The Green Lunch Bag

Top Chef Recipe: Pork Carnitas in an Oatmeal Tortilla.

2010-06-26T11:39:58-07:00

Bravo's Top Chef latest challenge was a healthy hot school lunch contest.

I was delighted to see a pork carnitas recipe from contestant Kelly Liken take the win. This dish looks pretty tasty not to mention healthy with a tortilla made out of oatmeal.

You can find the Top Chef recipe Pork Carnitas with Pickled Onions and Oatmeal Tortilla here and a link to a video below.

Pork Carnitas Video.

Better than M&Ms - Granola Recipe

2010-02-07T11:26:24-08:00

Three year old Zane recently declared my homemade granola, "Better than M&Ms". I couldn't be happier about Zane's new favorite snack. Granola chock full of dried fruit and nuts and baked with olive oil and honey is pretty tasty stuff not to mention healthy. Zane likes to snack on his granola dry. I prefer mine with non-fat plain yogurt, fresh fruit and drizzled with honey. Below is my simple granola recipe. Enjoy.

Granola Recipe:

Dry Ingredients:

4 cups of thick cut oats

1/2 cup of dried nuts chopped- walnuts and/or almonds

1/3 cup of dried fruit chopped - cherries, cranberries, apricots or raisins

pinch of salt

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Wet Ingredients:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup honey

Grated zest of one orange

Combine all wet ingredients in a small in a bowl, stir to mix.

Combine wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Mix with hands or wooden spoon.

Spread granola mixture evenly onto a large metal baking sheet with sides.

Bake at 350º for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Transfer to an air tight container for storage.

NOTES: Granola is a very forgiving recipe and experimenting with dried nuts and fruits is recommended as is oil. I've been using extra virgin olive oil for the richer flavor and the way it complements tarter dried fruit such as cherries. Canola and vegetable oils are the traditional oils used in granola and worth experimenting with as well. I've also experimented with agave as a substitute for honey.

Hot Dog Buns to The Rescue

2009-06-09T17:48:12-07:00

Lazy eco Mom helpful hint. Next time you have a drink spill at the park, reach for the omnipresent discarded hot dog bun. These scrappy little blobs of bread really do the trick and no need to use a fresh paper towel?! Crisis averted, trees saved.

'Hungry Like The Wolf' - Spanakopita Triangles

2009-05-25T15:46:27-07:00

Sure these spanakopita triangles were designed as the classic 80's cocktail party finger food but why let adults steal all the fun?

These tasty little spinach & feta treats are fun to make with your kids and their little triangle shapes pack well for lunch. Kids love the crisp buttery crunch of the phyllo dough so much that they forget they are eating spinach & feta.

I used this recipe from epicurious but added a sauteed leek to the spinach feta mixture for flavor and texture. Since I was packing these spanakopita for lunch I baked mine extra crispy and used a minimal amount of butter so that they were not oily. I made a quick dipping sauce of yogurt, chopped dill, lemon and honey. I think my son would have rather I left the dill out, maybe just honey & lemon for the kids.

So when your kids are 'hungry like the wolf' let them party on at the playground with the classic spinach triangle.

When Life Deals You Black Bananas. Make Banana Bread.

2009-01-02T18:41:52-08:00

Yumm. Who doesn't love a tasty moist slice of banana bread?! Banana bread is a quick yummy homemade treat for the kids lunch box and a wonderful way to recycle those over-ripe black bananas that I always seem to have in my fruit basket.

I've made this recipe many times and it's pretty forgiving if you're up to making it with your kids. Always moist and always a hit.

Banana Bread - makes 1 large loaf

1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs

1 and 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of mashed over-ripe bananas
1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yougurt (non fat works fine as well)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350ºF
Butter 9"X5"X3" loaf pan
Using electric mixer, cream butter & sugar well. Add the eggs and beat well.
In a seperate bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and then combine with the butter mixture and blend well. Add the bananas, yogurt and vanilla stir well. Stir in the chopped nuts and pour into loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Wait until cooled to slice.

Help Hungry Local Kids

2008-11-27T14:36:00-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Please help local families put food on their table this Holiday Season.

Did you know that 1 in 4 children in San Francisco do not have access to enough food to meet their nutritional needs on a regular basis?
In San Francisco, 150,000 people struggle each day to feed themselves and their families.
$22,880 is the income cutoff for Food Stamps for a family of three. That’s not even half of what it actually costs in San Francisco to raise a family.

Please donate to your local Food Bank this holiday season. Visit Feeding America to find a local food bank near you.

The Feel Better Blueberry Smoothie

2008-11-19T22:55:18-08:00

Help! Everyone around me is sick. Including my two year old who has a cold and has lost his appetite. I challenge that lost appetite to a berry smoothie!

Smoothies are a great way to get food into a kid that needs to eat but isn't eating. High in nutrients, cool on the throat, easy on the stomach and disguised as a sweet treat - smoothies are the perfect meal for a sick kid.

Whipping up a smoothie in the blender is easy. For me, the hardest part is hoisting the blender off the top shelf in my kitchen. To make the pictured blueberry smoothie I combined equal parts: Frozen organic blueberries, organic vanilla yogurt and 1/2 a banana. Of course it's a smoothie so you can add whatever combination of fruit or fruit juice plus yogurt that you like.

For the stomach flu, aka the runs, our pediatrician recommends a smoothie made of rice milk, banana and a spoonful of peanut butter. Sounds pretty tasty to me.

Trader Joe's: Top 10 List for Kids

2008-11-13T13:27:17-08:00

Trader Joe's. It's a great place to buy affordable, tasty and healthy foods, and in today's economic climate TJ's is a destination for the green lunch bag shopper.

Trader Joe's is a funny store. It's the party shoppers trifecta - low cost booze, cheeses galore and more dips than the Dow. But if you're feeding kids you might find yourself wandering the aisles with a cart full of Trader Jose's habanero salsa and 'two buck chuck' wondering what to throw in for anyone under 12 years old. So here's my shopping list of Top 10 favorite Trader Joe's kids items.

Whole wheat mini bagels - No preservatives or added sugar and it's a great snack size.
Hummus - Mild flavor & consistency, perfect for kids.
Bratwurst - Tasty and a great alternative to hot dogs.
Almond, pistachio & tart cherry trek mix - A trek mix without chocolate!
Frozen lemonade - Winner of uncle Lee's taste test and it sells out fast.
Frozen thin crust pizza (3 or 4 cheese) - This pizza is made in Italy, need I say more.
Frozen jasmine rice - Fluffy, microwavable rice for when you just don't have the time.
Frozen mahi-mahi - Grill it, steam it, bake it. A great fish for kids and always a bargain at TJ's.
Frozen cod sticks - Zero trans fat, no preservatives.
Frozen pork pot stickers - Steamed pot stickers are a great lunch item for the thermos container.

I'm sure there are more great Trader Joe's finds. Please feel free to post your favorites

Kids Love Pumpkin Pie... Ravioli!

2008-11-04T11:16:50-08:00

Halloween may be over but pumpkins are still in season... in ravioli that is! If you're a local San Franciscan, swing by Lucca Ravioli Company on Valencia street for a box of delicious house made pumpkin ravioli. Lucca has been making ravioli at their Valencia street location for over 80 years plus they have their own parking lot which is an added bonus for busy Moms. For my friends and family in Philadelphia, Di Bruno Bros. near Rittenhouse Square carries pumpkin ravioli.

Pumpkin ravioli sounds exotic but don't be fooled, it's a great dish for kids! It's easy to prepare, they love it and it's chock full of vitamins A, C and K.

I told my sons they were eating pumpkin pie pasta for dinner and they gobbled it up. Pumpkin ravioli is extremely easy to prepare - toss cooked ravioli with a simple butter sauce. I suggest a melted browned butter with sage leaves that have been cooked to a crisp in the hot butter with salt to taste.

Get a Grip on Mealtime

2008-10-30T14:36:19-07:00

Teaching little barbarians the art and skill of civilized eating is a tiring, messy and sometimes dangerous process - a skill so hard to grasp that it may take years and in some known cases, decades to perfect. Luckily, the folks at SkipHop have just released "Mate", a stay-put mat & plate system that brings civility and perhaps a bit of safety to family mealtime with a toddler.

The SkipHop Mate is a fork, spoon and plate that attach to a skid resistant rubber place mat. Mate is painfully adorable and thoughtfully designed by top designer Scott Henderson, a classmate and friend of mine from Philadelphia's UArts '88.

I put SkipHop's Mate to the test with my two year old Zane, a novice eater that currently enjoys throwing food and plates. First off - the large rubber place mat with the hidden smiley face really is skid-resistant – no flying plates! Secondly, the interior food plate is manufactured out of polypropylene, a food safe material and is divided into 3 sections so fussy eaters won't freak if their peas touch their cheese chunks. Lastly - Zane's favorite feature - the little fork & spoon each have their own docking stations! While using the Mate at mealtime Zane used his utensils, sat still longer, ate more food and minimized the need for air traffic control. Little barbarians - your days are numbered.