frozen fruit cups

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for a great addition to a packed lunch.

11 0z can mandarin oranges – drained
1 cup diced peaches
1 cup crushed pineapple – drained
1 cup fruit juice from drained fruit
30 oz fresh or frozen sliced strawberries – drained
6oz frozen orange juice concentrate
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 Banannas diced

Thaw OJ concentrate. MIx all ingredients. Freeze in little cups with lids. She buys the little disposable cups from URM however she has used tupperware as well.

Change the fruit depending on what is in season. My sister is doing melon balls for her kiddos.

Apple Cinnamon Loaf

1/3 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 apple, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside. Beat white sugar and butter together in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated; add vanilla extract.

Combine flour and baking powder together in another bowl; stir into creamed butter mixture. Mix milk into batter until smooth. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Next add half the apples and half the brown sugar cinnamon mixture. Lightly pat apple mixture into batter.

Pour the remaining batter over apple layer; top with remaining apples and add more brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Lightly pat apples into batter; swirl brown sugar mixture through apples using a finger or spoon.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.

Cheeseburger mini muffins

This is a recipe that I used for my daughters school lunchs, and I am pleased to say that my husband loved taking them to work with him as well. The recipe travels perfectly, we have used these for family picnics, baseball games, and just about any grab-n-go event we have to attend. Perfect little after school snack too! They are super hot out of the oven warm with a salad for a simple dinner, or just as yummy served room temp in a lunch box. The best part is they really taste like a cheeseburger with half the fat and calories. = o )

1/2 pound ground beef ( ground turkey or chicken works well for this recipe as well )
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 Cups- All purpose flour
1 Tablespoon- sugar
2 teaspoons- baking powder
1 teaspoon- salt
3/4 Cup- Ketchup ( I have also used tomato sauce as a substitute )
3/4 Cup- Milk ( any variety you use, I normally use 1 or 2 percent )
1/2 Cup- butter or margarine, melted
2- Eggs
1 teaspoon- prepared mustard
2 Cups- shredded cheedar cheese

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cobine the ketchup, milk, butter, eggs, and mustard; stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the beef mixture and cheese. Fill greased miniature muffin cups three-fourths full.

Bake at 425 for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Refrigerate leftovers.
Yield: 5 dozen

Note: Muffins may be baked in regular size muffin cups for 20 to 25 minutes, reciped makes 2 dozen.

I have also made these as ham and cheese mini muffins, using left over ham bits in place of the ground beef, swiss cheese in place of the shredded cheddar, and chopped green onions in place of the cooked onion.

I have also made these with half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. Made both ways, they taste great and are a fun alternative to sandwiches!

Make Ahead Cold Lunches {A Weeks Worth of Lunches in a day!}

http://happymoneysaver.com/cold-lunches-in-a-day/

I am re-posting this awesome way to save money by doing make ahead cold lunches! Not only will this save you time but cold lunches can also be a lot more healthy too than the cafeteria mystery hamburgers. Before I tried this method I always had a tough time with packing a cold lunch for my kids.  Even though I always WANTED to pack the kids cold lunches it was a lot of time and work each morning.  I would usually get excited, do cold lunches for about 2 weeks and then get lazy. I found that if I didn’t prepare the night before, it was a mad rush in the morning and it was just so much easier to say – “You’re getting hot lunch today!”

Last year I tried out making ahead a weeks worth of cold lunches all in one day. And it worked! This idea is kind of like freezer cooking but for cold lunches.  Once a week I chop and bag up all the fresh fruit, vegetables, crackers and any other lunch items all at once. Then I add them to a cold or dry lunch bucket to store in my fridge or pantry. The kids can quickly grab the items to throw in their lunches when they prepare them themselves in the morning or evening before.

The cold lunch bucket is just a tub I purchased at Walmart. It fits perfectly in my fridge. Once a week I will separate grapes, chop oranges or apples (if I did apples I would first soak them in pineapple juice or fruit fresh so they keep longer), chop carrot or celery sticks and even make up some sandwiches to freeze.

Some of the items I have kept in my own personal cold lunch bucket this past year are:

• String Cheese, Baby bel cheese
• Yogurt smoothies or other yogurt cups
• Carrots ( I found little cups with lids at Cash n Carry that I add ranch dip to them sometimes)
• Apples
• Sliced Oranges
• Mandarin Oranges, whole
• Green Peppers, sliced thinly
• Celery sticks
• Grapes, Cherries, Cantaloupe or other seasonal fruit cut up

Dry Lunch Bucket

The dry good lunch bucket has all the other dry type items such as bagged pretzels, crackers, homemade granola bars, trail mix, treats and more. This bucket sits in my pantry.

Some of the dry items to consider:

• Crackers or Pretzels
• Homemade Granola
• Granola Bars
• Beef Jerky
• Trail Mix
• Chips
• Graham Crackers
• Brownies or Homemade Cookies ( I bake up a bunch and individually bag them up)
• Special Treats ( usually for a holiday – like a single candy on Halloween…)

Sandwiches & Wraps

I have found that the easiest way for me to make the sandwich part is to take a large roll or sandwich bun, add in meat and cheese, wrap and freeze individually. My children will take them out in the morning frozen and by the time it’s lunch the sandwich has thawed. If they must have the condiments on their sandwiches you can always add them in between the meat and cheese, so when it thaws it won’t sog your bread. Wraps will also freeze really well as well as quesidillas. My kids will eat them cold. By the way – my kids favorite is pepperoni + provolone cheese on a hard roll or bun.

How many to Make? 

I count out the number of days for cold lunch that week times how many children. Here is my own personal math: 4 kids x 5 days = 20.  20 bags of various chopped vegetables, 20 bags of various chopped fruit, 20 bags of chips/crackers, 20 string cheese or even treats if I feel nice that week..hee hee. 20 Sandwiches, quesadillas, or other main dish options. So I make everything all in one day and get it all prepared.  

other suggestions:

also i started making jello and putting in containers i get a weeks worth out of one box so essentially it costs me .50 for a weeks worth of jello or pudding and i finally found a use for those mini containers that came with the rubbermaid set 

Our kids love having roast beef sandwiches. We buy a HUGE roast from Costco, shred it up and make 75-100 sandwiches at a time! (Use whipped dressing, not mayo-as the egg in mayo separates.) Whipped dressing, roast beef, mustard and cheese-they taste fantastic when they thaw! We always make up a whack of paper bag lunches with a granola bar, fruit snack, fruit cup, or little packages of crackers, etc. and store them in our pantry. Then all the kids have to do is grab one of those bags and put a piece of fresh fruit and a frozen sandwich in and their lunches are done! This has saved my sanity so much!!!

To help not get soggy pb&j’s spread the peanut butter on each piece of the bread, making sure to cover all the bread, and then put the jelly in the middle. This “protects” the bread from soaking up the jam or jelly. Also we use whole grain wheat tortilla shells for sandwiches too. I have made Cesar Chicken Salad Wraps for the kids lunches the Sunday before and they never get soggy. I will make up a batch and my husband and I take them for lunches all week too, and they are healthy and taste great. Also, we have a recipe for Asian Chicken Salad that can be packaged in tupperware and taken in lunches too. There is nothing that gets soggy in it and it holds up well all week. Other than that I just pre-bag the side stuff and throw it all together the night before.

Another good idea i do for my kids lunches is use a flatbread or tortilla could work too spread it with cream cheese and cucumbers and roll into a wrap… kids love it!

One of our favorite quick lunch ideas are mini bagels and condiment sized cream cheese or cream cheese in a mini Tupperware. The kids spread them at school so they are fresh and they love them. 

A little tip in the cheap-and-easy vein: Bottled lemon juice will work great for preserving apple pieces. Put a little bit in a baggie of apples and shake/knead it until the juice has contacted all surfaces, then dump out any remaining juice (I also use a little bit of lemon juice in my palm to rub on the cut surface of a head of cabbage to keep it from greying when I leave it in a bag in the fridge for a few days). This might be cheaper and easier to get hold of than pineapple juice (unless you use a fair amount of canned pineapple in its own juice), and it’s great for people who like a tart/sour kick, though it only gives a slight tang unless you let the apples *sit* in the lemon juice for a while to soak some up.

The first time I tried lemon juice, I left the apples to sit for ten or fifteen minutes, unsure of how long it took to get whatever chemical reactions might be needed; I felt the experiment failed because they ended up tasting so strong, but they were a HUGE hit with my husband and his friend 

I cut apples in fours and then sprinkle them with cinnamon. It hides the brown and tastes yummy!

One thing I do is make cupcakes and use a filler to put the frosting in the middle. That way the frosting is inside the cupcake – otherwise what a mess!

One of my daughters favorites is pasta salad, won’t go bad in the lunchbox and very filling:
Large shell pasta
pepperoni
cheddar cheese
green bell pepper
green onion
Italian dressing – I make extra to add the next day as it drys out a little overnight.

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

Even the pilgrims would approve...
For the Cake:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
For the Glaze: ...
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons apple cider
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and pumpkin puree into a large bowl. Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated. The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.
Pour batter into a greased 7 x 11 X 2 pan. This is the small, rectangular-sized pan from your Pyrex set. You know the set you had to have when you got married and rarely ever used all the pieces. Finally, you have a use for it.
Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.
Make the glaze while you're waiting.
Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice. Glaze should be thick but pourable. Add more sugar or cider if needed. Pour over the cake while still warm. Reserve some to pour over each slice when served.

Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup evaporated milk
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with silicone liners, foil liners sprayed with cooking spray or just spray the cups with cooking spray. Either of these three methods will make it easy to take the cupcake out after it’s cooked. Paper liners make it difficult to remove the cupcakes.

Mix the pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Add the flour, pumpkin spice, salt, baking powder and baking soda to the mixture. Fill each muffin cup with 1/3 cup of the mixture. Bake for twenty minutes and let cool for twenty minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle more pumpkin pie spice on top and serve. Makes 12 cupcakes.

***NOTES::: added 8/21/13....put more than 1/3 c of filling (almost to the top is the consensus so far.)

ZUCCHINI PIZZA CASSEROLE

(This is something I really enjoy making when I get the taste for it! Who knew zucchini could taste so darn good! )

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded zucchini (about 5 small zucchini's)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
2 oz. cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 lb. ground beef
2 oz. pepperoni, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
4 oz. cheddar or mozzarella cheese (or a mix of both)

Directions:

Shred zucchini. Mix the zucchini with 2 eggs, Parmesan cheese, 2 oz. of cheese and Italian seasoning. Press the zucchini mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 in. glass baking dish. Bake the crust uncovered for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

While the crust bakes, brown the ground beef in a large pan. Add in the onion, pepperoni and spaghetti sauce and cook until onion is soft, about 5 - 7 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven. Pour the meat and sauce over the crust. Top with peppers, sprinkle with 4 oz. of cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 or until the pizza is heated through and the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Allow the dish to stand for 2 - 3 minutes before slicing and serving.