By the end of the first week of school, two of the bright containers that had been dutifully labeled with both first and last name, were missing.  They weren’t in the lost and found.  How could you lose something so bright?? By the following Tuesday, my little one was not eating much, claiming there was not enough time to eat. Really, how do you expect a 7 year old to pee, wash their hands, and eat lunch in 15 minutes?  More experienced mothers were suggesting that I send little plastic bags with small amounts of food that could be taken out to the playground after the official lunch period.  Plastic bags????  No!! Never!!

When I opened the fancy lunch bag on the morning of the second Monday of school I was assaulted by an unbelievable odor!  It seems that some cucumber was left in the lunch bag and liquified over the weekend……that was the end of the fancy lunch bag!!  Into the garbage it went.  There was no way I was going to be able to wash out that slime!

By the end of the first month of school I am sad to report that every single item that was purchased to send the “Litter-Free Lunch” was either lost or  destroyed.  I had to resort to plastic bags for the food, and a lunch bag that was replaced on a monthly basis due to spilled food or rotting food. (we never did get the hang of emptying the school bags on Friday afternoon)

As the first day of school approaches, I have stocked up on plastic bags both big and small as well as juice boxes.  I have abandoned the idea of a litter free lunch and I have bowed to pressure.  I am sadly now officially one of THOSE mothers!

The cookies turned out wonderfully.  I thought I could detect a slight chemical taste, but the kids loved them.  This recipe is small – only makes 12-16 cookies.

Ingredients:

No Wheat, No Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour (spelt or other)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or carob chips)

Cream sugars, egg and earth balance and vanilla until smooth.  Add flour, salt and baking powder to bowl and mix just until blended.  Add chips and mix by hand until evenly distributed.  Use a teaspoon to drop cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 9 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Remove cookies from cookie sheet after 5 minutes and finish cooling on a flat surface. (one that is high up and out of reach of the kids!)  The recipe can be doubled as these cookies go quickly!

Chewy Oatmeal Granola Bars

Chewy Oatmeal Granola Bars

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup flour (I used spelt flour but wheat flour is fine)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or carob chips or raisens)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13 inch pan (I forgot to do this every time and had no sticking problems).  I used a 9×13 inch glass pyrex baking dish.  I didn’t try the recipe in a metal backing pan.  In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour and baking soda.  In a smaller bowl combine the oil, brown sugar and honey and heat for 30 seconds or so in the microwave to soften up the honey and brown sugar.  (this step is probably not necessary, but I found the the ingredients combined easier when the honey was softer!) Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well by hand.  Add the chips or raisens and mix to distribute evenly.  Press the mixture into the 9X13 pan.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly brown.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut into bars.  (I found that a pizza cutter worked better for this than a knife) Do not remove from the pan until completely cooled.  The consistency of the bars is much different when cooled completely!

Enjoy!

Chewy Oatmeal Granola bars

Banana Apple Spelt Muffins

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Canola or Corn oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 eggs

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1 3/4 cup spelt flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

optional : 1 cup chopped pecans or chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat oil, applesauce and eggs until light and fluffy.  Stir in bananas.  Stir in dry ingredients.  Add optional items if using.  Pour into muffin tins with liners and make for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Although these muffins come out of the oven quite well risen, they tend to flatten out after 15 minutes or so.  They go stale quickly when left at room temperature so I tend to pop them into the freezer quickly.  They keep in the freezer well and thaw out quickly for mid-morning snacks in lunch kits!  Try out this recipe and let me know what you think!

Spelt buns

The buns were tasty, but somewhat less fluffy than their whole wheat counterparts.  If I had made them I would say that it was the fault of the baker, but Grandma has been using this recipe for probably 50 odd years and she’s got experience on her side!!

Here’s the modified recipe for those who want to try this at home!

2 Hour Buns

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

6 tblsp oil

2 tblsp Fermipan Yeast

2 eggs

7 – 9 cups of organic spelt flour

Mix the first 5 ingredients and then add the eggs.  Add flour and mix until smooth.  Pat with oil.  Let rise 15 minutes.  Punch down, let rise again for 15 minutes.  Make into buns and let rise til light (about 20 minutes).  Bake at 400F for 8 – 15 minutes on cookie sheet with sides.  Remove from sheet and cool.