Nov 9, 2012

Sesame Street

Sesame Street premiered on PBS November 10, 1969.

Here's to Elmo and all of our friends, that we grew up with, new and old. 




Tomato sauce and rice, corn tortilla and nori eyes, mustard nose and a nori mouth. 



Oct 31, 2012

Halloween


Halloween lunches for the week: 

Ghost eggs. Nori punched with regular hole punch and hand cut mouth, on a bed of greens, with rice cheese cut with my letter cutters.  We dried the apple mouth with some cashew pieces. Whole Foods had these awesome ghost potato crisps! They were so yummy and so much fun! I drew a jack-o-lantern face on their cuties. 






My little one, who is allergic to eggs, got a mashed potato ghost: 



The hot dog fingers are always a hit! So gross though! I cut the hot dogs, then boil them in water and a bit of coconut aminos , added some slivered almonds as super gross fingernails! 



Halloween Breakfast: 

I tried to make some pancake ghosts... they didn't quite turn out as I had hoped, but they are certainly creepy! 



A creepy pancake: 



And some creepy eggs: 



Dinner, which was supposed to be tentacle chicken pot pies in mason jars. I have not yet perfected the art of gluten, dairy, and egg free pie crust, so they were very difficult and frustrating to make, and I was so disappointed how they turned out, but, my kids were happy.  












Sep 27, 2012

Spiderman

My spidey senses are tingling!

I printed off a spiderman face and realized how much crazy work that would be to try to do it all with the lines and everything, so I just went with the eye lines. I feel like he is still definitely recognizable.




Sep 26, 2012

Self Portrait...

Oh, I mean, Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman was always a favorite show of mine growing up. I remember my Aunt, my moms' sister, looked so much like Wonder Woman, she even had other children thinking she was! I knew some day I would catch her doing the twirl and saving the day!

And now, here I am, a single mom of three, making this all happen, I think I can call myself Wonder Woman, or, at least pretend some times.


Bed of white rice, pepper jack rice cheese body, turkey pepperoni top, "cheddar" rice cheese emblem and crown, nori hair. 

Sep 25, 2012

National Comic Book Day

Our favorite character of all~ Batman!

An interesting little quote for you:
"In his editorial, “A National Disgrace,” the literary critic publically assaulted the medium and accused parents of being “guilty of criminal negligence” for allowing their children to read comic books." ~Sterling North.
Read more cool comic book facts here. 

Today's lunch is rice with a nori cut out of the Batman emblem.


Sides of fresh raspberries, baby carrots, some leftover peanuts and cashews, and some gluten free cookies that was a super special treat! 


Sep 24, 2012

Superheros

My son, like many other children, loves comic books and superheros. Tomorrow is National Comic Book day, so this week we are going to celebrate the superheros we enjoy.

Today is just kind of a generic super hero, maybe it's Robin from Batman, or maybe they are part of The Incredibles! Who do you think they are?


Brown rice crafted with rice molds, hand cut nori with eye holes punched with a regular hole punch, all on fresh spinach. 

Sep 19, 2012

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Me sprogs love pirates and this has been such a fun day for us t' celebrate!

 I love writin' li'l love notes  t'em. 

This lunch be made with a rice ball, nori, and rice cheese. 

Ahoy, matey! 


Some piratey smoothie for breaksmartly: 



Sep 18, 2012

Fancy for a minute?

My friend Chef Ron and his partner are always making beautiful, fancy fresh food from their garden and market. Today, I was inspired by them, trying to make something pretty with a fancy description. I will never be able to compete with them, but sometimes it's fun to give something different a little try.

Brown rice ball smothered in mint sauce on a bed of fresh spinach, garnished with a pecan and sliced baby carrots. On the side are seaweed squares, baby carrots, peanuts in the shell, and sliced oranges.


Sep 17, 2012

Rosh Hashanah

Shanah Tovah! 


Rice with nori star and shofar, sliced carrots, raisins, apples ~ no honey, too messy! 

Sep 14, 2012

Frolicking Fall Faces

I love Portland in the fall! I am use to cold, windy Septembers, bundling up our homes and preparing for a long winter. And here we are enjoying the beautiful warm sun! We have been riding bikes to school in this lovely weather! I feel so great and the kids love it.


Rice smiley faces made with rice molds, and nori with the nori face punches. Included in the lunch are peanuts in the shell, cashews, dried mango and cut apples. 




Sep 13, 2012

Rice and hot dog flowers

I love my little rice molds, as they are easy and fast to use on days I am not feeling terribly creative. I also have the Fagor 3 in 1 cooker, so I can cook rice pretty quickly!

I cooked up some rice, added coconut oil and garlic salt and pressed them into the flower molds; sliced up some leftover Applegate Farms turkey dogs, and, tada! Quick, cute flowers that my kids gobbled up. Included in the lunch were fresh peaches, apples, raisins and almonds.


My youngest is allergic to rice, peaches, and grapes, so this was her alternative lunch with turkey dogs octopuses, pistachios, cashews, and apples.  






Sep 11, 2012

Always Remember

I was pregnant with my firstborn, taking a shower, getting ready to start my day when I was told of this news, and wondered what kind of world I would be bringing my child into.


Rice cooked with chicken broth, sliced hot dogs for the red stripes, and blueberries for the blue and stars, which was my son's idea. I used my number cutters and nori but had to cut around them with the exacto knife. Sides of raisins, apples, peanuts in the shell. 

Sep 10, 2012

Dragon

My oldest is studying Ancient China in school and wanted me to make a hot dog dragon. I wasn't really sure how that was going to be done, but there it is. And yes, I forgot the eyes! Anneka told me I was right though, in adding the mustard, as it was supposed to be red and yellow, so I guess I did it right!

This all beef hot dog dragon is slithering across a street of forbidden rice (cooked in chicken broth).


Sep 7, 2012

New package in the mail!

I have been wishing for nori punches for some time, and since it was the beginning of the school year, I splurged and bought a little back to school present for me!

The mailman came by yesterday and my little one tore open the package to find these three little punches, so much excitement. 


I was excited to have these face punches so I just made... well, rice balls with faces. 

Sides of apple, carrot, seaweed or raisins, and cashews. 


Later, little one decided she wanted to try them out and decorate her dried pineapple. 

Can't wait to come up with more fun creations I can do with these! 


Sep 6, 2012

Sunshine

I've got sunshine... on a cloudy day...

Actually it's been pretty sunshiny here lately which has been absolutely lovely!



We had some leftover yellow rice from the school buses, which was rice and honey mustard sauce. Smiley face made from raisins and goji berries, sun rays out of carrots. Remember the sunscreen! 



Sep 5, 2012

Back to School!

First day of school! Apparently I told the kids that I would make them a school bus on the first day of school this year. I don't really remember telling them that, but I had no other ideas, so here's another bus! 


Aug 16, 2012

Field Trip Lunches

It's the kids' last week at their day camps for the summer and they have a lot of field trips happening and needed easy to pack and eat lunches, so I splurged and bought some gluten free loaves from New Cascadia.

I had also just made some chicken and chicken broth in the crock pot, so we had a lot of chicken to be used up, perfect for sandwiches! The kids loved having these with honey mustard dressing and fresh spinach.


Aug 6, 2012

To market, to market...

To buy a fat pig...


Beet juice to make the rice piggies pink, turkey bacon for the ears and noses, I used a hole punch for the noses, and nori for the eyes and mouths. 

Jul 18, 2012

Summer flower

Another bowl of rice... wondering what to put with it, I found a can of olives and was just going to toss some olives in, but I guess I can't even do that, I have to make something out of it! So they became flowers...




Jul 5, 2012

American Flag lunch

Another pretty quick and easy lunch. I made some sweet rice with some strawberries and blueberries as stars and stripes. 


Jul 4, 2012

Independence Day

Independence Day breakfast: blueberries, strawberries and bananas.

 Let freedom ring! 



Jun 24, 2012

Fruit salad

"Why can't you just be a normal mom! Stop taking pictures of all our food and let us eat!" said my poor, deprived, starving son this lovely Sunday morning...


Jun 18, 2012

Normal lunch

My kids were going to summer day camps and my oldest told me she wanted a normal lunch, I think she was nervous. However, she baked some bread from a package we had sitting in the cupboard, and I had just made some fresh chia seed jam.


Making gluten free bread


"Normal" peanut butter and jelly lunch it is! 




Jun 6, 2012

Apathy

This one I called:

Apathy. 

Tired. Feeling like I have no creativity left in me and just want summer to show up already. I think I nailed it, don't you?



Rice. Carrots, more carrots, apples, and whatever nuts we had left in the house. 



Jun 4, 2012

Salad sushi

Sometimes I just have no clue as to what to make for lunch, and there are times I feel like I am running out of food or none of it really "goes" together.

So, one of those moments showed up this morning and I decided to make salad sushi. Apparently I can just put stuff in rice, roll it up, call it sushi and they will eat it!


Put a cute little panda in there, some coconut aminos in for some extra flavor, ta-da! 

May 30, 2012

Faberge

Peter Carl Faberge's 166th Birthday.

Rice eggs, Zante currants, raisins goji berries, slivered almonds, some leftover turkey. Some plum sauce was used as "glue".

May 29, 2012

It's my birthday!

It's my birthday today and two out of three kids are sick, so just one gets a cool lunch while I stay home to take care of the sick ones.

My oldest gets to celebrate and think of me at lunch time today with this rice and turkey "cupcake" with  mashed potato "frosting" with a pea on top!


May 25, 2012

Geek

Happy Geek Pride Day!

W00T!

Black beans, black refried beans heated, rice "cheese", peas, and Fork In The Road mini dogs.

May 22, 2012

Camping Trip

My oldest daughter is going on a camping trip with four other schools today, she is very excited, but nervous too! Here is a little camping lunch; rice and ground turkey, rice cheese tent and fire, broccoli. The cheese "logs" are from this new cheese from Heidi Ho Organics I found at Whole Foods, locally made right here in Portland, made from hazelnuts! Excited to see what the kids think of it.

May 17, 2012

Sunset

Since we are doing the beach and ocean theme, my son decided he wanted a night time/sunset scene for lunch, so this is what I came up with for that. I still had some blue rice so we were good to go. 




Nori for the dark ocean, rice cheese sun and stars, mustard reflection and sky. 

May 16, 2012

Tropical dreams

Tropics... 

All beef hot dog octopus catching some waves, sunflower seed beach, rice cheese starfish, with sides of fresh mango, oranges, pineapple and apples. 



May 15, 2012

Dreaming of the beach

Such lovely warm days are upon us... and I had a couple of friends that took their young ones and escaped to the beach for the afternoon!


Natural locally made food dye for the blue, slivered almond and nori for the flip-flops, nori for the birds, and a carrot sun. Sides of mango, carrots and apples.