Inside the Box: It's In the Bag

       My September posts focused on packing school lunch.  I mentioned healthy snacks, money saving sandwiches, and even the lunch box itself.  It's time to unzip and take a look inside the lunch box.  I am not a fan of sandwich bags.  I know they are convenient, but it just seems wasteful to me.  Especially as it wastes my time to have to drive to the store to buy more of them.  I was using Gladware and Tupperware boxes, until I found a product I like better.

Open up and slip a sandwich in.

   Save It Bags are reusable sandwich and snack bags made with custom fabric covers and a wipeable liner.  They are very easy to clean. Once a week I throw them in the laundry.  I meant to air dry them, but found out they are dryer safe when I forgot to pull them out.

Turn it inside out for a quick wipe down.

     My kids love them.  They are space saving and don't squish other foods, preventing surprising messes. We have Star Wars, camouflage, flowers and hedge hogs.  I just purchased these for an upcoming birthday party.

Adorable Hello Kitty Save It Bags

     The adjustable Velcro makes them great for carrying a cell phone or electronic device.  They also make a cute make up bag.  I'm looking forward to purchasing more bags for my Christmas list. They are a great product, made locally. They are available through craft fairs and online.  

Muffins, Muffins, Galore

Blueberry Muffins

  I wanted to make a big batch of muffins for a busy weekend.  It would serve as both a fun activity to do together and an easy breakfast the next morning. Not wanting to jack everyone up on sugar, I searched for a recipe using stevia.  It took me some browsing time to decide since I had canned pumpkin and bananas,  but lacked some ingredients such as pineapple juice. 

   My bakers decided for me with an emphatic "We want blueberry!"  I added more oat flour since I had no graham flour. Having only frozen blueberries in stock, I was concerned the colors would streak when baked.  As you can see it was not a problem.  Now to solve the mystery of the missing muffin!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=674642 

Submitted by: DREAMERCHICK83

Minutes to Cook: 25

Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries 1 cup minus 1TBS ww graham flour 3/4 cup oat flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1TBS stevia 2 egg whites 3/4 c plain fat free yogurt 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Grease muffin tin .Combine dry ingredients. Combine in separate bowl, eggs yogurt, applesauce and mix. Combine the two mixtures. drain blueberries and add to mixture with 1tbs of flour.

Smoothie Operator

Peach Smoothie

   Our featured smoothie in the picture is courtesy of our August peach picking.  I threw in some frozen peaches, vanilla, and yogurt.  It is a little summer memory in a glass.

   Smoothies are fun to make with kids and include a variety of fruit in their diet.  I let them pour everything in and making sure the lid is on tight, they get to push the button.

    My favorite smoothie uses frozen strawberries and blueberries, plain yogurt, a splash of orange juice, fresh or frozen bananas and sometimes milk.  If there are any leftovers, pour them in some Dixie cups and add sticks to make Popsicles in the freezer.

   Smoothies use up the fruit bowl like soup cleans out the refrigerator.  If  bananas are getting spotty, I freeze them for later or throw them in the blender.  Dan makes an awesome banana smoothie with yogurt, honey and vanilla.  It is so good!

   Smoothies are a versatile treat.  I serve them for breakfast, snacks and dessert.  You can sneak secret ingredients like flax oil in and nobody knows they are there.  Carrot juice alone is one thing.  Blend it with frozen strawberries, and the reception is completely different.   

Snack Attack

Cinnamon Raisin Pumpkin Seeds

   I searched the cupboard for an afternoon snack and came up with nada.  There was food in there, but nothing looked interesting at the moment.  I had a bulk bag of pumpkin seeds from the co-op.    I bought a ton of them since they were on sale, but when I brought them home I realized they were raw.  For some reason I didn't feel like roasting them in the oven in August.  With the blustery weather, it is cozy to have the oven warming the house.
 
    These are not like the jack-o-lantern variety of pumpkin seeds .  They are much smaller and don't have the shell on.  They are high in zinc so they make a great snack without the junk food guilt. I usually bake the pumpkin seeds plain and then add season salt.

  Since we had a plethora of pumpkin seeds I decided to make two batches, one savory and one sweet.  I lined two cookie sheets with foil and olive oil.  Then I put a single layer of pumpkin seeds on each one.  I sprinkled the first pan with cinnamon and the second pan with oregano and garlic salt.

  I baked the pumpkin seeds for about 20 minutes or until they popped.  When they cooled, I added raisins to the cinnamon batch.  These would be great with nuts, cereal and dried fruit to make trail mix or sprinkled over yogurt.  The "pizza" flavored seeds were a salty, crunchy treat.  Another variation to try would be a cayenne, spicy blend.  Happy Snacking!

Pizza flavored pumpkin seeds

Can't Catch Me

  Here's a new take on the classic gingerbread man.  After reading Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby we  recreated the story using graham crackers.  It was a simple fun project that you can eat when finished.  What more could a kid ask for?
  
  To make your own here is what you need per person. Start with 2 full graham crackers.  Your helpers can divide up the crackers in whatever creative spirit they desire.  My little cooks used two squares for the head, two for the body, one each for the arms and one each for the feet. 

   For buttons we used raisins, almonds,  puffed wheat and shredded wheat cereal.  We glued our adornments on using peanut butter.  Some of the ingredients disappeared during assembly.  This was a good way to clean out the pantry of unpopular items. 



Graham the cracker man

  This was a good activity for a winter day indoors.  I orginally came up with the idea when using up camping supplies for s'mores and trail mix. Here's a look at our finished product, a no-bake graham cracker man. I was told that he has square feet, "So that he can't run away!"














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