What's for Lunch?

What do you eat for lunch? For me lunch seems to be the hardest meal to plan.

Breakfast is easy: usually I make a big batch of waffles to have in the freezer for easy toasting, some mornings we do cereal, or oatmeal, and others we do eggs.

Dinner is fun to plan! I enjoy cooking and have fun going through blogs, cookbooks, and other recipes deciding what to cook for dinner that week. I do a weekly menu plan and it works great.

But then there is lunch. Lunch is usually just Jake & I. And really I don't want to have to "cook" another meal. I want something that is easy to put together, but tastes good. Sometimes we eat leftovers, but I am really not a big leftover fan. Lately lunch has been sandwiches, with a veggie, pretzels and fruit. The sandwiches aren't too fancy tuna, chicken salad, or turkey. We have been know to switch it up and make the sandwich into a wrap instead of eating it on bread. But still pretty boring and normal.

This sandwich option is easy. The ingredients last us most of the week. With a lunch out here and there or leftovers. And doesn't add a whole bunch to our weekly grocery budget.

Through the wonderful world of internet & The Ultimate Blog Party going on at 5 Minutes for Mom I have discovered several blogs with tons of great lunch ideas. Most of these lunches are fun for Jake, but are adaptable for me (you know I don't really need my food cut out into shapes, but I can still eat the ingredients).

Do you struggle with lunch like I do? I have put together a small list of blogs or other online resources that list great lunch ideas. I haven't tried any of these recipes yet, but will be adding some to our meal plan. Some of the sites might contain info I don't agree with or use ingredients that I would not. Since I was only looking for lunch ideas I didn't look around a lot on the sites. And ingredients I wouldn't use will be replaced with stuff we like.

Have you heard of bento lunches? They are kind of becoming a big deal in America. Read here to see what it is all about. You can search and find tons of bento lunch ideas. For this reason I am only linking to one bento lunch menu blog. But really there are tons! 

Bento Menu Library at Laptop Lunches
20 quick & easy lunch recipes
The Kid Can Cook -we are not nut free, but some of these sandwiches looked fun & yummy
Once A Month Mom-doing something like this might work too cooking everything one day and having lunches available

Ok, that is only a few lunch ideas. Really there are tons!! And when I try some good lunch recipes I will let you all know. In the mean time share with me in the comments...what do you do for lunch at your house?

Yum Cream

Otherwise known as snow cream. I have read a couple blogs by people who regularly get snow and in turn make snow cream. I thought for sure the next time we got snow we would do this.

Let me just say this is so delicious...we all Loved it!!!

Get some fluffy good snow. Put a few scoops in a cereal bowl or any other bowl you want.
You need vanilla, sugar, and either heavy cream or milk (we used the heavy cream).

1/4-1/2 tsp of vanilla
1-3 Tbsps sugar
4-6 Tbsps of either cream or milk
Stir together and ENJOY!!
This is seriously good stuff!!!

Although, I am totally over the snow/ice this did make the snow a little more fun...ugh I am so ready for the sun!!!

Taco Soup

The weather today is a stay in your jammies cuddle on the couch kind of day. I love those days (as long as I don't have somewhere to be).  It finally has gotten cool here in Georgia (last week it was still in the high 80's). And to go along with this weeks Making your home a haven challenge which is focus on the kitchen, the heart of the home. Cook things with pleasant aromas I am sharing a very yummy taco soup recipe.

Cook 1 pound of ground beef with 1 onion
1 can refried beans(I use fat free)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 4oz can green chilies
1 29oz can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 can corn
1 packet taco seasoning(I use this homemade taco seasoning recipe)
1 packet ranch seasoning

 Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook 4 hours. It is super yummy with cheese on top and crunchy tortilla strips.

Crock pot cooking is one of my favorite ways to cook. Putting it all in the crock pot in the morning and knowing dinner will be ready without having to worry about it. Not to mention crock pot cooking always makes the house smell super yummy!!!

Lasagna Rolls

One of Jason's favorite things I make is lasagna rolls. And as part of week 7 in the Completing Him Challenge I asked Jason what he wanted to eat. Because he was in Las Vegas for the actual week of the challenge his favorite foods were made the following week.

Here is the recipe:

12 Lasagna Noodles-I use whole wheat
ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
14 oz spaghetti sauce-I think I actually used more
8 oz sliced mushrooms
15 oz ricotta cheese
4 oz mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup  Parmesan cheese
10 oz frozen chopped spinach(thawed and drained)

                                                             Cook your noodles


Brown your ground beef with the onion. Drain and return to skillet. Add your mushrooms and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, garlic, & parmesan cheese in small bowl.

Pour the sauce into 9X13 baking dish. 

After your noodles have cooked spread the cheese mixture on the noodles(one at a time). Roll the noodle up.

And slice across making 2 rolls out of each noodle. 

Place the roll (curly edge of noodle up) into the pan with the sauce. Repeat until cheese mixture is gone. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Addicted

I am totally addicted to canning!!!

After canning one jar of banana peppers a couple of weeks ago we decided to try our turn at salsa.

And from there my addiction has been born. I just keeping thinking of things I want can. And wondering how many more tomatoes we will get from our garden. But I am even at the point of thinking about what I can buy from the store in bulk to can too.

Love it!!

For our Salsa we used the zesty salsa recipe that came in our canning kit we bought a few weeks ago.
5 cups chopped/peeled tomatoes

2 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 1/2 cups chopped green peppers
1 1/4 cups pepper(we used a combo of jalapeno and banana peppers both from our garden)
2/3 cup cider vinegar
a dash of hot sauce(we used tabasco because we were out of regular hot sauce)
Bring all of this to boil in a pot. Then reduce heat and simmer/low boil for 10 minutes.
Fill Jars leaving 1/2" headspace

Boil in a hot water bath for 20 minutes

We were able to get 1 pint and 5 1/2 pint jars. We ate a jar Sunday and it is so yummy!!! Not to mention the jars look so pretty in sitting in our pantry.

I got several more jalepanos from the garden today so I am thinking pepper jelly is on my list to can this week. And I know I will be doing freezer jam one day soon(not really hot water bath canning, but still as much fun). I am going to do apple butter too and probably applesauce. Depending how many more tomatoes we get from our garden I would love to make tomato soup and can diced tomatoes as well.

Date nights in the kitchen are so much fun. We had fun spending time together at home while Jake was upstairs sleeping. Lots of work, but great conversations and tons of fun!!!

Bean Salad Wrap Recipe

Last week when I posted that we would be eating bean salad wraps for lunch I had several people ask for the recipe.

This is from the Better Homes & Garden new cook book. It has become my all time favorite cook book!!

4 8 inch flavored or plain tortillas (we use whole wheat)
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed & drained
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
2 Tbsp cilantro
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1/3 cup light mayonnaise dressing or salad dressing
1 Tbsp lime juice
leaf lettuce
Some times we include avocado too
1. heat tortilla
2. in a medium bowl mash the beans slightly; add sweet pepper, cilantro & tomato. Stir in mayonnaise and lime juice.
3. spread bean mixture over tortilla top with lettuce. Roll up tortilla
We like ours dipped in salsa

For my weight watcher buddies it is only 5 points & super filling.