Honey-Oat Pan Rolls

from Taste of Home

2-1/2 to 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup honey
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1 egg

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, yeast and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the water, honey and 4 tablespoons butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add egg; beat until well combined. Stir in enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Melt remaining butter; brush over rolls. Remove from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 2 dozen.

Dog Days...

Today's lunch taught me a few lessons.

First, I need to invest in at least a few items to make this new lunch thing work....specifically, plates.  Right now we are using these tiny Ikea plates.  They don't fit much and the shape makes it very hard to arrange items since everything slides to the center.  I'm going to see what I can find this weekend...any ideas or suggestions are welcome :)

Second, I need to get some more variety and look differently at the foods I buy.  Today, I wanted to do a dog theme to make use of the dog in my Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4), however, I didn't have much else beyond that.  I did rescue my Wilton 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set from it's lifetime existence in the garage (ok, it's been used maybe once or twice) and found a large bone shape.  I would have loved to have a fruit leather or something similar to use it on, but that is not a staple in our house...yet :)  I also am not accustomed to offering vegetables at lunch, so I've already used up what I had and I really don't have anything that is new to add.  Next week when I shop, I'll be sure to throw in an extra produce item or 2 that I can offer daily.

Finally, I'm learning that having two 2 year olds sometime requires a change of plans and thinking outside the box (perfect training ground for creative lunches, right?).  This is a daily lesson, and really nothing new.  Anyway, I had the brilliant idea to cut the 1/2 a watermelon I had in the fridge width wise and use the bone cookie cutter to make it into a cute shape.  It would have worked really well, had my 2 year old not gotten a hold of the watermelon, dropped it on the floor and all but shattered it.  I was able to rescue it and do some 'cut & paste' to give the same basic idea.  I would have loved for it to work perfectly, but that's life with kids & one of the struggles of being outnumbered by little hands in the kitchen :)

So, in the end...here was our lunch

• Watermelon (cut width wise and cut -just like a rolled sugar cookie- with the bone cutter from the Wilton 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set)
• Quesadilla cut with the dog/dog house from the Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4) 
• Avocado slices
• Yogurt raisins in star reusable muffin cup
• And, because the boys HAD to have it Pirates Booty...a.k.a. 'pop corn'

Under the Sea

Today's very quick lunch consisted of:

• Some cantaloupe (left over from last night's dinner)
• Some pasta salad (I made this yesterday so the hubby and I could have a quick, easy meal tonight before I have some girls over for my mom's Bible study)
• A whale shaped grilled cheese (the first use of my Lunch Punch Animal Shape Sandwich Cutters (Set of 4)
• And my attempt at cutting some cucumbers into fish.  I'm still growing in my collection of tools and I don't have any little cutters.  I just got out a paring knife and did the best I could :)

Chicken Cesar Tacos/Wraps

Chicken breasts
Romain lettuce
Parmesan or Italian blend cheese
Cesar dressing
Croutons, optional
Soft taco sized tortillas (for tacos) or large tortillas (for wraps)

Grill chicken breasts (I prefer to spray a frying pan with olive oil & salt & pepper my chicken...takes about 20 minutes on the stovetop).  While the chicken is cooking, wash & prepare lettuce in a large bowl.  Once cooked through, cube chicken and add to the lettuce mixture.  Add in desired amounts of cheese and croutons and toss with dressing.  Top desired tortillas with the salad mixture and enjoy!

I used the Marie's Yogurt Parmesan Cesar dressing (1/2 the calories & 1/2 the fat of regular) and we are huge fans!!

Muffin Tin: Snack

This is our first muffin tin meal and OH MY GOODNESS...the boys loved it!

I decided to give the muffin tins a try for snack time and J just kept commenting on how there was 'all kinz stuff to eat' :)  I usually give them a little mix of items in a bowl, but this presentation was so much more fun (not to mention adding some non-fat yogurt made it more filling and healthy).

On the top row, they've got 1/2 a nutragrain bar, craisins & pretzils

Bottom row = cheese bites, vanilla yogurt & mini marshmallows

If you'd like to see more muffin tin meals, you can click on over to the home of Muffin Tin Monday to check them out!-->

Gettin' Creative

For a while now, I have been inspired by blogs like this that highlight adorable, healthy and waste free lunches.  After lurking on the sites, I have finally decided that this is something I could easily do.  So, I am revamping my blog a bit to include such lunch ideas.

I've been adding just small amounts of creativity to the boys meals for the past week or so and I have noticed quite a difference.  They actually touch items that before they would ignore.  It's always been a priority for me to teach my children about healthy eating habits.  Helping them at an early age to make 'healthy choices' and have correct ideas of portion sizes.  It encourages me to give them more variety and therefore more exposure to things I would like for them to develop a taste for.  It's simple, fun and actually very enjoyable for me. I am really looking forward to finding new foods we all love and expanding their pallets slowly and intentionally.

 These bento blogs traditionally include arranging food in adorable little specialty boxes for school and work lunches.  Since I have 2 year olds, eating mostly at home, the boxes are not necessary for us yet.  Also, for now we'll be lacking some of the fun skewers and such...we're still mastering forks and spoons.  However, as they grow, so will the meals we share.

I hope you can find some fun, easy inspiration for your child's lunch.  As with everything on this blog, simple is the key.  I am a busy mom...I get it.

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

from Sandra Lee

Ingredients

1 Granny Smith apple
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 (8-count) tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 to 4 teaspoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 12-count muffin tin.
Peel, core and dice the apples into 1/2-inch cubes. In a medium bowl stir together the diced apples with the walnuts and brown sugar.
Divide the apple mixture evenly into the muffin tin. Put 12 cinnamon buns, cinnamon side up, on top of the apple mixture. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. (Bake off remaining 4 buns per package directions)
Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Put a clean baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip to remove the sticky buns.
In a small bowl, combine the vanilla frosting with the pumpkin pie spice and 2 to 4 teaspoons of water. Mix until very thin and of pourable consistency. Drizzle over buns and serve.