, so we went with something vibrant, fresh, and summery instead. Course, I had to add in the layered Jello, because it is the 4th of July after all. Dang Jello!

Strawberry Greek yogurt, layered Jello, cucumber, red & yellow bell pepper, baby romaine lettuce, ranch in container, and roll-ups of smoked turkey, Muenster cheese, bell pepper, cucumber, mayo, and mustard in salsa wraps.



While we did a couple other projects this week, this abstract flag turned out neat, so I had to share. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!