Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

There’s a roadside stand on Route 6 in Welfleet, MA right by the Audubon Society that has the absolute best yellow sungold tomatoes I’ve ever eaten. It’s run by a super friendly sister/brother team who also happen to grow delicious peaches. I haven’t been back to Cape Cod in years, but I’ll never forget the taste of those tomatoes.

Tomato season is glorious, and I love to follow its progression from delicious grape and cherry tomatoes to hearty beefsteak tomatoes to perfectly balanced sungolds. The journey brings me infinite joy every summer.

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

grape tomatoes

Seriously though… aren’t summer tomatoes the best?

My Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup is worth turning the oven on for, even in the dog days of summer. It’s something that all 5 of us love and guzzle, so it’s always a welcomed dinner option. It’s also one of those dishes that you can serve to gluten free, dairy free and vegan guests, and with summer entertaining in full swing, that makes it a great back pocket recipe option. Smoked paprika adds a bit of intensity to the flavor here and it’s almost like being at a campfire. (s’mores for dessert?)

You can get this easy dish on the table in under an hour thanks to straightforward, fresh ingredients and a simple three step cooking method. Prep, roast, blend. That’s it. It’s flavorful and screams of summer, but it also freezes beautifully. So make a double batch for those winter days when you need a burst of sunshine.

Added bonus: it packs up beautifully in the lunchbox. To keep this recipe vegan, use vegetable broth.

Roasted veggies for soup

Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup 
(serves 4-6)

3 pints grape and/or cherry tomatoes
1/2 large red onion, cut into large chunks 
1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks 
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
2 tablespoons olive oil 
3 teaspoons fresh thyme, divided
1/3 cup fresh basil
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 teaspoon flake salt, or to taste, divided
Fresh black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add the tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic. Cut any large tomatoes into pieces similarly sized to the grape tomatoes.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables have softened and become fragrant. 
Place the roasted vegetables into a blender. 
Add broth, basil, remaining thyme, salt, pepper and paprika. 
Blend together until smooth. Taste to determine whether more salt or pepper is needed. If you find the flavor too acidic, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

* Serving ideas: with sourdough croutons and a big, hearty salad.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

When I was a kid, my mom didn’t make tacos often. On the rare occasion that she did, we’d have hard shell tacos, with ground meat and a packaged seasoning (you know the one). My mom served it with shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato and called it a day. For the record, I never ate any of the tomato, but I’m pretty sure that I dug taco night. My mom is a fabulous cook, and I learned to be an adventurous eater thanks to her, but tacos were never really her thing. They’re something I learned to really appreciate after I left home.

Fast forward… today I serve tacos to my crew fairly regularly. We usually have soft shell tacos (typically with corn tortillas, but sometimes with flour tortillas), and I serve them with turkey, chicken, pork, black beans, chickpeas, you name it! My kids love tacos any way I serve them, and they especially love DIY Taco Night, when they can fashion their own creations with a variety of fixings.

The folks at Siete Foods (whose chips we’re practically obsessed with) sent me a care package that included their new hard shell tacos and a variety of hot sauces (love love love), and the crunch factor added a whole new dimension of fun to Taco Night! I made Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos, with scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach and a variety of fixings and the combo was a huge win! In a nutshell, it was like eating a spinach omelet with sweet potato hash browns and crispy chips with guacamole, hot sauce and salsa. All good there! It was hilarious watching my kids tilt their necks to make sure they got every last crispy bit into their mouths.

This one will be on repeat at my house, for sure! See below for the recipe.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:
2 medium/large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks (skin on)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 eggs, lightly scrambled
10 ounces spinach

Suggested fixings:
salsa
guacamole
sour cream
shredded cheese
lettuce
tomatoes

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large frying pan and add the sweet potato. Sauté on medium heat and toss to make sure the olive oil is evenly distributed. Add the seasonings and combine using a wooden spoon. Let that cook for 10-15 minutes until cooked through with slightly browned edges. Place in a bowl and set aside. In the same pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil and lightly scramble the eggs. We prefer them soft, but cook them to your liking. Place them in a bowl when done. In the very same pan (one pan to clean up: victory❣️) quickly sauté the spinach with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Tip: you can add fresh garlic to this if you’d like. While that cooks, heat the taco shells open side down in the oven for 2 minutes. Boom! Dinner is done. ❤️

The only argument we had about this one was whether the sweet potato hash browns should go on the bottom or whether the egg should go on the bottom. What’s your vote? 🤔

This meal is gluten free, dairy free, nut free and vegetarian.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Tacos

Easy Lunchbox Rollup Ideas

Rollups are a great lunchbox idea for kids who don’t love sandwiches but want something that’s easy and fun to eat. Once I got the idea for Rollup Week on Instagram, the ideas were rushing into my head faster than I could keep up with!

Basically anything that you can eat on a sandwich can be rolled up. Here are some of my favorites:

BLT Rollup

BLT lunchbox

Bacon, lettuce and tomato is a classic combination! Here I’ve swapped out mayo for avocado and rolled it all up in a tortilla before packing it in this lunchbox. Here, I’ve used 1/2 an avocado, mashed and spread it onto a tortilla. Then I added 2 slices of cooked bacon, a handful of shredded lettuce and 4 cherry tomatoes that I sliced. I rolled it up and sliced into pieces.

Burrito Rollup

Black Bean Burrito Lunchbox

Burritos are a perfect lunchbox idea! Here we’ve got black beans (recipe adapted from Pamela Salzman) with quinoa (instead of rice), lettuce and peppers. I love burritos because they’re so adaptable. Got chicken? Use that! Hate peppers? Eliminate them! Basically anything that you put on a taco can be used in a burrito and rolled up in a tortilla. Add a thin layer of quinoa or rice to half of the tortilla. Top it with beans (or chicken or any other protein). Add other toppings, such as veggies, cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. Roll, slice and pack!

Strawberry Sunbutter Rollups

These are totally similar to the Banana Rollups that we pack and love, but different enough to keep it interesting. Know what I mean?
I’m allergic to nuts, so we’re nut free around here. Sunflower seed butter is my go-to substitute. Using strawberries here is a great change of pace from banana. Spread a thin layer of sunbutter (or any nut butter) on the entire tortilla. Add berries in one line in the bottom third of the open tortilla. Here I used 5 strawberries that I sliced. Roll, slice and pack!

Pizza Omelette Rollups & Berry Cream Cheese Rollups

Pizza Omelette Rollups & Berry Cream Cheese Rollups

Here’s a twofer: Pizza Omelette Rollups and Berry Cream Cheese Rollups. The Pizza Omelette Rollup is made with two eggs that I flat fried in a pan. As they were cooking, I added dollops of tomato paste (about 2 tablespoons), mozzarella cheese and basil. With the heat on medium low, I waited until the cheese had melted. I slid this out of the pan and onto a board and let it rest for a few minutes before rolling. Eggs are a great substitute for tortillas for gluten free folks!

For the Berry Cream Cheese Rollups, spread a thin layer of cream cheese onto a tortilla. Add berries exactly the same way as you’d do for the Strawberry Sunbutter Rollups. Here I’ve used whole blackberries. This also works beautifully with mango and mint!

Avocado Carrot Sushi Rollups

Avocado Carrot Sushi

I’m allergic to fish, so the sushi that comes out of my kitchen is always made with veggies. They’re easy to make and fun to eat! I’ve got a tutorial posted here that shows how I make avocado sushi. Give it a look!
All you need for this is nori sheets, rice, rice vinegar, avocado and carrots (lightly steamed). Want to give this a little nutritional boost? Use quinoa instead of rice, or add another protein.

Do your kids like rollups? Let me know in the comments below. Feel free to download these photos and add them to the LaLa Lunchbox library so that your kids can choose them regularly. If you like what you see here, follow along with me on Instagram where I post regularly.

Pasta Lunchbox Ideas

I hadn’t realized how many ways there are to serve pasta in a lunchbox until I launched Pasta Week on Instagram. But wow! The ideas are limitless! Here’s a roundup of the ideas I’ve shared with links to recipes where applicable.

Beyond the traditional mac and cheese lunchbox, there’s a world of ideas using pasta to pack up for school lunch!

Do you have a favorite pasta lunchbox idea? Share it in the comments below!

Pasta with Quick Meat Sauce

Here’s a meal that comes together in under 30 minutes, and works seamlessly from dinner to lunchbox leftovers. Score! The recipe has just 7 ingredients and is absolutely kid approved. It’s on steady rotation around here and is one of the few lunchbox ideas that I send in a thermos. I’ve used our Lunchbots thermos here.

Pasta with Quick Meat Sauce in a thermos

Pesto Pasta

Pesto is something I didn’t eat for years. With nut allergies like mine, pesto is one of those things that can be dangerous. I love pasta. I love basil. It’s a natural flavor fit for me, so I developed a recipe that I’m absolutely crazy about, and so is my family! I love the simplicity of this recipe, and that I can freeze any unused pesto. This is a perfect example of “cook once, eat twice;” so make a big old batch for dinner and send it off in a lunchbox (assuming you have leftovers!) This is packed in our Monbento.

Nut Free Pesto Pasta Lunchbox

Tortellini Kebabs

This lunchbox idea doesn’t have a recipe, and it couldn’t be easier. Tortellini absolutely tastes more delicious on a stick, right? :) All you need are cooked tortellini, veggies of your choice and some lollipop sticks. Here I’ve used tomato and basil, but in the past we’ve used all different veggies (peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, cooked carrot, you name it!) This is packed in our Yumbox Panino.

tortellini kebab lunchbox

Chicken & Veggie Lo Mein

I started making Lo Mein a few years ago after seeing it on my friend Karen’s feed and drooling over it. Karen runs the blog Healthy Gluten Free Family and has loads of great ideas to feed families. When I decided to give this one a go, it was an immediate hit with my crew. Now we’ve got it on repeat. I’ve modified Karen’s recipe slightly based on our preferences, and make this with either gluten free pasta or regular pasta. This is packed in our PlanetBox Rover.

Chicken and Veggie Lo Mein Lunchbox

Taco Pasta

We love tacos. We love pasta. It finally dawned on me to combine the two! The tricky part: coming up with a name for this! Is it Taco Pasta? Tacsta? Pasco? Something else?
Essentially it’s pasta with taco seasoning and veggies. For us, this is a fridge forage meal that uses up the odds and ends of the vegetables in the fridge. It also goes nicely with added grilled chicken. Here it’s packed in our Lunchbots Cinco.

Taco Pasta Lunchbox

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Easy Pesto Pasta

Nut Free Pesto Pasta

Pesto has got to be one of the easiest, most delicious pasta ideas out there. Unfortunately for a nut-allergic person like me, pesto can be off limits much of the time. In an effort to enjoy pesto safely, I’ve developed a recipe that my whole family can safely enjoy!

There are no nuts or seeds, and it calls for both lemon juice and lemon zest to boost the brightness. The end result is a zesty, satisfying sauce that works deliciously on pasta (and chicken!) and packs beautifully in a lunchbox. With just 7 ingredients, this recipe comes together in the blink of an eye. I love it not only because it’s nut free but also because I can make a giant batch and freeze leftovers.

If you give this a try, drop a comment or tag me and let me know how it goes!

If you’re looking for more lunchbox ideas using pasta, I’ve got you covered.

Pesto ingredients

Just 7 ingredients for this Pesto: fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan, lemon juice, lemon zest, nutmeg and salt (with an 8th optional ingredient: fresh cracked pepper). My family loves this with pepper, but they actually prefer to put the pepper on themselves, so I usually leave it out of the recipe.

Pesto made in the food processor

Place all ingredients into a food processor and this comes together in minutes!

Nut free pesto

Ready in minutes, bursting with flavor - this recipe is a winner! Just add this to already cooked pasta and you’re done!

Pesto

Pesto Pasta

1 packed cup fresh basil 
1 small garlic clove
1/3 - 1/2 cup olive oil 
1/4 cup Parmesan 
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest 
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste. 

Place the basil, garlic, 1/3 cup of olive oil and Parmesan into the food processor and process until the basil leaves have begun to break down. Add the lemon juice, zest, nutmeg, salt (start with a 1/4 teaspoon) and pepper. Process to desired consistency, and add oil as needed. 

You can freeze leftovers for up to 2 months.