It's Fall Y'all: A Kid Lunch

I'm late with my Friday silly kid lunch post today, aren't I?  The Girl ended up napping extra early and didn't eat lunch until almost time to pick up The Kid from school, so it threw off the whole posting schedule.  Better late than never, eh?

I figured since it's the last day of September, I'd go with a fall theme.  I used my Kid Lunch Ideas Pinterest board for inspiration.

For The Kid's school lunch, I did a PB&J sammie with a piece of cheddar cut to look like a leaf (sort of).  Pear sauce with cinnamon and sprinkles in one container.  Dried apricots, dried cranberries, almonds and candy corn in the other one.  Apple wedges carved to look like leaves and a few cherry tomatoes for kicks.

Here's The Kid's lunch:

For The Girl, I did a leaf shaped quesadilla, the same apple wedges, the same pear sauce with cinnamon and sprinkles, and the dried fruit, almonds and candy corn around the rim.

Here's The Girl's Lunch:

Have a good weekend!

Stool #7

Another stool has been delivered to it's owner.  Well, the purchaser anyway.  The owner is a little boy who will be receiving it as a gift.

Here's #7:

Ham and Cheese Chicken Roll-Ups & Harvest Potatoes

We all have dishes that show up at every family function, right?  These potatoes are one of the things that make a regular appearance in my family.  I just so happen to love them, so I make them for home, too.  Super easy and super good.  Maybe not super healthy, but I'm not really one to take those things into consideration when it comes to food I love.

Here's the recipe with my notes:

Harvest Potatoes 

1 Package 32-oz frozen hashbrowns, thawed enough for them to break apart (You can use shredded or cubed.  I can't decide which I like better, but I may lean more toward the shredded.  Tonite I used cubed.)
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup (I usually use cream of celery, only because chicken in a can kind of gives me the willies.  I suppose cream of anything would work.)
1 C sour cream
2 C shredded cheddar cheese (I can't imagine any cheese being bad)
1/2 C margarine, melted (butter would be fine, too)
1 medium onion, diced (I never put this in, for The Dad's sake.  I add onion powder instead.)

Topping aka Piece de Resistance:

2 C corn flakes
1/4 C melted margarine (Again, butter is a fine substitute)

Mix First 7 ingredients in a large bowl.  

I find it's easiest to do the wet stuff and grated cheese first.

Stir in your taters.

Spread into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

Mix up your topping.

Evenly spread it over the top of the potatoes.

Bate at 350 for 45 minutes.

So good.

The chicken I made to go with the potatoes is one of those, use what you've got deals.

All you need is boneless, skinless breast, ham, salad dressing or spread, and cheese.

Mix and match any variety of the last three items with what you've got on hand.

Ranch, blue cheese, mustard, prosciutto, salami, provolone, jack, etc.

You get the idea.

My plan was to use Swiss cheese, but I had forgotten that when I used all of it on our Reuben sammies the other night.  Whoopsie.

So here ya go, pound out your chicken into thin, cutlet-sized pieces.

Line a baking sheet with foil and place chicken pieces on it.

Season them with salt and pepper.

Spread some dressing on.

I used honey mustard.

Add your meat and cheese slices.

I used ham and cheddar.

Roll up, starting with the short end, and secure with a toothpick, seam side down, until you get them all assembled.

Remove toothpicks and lay another slice of cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  

Broil 4 to 6 inches from the heat for another 7, or until chicken is cooked through.

We had steamed broccoli with ours.

Here's dinner on  my plate:

(Don't mind the fact that the chicken and the potatoes are exactly the same color.)

Baked Shrimp With Feta

I think there's something wrong me me.  Instead of getting up from the dinner table and rolling my fatness to the couch to relax, I run to the computer with my camera so I can post the whole thing.

Not in a bragging way like, "Look at this bomb-ass dinner I just ate, suckas."
And not in a teasing way like, "Ha ha, look what I just ate and you didn't."
It's like, "Oh man, that meal was SO good.  I wish you could have been here.  Here's the recipe so you can have some too."

I didn't take any progress pictures of this.  I honestly didn't think I'd be very excited about it.  Well, that's not true. I was excited about all the ingredients except the main one.  Shrimp.  If you're new here, I don't do shrimp.  I want to, but I just can't get on board with that vein-y thing that pops in your mouth when you bite into one.

That being said, OH MY GOODNESS!!!  This was sooo good!  I made a green salad and  pasta to go with it.  I ate an entire half of a baguette to myself in attempt to sop up every last drop of liquid in the bottom of that dish.

The Dad told me to make sure I mention the fact that he added red pepper flakes to his.  He's lookin' out for ya in the spice department.  I didn't do a single thing to mine other than use a fork to lift every last noodle that was drenched in the goodness to my mouth.  Good stuff kids.  We also decided it would be a good base for mussels or clams.  Another one of those things I don't eat, but look forward to making for other people.

Anyhoo, I pinned the recipe from a blog I follow (Girl Cooks World) and put it on this week's menu.  I made one change, but I'll explain that at the end of the post.

Click here for the recipe.

Here's the finished dish:

(Instead of using 4 individual serving dishes for baking, I put everything in one large one.)
 

Here's dinner on The Dad's plate:
 

Here's dinner on mine:

Now go get that recipe, print it off, cook it up, and pretend like you're eating at my house.  :o)

P.S.  To elaborate on the one change I made, this morning I decided I had better do something with the tomatoes on my counter and on my plants before they were moldy and useless.  I roasted them in the oven with some olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs.  350 for about an hour and a half.  I used the same amount as called for in the recipe, but used the roasted tomatoes instead.  The rest, I put in the freezer for later.  These can be used for a zillion different things and they're absolutely delicious.  So if you have a massive harvest and don't have the time or energy to do anything with them, this is a great, easy way to stash them away for later.

Here's what they look like before and after:

Go eat!