The Hungry LaLa Monsters!

The LaLa monsters are the source of much excitement around here and we're so excited to introduce them to you! If you've updated your apps, you'll notice our new monsters! (If you haven't updated, you can do so by clicking here.)

Here are the 12 friendly faces that you'll see on both LaLa Lunchbox and LaLa Breakfast:    

Cassidy

 Cassidy  loves to be outside with friends. She's happy at the park, the playground or just walking around the neighborhood. She devours nut butter on toast with banana for breakfast and her favorite lunch is a salami and cheese wrap with raspberries. 

Dino

Dino  likes drawing with colored pencils and markers. He likes funny poems. He loves eggs for breakfast and all of his favorite fruits are red! Dino likes to make his own veggie sushi for lunch.

Eva

Eva  likes magic tricks and funny jokes. She can juggle with three lemons! She loves everything with tomatoes and asks for them in omelets for breakfast and with pasta or on sandwiches for lunch. 

George

George  likes to play with anything that has wheels. Cars, trucks, vans, ambulances, fire trucks, you name it. His favorite breakfast is oatmeal with strawberries and he loves sunbutter and jam sandwiches with a plum for lunch. 

Goran

Goran  loves playing soccer and baseball in the park and painting with water colors. His favorite breakfast is scrambeled eggs and he loves grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with grapes for lunch. 

Jules

Jules  loves puzzles, especially ones that take several days to complete. He's big on waffles and bananas for breakfast and loves cream cheese and jam sandwiches for lunch.

Mario

Mario  takes a science class after school and loves flying kites. For breakfast he likes cold cereal with milk and berries and he loves to dip carrot and celery sticks in hummus for lunch. 

Martina

Martina  likes hopscotch and reading chapter books. Her favorite breakfast is a yogurt parfait with toast and for lunch, she's crazy about turkey sandwiches and pears. 

Opal

Opal loves to sit under big trees and read mysteries. Her favorite breakfast is banana pancakes and she really loves black beans and green beans for lunch. 

Pearl

Pearl  loves playing at the beach and performing fancy stunts on the monkey bars. She's a big fan of oatmeal with apple slices for breakfast and her favorite lunch is hard boiled eggs and avocado. 

Rudy

 Rudy  likes jumping rope and playing tag. He likes bagels with cream cheese and apple slices for breakfast and chicken legs and baby carrots for lunch. 

Victoria

Victoria  is learning how to do cartwheels in her gymnastics class. She loves plain yogurt with honey and banana for breakfast and slices of turkey for lunch with a couple of clementines. 

Molasses Cookies

At some point in life, I realized that cookies wouldn't save the world. It was a devastating bit of reality. I have a dear friend who loves my mom's old recipe for Fannies and every time she's going through a rough spot, I whip up a batch for her. Today I prepared a batch of cookie dough for some loved ones going through a rough time and will deliver them tomorrow. As the first batch came out of the oven I wondered - why cookies? I love cookies but they're not exactly practical. They're not a wholesome meal that someone might need to endure the anxiety of a hospital waiting room. They're not some magic batch of fairies who will come clean the house. As I thought more about my cookie baking habits I realized - of course I intend for my cookies to provide comfort to those on the receiving end. But they're also very much about finding my own comfort. I bake because it gives me quiet time in the kitchen. It's an escape of sorts. And the gesture of giving cookies is, of course, a way of letting others know they are in my thoughts.  Perhaps it's also the hug that comes with cookie delivery... hugs, like cookies, don't solve most problems but they sure do make some moments brighter. 

Molasses Double Chocolate Cookies

Today's cookies are a modified version of the Molasses Triple Chocolate Cookies from Averie Cooks. These have been an amazing new discovery in my house and a definite keeper for the cookie repertoire. I made this version with coconut oil instead of butter and omitted the third chocolate and the rolled sugar step. Still yum! My hope is that they provide my loved ones with even just a moment of comfort and deliciousness. 

Molasses Double Chocolate Cookies (adapted from Averie Cooks) 

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 extra large egg
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I like the 60% cocoa Ghiradelli)
 

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine oils, egg, sugar, molasses and vanilla together and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ones, being sure to incorporate well. Finally, add the chocolate chips and mix. Place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 9 minutes. Cool and enjoy! 

Broccoli's Cousin!

Three cheers for the farmer's market. We were there this weekend enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and the fantastic colors of Fall and my children spotted and ran to the Romanesco. My daughter declared that they looked like green snow-topped crystals. My son proclaimed them fancy broccoli castles. Romanesco, also known as Roman cauliflower, tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower – two things we LOVE chez moi. After hearing that, my kids happily dubbed it "broccoli's cousin." 

Roman cauliflower, aka Romanesco

We bought two bunches. I steamed the first one and all five of us gobbled it up for dinner. That right there is a win! I roasted the second bunch and it barely made it out of the kitchen. Score! Now that I know my kids are enthusiastic about Romanesco, I'll play around with it in various ways. Suggestions welcomed! 

Leftover Oatmeal? Make Snack Poppers!

Some mornings my kids wolf down their breakfasts and practically race out the door with time to spare and all the enthusiasm in the world. Other mornings, it's a race to get to the breakfast table after some kind of drama (I'm tired! My favorite pants are in the wash! I don't want to brush my hair!) and then we're running and hoping that we won't be late for school.  

Ugh.  

Today I'm making the most of a drama morning. I'm reusing what would otherwise be thrown out – leftover oatmeal. My son is a grazer by nature. He loves the concept of a 'work-in-progress' meal. Maybe it's the age. I can't remember my daughter ever being like this but frankly, who can remember? He doesn't have access to food all day, of course, so he has to roll with the punches of regularly scheduled meals and snacks. I'm repurposing his morning oatmeal into a lunchtime snack with these pear and oatmeal snack poppers:

Pear and Oatmeal Snack Poppers with a Bosc pear sandwich

It's really just a fancy name for a spoonful of oatmeal on top of a square of bosc pear with a dash of cinnamon. I've also made a pear sandwich on that plate - something my little guy is wild for. Bosc pears are beloved in my house at the moment and here's what we're doing with them these days.

Confession: I gobbled up about 5 of the pear and oatmeal snack poppers before assembling these on the plate. They're a perfect finger food!

Delicious, Easy Tzatziki for Your Little or Big Dippers!

My kids are late to the dipping party. I had friends whose kids were dipping fanatics from the earliest age. Not mine. But right now, my son is in a ketchup phase and my daughter is all about tzatziki. 

It happened innocently enough. I was waiting in line at the grocery store and spied a bottle of tzatziki by the cheese section and dashed away quickly to pick it up and add it to my cart. It was an instant hit. My daughter, who basically could live on dairy until the famed cows came home, loved it immediately. It was the kind of thing where I wondered why we didn't have it around more often. So I set to work, trying to make my own.

Greek yogurt, labne, kirby cukes and dill

It's funny having the feedback of a 7 year old because the comments are so straightforward. I heard some "Mom! this is toooooooo spicy!" (hmm... too much garlic), and "Mom! this is really runny, I can't dip the right way." (hmm... too watery) and "Mom! this has lots of chunks in it! Can it be smooth?" (hmm... smaller pieces or puree needed). 

I finally came up with the recipe that worked for us and I'm happy to share it! I used labne (full fat) in place of sour cream and Greek yogurt and eliminated the raw garlic completely. I used kirby cukes because they seem to be the least watery.  I wouldn't be surprised if my daughter dipped each of the items in her lunchbox into the tzatziki. Even the grapes! But, I've kept everything separate (thanks, Easylunchboxes!) so she can decide for herself. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup labne
• 2 kirby cucumbers, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill

Combine all ingredients and puree using a stick blender (or if your kiddos like a chunky version, eliminate that step completely)! 

Tzatziki for my Little Dipper!