Chopped Salad. Mason Jar-style

We've been trying different pizza joints around the area, and several of them have a "chopped salad", which I'm loving! So I decided to reimagine that salad in a mason jar.
Lunches for the whole week, prepped and packed all at once.

Here's the beautifully-layered finished product.

I prepped all of my ingredients ahead of time, which makes assembly SO much easier and faster! For my chopped salad, I diced, chunked and chopped celery, chicken, red bell pepper, cucumbers, salami, mozzarella and iceberg lettuce.

Here's the order of layers in my chopped salad:

#1 - about 2 Tbs. of balsamic vinaigrette dressing into the bottom of my quart mason jar.

#2 - A small portion of chopped celery.

#3 - Diced red bell pepper.

#4 - Repeat with chopped onion.

#5 - I drained canned garbanzo beans, and added a few tablespoonfuls.

#6 - Cucumber chunks.

#7 - Baby spinach leaves.

#8 - Chopped iceberg lettuce.

#9 - Chunked, cooked chicken.

#10 - Chopped salami.

#11 - Mozzarella cubes.

#12 - Top with croutons.

However, if you include croutons in your mason jar salad and store it even for a short while, the croutons will get mushy, which defeats the point of croutons. Which is why I pack them in a snack baggie on the side, so that I can top each day's salad with crispy, crunchy, satisfying croutons. Yum.

Check back later in the week, and I'll give you my review of this salad.

Quick and Easy Pinwheels

One morning, I was getting together with some friends, and I realized that I was supposed to bring an appetizer. Oh what to do?! I had some tortillas, cheese, salami and veggies in the frig. I wondered what I could make with those ingredients. A really easy and delicious pinwheel snack!

First I spread cream cheese onto a tortilla, and then topped it with salami slices. Baby spinach and blanched asparagus made up the veggie component. Chunks of mozzarella added a creamy texture. I rolled it up, secured it with toothpicks, and sliced it into pinwheels.

An easy, quick-to-prepare, snazzy-looking appetizer or late-afternoon snack.

Easter Throwback with a DIY Tutorial Link

Last year, I made an Easter bento to celebrate my belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

"Cookie cutters turned slices of multigrain bread into a cross and a tombstone. The baby spinach around the cross symbolizes green grass, while the edible pansy flower (eat only the petals) represents the newness of life in Springtime.

Mashed potatoes form the tomb, with black olives illustrating the emptiness of the grave.

Dried blueberries create the sky with a cheddar cheese sun shining down from above.

Red Twizzlers were cut and toothpicked together to form the word "Life", which is what Easter is really all about."

Click here for the DIY tutorial link.

Daily, I choose to live my life using the grace of God in my life to make much of the glory of God. If you have any questions regarding my faith or my beliefs about God and Jesus, please feel free to comment. I'd love to dialogue with you.

Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer Review - March 2015

The Fearless Flyer is out! For those of you who are familiar with Trader Joe's, you already know what that means, and I'll bet you're pretty excited! For those of you who aren't acquainted with Trader Joe's, let me introduce you. It's a like a neighborhood grocery store with some healthy foods mixed in. A treasure trove of delicious produce and tasty treats. The Fearless Flyer is TJ's monthly (or maybe semi-monhtly?) 'newsletter' that advertises new products, highlights a few favorites and gives you the good news that certain seasonal goodies are back in stock.

Each time a FF comes out, I like to try a few items and give you some feedback. Perhaps my review will peek your interest to try some of the products for yourself. (And no, I don't get paid by TJ's. I don't even think they know that my blog exists at this point.)

That brings me to my post for today. Although I do enjoy creating fun lunches for my kiddos, sometimes I like to craft my own special lunch. After all, I too need to eat.
So today's lunch is geared towards adults (though you could certainly pack it for a child).
Yesterday, I ate this lunch at home. Today, I brought it to my husband's workplace, and we ate lunch together, with baby in tow.

First, the Cruciferous Crunch Collection. Pure crunchy veggie deliciousness. It reminds me of the Kale Slaw Salad that I crafted back in October. There is no dressing included in the package, which means you can top this salad with whichever dressing suits your fancy.
I chose a poppyseed dressing - yum.

 Chèvre with Honey. This was a gamble for our family, since it's a mild goat cheese, which we don't normally like. BUT I have to tell you - with the exception of LoveBug, we loved it! There's a bit of a pleasant tang, which is complemented by the sweetness of the honey. We spread it on the Tuscan Pane bread, which is reviewed below.

Tuscan Pane. This sliced bread reminds me a generic, store-bought French bread. It is pretty good warmed up and topped with the Chèvre with Honey cheese; there is nothing super special about it.

Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup. Oh wow. A creamy tomato soup with a slight tang of red pepper. Delicious beyond belief. And so healthy too!

Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks. I purchased these as a snack for our family. Overall, they are good. The honey adds a nice sweetness to the crunchy sticks. I found them to be a bit dry at times, so have a drink handy while eating them. Plus side: there seems to be quite a few servings in the bag, which means we still have snacks in this house of seemingly-bottomless-pit children.

A delicious lunch! Crunchy, chilled salad. Creamy, hot soup. Smooth, tangy cheese smeared onto hearty bread. Yum.

St. Patty's Day Smoothie

Happy St. Patty's Day! My kids have been pestering me to make every food green today, but I just couldn't quite make that happen.

However, I am going to surprise them with this fabulous green smoothie as their after-school snack!

It's super easy!

(1) Gather the supplies - baby spinach, coconut milk, chia seeds, wheat germ and bananas. (Not pictured: 1/4 cup of water and a blender)

(2) Add a handful of baby spinach to the blender.

(3) Dump in a bit of wheat germ.

(4) Peel and chunk a banana; add to blender.

(5) Add a pinch or two of chia seeds.

(6) Pour in desired amount of coconut milk.

(7) Add 1/4 cup water to the blender.

(8) Blend until smooth ...

And enjoy the healthy deliciousness!

Fruit Wrap Tutorial

Yesterday, I posted on how to make a veggie wrap. Today's post is all about a delicious fruit-filled wrap!

First of all, here are the ingredients with which I began - bananas, whole wheat tortillas and peanut butter. I spread a thin layer of peanut butter onto the tortilla, all the way to one edge - that will be the sticky edge that seals the wrap shut.

Next, I sliced up a banana. I did a bias-cut (which basically means a diagonal cut), because I think it looks fancy. However, any type of slice will work.

After laying the banana slices down the middle of the tortilla, I decided that I wanted some more color and flavor, so I added a few craisins. Same as with the veggie wrap, I simply rolled up the tortilla towards the peanut-butter-filled edge. Securing it with two food picks, I cut the wrap on the bias.

Now, if you'll excuse me ... this banana-craisin-peanut-buttery goodness is calling my name. Happy eating!

Veggie Wrap Tutorial

Today, I am going to demonstrate how to make a veggie wrap. Honestly, it's not hard. And the beauty of the wrap is that you can customize it based on (1) what you have on hand and (2) what veggies you like!

This picture represents the veggies that I had on hand - snap peas, carrot sticks and thinly sliced cucumbers. To make the wrap, I had whipped cream cheese and flour tortillas. (Also pictured: whole-wheat tortillas, peanut butter and bananas. These items are for a fruit-filled wrap, which I will feature in tomorrow's post.)

First, I spread a thin layer of whipped cream cheese on my tortilla. I prefer the whipped kind for this food adventure since it spreads better than the regular block cream cheese.

Next, I laid a few cucumber slices down the middle of the tortilla.

I topped the cucumber slices with carrot sticks and snap peas. So colorful!

Then I just rolled it up. I spread a bit more cream cheese on the edge of the tortilla to enable it to "seal shut". Two flower toothpicks held the wrap closed, while I cut in half.

Tada! Colorful, healthy lunch (or snack)!

DIY Veggie Wraps

So this week's post are about Veggie Wraps and Fruit Wraps. However, the kiddos got home from school before I had a chance to make the wraps and take the pictures. Of course, my growing children were HUNGRY, so ...

I put out all of the veggies, already cut up. And I spread a small amount of cream cheese on two whole-wheat tortillas.

Then I invited my kids to create their own after-school snack.

 My son even put radishes on his veggie wrap. He doesn't like radishes. But they were there, so he thought he'd try them. Fine by me!

They love to create their own dishes.

Sometimes, they pretend they are on MasterChef Junior.

But eating your colorful, edible presentation is even better.

They ate far more veggies in a child-assembled wrap than if I had made it for them.

Plus, the whole-wheat tortilla tides their seemingly-always-hungry bellies until dinnertime.

Later this week, I'll post a "How To" about veggie wraps and fruit wraps.

Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast

It doesn't have to be Dr. Seuss' birthday in order to make your kids' breakfast special. On "Dr. Seuss Day" (as we call it), I chopped some ham, scrambled some eggs and added green food coloring = Green Eggs and Ham. You would have thought I let the kids eat chocolate cake for breakfast. They were SO excited!

It's the little things in life! How could you make your kids' breakfast special this week? Maybe cut their toast into a fun shape. Perhaps put a pinch of colored sprinkles on their yogurt. Or top their cereal with frozen blueberries. It doesn't take much thought or planning to up the fun (and healthy) factor of food. Think of something, and run with it!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss (a few days late)!

Well, the days are eluding me again. I meant to post ON Dr. Seuss' birthday, but lack of sleep (thanks to the new baby) has my days all messed up. But better late than never ... here's a throw-back to last year's Dr. Seuss Day.

From the book "Green Eggs and Ham", there are pesto-filled deviled eggs and spinach-and-ham roll-ups.

A silicone cup of rainbow-colored goldfish represents the book "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". By the way, there are no blue fish amongst the colored goldfish. Like I said, it's a representation. :)

"The Cat in the Hat" (my Dad's favorite book to read to my kiddos) is shown by a "hat" of mozzarella cheese and red pepper stacked on a toothpick. Bookending the Cat's hat are Thing One and Thing Two, made of strawberries topped with blue frosting.