Instant Oatmeal Packets

Not all of Fly guy's hotels serve breakfast.  With his cooler already packed to the max, muffins and the like are not an option for his long trips.  The last few weeks I've been tossing in homemade 'instant oatmeal' packets.

These are so customizable. Just add some hot water from the hotel coffee pot and you are set.  Apparently he said hot tap water worked fine also.  I don't know, maybe sleep deprivation makes tap water oatmeal seem tasty? 

We like the texture of whole rolled oats, but if you like a finer texture you may try instant oats.  My kids ate this exact recipe for breakfast leaving them begging for seconds.  Begging for oatmeal?  Oh yes, super mom moment. 

Instant Oatmeal Packets
serves 1

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup mix ins (I chose dates and pecans)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
optional: 1-2 tsp brown sugar

Right before serving add in approximately 2/3 cups almost boiling water.  Let sit a few moments to allow the water to absorb.

Oven Baked Apple Chips

So I was out in the rain doing a little photoshoot when Fly Guy wandered off and came back eating a large shiny red apple.  "Hey, where did that come from?  I thought you were just peeing in the bushes!"  Apparently several feet from a pecan tree we discovered there is also a tree loaded with delicious apples.  This is the best Fall ever!

Now what to do with all our apples?  And how to incorporate them in brown bag lunches?

Apple chips!  Crunchy, sweet, crinkly chips.  As a bonus they make your house smell like Christmas while baking.

Now there are several recipes for these chips but you just have to play with cooking times.  Different apples have different amounts of moisture.  I discovered this when I baked two kinds at once and one variety burned.  My final chips are almost identical to the Italian Dish's Apple Chips.  Check out how she gifted hers instead of just stuffing her face when she was done.

You don't have to add any flavor.  My apples were not sweet or tart when I baked them plain but still tasty.  The unflavored ones also seem to cook faster (or it could be my imagination).  My kids like the sugar spice variety best. 

Several cooks claim to cut these apples by hand.  Eh, not for me.  I use a mandoline slicer very similiar to this.  Easy peasy.
 

Oven Baked Apple Chips 

A few thinly sliced apples  (5 for me)
A handful of brown or white sugar (1/3 cup brown)
A few teaspoons of spices  (1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves)

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I baked 3 pans at once).  Mix you sugar and spices in a small bowl then lightly dip one side of each apple slice before laying then on prepared baking sheets.  You can lay them close, but don't overlap.

Bake between 200 and 225 for 2 to 2.5 hours flipping once after the first hour.  The chips will be a little crunchy when done and further harden as they cool.  If they do not seem to be crisping up as desired you can turn off the oven after the initial 2 hours and leave the pans in for the slices to dry out.

Cheesy Thermos Pasta - Vegan

This is the most sought after lunch choice in our home lately.   Who doesn't love a little homemade mac n cheese? Except this recipe doesn't have any cheese...  So you can please the vegans, the lactose intolerant, and the kids all at once!   One step closer to world peace.

So you all want to know how cheesy no-cheese pasta can be right?  Well, not exactly like mac n cheese.  A taste hybrid between cheese and alfredo sauce.  Really creamy alfredo sauce.  It's all about the sauce.  My friend makes it but replaces the pasta with rice which has her kids clamoring for "cheesy rice".

The original recipe I found over at VegNews.  I've made just a few alterations to make it more straightforward and I've doubled it.   The recipe is versatle.  I've added less cashews, more potatoes, or forgotten the oil and it still works great.

 

Cheesy Thermos Pasta
Adapted from VegNews
Serves 10

Ingredients

2 shallots
2 large or 3 medium red or yellow potatoes (not russet)
2 carrots
1 yellow onion
2 cups water

1/2 cup raw cashews, preferably pre-soaked and drained*
1 garlic clove, minced
2 TB extra virgin olive oil**
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB salt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 16 oz package small shell pasta

* The cashews do not have to be soaked but it does aid in digestion and nutrient absorption.  Simply soak the cashews in room temperature water for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.

** Non-vegans can replace the oil with butter for a richer taste if desired.  I like it both ways.

Directions

Peel and chop shallots, potatoes, carrots, and onion.  Place in a covered saucepan with the 2 cups water and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender.  Set aside to cool slightly.

While vegetables cool cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

Meanwhile, place the rest of the ingredients in a blender.  Blend until smooth adding some of the liquid from the cooked vegetables as needed.  Finally, add in the vegetables with the remaining water and blend until smooth.  Pay close attention not to burn yourself if the vegetables are still hot.  Depending on the size of you blender you may need to process the sauce in batches.

Pour sauce over cooked pasta.  Stir and serve.

Serving suggestions:  This recipe fills a 9X13 pan.  If you are having company over put it in a pan and bake it at 350 until bubbly.    If it's just you and a couple kids, put half in an 8X8 pan to bake that night for dinner and save the other half for tomorrow's lunch thermoses.  The pasta does not have to be baked.  It's just more casserole like that way.   I don't bake it for the thermoses.  I just heat and pack.  Furthermore, if you are ultra picky about leftovers you could make the sauce ahead of time and cook the pasta fresh in the morning.  I think it tastes great leftover though.

Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowl with Ginger Granola

Ever cook with turmeric?  You should.  You really really should. 

The Huffington Post states that turmeric "has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities."

So your like "Whaa? How do I get some of THAT"  At least that's what I said.

My favorite current recipes with turmeric are

Cashew Corn Chowder by My New Roots
Spinach and Mung Bean Soup by K. Orahsoi
Chickpea Spinach Turmeric Curry by Fugal Cook
Calming Creamy Turmeric Tea by Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Dr. Gupta's tea is also known as Golden Milk and can be found on various food blogs that extoll it's healing properties and remissness about their mothers giving it to them when they had colds.

I love golden milk in the same way I love hot cocoa.  A late night way to top off the sleepiness and send you into dreamland.  Yet it does have a little grittiness.  The spices never quite meld with the milk.  Not to mention it's hard to pack in a lunch.

So I present Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowls!  Which include all the other things I seek out when I don't feel good.  Coconut oil, ginger,cinnamon,  honey...  The sweet ingredients balance out the slight bitterness of the turmeric.  This would be good with fruit also.  Berries maybe?

 

Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowl

Ingredients
(per person)

2/3 cup full fat unsweetened yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric*
honey for drizzling
ginger granola for sprinkling (recipe below)

* try 1/4 tsp if you are unsure of this new flavor and work your way up.

Stir the spices and honey into the yogurt in a circular pattern and pack the granola separate until time to serve.

Ginger Granola
makes 1 1/4 cups

1 cup regular rolled oats
2 TB ground flax seed
1 TB unsweetened applesauce
1 TB honey
1 TB molasses
1 TB coconut oil, melted
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Granola Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all ingredient with a fork or hands.  Bake in the oven, stirring occasionally, for around 20 minutes or until it's starting to brown and crisp. It will continue to crisp as it cools.  Let cool completely then store in an airtight container.

No Bake Nuggets

Because you can't bring a jar of peanut butter on an airplane.

No Bake Nuggets
Makes 15-20 one inch balls

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/6 cup honey
1/6 cup molasses*
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
1 cup regular rolled oats
1 cup crushed peanuts

*I pour both the molasses and honey together in a 1/3 measuring cup.  It doesn't have to be super exact.

Directions

Mix the peanut butter, sweeteners, cocoa, and vanilla in a bowl until well incorporated.  Add in the oats and stir well.  The mixture will be tough to stir but still sticky.

Form 1 inch balls and roll in crushed peanuts.  Eat at room temperature or chilled.

Fair warning.  These are sweet!  It won't take more than a couple to knock out that sweet tooth.

Hotel Friendly Popcorn

 

I recently went to my kid's back to school night where teachers had placed cute little notes along with packages of microwavable popcorn on the desks.  "thanks for popping in" if I remember right.  But my kids knew they couldn't eat them due to being chocked full of lard and artificial flavors.  So I wrote "thanks for popping their bubble" on the backside and put it back on the desk.  Joking.  I graciously accepted.

No prob.  I now have my own microwavable popcorn.  It's cheaper, healthier, funner.  Funner when I start writing my own notes to Fly Guy for his overnight trips.  None of which I will be reprinting here...  Ahem.

Back to popcorn.  Oh you won't believe how easy.



 

Are you ready?
Pen and paper handy?
Ok!

Hotel Friendly Popcorn

• Take a paper lunch bag and place 1/4 cup kernels in it.
• Fold over the top twice about a 3/4 inch fold each time creasing it well
• Place the bag on it's side and make sure it's not touching the sides of the microwave
• Microwave for 2-3 minutes or until the popping slows to several second between pops.
• Spend your free time writing witty messages and laughing at your own jokes
• Not that I do that...

Potato Soup

This is one easy and economical make ahead soup. I know it's August, but make it now and pop it in the freezer for your thermos this Fall.  Chop, Boil, Simmer.  That's it.  One pot.  30 minutes.




Potato Soup
Fills 4 Pint Jars or 8 Half Pints

Ingredients 

2 yellow onions, diced
6 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
4-6 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1-2 tsp salt (depending how salty your broth is)
1/2 tsp fresh ground peppercorn
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Garnish options include fresh chives, fresh herbs, additional olive oil or hot pepper flakes.  For a richer soup add in 3 or four tablespoons butter to the pot at towards end of cooking and stir until melted.

Directions

Add all the ingredients to a large pot saving the broth for last.  Pour in the broth until almost covering the diced veggies but not quite.  Usually about 5 cups does it for me.
Bring to a boil then cover and simmer on medium low for 20-25 minutes or until veggies are soft.
With a large spoon or potato masher, mash up a bit of the soup to create a creamier texture is desired.

If freezing for later cool completely then freeze in wide mouth mason jars leaving a little head space on top.

Hot or Cold Mujaddara with Sumac

Mujaddara!  I can hardly pronounce it.  Also known as mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, or megadarra.  "Hey Fly Guy you want me to make some (insert silly babble)?"  He always knows what I mean and mocks me accordingly.  For the record it's pronounced moo-jah-d'rah.

Mujaddara is known to appear in cookbooks as far back as 1226.  Though legend places it back much further.  Possibly the dish Jacob used to buy Esau's birthright.  It's that good.  Oh come on Esau, it's like 3 ingredients.  Your birthright?    Really?

We serve this hot, room temp, or cold making it a perfect pack along meal.  I've caught Fly Guy hiding behind the fridge door piling it cold on tortilla chips more than once.  "Tortilla chips, your are desecrating my food!"  I recommend Naan.


 
 

Mujaddara with Sumac

Ingredients

3 TB coconut or olive oil and 1 TB butter*
2-3 large yellow onions thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown or white jasmine rice (I've also used plain long grain brown or white)
1 cup brown or green lentils
salt and pepper to taste
serve with condiment bowls of sumac**, plain yogurt,  and possibly mint.  If you don't have sumac try lemon wedges and paprika.  Fresh chopped parsley also works if your fresh out of everything else.

*Vegan's can leave the butter out.  It just adds a slight richness to the dish.

**I found a bag of sumac in the middle eastern section of my grocery store for less than $3.  It's leaves a nice lemony vinegar taste on your tongue and is a nice alternative to a salt shaker on the table.  I think I will fill an old tic tac container with it next time I send this dish in Fly Guy's lunch.

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions.

While rice is cooking warm oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Toss in the sliced onions and a tsp salt.  While it looks like a lot of onion it cooks way down and gets quite sweet.

Cook onions for 20-30 minutes until they start to turn golden and sweet.  If they begin to burn turn down the heat.  My stove doesn't get very hot...

Meanwhile cook lentils in a separate pan according to package directions.

When onions are finished add the drained cooked lentils and cooked rice to the pan.  Salt, pepper, and incorporate.

Keep your birthright, you earned it.

Whole Wheat Naan and Hummus

 

If there are two current staples in our lunch bags and picnics right now it has to be naan bread and hummus.  Whether you buy these staples in the store or make them yourself I find the fact they are freezable a huge bonus in taming the lunch making madness.

  

Whole Wheat Naan Bread
Adapted from food.com 
Makes approx. one dozen rounds

Ingredients:

1.5 cups warm water (105-115 F, basically hot tap water)
2 tsp rapid rise yeast
1 tsp sugar or other sweetener
1.5 cups white whole wheat flour
1.3 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp olive or coconut oil
Optional: sesame seeds, ground peppercorn or hot pepper flakes

Directions:

Whisk water, yeast, and sugar together in large bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes.  You will know the yeast was activated if you see small bubbles forming along the edges of the mixture.  If the water was too hot or cold the yeast will not activate.

Stir in the flour, salt any optional spices now or save them to sprinkle on right before cooking.

Knead the dough a dozen turns or so right in the bowl adding more flour if it's too sticky.  The dough should be quite soft and almost sticky yet workable with floured hands.

Pour  2 tsp oil in a clean bowl, form dough into a ball and place over oil.  Turn dough ball around in the bowl a bit to coat in oil then place a damp cloth (or plastic wrap) over the bowl and let set in warm place for 30 minutes to rise.

When dough has risen place on a floured working surface.  Pull golf ball size pieces off and shape with lightly floured hands into 5-6 inch wide rounds.  You may also use a rolling pin at this point if you find it easier.

Cook naan rounds on an electric griddle heated to 400 degrees for 1-2 minutes on each side and parts are starting to brown.  I rarely use oil during grilling but have brushed on ghee afterwards if I am eating them fresh that day.

Store:

As with all homemade bread it goes downhill fast after a few days in the pantry.  One word: mold.  So if I am storing my naan for later I let cool completely on the counter then place in the fridge in a gallon ziploc bag.  If it's going to be longer then several days I place the bag in the freezer.  To reheat just pop in the microwave or oven for a few seconds/minutes. 

  

Basic Hummus

Not having a food processor anymore made me a little intimidated to try hummus in a blender but it worked.  I made five jars of it this week.  All at once and into the freezer they went.  Here is a great basic recipe over at The Kitchn.  If you have a food processor I recommend adding a roasted red pepper to your mix.  Or fresh spinach, garlic and herbs.  And if you know what's good for you will take that herby spinach garlic hummus and put it in the oven with cheese on top.  Drool, slurp.  Where am I?  Back to the boring basic hummus.

Because I store my easy beans with the liquid I use the liquid a tablespoon at a time to thin the hummus up to a desired creaminess in the blender.  Don't worry, my hummus wasn't too boring.  I added cumin to one batch, chipotle powder to the next, and just bought some ground sumac for next time.

If you don't have tahini paste no worries, it works without also.

Eat it, freeze it, put it on sandwiches, in your kids lunches, with veggies, by the spoonful.  Oh you get the point.  We've tried all of the above.

 

Black Bean Cumin Lime Salad

I discovered I didn't have any bread Sunday night and was not about to go to the store before school on Monday. Fortunately I have a tried and true lunch staple that takes about 5 minutes to pull together.

There was a time when my kids came undone over green items in their lunch but we are slowly breaking them in.  Fresh spinach is a great starter green because it's virtually tasteless. 

On non picnic days I'm a big fan of Naturally Ella's 5 ingredient Black Beans and Rice.  Almost the same ingredients and just as easy to pull together.

I'm not sure if it compliments the beans but I also packed this raw Summer Corn Salad.  It's just what worked from my pantry at the moment. The Organic Tortilla Chips came from Target.  My new favorite.

Black Bean Cumin Lime Salad
Adapted from The Kitchn
Serves two small or one big appetite.

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh spinach
Juice of half lime
drizzle of oil, I use olive
1 tsp cumin powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it.  That's it.

Optional additions:  Fly Guy takes an avocado in his bag and dices it right before eating..  Red pepper flakes are another of his favorites.  The boys love to put a huge dollop of plain whole yogurt on top.  Now that I think of it I could have put yogurt mixed with salsa in place of the corn in their containers.

Two Ingredient Carry On Cookies

I've been hooked on different variations of these two ingredient cookies ever since they made their debut on The Burlap Bag. 

It's just ripe bananas, oats, and if you want a handful of a mix-ins.  When I say ripe I mean there should be a few brown spots on the skins of those nanners.

Ingredients

2 bananas
1 cup regular oats
Optional: 1/2 cup add-ins such as nuts or dried fruit

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a cookie sheet with oil.

Mash the bannans and oats together however you please but I choose to use a pastry cutter .  Add a few tablespoons applesauce if it's too dry or more oats if it's too wet.

Stir in your optional mix ins.  Not much more than 1/2 cup or things start to fall apart.I used chopped walnuts and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

Drop by small spoonfuls on your greased cookie sheet and slightly flatten.  They come out of the oven in the same shape they went in.

Bake for 12-18 minutes.

I'm packing for Fly Guy's four day trip that starts tomorrow and his cooler is going to be tight.  Not to worry, I've found space in his flight bag.  If you see an unusually good looking pilot carrying a bag with a 'fly' sticker in an airport near you.  He has cookies.  I bet he'd share.

Fruit in the Bottom Yogurt Cup

In the fight against sugar I have outlawed pre-sweetened yogurt in our house.  Nothing against sweet, I just want more control over it.  So this week I made up some fruity yogurt cups that are so good they just became my new dessert.

For the Fruit

It's summer and fruit is dirt cheap in the stores right now.  Make up this sauce and put the extra in the freezer for later.

2 cups berries
Juice and zest from one half lemon
A few squirts of honey

Puree half your berries in a blender and roughly chop the other half with a knife (if using large berries).  Toss all the ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat then simmer for 5 minutes.  If the sauce is to runny just keep simmering until it thickens.  Add a few spoonfuls of water or juice if it's too thick.  The honey and lemon are really adjustable to taste.  Just depends on the ripeness of berry.  This sauce is also divine over pancakes...

Yogurt

I'm picky.  Currently Trader Joe's Organic Full Fat PlainYogurt is my obsession of choice.  Worth all 299 pennies it costs me.

Topping

One more karate chop to sugar!  I'm trading out granola for toasted oats.  Just pack them separately and sprinkle on right before eating.  How to Toast Oats.