Feeding-a-bunch-a-Munchkins: August 2011

Da-dum, Da-Dum, da-da-da-da-daum…(it sounds like the jaws soundtrack)…
but really it’s just school creeping up on us again. Truth be told, I have home
schooled for so many years, I don’t have the whole “yay they are outta here”
mentality that a lot of Mama’s anxious for schedule have, but I would be lying
that the thought of less time refereeing fights and finding creative things to do,
sounds a little like “break time” to this Mama of nine.

This is how we do it:

We have a Calendar that looks like this on our fridge:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Cereal & Fresh Berries	Breakfast Burritos	Pancakes toasted w/ Nutela & Bananas	Oatmeal or Granola w/ Almonds and Cranberries	Eggs on 7 grain Toast, Smoothie	Pancakes w/ Fruit & Turkey Bacon	Hootenannies or Muffins & Smoothies
Lunch	Bagel & Cream Cheese Cukes, PB Rice Crispy Treat	PB& J Circles Apple Choc-Zucchini Muffin	Pepperoni Rolls, Broccoli & Ranch dip, Pumpkin Cookie	Greek Wrap, Baby Carrots, Oatmeal Cookie	Hot Pocket, mini Orange, Lemon-Zucchini Muffin	Pita’s w/ Egg Salad or Grape Apple Salad	Mac & Cheese w/ Veggie Tray

These meals are fast, easy, pre-made and frozen…or easily put together in a matter
of minutes…eleven people out the door by 7:45…this is how we have to roll….

ALL of my week day lunches are pre-made, pre bagged, pre-frozen and organized
in my deep freezer.

My kiddo’s literally look at the calendar on my fridge and know what to throw in
their lunch bags.

Main courses like the Bagels, PB& J Circles, Pepperoni Rolls, Greek Wraps
& Hot Pockets are pre-made and frozen in individual baggies all nestled in my
deep freeze ,as are the “treats”.

The fruits are grab-able and pre washed and ready on the counter tops, the veggies
and dips pre bagged on Sunday, waiting in the crisper for easy access. (the pre-bagging
is a GREAT job for eager little hands to help ..and supes up math skills ( get 20 baggies
and put four baby carrots in each). This also helps with having a diabetic son, both he
and I never have to recalculate what the carbs are in each meal he eats during the school
week…we know like clockwork how much insulin he will need for each meal.

We don’t do fancy juices, we do aluminum water bottles also filled and stuck
in the freezer at night.

Breakfasts are simple and healthy, Cereal is generally Whole Grain Cheerios,
Breakfast Burritos are Pre-made & frozen, we simply wrap them in paper
towels and microwave them for 1 min 30 secs, Wednesday Pancakes are the
frozen leftovers from Saturday, I quadruple the recipe and freeze in Gallon Baggies,
then we toast em on up. Thursdays we do Homemade Granola on warm days and
Oatmeal on cooler days, if I have leftover oatmeal, this is what I do with it. Fridays,
we Toast hearty bread, I make a huge pan of scrambled eggs and serve the eggs
on top of the toast. Smoothies are usually green , with 2 cups carrot juice, 1 cup
frozen mango, 1 cup Frozen peaches, ½ cup Strawberries, 2 Cups Spinach. links
to breakfast recipe's can be found above on the menu graph.

Lunches: The bagels I either make, or buy on sale and pre-bag with those
awesome mini strawberry Cream Cheeses.

PB& J Circles…seriously…buy Rolls on sale, Freeze (they are easier to
work with cutting and spreading wise)…Completely cover the one half with Peanut
butter…clump Jelly in a round (not to the edges) and smoosh together. The PB traps
in the Jelly and keeps the Sandwich from getting mushy, pre-bag and wahla…

You can read about the Pepperoni rolls here: I generally pre-bag two in each bag.

The Greek wraps (pretty simple stuff) small whole grain Tortilla ( I like the Mission
Brand Carb Balance 8 gms dietary fiber people, About ¼ cup humus spread, feta
sprinkled, roll it on up, bag it and freeze….super DUPER Healthy.

Once folded up I like to place them edges down on a pan and flash freeze them and
then pre-bag them.

Hot Pockets you can find here.

All snacks , just click on them and they will link to recipe’s. The Rice Crispy Recipe
is basic, with ½ cup of Peanut Butter added in….

To keep things smooth sailing, every Sunday, I have a main course item and a treat
that I remake and re stock up on…then I am never doing the massive bake-a-thon
that I have been up to my eyeballs in August. With the Zucchini Muffins, I make those
until my plants stop growing squash…so those can be frozen beautifully and last a
whole year…trust me, we just finished up some chocolate ones from last summer,
last week!

Any questions?

…and no I am not OCD…just out crazing the crazy!

:0D Linds