Road-Trip Veggie Fries!

Wednesday, 2/26/14 - The girls needed snacks for the drive to Great Wolf Lodge for a 3-day adventure there, and Mama needed lunch. So while Hubby was clearing out additional space in the car for his sister and nephew, I made some potato, carrot, and golden beet fries! Since most fast-food places use fry oil with a petroleum-derived preservative in it (and those that don't have a shared fryer with breaded items, which ends up making us sick 3 out of 5 times,) I wanted to have something to offer them instead of Dadda's petroleum-filled fast food.

Fries for Big Sis

Organic berries and cucumber; organic potato, carrot, and golden beet fries

Z isn't in love with the golden beet fries, so I tucked a few underneath, but mostly gave her carrots and potatoes. Plus some salted cucumber, since it wouldn't all fit in my lunchbox!

Fries for Little Sis

Organic potato, carrot, and golden beet fries; organic tomatoes and berries

 

The toddler got a little of everything, plus some heirloom cherry tomatoes. Because she loves them!

Because the fries were so fresh, I packed them with some paper towels underneath, to continue soaking up some oil, and also to absorb some of the moisture from the steam.

Fries for Mama

Organic cucumber and apples; organic potato, carrot, and golden beet fries

 

I packed myself extra fries intentionally to have leftovers at the resort, in case we needed some "safe" fries to supplement lunch or dinner. 

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Packed Snacks and Lunches for a Family Weekend Away!

Friday, 9/20/13 through Sunday, 9/22/13 - Hubby was going to Rose City Comic Con in Portland, and they were paying for his hotel room. He was a guest of honor or something. Whatever. Anyway, so since he'd be driving down anyway, and his hotel was free, it was like a free family weekend getaway! Except I was stuck with the kids most of the time...

I had a bunch of extra prepped melon and veggies left over from an event, and didn't want them sitting alone at home all weekend, so I jammed as much as I could into three of our EasyLunchboxes - one for each day we'd be gone. And brought a few empties to divvy each day's share into along with other leftovers and foods brought along.
Because Portland is a haven for vegan (dairy-free) and gluten-free foodies, and because our travel expenses were basically free, I only planned for packed lunches and snacks, so that we could explore the local cuisine for breakfast and dinner.

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Day 1: Road Trippin'

PBandCo peanut butter packets, Wholly Guacamole mini cups;
organic celery, tomatoes, carrots, honeydew, plum, apples

 

I packed as many honeydew slices, cherry tomatoes, cut celery, and baby carrots as would fit in the large compartments, then added side compartments with some apple and plum slices that also needed to get used up. 

We snacked on one of the boxes on the 3-hour drive down (the one with the plum. They don't stay good as long as apples!) And passed around the mini Wholly Guacamole cup for dipping. Mama was in charge of putting peanut butter in the celery sticks though! 

As it happens, NW VegFest Portland was happening that same weekend. So I planned to take the girls to that at some point. But then, lo! It turned out to be at the same convention center! How perfect was that? We could wander back and forth, eating samples at one end of the convention center and annoying Dadda while he was trying to work at the other!

Day 2: VegFest and a Surprise Visit!

Part of the kids area of VegFest had a vermicomposting expert with trays of compost and worms! The girls went wild for them! I finally had to hustle them off when they started trying to smuggle worms into the stroller! NO THANKS!

They also had free face painting (versus the comic con's $3,) and they not only were offering all kinds of elaborate designs, but the make-up was all dye-free! So Mama didn't have to worry about any of it rubbing off onto little sampling hands!
Z had only had her face painted once before, after years of refusing to even try. We'd been at Trader Joe's and I told her that if she let them try, she could pick something for them to paint on me. She ended up sitting long enough for a whole butterfly, and Mama got a mustache. o_O

So I was shocked when she went for the full-face design of an angel. And went back for touch-ups throughout the day, and again the next day. And refused to wash it off, and wore what was left to school on Monday!
I was so impressed, and Z loved it so much, that I ordered some Elegant Minerals face paint myself when we got home! Z wants me to paint another angel on her face, but I just don't think I'm up to the task.

I had brought the second packed box fruit and veggie box, plus guacamole and peanut butter, and had some bagged Naturebox snacks, all stuffed in the bottom of the double stroller. But really, we got so many free samples, no one was hungry! The girls were ravenous food samplers, and I often had to give up my sample to a little someone who had loved it so.

I was so excited to meet fellow bento blogger Jessie from Chaos and Confections! She lives near Portland, and had some time to come and troll VegFest with me. She brought two of her daughters, one of whom was going through allergy testing and was restricted from a bunch of different foods. It was hard finding safe things for her to sample, but they found some, and her daughter also found a new food to love - pumpkin seed butter! I love when trying new things pays off!

Day 3: ComicCon

For our final day in Portland, I packed each girl a lunch to snack on as we wheeled around, but also for the drive home, if they had any left.

E's Lunch

Wholly Guacamole mini cup, celery, tomatoes, carrots, leftover kale salad
from Mama's dinner and leftover GF dairy-free mac and cheese (Veggie Grill)

 

E is a bit more adventurous than Z, and had enjoyed my salad from Veggie Grill the night before, so I gave her some leftovers for lunch the next day, plus some of their leftover gluten and dairy-free macaroni and cheese (also from Veggie Grill.)
She also got more veggies to dip because, well, she's willing to eat more veggies than her sister! Plus she doesn't eat tortilla chips properly, and keeps trying to swallow larger sharp chunks. And chokes. No thanks.

Z's Lunch 

Wholly Guacamole mini cup, whole grain tortilla chips, carrots, sugar snap peas, leftover DF GF mac and cheese

 

Z got chips. And fewer veggies. That's how we roll!

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Rose City Comic Con didn't have as much to draw the girls in, so we only made short forays into the dealer's area before heading out to the lobby to get the stinkeye from judgy parents as I let the girls go up and down the escalator without me. I got tired of escort duty after about the fourth trip. Which gave me ample time to photograph some amazing costumes. While keeping one eye on my girls, of course!

I also managed to lure them into posing for a picture with a Star Wars fan club raising money for charity. The girls were entranced by the costumes.

So the comic con wasn't a total bust for us. Plus Z found one of the artists who does My Little Pony comics, so we bought her a signed copy. Start 'em young...

The Family That Lunches Together...

Friday 6/28/13 - Hubby was on vacation between jobs this week, so we were stuck with him we got to do family stuff! We all got to go in for Z's occupational therapy appointment, which was fun. I like watching. Then we went to hang out with my mother-in-law, Nana, who lives an hour North of us. So practically a road trip! Z's therapy sessions were noon to 1pm on Fridays, so we'd need a lunch immediately after. Or else settle for fast food at the only place on the planet with a drive-thru that has gluten-free vegetarian options - Taco Time.

Packed lunches it is!

Z's Lunch

Peanut Butter and Co "Smooth Operator" pack, kale chips, GF Crunchmaster crackers, organic raspberries and peas

I set Z up with a DIY PB cracker sandwiches lunch. The spoon (from Target) is in case she needed a spreader. Need to find reusable "knives" that fit in the EasyLunchboxes!

[I received PBandCo products for free, to use for our lunches. No other compensation was given. 

This post contains affiliate links.]

Lunch for the Podling

GF PBJ bears, GF Jilz crackers, GF Trader Joe's mini savory crackers, organic sugar snap peas and grapes

When I can, I try and make E's lunches cute-ish too, so I used a bear head cutter to make mini sandwiches. She's also more likely to actually eat the bread if I make the sandwiches small. But I threw in some whole-grain crackers for good measure.

Lunch for Mama

Pop'd Kerns, organic grapes, organic salad (lettuce, mixed greens, spinach,
sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, raisins, raspberry vinaigrette)

My "dry" toppings (the seeds and such) are in the Mini Dipper, and my dressing is in the Smidget.

Lunch for Dadda

Halfpops, organic grapes, gluten-filled PB-"Daddy's special honey" sandwich (creamed honey)

Hubby's sandwich was on regular bread, since he can't take one for the team and choke down our gluten-free bread. He also has special peanut butter. The girls and I usually have organic no-added-salt-or-sugar peanut butter. But Mr. Pickypants thinks it tastes horrid too. And apparently the local raw honey the girls and I use (helps with pollen allergies!) tastes "funny," so he has his own container of gluten-contaminated creamed honey too.

Taste the Rainbow

I couldn't resist snapping a few pics of our lunches all stacked up together too. So pretty!

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Plan and Pack Your Meals for a Cheaper and Allergy-Free Vacation! (Great Wolf Lodge Vacation - Part 2 - Dinner)

 

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I'm crap at time-management and advance planning. But for our 2-day (one-night) vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, I needed a meal plan. We'd be eating four to five meals away from home, which adds up if you're eating at a restaurant each time. Plus options can be fairly limited for food intolerances or lifestyle choices (kosher, vegan, etc,) or non-existent if you have cross-contamination issues like with an allergy or Celiacs.

In order to accommodate gluten-free for the girls and me (plus meat and dairy-free for me,) I mapped out our meals and brought everything we'd need. I didn't need a checklist for snacks, since I was able to pretty much look in the snack cupboard and grab a few packages to toss into our food tote. But for the meals, I got out an actual piece of paper and left space to map out a plan for each meal we'd need - lunch on the way down, dinner that night, breakfast the next morning (got a deal on the breakfast buffet when we'd booked our stay - and I verified they had gluten-free options,) plus lunch the next day. I wasn't sure if we'd be staying late enough to need dinner again the second day, but we'd lose access to the room fridge at 11am, so I didn't want to pack extra stuff that would spoil in the car. I figured we could eat any non-perishable leftovers, or find a restaurant.

 

I packed our road-trip lunches for the drive down before we got in the car, and packed enough extra "dishes" (EasyLunchboxes,) silicone divider cups, and reusable cutlery for another meal, in case I wasn't able to wash our lunch dishes before dinner.

I planned to utilize leftovers for dinner that night, since we'd have the fridge to store them during the day (and my cooler bag with an ice pack on the drive down.) Plus they wouldn't be sitting around in the fridge at home an extra few days!

I also packed all the foods on my meal plan (and even accounted for their usual bedtime snack of apple slices! I know right? It's like I was possessed by someone who actually knows what they're doing!) I condensed as much as I could into an EasyLunchbox, so we'd have it available to use as well if needed. Plus non-dairy milk for the toddler, and So Delicious chocolate coconut milk boxes for portable drink options, in addition to our water bottles.

I also brought along some plastic grocery bags to take home dirty dishes, and for our bound-to-be-wet bathing suits. Washable cloth "wet bags" work great for this too, but I only have one, and I couldn't find it. One thing I would recommend is to bring a little bottle of dish soap. The hotel's free shampoo and body wash aren't exactly the tastiest of soap options...

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Dinner for the Girls

Leftover GF "fish fish," leftover potato and sweet potato tots, mustard and ketchup,
leftover GF macaroni and cheese, kale chips

Z wasn't interested in fish until she watched an episode of Charlie and Lola where Lola is a picky eater and won't eat anything. They called fish sticks "fish fingers" and suddenly Z was gonzo to try some. So any breaded fish item was cut into strips and called fish fingers, to get her to eat it. Well, when I was looking for gluten-free options, I couldn't resist the little fishie ones. But I couldn't exactly call them fish fingers, now could I? So we call them "fish fish." I know. We're really creative with the names.
On the flip side though, after watching that episode, she went from loving tomatoes to "I will never, ever eat a tomato." And they gave away our parenting "trick" by having Charlie change all the food names to get Lola excited about them. So now Z won't fall for that anymore. Jerks.

Since I only needed ketchup and mustard for this one meal, I pre-packed some for the girls in our Mini Dippers, rather than bring the whole bottles.

Hubby and I had some gross leftovers (it was just a boring and bland dish I'd made, and the teriyaki sauce I'd dumped in before leaving the house did nothing to improve it.) Then supplemented with some guacamole and [gross oily cheap] tortilla chips. [Hubby is now banned from buying tortilla chips.] He was chomping at the bit for any excuse to go down to the restaurant and order himself something else, but I stood firm. We had food. No need to buy overpriced resort restaurant food just because he didn't like what was on offer. (He managed to thwart me the next day and bought himself and Z a junky lunch while I sat in the car with a napping toddler. "I didn't know where the lunches were..." They were in the bag with the bathing suits and towels. That he had with him in the water park...! I'm sure he looked real hard for them...)

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