Autumn Leaves for Lunch!

"Leaf My Lunches Alone!" for the Toddler

Cheese crunchies, GF PBJ; organic raspberries, ground cherries, sugar snap peas

 

Thursday, 10/3/13 - Big Sister got a ghostly lunch, and I managed to make mini leaf cutter sandwiches out of the scraps and a single extra slice for Little Sis. I thought the heart cup placed upside-down looked kind of like an elm leaf.

The ground cherries are actually related to tomatillos, which are also related to tomatoes, and are part of the nightshade family. They came in our weekly farm share, as one of the bonuses we got to go u-pick each week. The Hubby and girls weren't big fans though, so Mama pretty much got to eat them all. They come in little papery husks, like tomatillos, but I husked them because you only pick the ones that fall to the ground, so they get dirty. And who wants dirt in their lunchbox?

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Enjoy Life trail mix, GF PBJ; organic sugar snap peas, carrots, tomatoes, apples

 

Tuesday, 10/8/13 - Since I only had it in me to make one Stinky Cheese Man lunch, Little Sis got leaf sandwiches made from bread scraps again.

Leftover Leaf-zza for the Toddler

Leftover GF Pizza Bites; organic mushrooms, yellow carrot, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, apples 

 

Monday, 11/4/13 - I found some fancy organic mushrooms marked down at the store, and decided to give them a try. I mean, they look soooo nice tucked into lunches, don't they? Too bad my little stinkers hate them.

My Pizza Bites idea can be found in the MOMables lunch menu subscription. I think. Eventually. Because it's genius! The mini leaf cutters were perfect for quick and easy Fall-themed lunches.

Leafy Kindergarten Lunch

GF chocolate chip cookie muffin, GF Pizza Bites; organic sugar snap peas, yellow carrot, mushrooms, apples

I had a boxed gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix that needed to get used up pronto, but I was just too lazy to spoon out a zillion little cookie plops. So I took a gamble and stuffed it all into an Autumn muffin pan instead. With mixed results. Cookie muffins turned out okay, concept-wise. The flaw was in the mix. Either it had already expired, or else it's a crappy brand. Needless to say, I won't chance using it again! (Sorry. Can't recall what brand it was. The company I thought made it doesn't seem to have a line of baking mixes...)

Tools of the Trade

      

Cooking with Kids: CSA Veggie Soup

Including kids in the food process really increases their chances of not only trying new things, but it predisposes them to like it as well. Little Z has been telling me for over a year now that she hates soup. And not just my soups, but canned ones as well. 

But when Little Z came to the farm with us to pick up our weekly CSA farm share, she was excited to help select and measure the veggies for our share. And she'd exclaim "Oh, this will be perfect for my soup!" Wait, what? So that night, we made soup! 

Random Veggie Soup

1 leek (green part at top and root bottom trimmed off)
1 head broccoli, florets only (you can peel and chop up the stalk if you like, but the stalk causes extra gas, Have fun with that.)
1 lb carrots (4-5)
1 lb potatoes
1 lb random root veggies (rutabaga, sunchoke, parsnip, turnip, radish, kohlrabi, etc.)
1/2 bunch greens, stems removed and leaves torn into pieces (kale, collard greens, radish/beet/turnip greens, dandelion leaves, chard, etc.)
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, minced (3 tsp minced)
3 c vegetable (or chicken) stock (or enough to almost reach the top of the veggies in the soup pot)
1 tsp salt, plus more, to taste
pepper, to taste
any other seasoning you like, to taste (several Tbsp Italian seasoning or fresh herbs usually works well)

Optional: 1-2 cups whole grains, such as brown rice, rinsed quinoa, wheat berries (if you aren't gluten-free!) millet, etc. (Make sure you add more liquid than required for the grains!)

[Really, several pounds of any savory veggies will do. Squash, leeks, cauliflower, peas, corn, celery, etc. Whatever you've got on hand. You can also add meat, if you like, but I would either cut it really small, or pre-cook it, just to be safe. Or hack up a brick of extra firm tofu.]

Peel any veggies you plan on peeling. I tend to leave the potatoes as-is, but my sous chef was keen on peeling them as well. (Sunchokes I sloppy-peel and break apart to wash all the dirt off, and carrots, turnips, and radishes I leave the peels on. All other root veggies I tend to peel.)

Trim and toss carrot and root veggie tops (if applicable) or save in a freezer bag with the peels to make veggie stock later!
Chop all veggies. You might want to chop the onion smaller, if you're like me and hate getting a mouthful of onion. More kid-friendly that way too. Hint hint.

*I let her cut the softer potato for a bit, highly supervised, until I couldn't handle the stress anymore

Toss all veggies (and grains, if using) into a large pot. Add salt and desired seasonings, then pour veggie stock evenly over the top. Bring to a boil, then turn to low (2,) cover, and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
*Note: If you have a super picky kid, you may want to cook 35-40 minutes to make everything all mushy. Harder to pick stuff out, or you can blend it all into a soupy mash to disguise what's in it!

Show off your war-wounds from all that peeling.

Aaaaand dinner!

How Kids Can Help

Choosing ingredients at the store/farm

Planting, watering and harvesting veggies and herbs from your home garden

Selecting which veggies will go into the soup

Peeling (if they're old and strong enough. You can let them try their best, then finish when they're satisfied.)

Cutting softer larger veggies like carrots, potatoes, and celery (cut them first into long pieces with a flat side to make it easier.)

Adding cut veggies to pot (this one's fun for them to do as you're chopping. Just be sure they can wait until you tell them it's okay, so you don't chop any little fingers!)

Measuring and pouring the veggie stock and seasonings.

Stirring (at the beginning, for younger kids, before you turn on the heat, and supervised during cooking, for the older ones.)

Selecting bowls and spoons for each family member and bringing them to the table.

The Verdict

She didn't love it, and she'd refused to let me season it with anything other than salt, so it was fairly bland (and I forgot to use veggie stock and just used water. Doh!) But she ate her whole bowl without complaint! Win!

My CSA Farm: From Farm to Table; Why I Joined a CSA

Two Septembers ago, our co-op preschool class went on a field trip to a local farm, where the kids got to walk around and pick some organic produce to take home. I loved their little farm stand, and decided to join their CSA for the last month of Summer Share.

A CSA (Community-Shared Agriculture) is where a farm sells "shares" of what they produce each year, usually by season, since many people opt out when their own gardens are starting to produce veggies, or if they're in an area with limited growing seasons. The advantages of joining a local CSA is that you get to enjoy fresh, local, seasonal, usually organic produce while supporting a local business. And you get to discover strange new things you may never have tried or even heard of before! Plus it's usually cheaper than buying the same items at the grocery store.
The disadvantage is that you get whatever they're growing, so there may be a looong stretch of summer squash or leeks or something, and you might get tired of them near the end of their growing season! So while the food overall might be cheaper than if you had bought it all at the store, you probably wouldn't have chosen all those items specifically! And since you get a share of what they grow, if there's a drought or flood or other environmental issue that affects the farm, you run the risk of getting little food. On the flip side though, you also get to share in the bounty of a bumper crop!

Just four weeks and I was hooked! Most CSA or produce co-ops hand you your box of produce each week. But at this one, we go down the counter and choose and weigh our own from each box, based on the amount on the sign above each item. The one disadvantage some people might find with this method is that they have to actually drive to the farm, instead of at a closer designated drop-off point or Farmer's Market, or even home delivery. But to me, the advantages far outweigh the 60-minute round trip!

One week's Spring Share

• I get to choose items from each option to cater to our tastes. There might be several options in the basket of greens, and I get to pick which bunch I want. Or for "1 lb root veggies," I can choose rutabaga and sunchokes over the (to-me) more bitter parsnips. 

• I get to choose which specific items I want from each basket. I can choose larger carrots from my carrot share, for example, to make using mini cookie cutters on them easier. Or a smaller eggplant (blech!) because I haven't found a recipe that I've liked yet!

Choosing our apples is usually E's job. She rarely gets past choosing (and eating!) the first one!

• Bonus stuff - During the Summer Share especially, there are often bonus items based on an oversupply. Last year we got at least 4 dozen free organic eggs over several weeks because their hens were producing like crazy for some reason. And near the end of Summer and early Fall, we got to go pick our own cherry tomatoes until we filled the container they provided. And in October, each share member gets to go to their orchard and pick a bucket of apples!

• "Trade" table - Our farm has a little table with a basket that you can put items from your share you won't be using, and if there's something in there you would like, you can take something too!

• "Day Old" - Because we're picking our share up from the actual farm, they often have deals or "Free! Take some!" baskets of stuff going to seed or over-ripening - stuff either to take home and plant (like potatoes with too many roots or garlic growing sprouts,) or stuff that needs to be eaten, like, now! I love snagging over-ripe bananas super cheap and tossing them in the freezer to use in smoothies later!

• Year 'round u-pick - Our farm has a blackboard that lists greens and herbs currently available for any share member to harvest, any time the farm is open! They even have snippers you can borrow! This is perfect for me, since I don't tend to use an entire bunch of, say, basil in one recipe. I can just go get the few leaves I'll need for whatever recipe I had planned that week. Or grab some more kale to toss into our smoothies, since we usually turn our one weekly greens share bunch into kale chips!

• Farm stand - This particular farm also has a farm stand that is open to the public, so I can supplement my weekly share with specific items I would also like, and avoid a trip to the grocery store for their hit-or-miss organic selections.

• Meet the animals! Our farm is a "working farm," where the owners live there and grow their own meals as well! So they have goats for milk and chickens for eggs (and dinner, eventually...) Plus some ducks and turkeys, just for good measure. So we can walk around the farm and visit the animals, and feed them their favorite weeds from the other side of the fence! The also have farm cats. My kids loooove to chase pet their cats!

• And most importantly, packing your own share box means the kids can get involved. When kids help select foods, whether it's planting and harvesting your own garden, finding something new to try at the grocery store or Farmer's Market, or picking and weighing out your share of carrots, it gives them a sense of ownership and pride over their food, which in turn increases the likelihood that they'll not only try a new food or dish, but also enjoy it! 

Baby E and I usually get our farm share each week while Z is at school, but we all got to go together during Spring Break. Z was so excited to help pick and weigh all the foods, and even had a plan!
Z: "We can make a soup! 'Dese carrots will be perfect in our soup!" Me: "But you hate sou... I mean, yes! What a great idea!"

And we made soup that night. And she did as much of the work as I was comfortable with. And she ate it!

You can click here to see some of the fun and strange new vegetables we've gotten in past shares, and some of the lunches and recipes I've used them with! (My salads are all mostly CSA greens and veggies, and I forget to tag them most of the time.)

Interested in finding a CSA near you? First there are some questions to ask yourself - and them - before joining a CSA. Then check out LocalHarvest to find Farmers Markets and family farms near you, or here for a few more links to search from. 

I was not compensated in any way for doing this post. I love our farm and how this process works and want to support them and all the family farms out there working to get fresh, local, seasonal produce and farm goods from their land to your table!

Mama's Secret Weapon: Butter Kale! (How I Trick My Girls Into Loving Their Greens!)

 

A lot of getting kids to eat new foods is in how you market it to them. "X-Ray Vision Carrots" and "Dinosaur Trees" will get kids to try carrots and broccoli more than "Here. Eat your carrots and broccoli. You won't know if you like them until you try them!" You want to cater it to your child and their interests though. For mine, stuff with "princess" in the title is more effective than "dinosaur," but she's also quite literal, so many things don't work with her. "They're not trees, Mama." I tend to use key words for foods or flavors I know she likes, or mix in her favorites the first few times. Like adding chopped olives and olive can juice to something almost guarantees she'll gobble it all down, for example.

When I first made kale chips, I waaaaay over-salted them, which was actually a selling point to my sensory child and me. We loooove salt! So calling them "Salty Kale Chips" was a win, and she loved them! Now she'll eat them with less salt, because she "knows" that she likes them.

So when I got some kale raab in my weekly CSA farm share, I was stumped. I looked it up online, and saw that it's just the flowery tops of the kale plant. And looks quite a lot like baby broccoli (they're both in the brassica family.) I looked at a few recipes, and decided on chopping it small to make it easier to nibble and frying it in butter and olive oil. We love butter. So when I brought it out, called it "Butter Kale," and said that it was for MY dinner, since she'd already eaten her frozen peas, I ensured that she would at least try it. She loves kale chips, butter, and snitching my food. She ended up gobbling down my whole plate, leaving only a few stem bits! (Made from half a pound of kale raab!)

This recipe is super easy (hence my actual success at making it!) and pretty yummy. For vegetables, anyway.

Butter Kale

1/2 lb kale raab or 1 bunch kale (or kale mixed with other greens... it's all good!)
1 pat butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt or seasoned salt, to taste

I chop up the kale raab into smallish bits, roughly every inch along the stalks (also works fine with regular kale, just be sure to cut the leaves off the stems first. You can eat or discard the stems, your choice. I chop them into small chunks and eat them.) Then set it aside for a few. Mostly because I don't have enough clear space for my cutting board and a heated pan!

I turn the stove to medium (4 or 5, if there's numbers,) and plop in a blob of butter, usually the size of a pat. Or so. And bloob in some olive oil, since it's a healthier fat than butter. But you can use whatever cooking oil you feel comfortable with. I'd say 2 Tbsp total. But the butter really adds a nice flavor.

Once the butter is all melted and you've rolled it all around to coat the bottom of the pan, go ahead and toss in your chopped greens. Use your spatula to stir and flip them around until they're all oily all over. Sprinkle with some salt or seasoned salt. Keep stirring and turning for 5-10 minutes, until they're all wilted and to desired level of tenderness. I usually test a bit with some stem on it, and cook until I'm satisfied with the texture, since I usually only get to eat the stems after my locusts have gone through it all! Some of my leaves *pop* and get a little browned and crisp, but we love those, since they *scrounch* like kale chips in your mouth. Yum!

I started with just kale raab, but then I started getting "braising mix," which I had no clue what to do with. (Braising Mix is basically a mix of greens. I recognized kale, rainbow chard, various raab versions of mystery greens, and more mystery greens. Probably some collard and mustard greens, since I know they grow those there. Possibly dandilion greens. They grow those there too. On purpose!)
I read a recipe where basically you cook them the same way as the kale raab, so one day when I was low on raab (we'd gotten .75 lb that week, so I only had .25 lb left - I can only fit around a half-pound in the pan at once,) I filled in with the braising mix, which I'd also chopped every inch or so, to make it harder for Z to tell that it was different.
She didn't notice a thing! Now I can add in any kind of green or more kale leaves. Whatever I have. Both girls go ape for it. This also tastes great with a bit of minced garlic or some green garlic shoots chopped up. You'd want to cook the garlic for a minute or so before adding the greens though.

Dinner For Baby:

Butter Kale (kale raab plus braising greens,) leftover cauliflower fried "rice," rice and quinoa with cheese

I modified a cauliflower fried rice recipe from Family Fresh Meals by giving up on grating the stupid cauliflower roughly halfway through, then filling it out with a pre-cooked rice and quinoa mix. Hand-grating the cauliflower is a major pain in the booty, plus my girls need grains more than they need the extra veggies, at this point!
I also sub the soy sauce out for some gluten-free tamari. And I don't bother pre-cooking the egg. I just add it a bit earlier and cook it right there with the "rice." Lazy => ingenuity!

The rice and quinoa mix is done up in a big batch (usually a cup of each) once a week or so, and some is kept in the fridge and the rest gets frozen. Then I always have some on-hand for a quick toss-in, like for the fried rice, or just as a side for dinner. Since most gluten-free products are high in white rice and starches to make them more "normal," it means that it's harder to get in all the whole grains they need each day. So this is an easy fix that both girls love! I added cheese to it one night halfway through reheating, and called it "cheesy rice," and now it's a requested favorite. And if I make some for Z, even if Baby already ate the dinner I made for everyone else that Z rejected, I have to make some for her too!

Truthfully, Baby didn't get quite that much Butter Kale. It just looked so forlorn in there with just the bit that she got, so I tossed some of Big Sister's in there too, just for the photo.

I served hers in an EasyLunchbox, even though we were eating at home, because it's easier for her to manage than a plate and two bowls, or to have everything together on a large plate. This way, nothing gets pushed off the side as she tries to jab it with her fork, there is a lot of forgiveness in the dish if she tips it a bit as she leans on the side, there aren't different dishes moving around as she eats, and everything still stays separate.
Plus, honestly, it's just as easy to wash this in the dishwasher than the other dish(es) I would have used.

Little Z's Dinner:

Leftover mashed "potatoes," rice and quinoa w/cheese, more cheese, butter kale (kale raab plus braising greens)

The mashed "potatoes" are really mashed potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, sunchokes, and parsnips. And an onion plus garlic. Ha! I left the peels on the potatoes (a mix of red, fingerling, and German butter-something... whatever I had on-hand from various weeks of my farm share) but peeled the rest, chopped and boiled them up, then mashed it all together. She loooooooves it!

I put hers on a divided plate because she's a big girl and can eat without shoving all her food off the side! Ha! Plus this plate has a fairly high lip. No good for soup or anything like that, but great for mashed potatoes and gravy kind of thing.

Tools of the Trade