Showing posts with label Lunch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lunch. Show all posts

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Owl Bento Box #SundaySupper


Sunday Supper is all about Back to School and we have you covered for meal planning and ideas.  See the list with links and recipes at the bottom of this post.

Ah, back to school is right around the corner for us.  Maryland officially begins school next week. BUT, psst.... we start when we want too. Well, kind of.  Our school year is 180 days and we make sure that we keep records and that our kids are "doing school" by the book for 180 days but it also means we get to learn what we want and visit lots of places.  Field trips are the best!

We homeschool our kids and love the freedom that this brings to our family.  We start late because we go further into the summer months.  In Maryland many of the local history locations, living farms, and towns host homeschooling functions.  We try to catch a few of these so that Isabella can get some "hands on history" to start our new year.  This year we will be heading down to Williamsburg, VA to learn about the American Revolution and then to our local Renaissance Festival to learn about this particular time in history.

This is one of the many reasons why I LOVE to homeschool.

Our lunches are a bit different because I don't have to get up early each morning and pack a lunch for my kids but that does not mean we don't have fun when lunch time comes around.  We find ourselves going to parks, camping, hiking, site seeing or enjoying our friends.  These are all reasons for us to pack fun lunches. Bento Boxes are fun lunches in my opinion.

I love Bento Boxes.  This Owl Bento Box is super easy and Isabella gets a real "HOOT" out of opening the sandwich tray.  This particular bento box is stacked.  I love the variety that is available when selecting a Bento Box. I visit our local H Mart in Catonsville.  They have a huge selection of fun inserts (I am using the reusable cupcake holders), little sayings on sticks, cute picks to decorate with and a selection of boxes to choose from.

Pinterest is filled with fun ideas and food suggestions to use in your next Bento Box.  This idea of the owl was easy and something my kids could assemble and would want to eat.  It took me all of 3-4 minutes to make it.  It took me back to when my kids loved Winnie the Pooh.  Owl was one of my favorite characters. I think because he loved to learn, loved to read and he lived in a tree house.  I want to live in a tree house someday.

Want to know how I did it?  See the instructions below and enjoy your next fun Bento Box.



Owl Bento Box
Makes one sandwich

2 slices of lunch meat--any kind
1 slice of cheese--any kind
2 slices of leafy lettuce (wings)
2 slices of bread (body)
cheese or carrots (feet and beak)
6 slices of cucumber (base of eyes)
2 small round carrot slices (eyes)
1 black olive, cut in half (eyes)
extra carrot sticks to hold up the leafy wings

1.  Prepare all of your items.  Cut the carrot sticks for the feet, the triangle for the beak, the circles for the eyes.  Slice the cucumbers and halve the black olive. Tear the lettuce and stack them to create the leafy wings and feathers of your owl.

2.  Make your sandwich using the bread, meat and cheese.  Using a large circle cookie cutter, cut the body.

3.  Assemble your owl using the picture as your guide.  Instruct you children or husbands (he he he--oh that would be funny) to add the lettuce to the sandwich when they are ready to eat their owls.

4.  Ta-Da--you're done with the owl.  Find other healthy snacks to fill the cubbies in your Bento Box. I included fresh blueberries and a trail mix that I make at  home.

Are you searching for back to school recipes? Take a look at these by Sunday Supper contributors:

Back to School Beginnings

Back to School Lunches and Simple Suppers


Back to School Sips


Back to School Super Snacks


Back to School Sweets and Treats


Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. 

Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Gluten Free Buttermilk Pizza Crust


This is our families favorite pizza crust recipe.  I have been supplementing buttermilk for most of the recipes that call for "milk" and find that it works better in gluten free baking.  I think the extra fat may help with  developing the dough.  Of course, I am going to recommend that you buy the best buttermilk you can find.  I get ours from a local dairy in a small glass bottle.  It is light yellow because the cows are grass fed.   Notice the pizza crust is tinged with a yellow hue--that is in part from the buttermilk and also using millet.  This flour is a light yellow.

Millet is a wonderful grain.  It has the best flavor and performs beyond expectation in my gluten free baked goods.  You will notice I use it all the time.  I find that it adds the right amount of flavor to trick my friends and family into thinking they are eating something "wheat-filled".  Let me know if you have had the same experience.

This pizza crust is not hard to make.  If you have not worked with gluten free bread doughs before then you are in a for a treat.  It is different but I have included some pictures below to help you bake your first pizza crust.  The dough needs to be wet so that it has enough water to work with the flours. It is a bit technical but if the dough is too dry then you get dry products.  We don't want that!


I make this dough on a pizza stone.  I find that the outer crust is crispy and the pizza crust is soft in the middle.  My husband said it reminded him of the boxed pizza crust you get at the store and make at home.  This is not a bad thing.  It is just a good example of what the texture will be like.  

This recipe makes one large pizza (12 inches) or you can make individual pizzas.  Just cut the parchment paper to the size that you need and spread the dough out.  The thicker you have it the thicker the crust will be.  I made sure mine was a little more than 1/4 inch thick and it swelled up to what you see in the picture.  You may need to play around with it to see which thickness you like.

I made this blueberry BBQ sauce and chicken pizza for my family.  The reason I chose to make this pizza with this sauce is because the sauce is wet.  I wanted to see if the crust would hold up.  I am quite pleased to say that it did.  The BBQ sauce recipe will be up soon--look for it!

Final thought:  buy a scale!  I am making more and more of my recipes by volume.  To guarantee that each recipe turns out the same each time I must cook this way.  It is so much easier to bake with a scale than with 5 different measuring cups.  I use one bowl, a scale and bam--it's done.  Really easy!

I will have the estimated cups listed next to the recipe for those that do not have a scale but, again, I am encouraging you to invest in this very useful kitchen tool.

This delicious Blueberry BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe will be out on Sunday--be sure to check back!



Gluten Free Buttermilk Pizza Crust


Makes one crust

160 grams (1 cup) white rice flour
76 grams (1/2 cup) millet flour
56 grams (1/2 cup) tapioca starch
20 grams (1/4 cup) potato starch
1 teaspoon guar gum
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
133 grams (1/2 cup) buttermilk + a 2 teaspoons (if needed)
1 teaspoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

1.  Combine the dry ingredients into a medium bowl.  Sift once.  Sifting helps to mix the ingredients and to find any clumps in the flours and starches.

2.  In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients.

3.  I use my KitchenAid stand mixer to mix the dough.  Add the dry and the wet to the stand mixer and attache the paddle tool.  Start on low and mix dough, once it is mixed, increase speed to medium for 5 minutes.  Dough should look stretchy--like a thick cake batter.

4.  This is best made on parchment paper.  If you don't have any, then get the pan that you will bake the crust on and spread with a light sprinkling of corn meal.  See picture below.  Pour dough into the middle of the paper or pan.


5.  Take a plastic spatula and spread dough to desired thickness and size.  You can also make individual sized pizzas.  See picture below.


6.  See picture to know how I spread mine.  This was the final product.


 7.  Bake just the crust for 8 minutes.  See picture at the top.  Add sauce, cheese and ingredients and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven.  The pizza should slide off of the parchment paper.  I remove the parchment paper so that the crust can sit directly on my pizza stone and dry up any sauce that may have ran over the sides.

8.  Slice and serve.  Store left overs in the refrigerator.




Written by Sherron Watson

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