Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

Last week, at our annual play date with Beth and Amy and the kids, Beth asked for suggestions for school lunches, since she has not ever had to make them before. Before school started last year, I posted a list of 13 lunch ideas. But today, while having brunch with Jen and Bharat today, we got to talking about making school lunches and ideas for things besides sandwiches. So, with the help of the trusty booklet that came with my kid’s Laptop Lunchbox, here are 10 no-sandwich lunch ideas:

1. Yogurt, granola and fresh berries, baby carrots
2. Crackers, cheese and grapes, sliced tomatoes
3. Pitas with hummus, cucumber slices, kiwi
4. Pancakes with syrup, hard boiled egg, fruit salad
5. Mini Bagels with cream cheese, apple slices
6. Pasta salad (with peanut dressing, or your child’s favorite), shredded carrots, bell peppers
7. Quinoa salad with tomatoes, basil and avocado, orange sections
8. Bean and cheese burrito, jicama and cherry tomatoes
9. Tortilla with cheese slices, edamame, strawberries
10. Chicken noodle soup, whole grain crackers, carrot and celery sticks, watermelon

And here are some gadgets you might consider having in your lunch-making arsenal:

Laptop Lunchbox

Lunchbot (get the Uno and the Duo for the most flexibility)

Thermos Food Container (this one has a spoon that hides inside the lid)

Stainless water bottle

Last week I had the opportunity to test drive the new Lunchbots, stainless steel containers with lids for packing lunch or snacks. Jacqueline Linder, the founder of Lunchbots, responded to my request right away and sent over a Lunchbot Duo for my evaluation.

On their site, Jacqueline explains that she started the company after learning more about the harmful effects of plastics and the desire to remove plastics from her household. Everything about the Lunchbots is manufactured from food-safe stainless steel, even the lids and dividers. 

Using my test subjects (my two kids!), I packed lunches in the Lunchbot several days last week. My first thought was that the Lunchbot is too small. When I was packing lunches, I had trouble fitting food in, and especially for my son, ensuring that there was enough food. My daughter loved the compact size, and her lunch fit in very nicely. 

The pictures above show my daughter’s usual bento-box, compared to the Lunchbot, which is almost the same size. The other picture is the box I use for my son’s lunch, which is quite a bit larger. On the day I packed my son’s lunch in the Lunchbot, I only packed 1/2 of what I normally do. However, with the use of silicon muffin cups, I was able to stack food and squeeze in a little more.

My friend Deborah writes a great blog, Lunch In a Box, and this bento-style Lunchbot would be perfect for her method of lunch packing. Bento packing is a special art, involving filler foods and creative shapes, which the Lunchbot is great for. And bento-boxes come in specific sizes, based on the age of the child and caloric needs. 

Pros:

• Easy to clean, dishwasher safe
• Lid is easy to remove, but fits snug
• Reasonably priced ($14.99 retail)
• Fun colors

Cons:

• Not water tight
• No insulated bag, and stainless steel will get hot in the summer
• Divider in Duo model is fixed, limiting packing possibilities
• Small, most suitable for young kids

Recommendation:

If you are concerned about plastics, this could be the box for you. The size is nice for most grade school children, and would be the perfect snack box for anyone. The stainless steel is attractive, durable and easy to clean, and the price is reasonable. For summer use, I would recommend an insulated bag to keep the lunch cool.

Update: I just exchanged email with Jacqueline and she explains that she uses two boxes for her son’s lunch – one Lunchbot Uno with a sandwich, wrap, or sushi, and then a Lunchbot Duo with fruit and snacks. Both of these go into his lunchbag along with a reusable water bottle. Great plan and gets around my concern about not having enough space for my son’s lunch!

When the opportunity comes up, my favorite choice for romantic hotels involve great food and relaxing accommodations. For two years now, when my in-laws come to visit, my husband and I have manged to sneak away for two nights to Yountville, California, just north of Napa, in the middle of wine country.

We enjoy staying at the Villagio Inn & Spa, right in downtown Yountville. The Villagio itself is a gorgeous property, Italian in style, with lovely walkways, small villa-like buildings, and rooms with private balconies. The comfort of the rooms immediately sets us at ease, and we always enjoy the fireplace and huge bathtub, no matter the weather outside.

Immediately across the street are no less than 5 excellent places to eat (Bistro Jeanty, Redd and Bouchon are three of our favorites), and the Inn is just a short walk from The French Laundry (reservations are now available through OpenTable, check here for tips & tricks). On our last visit, we tried Redd, and enjoyed their 5 course tasting menu, which they present with a twist – you must order it for the entire table, and for the two of us, they brought out 10 different tastes, so that my husband and I were able to try twice as many of their outstanding offerings!

In the mornings, after a visit to the gym next door, we enjoy a delicious champagne breakfast buffet in the main building, which includes several hot and cold dishes, fresh fruit and baked goods. When the weather is nice, we sit outside on the covered patio, over-looking the pool, and plan our day of wine tasting.

Yountville is located right off the St Helena Highway, not far from the Silverado Trail, and in that part of Napa, we enjoy visiting Consentino, Robert Sinsky, and Nickel & Nickel. In order to not totally wreck our taste buds for dinner, we limit ourselves to three wineries and usually focus on reds, unless an outstanding white or sparkling is on the tasting menu. And we are always up for bringing a bottle or two home to try sometime in the future.

When not wine tasting, Yountville has excellent paths for long walks and bike rides, and unique boutiques for my retail-therapy needs. I come home from each romantic visit to the Villagio relaxed and renewed!

This weekend was the Slow Food Nation conference/meet-up/thingamabob (what do you call a day devoted to food – ah, yes, nirvana) in San Francisco at the Civic Center and Fort Mason, and I was fortunate enough to go both Saturday and Sunday to the Taste Pavilion. Saturday, I volunteered to work at the Welcome Center, where I met some very nice folks, but they seemed slightly overstaffed, so I reassigned myself to the Pickle booth inside the Pavilion. Well, actually, I was recruited (they must have heard about my 3rd place win with my B&B pickles at the San Mateo County Fair!)….

I was walking inside the Pavilion, to familiarize myself with the various exhibits, when Michelle Fuerst from Pickles asked if I was one of her volunteers. Since I had been standing outside in the cold, foggy morning with loads of other people, I said “I could be” and she put me to work. Tons of fun I had that morning, standing between Barbara from Three Square Grill and Picklopolis and Pat from The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, pinching out small servings of all sorts of different kinds of sauerkrauts. Picklopolis had one made with fennel, which was very tasty. Their watermelon pickles are also awesome – we ate half a jar last night with our lamb chops. My son cannot get enough of them!

In between putting together little cups of sauerkraut for the booth, I also managed to get in a few yummy samples, including a pork spread (a rillettes, perhaps?) with a cherry (perhaps not?) conserve from the charcuterie booth next door, as well as some super tasty pizza from the outside ovens. In the pickle booth, in addition to 5 kinds of kraut, we were also serving Kim Chee, Szechwan Pepper Cabbage and Curtido. Also, a couple of the volunteers were putting together slices of Acme bread, fresh butter and a preserved trout, which was quite tasty.

Actually, everything I tried on both Saturday and Sunday was excellent, I think because it was all made with a good deal of attention to the final product. That is what Slow Food is all about, and frankly, it works for me!

More pictures from my Slow Food adventure…..

Tonight was a swim meet for the kids, and since the host team did not have a snack bar, I knew I would need to pack our dinner to go. My two swim hard and eat lots, so I packed a nice healthy (well, sort of!) picnic dinner.

I cooked Annie’s Shells&Cheese (check out the free loot on their website) and put those into two wide-mouth thermoses. Into their Laptop Lunchboxes, I put carrots, blueberries and grapes, Back to Nature Classic Round crackers and Bear Naked Organic Trail Mix. At the meet, I purchased Gatorade for both. And, I am pleased to say, everyone seemed well fed and happy. Double bonus, both placed very well in their events!

When traveling, we often use our Laptop Lunchboxes, but this was the first time we pulled them out for a dinner picnic. They worked great, fit into the cooler well, and each kid had their own.

Do you use Laptop Lunchboxes? If so, what is your favorite non-lunch use?

Photo courtesy of Laptop Lunches 

This morning, I played a little hooky from the BlogHer conference to zip on down to the Ferry Building for breakfast. In fact, I was thinking about this on the way down there – if someone asked me for a breakfast spot recommendation, I would ask them what day they were planning to visit. Monday through Friday and Sunday, I would say, whatever, go to the restaurant in your hotel. IF, however, they planned a Saturday visit, I would suggest, nay, compel them to visit Primavera at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. The picture below, I think, should illustrate exactly why.

River Dog Farm German Butter Ball Crispy Potato Tacos, served with Early Girl Salsa Ranchera, sour cream and escabeche. The other option I seriously considered was House Made Chorizo with organic, local, scrambled eggs, served with refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa fresca, served over stone ground organic tortillas. I was basically set up to succeed. Awesome, awesome yumminess, started my day in the the absolutely best way.

After inhaling these well-named tacos, I cruised on over to the Healdsburg Bakery booth and absconded with a morning bun and jam pocket. Those were for snacking on later. And, I could not forget a little jaunt through Sur La Table (Kitchen Gadget Girl heaven!), before stopping at Boriana’s for a custard bombolini. That I ate on the way back to the conference….