First lunch of the new school year!

I am SO excited to share this with you.  I am starting a blog series on real food lunch boxes that I’m making for Abby and Jessica this year.  Tomorrow is Jessica’s first day of school and I made this lunch extra-special with lots of hearts.  The kabobs are cheese, Applegate turkey, and whole-grain tortillas, on top of a serving of spring greens and three more tortilla hearts.  There is a banana muffin (that we made together) and cut-out apples dipped in fresh lemon juice to keep from browning.  Three small organic sour gummy worms are tucked in around the muffin for a treat.  There is Organic Valley whole milk (from pastured Wisconsin cows) in her Thermos where it should stay nice and cold until lunchtime.

For a snack, I put a smoothie freezie pop into a Wexy bag.  I did this so as it thaws, the silicone top is kept on better, and also so it doesn’t go all over if it leaks.  I haven’t used these silicone freezie pop molds before so I didn’t want to take any chances.

Now, this may not seem like a lot of food, but it’s real food so it’s a lot more filling than chicken nuggets or whatever they’re serving in the hot lunch line.  Jessica also only has 20 minutes to eat, starting from when they get into the lunchroom to when they line up to leave.  I asked her to let me know how it goes.

I think it’s going to go pretty darned well.  What do you think?

I started making Jessica’s and Abby’s lunches at 8:02 pm, and it was 9:02 pm by the time I had cleaned everything up and put my lunch tote back up in the cupboard.  My goal is to get lunch preparations down to 20 minutes, but the first day of school is kind of a big deal and I wanted it to be special.)

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Tomato Basil Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella

Before this dish, I’d never made risotto before.  Somewhere rattling around in the back of my brain I vaguely remembered hearing it was difficult to make, but I didn’t really focus on that.  I just put a bunch of water in a pot, got it boiling, threw the risotto in by handfuls, and let it simmer for about 16 minutes with the cover on.  I tried it and it was just a bit chewy, so I let it go another 2 minutes.  Then I stirred it around a bit before dumping it in a colander and shaking it.

I did pretty much everything you could do WRONG to this dish and it still turned out amazingly flavorful.

I’ve since read recipes that say to add broth a little at a time until it’s done and that just sounds fiddly to me.  I don’t know.  Maybe this could have turned out better, but the creaminess of the risotto with the fresh mozzarella cubes was delicious.  But the real proof?  Our 3 year old ate two bowls of it!

Tomato Basil Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella

Source:  Fresh Meals from the editors of Organic Style

INGREDIENTS

• 2 c. uncooked Arborio rice
• 2 T. EVOO
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. lightly packed fresh basil leaves, stemmed and torn in half
• 1/2 t. sea salt
• 1/8 t. black pepper
• 1 T. balsalmic vinegar
• 3 – 4 Roma tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 egg-size pieces fresh mozzarella, cubed

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot.  Sprinkle in the rice by the fistful.  When the water returns to a boil, stir once, lower the heat, and simmer until the rice is al dente, 15 – 18 minutes.
2. While the rice cooks, heat the EVOO in a large skillet over a low flame.  Stir in the garlic; then sprinkle in the basil.  After a couple of minutes (when the garlic is translucent), mix in the salt, pepper, vinegar, and tomatoes.  Gently turn the tomatoes once or twice to coat them with the flavored oil, warming them through but not cooking them down into a sauce.
3. Drain the rice in a sieve or colander, but don’t shake it dry.  Turn it into a warmed serving bowl.  Immediately sprinkle in the mozzarella cubes, a few at a time, stirring with each addition so that they don’t clump together.  Then gently mix in the contents of the skillet, and serve.

Enjoy!

(Also posted on a recipe swap here over at This Chick Cooks.)

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Real Food, Kid Style

“So, how are your kids reacting to your new healthy food lifestyle?”, a few friends have asked with a knowing smirk.  Well, actually, they have been much more disposed towards trying something new, oddly enough.  Jess used to be an ultra-picky eater.  She was the no-condiment, no butter, no seasonings kinda gal.  Now, she tries something new just about every time we sit down to eat.  Just today she tried a few shreds of parmesan on her buttered noodles, and a dash of oregano seasoning as well.  The old Jess would have said, “No cheese, no seasonings, just noodles” when asked what she wanted for lunch.  I think it’s because they’re realizing that the food is going to get really boring (because it doesn’t have a bunch of excitotoxins and artificial flavors mixing up the palate), so they’d better start going out on a limb and expanding their previous limits.

Saturday it got around to lunchtime, and Saturday lunches are just my time to play with whole food, real food combinations.  No elaborate seasonings, just taste the food that God grew for ya’.  I had just picked up a bag of beautiful red potatoes from Slow Pokes in Grafton.  One of my most favorite organic whole foods has to be the humble potato.  Nothing tastes finer than an organic baked potato, with a little organic butter over it, and sprinkled with pink himalayan sea salt, and black pepper.  Nothing.

So Saturday I microwaved a bunch of the potatoes, cut up an organic apple, cut up an organic carrot (peel on for extra vitamins), and put it all on plates.  Then I took 4 Tablespoons of yogurt, added a few drops of maple syrup, and mixed it up to be split between them into little dipping bowls.

It was just a good thing I thought ahead and made two potatoes for each girl, not just one!

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