Homegrown Lettuce in Recycled Milk Jugs

Last week, on my Letter R lunch post, I told you that I picked homegrown lettuce from our milk jug garden on our back deck. Today, I want to show you how to do it. It's pretty easy, and your kids will love watching the seeds sprout and grow. Plus, you can't beat the freshness and delicious taste!

Here's what you will need:
Several empty, rinsed-out milk jugs - I saved mine for a few weeks before this project.
An exacto knife.
Seeds - lettuce, spinach, salad-y type stuff.
Dirt - I used a potting soil mix.
Small shovel.

First step, turn the milk jug on its side, with the handle facing down. Using the exacto knife, an adult should cut off the side, which is now the top, since you laid the milk jug down. (Please know that I was careful, even though the pictures don't necessarily illustrate that. It is very hard to cut and take pictures at the same time!)

This is what it should look like when you are finished. Not professional nor perfect nor Pinterest-worthy, but it gets the job done. Ya know?

The next step is VERY important. Turn the milk jug upside down, and poke holes or X's in the bottom. This allows excess water to drain, preventing a build up of mildew within your container. Eww, we don't want that.

Now, flip your milk jug back over, and fill with dirt or potting soil. Kids will love to help with this step!

And the kids' most important job: adding the seeds, and covering them with dirt.

Give your newly planted seeds a shower. I mean it: really drench the container.

In a few weeks, your homegrown, milk-jug lettuce will be ready to be picked for a dinnertime side salad. Can't get much fresher than that!

Try it out at home, and send me pics of your gardening prowess!

Homemade Lunchable: How-To

Today, I want to show you just how easy it is to make a homemade lunchable.

Here are the ingredients, most of which I just grabbed from my refrigerator and cupboards. Ritz veggie crackers, string cheese, sliced roast beef, black olives, broccoli, blueberries, raspberries and yellow bell pepper strips.

First, put the crackers into a small section or container of a lunchbox, to ensure that they will still fresh and crisp until lunchtime. For this lunch, I used an Easy Lunchbox.

Next, pour about a 1/2 cup of raspberries and a 1/2 cup of blueberries into another compartment. What a beautiful, tasty combo!

Roast beef and cheese roll-ups. Here's the part that looks complicated, but it really isn't!
(1) Lay out 6 roast beef slices (1 serving size). Cut 1 string cheese into 3 equal pieces.
(2) Cut each string cheese piece in half lengthwise, so that you have a total of 6 pieces.
(3) Fold each roast beef slice in half. Place 1 string cheese piece at the end of a roast beef half-circle. Roll up.
(4) Secure with a food pick or toothpick. Repeat until all roast beef roll-ups are finished.

Add your veggies. I put in broccoli florets and yellow pepper strips, because that is what I had in my refrigerator. Use whatever veggies you have on hand.

My kids LOVE black olives. When they were toddlers, my mom taught them how to put an olive on each finger, and then eat the olives off of their fingers. Talk about "finger food"!
My not-so-little kids still love to do that!

However, I do not like the taste of black olives. Guess what? I didn't put them in MY lunch. Talk about personalizing the lunches. That's the beauty of homemade lunchables. You can cater to each person's individual likes and dislikes.

Grab a lunchbox or a few small containers. Look around your cupboards and refrigerator for some foods to create a balanced lunch. See what kind of homemade lunchable you can come up with!

Homemade Lunchable

On Friday, I chaperoned my daughter's class field trip to a local museum. Everyone had to bring their own lunch. I think for most people the "go-to" brown bag lunch is a store-bought Oscar Mayer Lunchable, or the healthier meal kit option by Revolution Foods. I have a problem with both of these items.

(1) Oscar Mayer Lunchable - While there are numerous choices available, they are not good for you! And though the price is relatively low for a packaged lunch, the amount of food in that "lunch" - well, let's just say that would make a great after-school snack for my kids. In my opinion, that is not enough for lunch for a elementary-schooler. So Lunchables are a no-go in our household.

(2) Revolution Foods meal kits - I have not tried them yet; however, they do look rather tasty. I believe that these meal kits cost about $3.50 each. To me, that is cost-prohibitive. Not in our household.

So, what to do? Pack pbj sandwiches that will get squished during our travels around the museum. No thanks.

How about I just pack our own lunchables in Easy Lunchboxes? Perfect! On Thursday, I will walk you through HOW I made this one. It's seriously so easy!