Back to School Lunchies!

Another School year has started and now I am packing lunches for Meredith, Jeffrey and Mike.  Meredith has started Kindergarten this year and it is very exciting.  Jeffrey is in 3rd Grade and Mike is an Associate Professor of Biology at PSU. :)

Here's some of the kids lunches from the first 2 weeks of school:

Meredith is having peanut butter sandwich, cheese stick, and strawberries are her favorite fruit for lunches at the moment.

 

Jeffrey always has peanut butter sandwiches, he likes fuji apples, and has a variety of veggies, crunchies, cheeses and salami.  Meredith is much more particular about her lunch choices, and has almost the same thing every day.

Cookies

This year I made Cookie Butter White Chocolate Blondies for the annual cookie exchange.  They turned out pretty yummy, but I found it challenge to cut bake them and cut them evenly because I made a double batch - and baked them in two different kinds of pans.  (But I am a bit of a baking perfectionist so that would probably not concern most people.)  I modified the recipe a bit by adding some chopped pecans too.  Here's the recipe:

Cookie Butter Bars:

• 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 Tablespoons (1/3 cup or 75g) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Biscoff spread (or Trader Joe's Cookie Butter)
• 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  Spray 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan with non-stick spray (I like Trader Joe's coconut oil spray for baking)

In a medium sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir the melted butter and brown sugar together until combined. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk, then add the vanilla. Stir in the Biscoff(or Trader Joe's Cookie Butter) spread. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Be careful not to overmix, which will result in crumbly, hard blondies. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the white chocolate chips. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-26 minutes. The blondies may appear very soft, but they will set up as they cool. Allow the blondies to cool completely- about 3 hours - before cutting into squares.

Makes 16 blondies. Recipe may easily be doubled and baked in a 9x13 pan for 35 minutes. Blondies stay fresh at room temperature for 1 week.

Healthy Harvest Farm Share

Winter Salad Mix, Romaine Lettuce, Celeriac, Rutabaga, Parsnips, Beets, Sweet Potato, Carrots, Kale

Healthy Harvest Farm Share

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mini Sweet Potatoes, Napa Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, White Potatoes, Onions, Winter Squash

Healthy Harvest Farm Share

Lettuce, Cabbage, Spinach, Leek, Butternut and Winter Squash, Red potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Onions (That cabbage is huge!)

Farm Share

Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Leeks, Squash, Onions, Lettuce

Healthy Harvest Farm

We got to visit Healthy Harvest Farm last weekend.  We were free to harvest as many of the leftover winter squash as we wanted, and the kids loved gathering them up.  Too bad they are not very interested in actually eating the squash!  We also got to see the 1920's potato harvester in action, and scoop up fresh from the field potatoes.  (Kids didn't want to eat those either!) 

 

These Kids want all the Squash!  But they don't want to eat it. 

Potato Harvester!