2014 -- 012

Something Old, Something New

So my husband brought home this really fantastic fresh baked hoagie rolls for our pulled chicken sandwiches. They were so fantastic that I was willing to break with my normal wait two days to pack leftovers rule. We did chicken with BBQ sauce, cooked onions, and bacon all mixed up together. Healthy, no...magic on a hoagie roll? Yes. Tonight was a bit of a indulgence night, which in my opinion is just a good thing for life.

So I took the other half of Monkey's roll and filled it with some leftovers and got that baby in the box! She was enjoying dinner so much I couldn't imagine that she wouldn't like having it again for lunch. In addition to this I snagged her a couple of the crispier leftover fries (she specifically asked if she could have some in her lunch) and tossed them in as well. She wanted Brussels sprouts, but we polished them off at dinner (they never last around here). 

The third aspect of our lunch today was inspired by something I have been really crushing on that I've seen online, the Grape Parfait Crunch by MOMables. The recipe I saw took vanilla yogurt, two types of grapes, and granola. Looked delicious and I wanted to make it. Come to find out, I had no yogurt and one kind of grape...and no granola. I could have made some myself but after a long day dealing with my broke down car I just wasn't feeling that. So I went with what I had! 

This grape parfait has red grapes, a dollop of whipped cream (I put a little too much, but she won't mind :P), dried cranberries for a little tartness, and slivered almonds on top for the ''crunch'' aspect. This will be her dessert and calorie wise whipped cream is one of those lesser evils in my book. So, just to recap...

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Leftover Pulled Chicken Sandwich
• A few leftover crispy curly fries
• My version of a grape parfait crunch
• Organic Milk (not pictured)

Happy Packing!! 

SPECIAL POST: Gluten-Free/Dairy Free Lunches.

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Lunches

Graphic by: Feeling a Little Lunchy

I consider myself pretty lucky to have a child that has no known allergies. I see many bloggers have children with very serious food allergies and have to be very aware what they are packing and hope that their allergies are taken seriously when they go to school and other places. I'll admit I was pretty ignorant overall to what these types of diets would look like and what planning lunches for food allergies would be like. When a friend of mine on Facebook commented, “You wanna make my lunches???” While I won't be making her lunch after a brief chat with her I learned something new about her, she has allergies to gluten and dairy! While I can't be certain if these lunches would be anything she'd love to pack, I wanted to learn a little more about these allergies and do an exercise of planning out lunches for Monkey as if she had these allergies.

First I decided to learn about Gluten. What IS Gluten? According to WebMD, “Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Gluten also shows up in many whole grain foods related to wheat, including bulgur, farro, kamut, spelt, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye). Some celiac disease experts warn patients to steer clear of oats, as well.” Phew! That was a lot and at first seemed a bit daunting. I make a real effort to pack my daughter whole wheat breads and other whole wheat options as much as possible! So it took me a little poking around to figure out what I COULD pack. According to the Mayo Clinic Amaranth, Arrowroot, Buckwheat, Corn/Cornmeal, Flax, Gluten Free Flours (rice, soy, corn, potato, bean), Hominy (corn), Millet, Quinoa, Rice, Sorghum, Soy, Tapioca, and Teff are all A-Ok for consumption! This helps!

Then I had to consider the Dairy-Free option. This was also really hard for me. I pack a lot of cheeses, yogurt, milk based smoothies, Kefir, and even pudding on occasion! Since we already drink Almond Milk at home, packing a drink alternative for her individual organic milks wouldn't be any trouble at all . While my grocery store seems to not always have the individual almond milks in stock, I can easily pour some into her Funtainer or another container and pack it. So here is what a week of Gluten Free Dairy Free lunches would look like from Monkey Munchables!

Monday: GF Pumpkin Pancakes¹ w/ syrup, Orange Segments, and coconut milk yogurt w/ 100% Juice Pouch

Tuesday: Corn Tortilla Chips, Black Bean Salad², Leftover chicken or turkey, Mango w/ Almond Milk

Wednesday: Rice Pasta w/ Garlic & Oil sauce³ w/ wilted spinach and salad shrimp. Small Side Salad w/ dressing. 100% Juice Pouch

Thursday: Hummas w/ baby carrots, celery, broccoli. Hard Boiled Egg, Apple Slices, & Popcorn w/ Almond Milk

Friday: ''Treat Day'' Bacon/Lettuce/Turkey Meat Roll Ups, Peas/Carrots Applesauce w/ cinnamon Peach Raspberry Smoothie

1. Pumpkin Pancake Recipe available at: http://childhood101.com/2013/07/pumpkin-pikelets-recipe-gluten-dairy-free/ [Uses

2. Black Bean Salad: Corn, Black Beans, Cut Tomatoes, Avocado, Parsley, Lime Juice.

3. Garlic & Oil Sauce: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/garlic-and-oil-sauce [Cook your favorite pasta, make the sauce, wilt some spinach down, can toss in rinsed salad shrimp (very small and fairly inexpensive). Mix altogether and put into a thermos to keep warm].

4. Peach Raspberry Smoothie: http://www.bluediamond.com/applications/recipes/?theView=recipeDetail&recipeid=99

OTHER GREAT IDEAS:

Paleo Taco Salad: http://www.ourpaleolife.com/2013/09/paleo-taco-salad/

MOMables Cinnamon Raisin Bread: http://www.momables.com/allergy-friendly-cinnamon-raisin-bread/

BBQ Chicken Pizza (sounds like great leftover idea to me): http://udisglutenfree.com/recipes/gluten-free-smoked-bbq-chicken-pizza/

Granola Bars: http://thecrohnsjourneyfoundation.org/recipes/chocolate-chip-chewy-bars-gluten-free-dairy-free/

Strawberry Banana Bite Cookies: http://www.asweetsimplelife.com/home/2012/1/12/strawberry-banana-bites.html

Use mushroom tops to make pizza! Can use soy cheese or even go cheeseless!

More Recipe Ideas:

I found that a lot of Paleo Recipes are very friendly for gluten free dairy free diets! Since the Paleo diet eliminates those foods anyway. Try google or pinterest ''Paleo Recipes'' and you'll be amazed how many delicious fantastic ideas you can find.

Paleo Blog: http://nomnompaleo.com/

ALLERGY FRIENDLY BLOGS:

Below there are some common food allergies so you can easily find and locate blogs that might write about your specific allergy.

Dye-Free:

Pink 'N Punchy Lunches - http://pinknpunchy.blogspot.com/

Veggie-Bento - http://www.veggie-bento.com/

Mamabelly's Lunches With Love -http://mamabelly-luncheswithlove.blogspot.com/

Biting the Hand That Feeds You - http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/dye-free

Organized Bites - http://OrganizedBites.com

Peanut-Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Creative Food - http://www.creativefunfood.com

Bentos on the Bayou - http://bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com/

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/

Tree Nut Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Bentos on the Bayou - http://bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com/

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/

Creative Food - http://www.creativefunfood.com

Gluten Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://www.keeleymcguire.com

Momma Says http://mommasays.net/tag/gluten-free/

Biting the Hand That Feeds You - http://bitingmyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/gluten-free

Beneficial Bento - http://beneficial-bento.blogspot.com/

Bentos on the Bayou - http://www.bentosonthebayou.com/search/label/Gluten%20Free

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/search/label/gluten%20free

Dairy Free:

Wendolonia - http://wendolonia.com/bentoboxgallery/tag/160/dairy-free

Keeley McGuire Blog - http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/search/label/dairy%20free

Bentos on the Bayou - http://www.bentosonthebayou.com/search/label/Dairy-free

Soy-Free:

Chaos and Confections - http://chaosandconfections.blogspot.com/search/label/soy%20free

Egg-Free:

Keeley McGuire Blog http://keeleymcguire.blogspot.com/search/label/egg%20free

Breakfast Lunch

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If there is one thing my Monkey loves, it's breakfast. Whether it's at actual breakfast time, lunch, dinner, or snack, she doesn't care. Today will feature the first breakfast lunch of the 2013-2014 school year! I don't know about your kids, but pancakes are ALWAYS a good thing in my house. Now that we're getting so close to fall I have been chomping at the bit to start working with pumpkin again, a family favorite around here. Usually the standby pumpkin recipe in this house is Honey Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins. If you click the name of them it'll take you right to our recipe! They're delicious, made from scratch, aren't made with granulated sugar, and typically don't last long in this house! If you haven't tried them I would STRONGLY recommend them. Today however we tried something different! 

These might look like the Honey Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins you see on the recipe page but they aren't!

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• MOMables Mini Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe (I made them into mini muffins!) w/ syrup
• Orange Segments (1 small orange)
• Cottage Cheese w/ pepper (approximately 1/4 cup)
• Organic White Milk

So while making this lunch it made my house smell AMAZING. I didn't follow the recipe EXACTLY. It just says ''milk''. I assume that means conventional cows milk which we don't drink anymore. I used my unsweetened vanilla almond milk and they still turned out great. Also, instead of making cute little pancakes out of them, I sprayed my mini muffin pan, added approximately 1/8 cup of batter to each spot, and baked at 350 for about 12-15 minutes. I simply used the toothpick method to assess them. They're delicious and if you are looking for a new pancake recipe I think this one is a winner! 

What's your favorite ''breakfast lunch''? 

Happy Packing!