Adventure Afternoon Lunch

Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day (a little colder), and the adventure afternoon class was scheduled to walk over to the duck pond on campus. I thought that sounded fun so I signed Jeffrey up! Jeffrey stays for lunch about 3 times a month, he loves it and has so much fun. I make him extra fun lunches because it is not an everyday event.

Cream cheese sandwich (underneath), Mini Cheddar Cheese sandwich crackers, apple slices, Mixed berry go-gurt, cheese stick, 'Lightning McQueen' fruit punch juice box and a piece of M&M cookie for dessert! (Peanut butter not allowed at preschool!)

Jeffrey gets so excited when he sees his lunchbox on the counter!

Vernal Equinox - Orange-Lemon Chiffon Cake!

I have started a family tradition of making seasonal cakes to celebrate the day of the solstice or equinox. For spring I decided to make an Orange-Lemon Chiffon Cake. I decided on this recipe after reading about someone's grandmother who always made one for spring - the ingredients include a lot of eggs (which are a representation of spring) and feature oranges/lemons which are so delicious and in season about this time of year.

I learned about Chiffon Cakes which are 'A moist and tender, light and airy cake that has the richness of a butter cake but the springy texture of a sponge cake' it it relies on the whipped egg whites for its leavening (and some baking powder). It was fun to make, and turned out delicious. It made a lot of cake, and I enjoyed sharing it with friends.

Worth the mess? Yes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For our St. Patrick's Day lunch we had our standard peanut butter (and Jelly for Mer) Sandwiches, and Green foods!

Meredith had peanut butter and Jelly, green goldfish and some bananas and raisins. She was very pleased.

Jeffrey requested Shamrock sandwiches, and had granny smith green apple, green grapes, green goldfish, and veggie booty (I tricked him by telling him they made pirates booty green for St. Patrick's day! He ate all the booty and asked for more. Hee hee.)

Yum!

Today I had to eat a scrappy peanut butter sandwich lunch, all the bits left from making Jeffrey's sandwich. I make such sacrifices for these cute kids! Look at those smiles.

Some other green food ideas for next time are: guacamole/avocado, celery and cucumber.

Jeffrey's Special Helper Day at Stay and Play

Friday the 16th was Jeffrey's Special Helper Day at preschool. We were excited because it is the day before St. Patrick's Day and that meant the day would be even more special and fun! I thought of many green snack ideas - green grapes, green granny smith apple slices, green 'veggie booty' snack, but then but then we decided to go with another exciting option - pretzel shamrocks!

Jeffrey and Roary are watching me squish green M&M's into melted hershey kisses. Jeffrey's teacher painted a shamrock onto his cheek at school that day.

Pretzel Shamrocks!

Jeffrey and his snack before preschool - they were a big hit.

We made our Pretzel Shamrocks by preheating the oven to 250 degrees, putting a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, placing Hershey's kisses on top of pretzels, heating for 5 minutes in the oven, and then squishing 3 green M&M's on top. Then chill in the refrigerator until chocolate sets and they are no longer stuck to the parchment paper.

There are so many ways to make this snack - the combinations of pretzel shape, Hershey's 'kiss' or 'hug' and all the different M&M colors out there make this a really fun snack for kids and everyone! I am going to start making these for all our special occasions!

Ordinary Day

Here's some pictures of a mostly ordinary lunch day at our house.

Jeffrey has a whole sliced Gala apple, Peanut Butter, Munster Cheese and a new lunch addition - Pepperoni! Also for a fun dessert a 100 year birthday oreo with sprinkles inside! He had a 'picnic' upstairs again.

Meredith has munster cheese slices, apples and blueberries.

Leap Day!

I tried to make a fun lunch for 'Leap Day' but ideas were hard to come by. Here is a gummy frog on a peanut butter sandwich 'lily pad', and apple slices. (Gummy frogs are fast, eat em' before they leap away!)

Jeffrey liked it!

Indoor Picnic

And sometimes in the winter, you have a picnic upstairs in your Fort.

Peanut Butter sandwich, Apple slices, Shortbread Girl Scout Cookie.