Day 44 - Fish Taco & Sushi

Rather an odd combo, but the sushi was made on Sunday evening, and likely wouldn't last much longer (first time making sushi - my husband did a great job!).  The fish tacos - well, there was a bit of grilled fish left, and taco shells. 

Menu Ecclectic:
- Fish Tacos (grilled fish, mayo, red lettuce & avocado in an organic tortilla shell)
- Homemade Sushi (shrimp, avocado & cucumber)
- Banana

I don't know about you, but I don't want to participate in the largest (known) experiment on humans - genetically modified food (GMO).  in the US, most conventional corn is GMO, unless you buy certified organic.  Within the definition of USDA Organic, the food cannot be genetically modified.  Hence, only organic tacos, tortilla chips and even frozen corn for this house! 

Sushi

The Fish Taco Ingredients

The Fish Tacos

Fish Taco in Cotton Wrap

First Fold

Second Fold

And so on...

Bananas

Day 43 - Pinwheels

My daughter's birthday party gave us a few leftovers (sorry Stephen)!  I made 3 types of pinwheels to try to accommodate a 4-6 year old audience used to pizza.  First of all - let me tell you  (some of you may know), how nerve-wracking it is to try to cater to an audience of kids who don't exactly eat the way we do, and one of which has a nut allergy!  I usually read the ingredient lists of grocery store items  - which made me go from store to store to find wraps without trans fats; but this time I reread them several times to ensure there were NO nuts even close to the food items used.

I ended up with a couple trays of fruit, veggies & hummus and pinwheels.  The pinwheels were (all on whole spelt, organic wraps): cream cheese, cream cheese and cucumbers, cream cheese & turkey breast (organic with no nitrates added).  I could sleep OK knowing that at my kid's birthday, I was true to my healthy food philosophy (vegans forgive me...).

Lunch Bag
- Pinwheels
- Carrots, Cucumbers & Hummus
- Fruit Salad
- Blueberry Scones

Pinwheels

In the Stainless Container with Cucumbers & Carrots

 I don't usually buy individual-sizes for food (for environmental & pricing concerns), but for the birthday party, it seemed a better idea to use these little ones.

Individual-Sized Hummus

 This might look a little unappetizing!  I made melon (cantaloupe) balls for the party (for fruit kabobs) and used the leftovers for this fruit salad (very odd shapes - if you were in manufacturing, you'd understand the term offal).  Also had leftover pineapples that didn't make it on the kabobs.  Voila, next day's fruit salad.

Fruit Salad

And finally, the last of last week's blueberry scones!

Blueberry Scones

Day 33 - Basil CousCous

Back to the grind.  Spent a week in Disney World and my stomach is still reeling.  One day I did manage to pack us a lunch of hummus and cucumbers in a whole wheat wrap, but the other 4 days...well, let's just say it wasn't quite so healthy.

One meal in Animal Kingdom was quite delicious - at Tuskers, a Morrocan-influenced restaurant.  We found this pearled couscous that was really tasty.   Had basil and olive oil and peppers in it.  So, we tried it here at home and it ended up in the kid's lunch today.  It also ended up coming home uneaten (full disclosure) - so they had it for dinner and they really liked it.  Had to force them a bit to eat something new.  Really, it is not so new - couscous is actually tiny pasta. It just looks different.  The pearled version is plump and juicy, unlike the rice-like, more common version that I was used to.

Even though the cold weather hit NJ this past week, we had one more picking of fresh basil off our deck planter to add to the couscous.  Quite tasty if I don't say so myself!

Menu:
- Basil Couscous (with poblano peppers)
- Carrots & Homemade Hummus (got rather energetic my day back from Disney World and cooked up a bunch of things yesterday)
- Apple
- Apple Chips for snack

Basil Couscous

Hummus, Carrots & Apple

Apple Chips

Day 20 - Blueberry-Apple Crumble

Last night I had a sinus infection.  Went to bed really early and wasn't able to make anything for dinner (or next day lunch).  And, I was out of town all last week so I really am less organized that usual.  That's my way of warning you that I was grasping at straws today for the kids' lunch.

Gourmet Meal:
- Carrots & Peppers with Hummus
- Cheese
- Crackers
- Apple
- Blueberry-Apple Crumble


The cheese my kids love, but I try to use it as a condiment more than a main ingredient.  Today had no choice.  Also, there were all these mini Baby-Bel cheeses in the fridge (kids love them so Dad got them, but I'm not a big fan - too much cheese leads to congestion in kids).  Everything else is pretty much explanatory.  The Blueberry-Apple Crumble actually started out as a pie, but given my lack of pie-making prowess, it ended up a crumble (still tasty)!

Hummus

Carrots & Peppers

Apple

Crackers

Cheese

Blueberry-Apple Crumble