A Minecraft Sandwich! Whoa!!

INGREDIENTS: 

• Ham
• Salami
• String cheese
• Raisins
• Cream cheese for glue 

Ah, my big 1st grader was SO excited & proud of his lunch today!

*In case you're like me and you're like, "who is Steve?" Here he is...

:D Now go make your little buddies so happy for lunch tomorrow! 

Angry Birds Sandwich

Made from mini-bagels, cream cheese, salami, cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, raisons & green olives. 

Man, this guy is MAD!

As seen on Pinterest :)

Pizza Snake

[Inspired from Pinterest] 

Ingredients

• 1 tube (11 ounces) refrigerated crusty French loaf or Pizza Crust (thick)
• Pizza sauce (canned or quick recipe)
• 1 bag (12 ounces) Italian 5 cheese
• 1/2 pound Italian Sausage 
• 1 lil bag of mini pepperonis 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

Unroll the pizza dough into a large rectangle; spread with a 1/2 ladle of pizza sauce to within 1 in. of edges. 

Sprinkle with cheese and sausage. Cut a forked tongue from a pepperoni slice. 

Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal and tuck ends under. 

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet and shape like an "S". 

Brush with an egg wash (beaten egg w/ a little water)

Bake at 425° for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. 

Warm remaining pizza sauce; serve on the side. Yield: 5 servings.

Slice & serve!

Lunch can be FUN!

I have a kindergartener this year! <SNIFF>

I can't believe it. He's a darling, smart, sweet boy. 

I also have a creative, tough, wild girlie & then spunky, hilarious (naughty) littlest monkey... 

Between school & life schedules, I've already been packing them lunches for years.

And...I LUV making their lunches fun. 

It's an chance for me to give them some extra love during their day. I hope when they open their lunches, they smile & know that I'm thinking of them. 

And if we should live life to the fullest & food should be enjoyed & is already an art form...then lets make lunches great this year! 

Oh...but listen. These  lunches are not getting cranked out of our kitchen every day. These are special fun lunches. I've pulled them out on their birthdays, on a rough morning to snap someone out of a meltdown. And, if they come out randomly, the kids get wildly excited. 

My next issue: I've never sent these in a lunch box. These have gone right to a fridge...I'll learn about how to do it successfully this year & share them with you.

Click HERE to see some ideas on www.bentolunch.net 

Here are some of our favorites from last year:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WALL-E 

JACKSON & SOPHIA...they shared this in a big tray

Wow Wow Wubbzy

I am challenging myself this year to build in the extra time it takes to be creative, spread my love & build memories for my darlings. Will you take up my challenge too?  

Helpful hints: 

• Use peanut butter as glue
• Use a paring knife to cut different cheeses & lunch meats for more contrasts
• Sneak veggies in [don't worry mine will never be fooled into eating them. Ever.]

Gnocchi w/ Shrimp in Tomato-Wine Sauce

The first time I had gnocchi was at a friend's house for homecoming my senior year of high school. Our little group of friends loved going there for dinner. His mom & dad would prepare a feast for all of us, light candles & create the most special dinners for us. We loved  the time & energy they would put into the food & atmosphere. From a parenting standpoint, how awesome is that? I want to create an atmosphere for my kids & their friends to want to hang out. Momma Perez will be handing their little friends hot tortillas. :)


So..back to homecoming. This was the first time I had Gnocchi...those soft, doughy dumplings are right up my alley. 


[I'm wild about carbs, might die without them]


Since then I've ordered them at restaurants but I've always wanted to make them & tonight was the perfect time. We were out of food, but had these ingredients & of course, all I ever want & think of is Mexican...So I was wondering around the kitchen thinking about what we did have & this delicious dish was created. 


At one point I thought it was a disaster & I actually felt awkward & like Curious George making Gnocchi, but the dough is so forgiving. I almost gave up in the middle, but they turned out great. Don't be discouraged if you feel like a total wreck the first time you make these little darlings.


Whenever I get a wild hair for something, I go to: www.allrecipes.com


I found the Gnocchi instructions here.

THE GNOCCHI:

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes

2 Cups Flour

1 Egg (beaten)

Directions: 

Wash & peel 2 potatoes

Cut potatoes in 1/2, long ways.

Then into 6's.

Start with the potatoes in cold, salted water

Bring it to a boil & cook for 15 minutes or until fork-tender & soft enough to mash

Mash the potatoes

Add 1 Cup of mashed potatoes with the egg & flour

Kneed on well floured surface

Take small sections & roll into long, skinny, "snakes"

Keep rolling, gotta get it skinnier..

Cut "snake" into 1/2, then 1/4's.

Then the 1/4's into 1/3's...

I'm not sure what I was doing here..but I always see chefs roll the gnocchi on the fork, so I tried something like it

Drop them into well-salted, boiling water & cook until the little dumplings float.

Remove from the pot & place directly onto the serving plate or bowl & top it with any sauce. I have included my quick tomato-wine sauce w/ shrimp below...

Tomato in White Wine Sauce: 

1. Dice 1/4 White onion in olive oil, add 1 clove garlic & cook for 30 seconds.

2. Pour 1/3 C white wine to the cooked onion & garlic. Bring it to a boil & cook the alcohol out of the wine. 

3. Add 1 14oz can of diced tomatoes & 5 large basil leaves, rolled & cut into thin chiffonades. 
4. Simmer 30+ minutes. Just minutes before eating, add shrimp to the pan. Add a splash of stock, maybe another splash of wine...season with salt. 

Serve w/: Crusty bread, the wine you cooked with & double the sauce if you want enough to soak it up with the yummy bread or of course for left overs.

Pancakes (Crispy like Grammy's)

I have the best memories of our trips to Chicago to visit Grandma & Grandpa Smith. Every meal was a feast. In the morning, we'd wake up to a beautiful breakfast spread. There would always be a pancakes & bacon morning, among other amazing dishes. Gram would cook her pancakes in the left over bacon grease. I use butter here, but sometimes, you'll find me with a bowl of bacon fat drizzling onto the pancake pan.

These are the kids' favorite pancakes. Jackson requests pancakes, "Crispy like Grammy's." 

Pancakes

INGREDIENTS: 

1 Egg

1 Cup all purpose flour (we use whole wheat white)

1 Tb baking powder

1 scant tsp kosher salt (just under a tsp)

1 Tb butter

1 Tb honey

1 Cup of milk

DIRECTIONS:

[Heat pan on medium low] 

Beat the egg in the bottom of your batter bowl

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder & salt

Place the butter & honey in small bowl & melt together in the microwave, 30 sec. 

Add the flour bowl to the egg bowl

Add the milk

SLOWLY - starting with 1 drizzle at a time - add the melted butter to the mixture

Continue a slow drizzle, whisking into the pancake batter

Let batter rest for a few minutes. 

Just before cooking add a little bit of water to make the batter thin

Add a pad of butter to the pan

Ladle batter onto the pan & wait to flip until you see bubbles form along the edges

To be crispy like my Grammy made...the batter must be very thin & you need to ladle the batter into the areas of melted butter or bacon grease. 

Flip pancakes when bubbles form around edges

Stack on a plate to keep warm & ENJOY!